meeting summary March 8, 2011
President Sandi called to order the best Rotary club ever at 12:30 PM
Chuck Osborn led our pledge to the flag.
Hiro Karyia was our greeter and gave the thought of the day.
Alan Goodman and Eleanor Sheldon led us in song "I've Just Seen a Face" by The Beatles
President-Elect Anita Grossman invited introductions to any visitors to the meeting. We welcomed two visiting Rotarians, Bill Mayhood, from the Los Altos evening club and Cal Parson, from the Avalon, Catalina Island club. Maureen and Cal were guests of club members.
Club announcements by President Sandi
We congratulatedAnitaGrossman for graduating from President Elect Training. Anita shared that she is very excited to be our new president and is looking forward to serving with us this next year.
Mother's Day Cards are available through District 5170 - Honor mothers on Mother's Day and help mothers in regions of the world protect their children from the spread of Polio. Your $25 donation will provide polio vaccines for 40 children. If you have signed up please make your check payable to The Rotary Foundation and give them to Gerry Felix.
Polio Update - On Rotary's 106th Birthday when RI offered double recognition points our District raised $28,000 towards the Bill Gates Challenge. As of Feb 25, 2011 Rotary has raised $163 million towards the $200 million dollar challenge. The number of Polio cases reported in 2011 is just 23 worldwide. Congratulation, you are making a difference.
Our club fellowship ski trip event in Tahoe is just a couple weeks away. Speak with Bruce Barsi about the details or questions about this fabulous weekend, March 24 - 27.
Bill Maston was praised again for providing temporary housing for the 24 year old Julian Benning, Rotaractor from Germany, while he attends Stanford this quarter. He shared that Julian is a talented energetic young man and is now settling into more permanent housing for the quarter.
Bert Raphael shared the status of the Youth Exchange Program. There are two programs, short, and long term, that we will be able to support this next year. The short term is just for the summer and the long term is for one academic year. Bert shared that more Rotarians are needed to become qualified to administer the Youth Exchange Program for our club. Please contact Bert if you would like to volunteer to help in this effort.
The final crab feed tally is in and we raised $14,587 to go towards our community grants.
Kim Castro thanked everyone for all the fund rising work this last year. She will be forming the g rant committee to evaluate where the fund shall be distributed. Contact Kim if you are interested in reading application for grant distribution.
Chuck Osborn shared some details about this next year's scholarship interview process. Chuck is the total Scholarship coordinator and for Mountain View High School J udy Hanneman is the coordinator for Alta Vista and Adult Ed. Bruce Barsi is the coordinator for St. Francis. A coordinator for Los Altos is still needed. Tom Myers, Ken Schwarder, Jenny-Rebecca Sacaardo, and Anita Grossman have also volunteered to help with interviews.
Anita Grossman reported the age demographics of our club and we will need to address the membership outreach this next year. The Membership Pilot Program that was presented last week shall be further discussed on Tuesday March 22nd.
There is also a sign-up sheet for the District Assembly on April 9th. This is an educational event for next year's board, for red badgers or anyone interested in attending. Fee is paid by the club.
Brochures about the District Celebration May 4 - 8 at the Santa Clara Marriott were available at each table. This event can be registered via online at the district website.
Bill Gates will be speaking on Tuesday May 24th from 3pm-5pm on the End Polio Now Campaign at the Rotary International Convention in New Orleans. Information for this event is available on the district website.
The End Polio Walk scheduled for March 20th in San Jose. You can register on the district website.
Speaker: Eleanor Sheldon - The rewards & challenges of aging.
Carla Paul introduced Eleanor Sheldon as the speaker for today. Eleanor is currently volunteering her time to follow-up with discharged patients from El-Camino Hospital.
Eleanor shared her life with some inspiring stories. She gave us some great ideas how to add years on to our lives. She ended her talk with a humors "Sound of music" song about aging.
Next week's Speaker is Merlin Martin of RoadRunners, Senior Transportation Services at El-Camino Hospital
Greeter and thought personfor next week is Twana Karney