Meeting recap for April 10.2012
Greeter: Bruce Barsi
President’s Greeting: Welcome to the Rotary Club of Mountain View – the BEST club ever! Our call to action for 2011-12 is to “Reach Within to Embrace Humanity”
Pledge of Allegiance: Led by Bert Raphael
Thought for the Day: Bruce Barsi provided memorable quotes from Ronald Reagan
Song of the Day: With the absence or our notable Songmaster and all capable backups, we were silent today
Introduction of Visitors: President Anita presided over introductions of our visitors today. They included:
Eric Hawks, Past Rotarian and son of Ernie Hawks
Nick Spangler, current cast member of “Book of Mormons” and son of Jim Spangler
Justine DeClaro, Saint Francis student and Club sponsored exchange student to Rome
Joy DeClaro, mother of Justine
And our Exchange Student from Spain Rafael, staying with Hal Taylor.
General Club Announcements:
· Foundation Minute – Gerry Felix – Gerry provided an inspirational story about support provided by the Rotary Foundation in Africa and she congratulated the Club for 100% participation in contributions to the Foundation.
· Community Service Minute – Jim Spangler – Jim told us that the community grant process has started for this year and he will be seeking help from club members to review applications and make recommendations for the awards.
· Induction of New Member – Bruce Barsi introduced Craig Goldman as the Club’s newest member. Craig was originally from the Chicago area and he attended Stanford University, partly because of the quality of education, but mostly for the improved climate from the Midwest. He originally began his career as an attorney in Southern California, but moved to the field of education and the Mountain View Whisman School District about fourteen years ago. With the District, he reopened Huff School and served as the Principal there. He was the Chief Financial Officer for the District for five years before becoming Superintendent two years ago. Under his leadership, the Mountain View Whisman School District has become one of the top districts in the area. Craig is the father of three sixteen year old daughters (triplets) and currently faces the challenge of teaching them to drive. And apart from that when he can find the time, he enjoys hiking and reading.
President Anita formalized Craig’s membership as a Mountain View Rotarian and provided him with his red badge. He received a standing ovation from members at the meeting.
· Justine de Claro presentation – Justine is currently a senior at Saint Francis High School and she was sponsored by the Mountain View Rotary Club as an outbound exchange student to Rome last summer. She shared several photographs of her host family and their experiences in Italy. She said the program was a life changing experience and she is very grateful to the Mountain View Rotary for sponsoring her. She became very close with her host family and learned to respect other cultures as well as herself. Justine presented President Anita with a banner from the Rotary Club of Rome.
· In last week’s meeting, Past President Tom Myers put into nomination the following people for the 2012 2013 Rotary Year:
§ President – Judy Hannemann
§ Past President – Anita Grossmann
§ Secretary – Chuck Osborn
§ Treasurer – Sheila Hodgkinson
§ Club Service – Walt Joyce
§ International Service- Monique Kane
§ Membership – Jerylann Mateo
§ New Generations – Hal Taylor
§ Special Projects – Bert Raphael
§ Fine Master – Bruce Barsi
§ Web Master – Heather Stenshamn
§ Crab Feed Chair – Alan Goodman
Voting on these positions will be held at the next meeting.
SPEAKER INTRO & PRESENTATION: Jim Cunningham first introduced Joy Palmer-Cooper who is a former Ambassadorial Scholar sponsored by our club and had been our speaker several weeks ago. She expressed how pleased she was to be back to her “second Rotary home” in Mountain View.
Jim then introduced today’s speaker, Professor David Cooper, talking about “Responses to Disasters – the Sri Lankan Experience.” David spoke of the tsunami which hit Sri Lanka in 2004, killing more and 150,000 people and leaving a half million people homeless. He said as devastating as the physical effects of the disaster were, the psychological effects were worse and certainly, much longer lasting. People’s sense of comfort and security were shattered and many continue to suffer from post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). The recovery from this disaster for Sri Lanka has been very slow and there are very few resources still available for this purpose.
Next week’s speaker is Rich Casey from the Los Altos Club who will speak on the Liberia AIDS project
At a Board meeting after the regular club meeting, it was decided to move back to the Adobe Building in Mountain View, probably in mid May. The building is currently undergoing some work and we want to give the Elks club 4 weeks notice. We will have a new caterer serving us, Café Venti. Unfortunately, the Board also voted a cost increase to $20 for members and $25 for guests.