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Crow’s Call The meeting was called to order by President Showtime at 12:05p. The lunch was unusually good today. Following the traditional information regarding Rotary International (Shekar Mehta is the RI President and this year’s theme is “Serve to Change Lives”). Tom Port was our Greeter for the day where he recited The Golden Rule of Friendship: “Listen to others as you would have them listen to you” (a rough interpretation). Tom revealed that as a retired attorney with many side projects going, he managed to find time to clean out his storage area. Most of the stuff he gave away. His son and wife are in town visiting. Tom explained that this couple from New York is now traveling full time to Air BNBs while working remotely. Vanessa Berastain, Executive Director for San Ramon Valley Education Foundation was introduced as a visiting guest. The now traditional “Bienvenidos” welcome song was butchered since no one seems to have mastered this trademark call for friendship and fellowship. The Mindful Moment was passed over since Julie was absent and no one was being mindful. But President Terry reminded club members that it was Peace and Conflict Resolution Month (tell that to the Russians and North Koreans). Announcements - Glen Weber gave an update on the Foundation. He reported that 45% of the members had contributed to Rotary International and encouraged everyone to do so before May 1st.
- Upcoming Meetings:
2/17 –Harlan House Preservation 2/24 –San Ramon Regional Medical Center (CEO Ann Lucena presenting) 3/3 -Sunflower Hill Non-Profit (Mike Roberts President Elect presenting) 3/10 - San Ramon City Council Hot Topics (Mark Armstrong presenting) 3/17 -District 5160 Governor, (Kathy Suviapresenting) 3/31 – State of Our Schools (Dr. John Malloy presenting - Educator of the Year is planned for April 21st
- Smoke Alarm Project is awaiting HOA clearance, inventory replenishment
- Rise Against Hunger is scheduled for Sunday March 20th to prepare 20,000 meals. An invitation to members will soon be sent.
- Cioppino Dinner will commence on Friday at 6pm for successful Rotary bidders for the event.
Recognitions Patti Hennigan celebrating her birthday was recognized for $30. She will be going out bowling with family including adults, kids and extended family members. Gary Sloan was hit up for $50 for taking Barbara to the Ritz Carlton at Half Moon Bay for her birthday. Mike Thelen (2/5 birthday) and Dennis/Sharon Anniversary (2/6) were not present to receive proper recognition. Presentation: Story Walk (AKA: How do you get Rotarians to exercise?) Colette Lay took the club on a walking tour of the completed Story Walk Project. Conceived in 2018, then PE Lay had grand plans to develop a Rotary Park complete with Gazebo, Rotary emblem displays and play ground. With counsel from Chris Gallagher (the crusher of all dreams), Colette met with the San Ramon Parks Director who suggested a partnership with the library to establish a Story Walk in the park where families and kids could enjoy a book at 18 stations throughout the park. Karen McNamara guided Colette through the maze of city approvals and finally in 2020 the Story Book Walk was completed with a 10-year MOU. This trademark product’s story is changed every 3-6 months while recognizing the contributions of the City, Library and Rotary. Colette developed a grant and received matching grants at a 3:1 ratio. The Library must go through a complicated process of selecting, vetting and receiving approval for stories for 4-8 year olds. Our road trip featured the story “Hank’s Big Day: The Story of a Bug”. There were pages of a children’s book at 18 stations with the stations 19 and 20 recognizing the sponsors including Rotary (which Colette will follow-up due to our club’s absent recognition of this day). While most Rotarians (except for Geoff and Gary) could walk the course with ease, many Rotarians seem to have reading skill improvement needs. Upon our return to the meeting Glen received the $20 greeter’s gift and Terry got $10 having failed to pull the white marble. The pool is now worth $230! Our next meeting will be February 17, 2021 featuring Sohail Siddiqi regarding the Harlan House Preservation efforts. Jerry Marrs will be our Greeter. The meeting was adjourned at 1:20p. Respectfully submitted, Gary Sloan Scribe |
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