Meeting Summary Sept 20, 2011

President Anita Grossman welcomed everyone to the Rotary Club of Mountain View @ 12:31PM, the BEST club ever. Our call to action for 2011-12 is to “Reach Within to Embrace Humanity” and our Rotary International President is Kalyan Banerjee.

Pledge of Allegiance: Jerylann Mateo

Thought for the Day:  Barry Cook

Song of the Day:  Phil Armi

Introduction of Visitors:

Judy Hannemann introduced a visiting Rotarian, Jim, from Trinidad. He is here visiting his family for the next few weeks. Rotary flags were exchanged.

Rotary Foundation Minute:

Geri Felix shared a story where the foundation has changed people’s lives. Rotary Foundation help developed and industry making coconuts nets to prevent soil erosion.

Club Announcements:

Geri Felix shared a thank you note and e-mail from Bianca Chang from Germany.  Bianca is our long-term exchange student.

“It’s been a month since I arrived in Germany . So far, I have been doing Karate, taking private German lessons with a retired German teacher and will join a youth choir soon. I also have been to two Rotary meetings in Weimar and have gave them the Mountain View banner. They loved it a lot and the banner is now in one of the the room in Elephant Hotel, the best hotel in Weimar city. Tomorrow, I will participate in a charity run with one of the Rotarian’s daughter, his daughter’s friend and the other Mexican inbound student. The first inbound orientation is in two weeks. I have already talked to some of the inbound students from my district and they all seem very nice. I will tell you more about my life in Germany once I attend more events.”

We are starting registration for District 5170’s Avenues of Service. The event is on October 20 at the DoubleTree in San Jose, and the Club picks up the tab for the day. The sessions look very interesting, with forums on Rotary Foundation Scholars, FaceBook and Social Media, as well as videoconferencing through Skype. The nuts and bolts of the  Youth Protection Certification Process will also be featured, and there will be LiveScan available on-site.  The event will also include a Project Faire and an opportunity to purchase Rotary wear and other products. Fill out the form or go to the District Website. 

Quick reminder that we are adjusting our Fellowship Meeting this month so we can welcome and honor Professor Joy Palmer-Cooper, a Rotary Ambassadorial Scholar hosted by our District in 1982 and hosted by our club during her scholarship year at Stanford.  Joy returns to the Bay Area to mark this anniversary and tell us of her ongoing commitment to the humanitarian mission of Rotary. This would be an ideal time to invite prospective members and members from other clubs – Heather, thank you for contacting the Area 9 presidents. Since the meeting was originally scheduled as an evening Fellowship event, we will need a volunteer or two to be the greeter, provide an inspirational thought for the day and take notes for the Club Bulletin.

The Los Altos Sunrise Club will be offering a Fellowship meeting next Tuesday, September 27, at Los Charros. The meeting begins at 7:15 in the evening.

We will reinstate our Fellowship meetings the last Tuesday of the month in October and will be scouting out new venues that offer a bit more in the way of refreshments.

Last week we discussed the increase in renting the Adobe House for our meetings; the cost has gone up almost 100% - $127.00 per meeting, as opposed to $55 under the old rates. The increase is due to the addition of janitorial services. Our caterer is offering delicious food at a very reasonable rate. We are under contract for a minimum of 30 lunches – also very reasonable.  Even with the terrific speaker line-up that Judy has put together, attendance has been low, hovering around 24-25. So basically, we are already subsidizing meals and now with the increased rental costs, we’re the red. Our contract with the City of Mountain View is up for renewal in January. The Board will be talking about this at this matter, and we welcome your input. Perhaps you are connected with a company or business where we can use the facilities on a regular basis. Please let us know.

Alan Goodman announced the date of the annual crab feed. Mark your calendars, January 28 2012.

Jim Spangler shared that he had been in New York attending two shows that his son is performing in. Jim fines himself $20.00 for being a very proud father.

Speakers:

Today we had Superintendent Craig Goldman from the Mountain View Whisman School District and Superintendent Dr. Barry Grove from the Mountain View Los Altos High School District as our speakers today. Craig Goldman gave a history of himself and explained the mission statement for the Mountain View Whisman School District.  Dr. Grove shared a story of a first generation college bound Los Altos H.S. student. Both speakers fielded good questions from attending Rotarians.

Next week’s guest speaker is Professor Joy Palmer-Cooper.  We are looking for a volunteer for the “Three-fer”

The Board is meeting next Tuesday at 4:15, location TBD.