Rotarians, visitors and guests flowed toward the meeting site. Last week - Past President's Day. Next Week - Queen of Hearts Celebration. What would this week bring?
At the Bell
President Rick called on Chris O'Neill to lead the Pledge of Allegiance.
JT Martin, ready or not, led the group in God Bless America.
Dorothy Rodella gave the Thought for the Day from an anonymous source –
"If you don’t like where you are - move - you are not a tree."
Visiting Rotarians and Guests
Bud Daveiro introduced several visiting Rotarians including District Governor Erin Dunn all the way from Fortuna.
From Sebastopol Sunrise - Brian Bauer,
President Mikel Cook, and Michael McGlothlin.
The Sunrise Club brought reminders of their upcoming Mardi Gras/Casino Night fundraiser this coming February 20 at the Sebastopol Community Center.
Also visiting were Michelle Kavata and Mary Graves from Sonoma State University.
Guests included Jack Dunlap's wife Ruth.
Jeff Boal brought Jean.
Bob Rogers introduced his wife Peggy.
Michael Hixson introduced Bruna our exchange student. Bruna is raffling off some great Brazilian stuff to raise money to take a trip with other exchange students. Buy your tickets today.
Green Badges to Red
Cindy Carter and Russ Cunningham turned their Green Badges to Red.
Announcements
President Rick announced that the Super Bowl Charity Board was full. Numbers will be distributed and we can all have a reason to watch the game now.
Edwin and Diana Wilson want to invite EVERYONE to next week’s Queen of Hearts meeting. You do not need to bring a significant other (but it would be nice).
Rookie Sketch - Jeff Boal
Some Sebastopol Rotarians may not know Jeff Boal by now. These Rotarians also have probably been living under a bridge and don't know the sky is blue. Nevertheless, Jeff is a Green Badger due to his recent return to the club and must be subjected to the rigors of a proper Rookie Sketch before he can turn to red.
Jeff presented an amusing slideshow taking us deep into the past. Jeff was born in Eagle Rock CA, and grew up near Paul Thielen. He had an identical twin brother named Jerry. Jeff and Jerry did everything together until they graduated from high school and both signed up for the Peace Corps. They were shipped off to different parts of the world for their service.
Jeff went to Peliliu [in the island nation of Palau -Ed.], near the Philippines and spent a tour of duty without electricity and modern conveniences. Despite the hardships he managed to meet and woo his future wife Jean. They returned to the US to have their child and fell in love with Sebastopol. They moved here and Jeff began his career with Northwestern Mutual.
Ten years ago, after Jean attended seminary, they moved to Trinity County where Jean served as minister of Trinity Congregational Church. Last September, they returned to Sebastopol and Jeff re-upped with his old Rotary Club. Welcome Back Jeff.
Recognition
Paul Harris Awards
District Governor Erin Dunn took the podium with Sally Ewald and Dorothy Rodella to present several Paul Harris Awards.
Erin mentioned that Paul Harris awards fund Rotary International Projects everywhere. She announced that she had recently signed off on an Adopt A Village project in Ecuador for our club which was prepared and presented by Frank Mayhew.
Chris O'Neill was awarded his first Paul Harris.
Jack Blasco got a +2.
Jeff Boal a +4.
Bob Rogers received a +6 and
Norm Stupfel a +8
And all of above received a standing ovation.
President Rick gave a shout out to everyone who worked so hard to put together last week's Past President's Day.
He also announced that he and others traveled to Middletown for a Rotary fund raiser to assist with those who suffered in this summer's fires. Our Club put up an auction prize of a dinner for fifty which raised $2,500 for the group. This summer the club will be asking for help to put on this dinner for the winning bidders. It will be on April 28 - Venue TBD.
Rick also showed some photos of the damage done by the horrible conflagration. But the community is strong and resilient and will rise again.
Rotaracter Michelle Kavata from Sonoma State Rotoract recently returned from Haiti where she set up a simple telemedicine system. Michelle and her club are interested in setting up more such systems in other parts of the world.
She has been contacted by people in India who are interested. All that is needed is an internet connection in Haiti for the program to commence. Their motto is Rotary+Doctors+Technology. Learn more at globaloffsitecare.org.
President Rick asked for a moment of silence in memory of Elaine Fink who passed away last Friday.
Congratulations to Jim Pacatte and Rosemary who were celebrating their 50th wedding anniversary that very day.
The Raffle
The odds were improved this week but Bob Cugini could not pull the lucky ACE.
Our speaker for the day was Mike Toy. Mike is a motivational speaker and a pretty darn good magician too.
Mike began by asking everyone to reach one arm in the air as high as they could. He then asked everyone to reach just a little higher. Everyone did. Mike was illustrating that everyone can do just a little bit better at anything they attempt.
Mike asked our exchange student Bruna to assist for his next feat. No- he didn't saw her in half. He asked the audience for various negative traits in his example, restaurants. Then he asked for good traits. Bruno wrote them all down. Mike then pointed out that everyone knows the keys to success. These are not mysteries but obvious qualities of good and bad.
He then asked Robin Maybury to assist. No- he didn't make him disappear but asked him to write down a number between 20 and 50. Mike then wrote several numbers in a matrix on the board. Robin said that his number was 42. All of the numbers Mike had written down added up to 42 ????? Magic??? Who knows?
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Guests included Jack Dunlap's wife Ruth.
Michael Hixson introduced Bruna our exchange student. Bruna is raffling off some great Brazilian stuff to raise money to take a trip with other exchange students. Buy your tickets today.
Some Sebastopol Rotarians may not know Jeff Boal by now. These Rotarians also have probably been living under a bridge and don't know the sky is blue. Nevertheless, Jeff is a Green Badger due to his recent return to the club and must be subjected to the rigors of a proper Rookie Sketch before he can turn to red.
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Congratulations to Jim Pacatte and Rosemary who were celebrating their 50th wedding anniversary that very day.
Mike began by asking everyone to reach one arm in the air as high as they could. He then asked everyone to reach just a little higher. Everyone did. Mike was illustrating that everyone can do just a little bit better at anything they attempt.
