Meeting Summary April 26, 2011

Posted by Bertram Raphael 
on Apr 27, 2011
 
 

President’s Greeting:   Welcome to the Best Rotary Club! 

 

Pledge of Allegiance: Roger Kao

 

Thought for the Day:  Tom Myers led us to a moment of silence               in sympathy with Dave Cole and his family.

 

Song of the Day:  Phil Armi led us in “If you’re happy in Rotary…”

 

Introduction of Visitors:  No visitors this week.

 

Exchange Student Update: Bert Raphael informed us that he is counseling a Palo Alto high school student, Tim Young, who is presently a Rotary Exchange Student in Germany. Bert read from a postcard in which Tim advised us that his host family took him to a vacation home in Sweden that had no internet or TV, and he had to endure “three whole days without Facebook”! It was a shocking experience, but somehow he survived and even in some ways enjoyed the unique experience.

Bert is still looking for a Mountain View of Los Altos family who might be able to host a German exchange student for a few months next spring.

 

Recognition:

New Member Bio – Barry Cook told us a little about himself. He has lived his entire life in the Silicon Valley area. He was trained as an engineer and worked at NASA before participating in a series of start-ups. He founded his own company, Peak Laboratories, from his garage. It is now a profitable enterprise with seven employees and sells hundreds of varieties of electronic instruments worldwide.

 

Club Announcements:

Cole Family: Our thoughts are with Dave Cole, whose 29-year-old son, James Aaron Cole, died unexpectedly of a massive heart attack last week.  A proud member of the Google family, James was a hard working young man who lived each day to its fullest, bringing joy and laughter wherever he went.  A Memorial Service and Life Celebration is to be held at Google’s Charlie’s Café, 1600 Amphitheater Parkway, Bldg 40, Mountain View CA 94043, commencing at 1pm on Saturday, April 30th 2011.

We are collecting contributions to make a donation to our Endowment Fund in honor of James Cole. Checks can be donated, and a card signed, at our next meeting; make out the check to “Mountain View Rotary Endowment Fund”, with “James Cole Donation” on the memo line.  Alternatively, “The James Cole Memorial Fund” has been created through their church.  Donations can be made payable to:  Lutheran Community Foundation -and in the memo write “The James Cole Memorial Fund”.  Please send those donations to:  Lutheran Community Foundation, 625 4th Ave. S., Ste. 1500, Minneapolis, MN  55415

For additional information, please contact Spangler Mortuaries at 650-967-5546 or see their website at spanglermortuary.com

 

New Community Service Project: We are starting a new effort to assist the Community Service Agency, with a Food of the Month Project. Tom will give us recommendations for what type of food is needed and we will collect the food at meetings each week. Through May we will be collecting healthy snack type items such as granola bars.

The board also discussed donating clothing to the homeless. Tom mentioned that the real need is for under garments.

So next time you find yourself at Target, Costco or Victoria Secret pick up an extra pack of undies and bring them in.

 

Bylaw Change – We voted on adding a line to our newly approved by-laws for the job description of the Secretary & Treasurer. (This was part of the old bylaws but was left off due to an oversight)

“To compensate for the time demands of this office the Club shall provide remuneration as approved by the Board.”

The motion passed without any objections.

 

RotaCare Meal Delivery -- Jim Cochran reported that the schedule has been filled for the next several months—thank you all for helping!

 

Yipee Mixer--  For our Energetic Young Professionals there will be a mixer co-hosted with the Sunnyvale Chamber on Thursday April 28th from 5-7pm at the Maple Tree Inn 711 E. El Camino in Sunnyvale.

 

Rotary District Celebration -- Please join President Sandi and several of our members for dinner on Saturday night May 7th at the District Celebration. You have all worked hard serving your community this year and you deserve a night out.

 

 

Speaker – Bob Parsons, Outreach Advocate from Stanford University – Stroke Awareness

Mr. Parsons is making presentations to as many groups as he can reach to raise awareness of some of the issues involved in stroke detection and treatment. The key factor is speed of treatment: In many cases the difference between full recovery and substantial permanent injury is getting medical care (and a particular medication) within a few hours of the first symptoms.

Unfortunately Mr. Parsons’ videos of blood flowing and clotting apparently were so disturbing that one of our members (Heather) fainted in the middle of the presentation, causing paramedics to be called and the meeting to be abruptly ended. (No, she did not have a stroke!) Thanks to all who assisted. We are pleased to report that Heather has recovered fully with no apparent illness or after-effects.

 

Next weeks Speaker –  Palo Alto Medical Foundation

 

Greeter is – Dr. Steve Nichols