Kathy Gailey, AKA African Queen, called the meeting to order at 12:15 pm and announced that it was Rotary International’s 112
th birthday today. Rotary was founded on February 23, 1905. (Remember this for trivia questions.) Dispensing with a birthday song, Horace Crawford was introduced who led us in the pledge of allegiance.
.Herman Welm was selected to lead the group in a patriotic song. The prodigal son, Bill Clarkson, returned to his club roots and was introduced as the founder of the Dougherty Valley Club, former President of our Rotary Club and the Mayor of the city of San Ramon. One of our older members remembered that Bill had previously been recognized as “Bargain Bill” but it was all lost on current members.
Horace also presented reflections for the day. He recounted that in 1952 four young persons were struck down by polio, one of whom was his best friend. In 1985, the year that Horace joined this Rotary Club, Rotary International launched
PolioPlus, its campaign to rid the world of polio. Over 30 years have passed and with its World Health partners and the Bill Gates Foundation have helped reduce the number of cases from 350,000 annually to fewer than 37 cases in 2016, and they remain committed until the disease is eradicated. Rotary has contributed more than $1.3 billion and countless volunteer hours to help protect more than 2 billion children worldwide.
The second thought for the day was to recall that in 1989 the Rotary Council on Legislation voted to admit women into Rotary Clubs, a watershed moment in the history of Rotary. The response to the decision was overwhelming in support. By June 1990, the number of female Rotarians had skyrocketed to over 20,000. By 2010, the number of women was approaching 200,000 worldwide. Worldwide 21% of members are women. Currently in the US there are 95,000 women members representing over 29% of our members. Horace and joined by all the men members of the club in expressing our appreciation for the women that have joined our club and contributed so much.
Rotary Foundation Moment
The venerable Ray Giles shared that status of our club’s annual giving. 27 of 61 members have already contributed $15,547. 16 members have pledged to the annual giving fund by year’s end. 18 people are still considering their commitment. Ray shared that a statement is being sent to all members with the status of their contribution. The club matches up to 500 Paul Harris points which can be applied to a 3
rd party or applied to the next Paul Harris recognition level. If a member has not designated an individual to apply the points, on April 1
st it will be automatically applied to advancing the member to the next level. Please make checks payable to the Rotary Foundation or go on line and pay be credit card or Geoff Disch can bill you if you so choose. In parting, Ray emphasized that members should be proactive in their efforts to support the Foundation.
Announcements
Kathy shared the following announcements:
- Happy Hour would commence at the Fire House on May 2.
- Beginning March 1 the club meeting would be from 12 noon to 1:15p to allow fifteen minutes for fellowship after the meeting.
- April 22nd will be our annual Smoke Detector Project
- April 6th will be our annual Trinity Center Lunch (an offsite meeting)
- March 4th is the Danville Crab Feed. See Kathy if you want to attend with a group.
Anniversaries abound with Mr. Harvey and Duarte as well as Ms. Litteral getting recognized for $40 except that Mr. Sramek got hit for $50. Go figure. Mr. Gallagher suggested our fine master, Chris Gayler fine President Kathy $50 for not paying attention to Ray’s presentation and asking a question that Ray had already covered. In the meantime, your scribe was recognized for his wife’s birthday and Chris Gayler was tagged for his wife’s birthday for $40. There was a reminder that Patti is celebrating a “big birthday” ending in zero this month but was out of town having too much fun.
Karen announced that she assigns Greeters and publishes it on the website. Ana will be next week’s greeter.
Program: San Ramon History
Bill Clarkson shared that the city would be celebrating 150 years of existence which began with the Spanish explorers in 1772 who entered the Valley and traveled along the San Ramon Creek which was a deep ravine that could not be easily crossed on horse. The Spanish sought to build a mission in the area but opted to build in San Jose and near San Francisco. A shepherd from Mission San Jose grazed his sheep in this Valley. His name was Ramon and the Valley became known as San Ramon.
Two land grants were given at the time 1) Amador Valley (south) and 2) San Ramon/Pacheco (north). U.S. settlers settle by the creeks while the Spanish tended to settle by the springs. In 1846 Fremont armed men stole local horses without payment. When the Spaniard whose horses were stolen asked for gold in compensation, Fremont responded that he would only pay in lead (bullets). Only 8,000 Spanish inhabited California which is part of the reason that Fremont was able to defeat the Spanish forces with only 200 men.
In 1848 gold was discovered and a flood of gold miners entered the Valley. Amador was a main stop for gold diggers to obtain supplies.