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DIGITAL EDITION No. 173   April 27, 2016  EDITOR: Sam Saunders   PHOTOGRAPHER: Diane Moresi

Our Program for May 4th:

CANNABIS INITIATIVE

Fiona Ma_OfficialFiona Ma was elected to the State Board of Equalization (SBOE) on November 4, 2014 with 68% of the vote. She represents 23 counties and ten million Californians. She is the first woman CPA to serve on the SBOE since the board formed in 1879 and recently became its Chairwoman. It is the only elected tax board in America.

As Chair of the SBOE, Ms. Ma is working hard to promote a culture of fairness, efficiency and respect for California’s taxpayers and businesses. She is aggressively combatting the underground economy which deprives California of approximately $8.5 billion in tax revenue. In her first year as a Board Member, Ms. Ma launched an outreach effort through her district offices that significantly decreased the number of cannabis dispensaries operating without proper permits or collecting taxes.

This week she will speak to the cannabis initiative coming up, its tax implications, and what else may result in its passage.

UPCOMING PROGRAMS

Wednesday, May 4th: Cannabis Initiative
Wednesday, May 11th: Rye and Rebound Students
Wednesday, May 18th: The Nepal Earthquake: The One Year Anniversary

USEFUL LINKS

Visit our district at: http://www.rotary5130.org
Check out Rotary International at: http://www.rotary.org
Come see us at: http://rotarymeansbusiness

PLAY BALL! 

With baseball season now in full-swing, President Doug Johnson  made a Doug-2-Doug-2-Doug triple play by introducing Doug Chase to lead the Pledge of Allegiance AND provide the Rotary Invocation/Thought for the Day – a story of his visit with a wise monk at a mountain-side monastery, who, being brilliant, did not possess all the answers or all the wisdom of the Universe.  Keep searching Doug – you’re getting warmer.

ROTARIANS WHO VISIT

Ryan Thomas did not introduce visiting Rotarians because there were none in attendance today!

GUESTS OF MEMBERS

Jock McNeill introduced his daughter Molly, who happens to be Diane Moresi’s grand-daughter.  Past-President Steve Olson hosted SRJC student Matthew Smith, the recipient of this years’ John Brown Memorial Veterans Scholarship (more later).  Various guests in connection with today’s program were introduced by Peter Holewinski and Past-President Rich de Lambert.

Bill Hatcher and Ted Wilmsen - Ted did not draw the winning marble - this time

Bill Hatcher and Ted Wilmsen – Ted did not draw the winning marble – this time

RAFFLE (or LOSING OUR MARBLES) 

Ted Wilmsen once again touched first base as the winning ticket holder, but he was called out at second by Bill Hatcher for failing to find the yellow marble.  He is $10 richer now and the pot grows (which is next weeks’ program). Ted usually wins when the pot is richer.

SUNSHINE REPORT

Ginny Cannon informed us that Secretary Jack Abercrombie remains on the injured reserve list and needs another week before returning to the starting rotation.  Dick Jenkins was back with us today!  Ginny also gave a positive pitch for a recent New Gen event and for the Ray of Hope Foundation.

THE PRESIDENT’S POST

President Doug asks for 3 suggestions from members for topics for the next Club Assembly on May 25 (a ‘town hall’ style open forum).  The theme will be “Rotary 2020” with a view toward the future.  A suggestion box and index cards will be located at the entrance to our meeting next week.  Make your suggestions only once. You can also leave your suggestions for President Doug at lutrosis@pacbell.net

President Doug invited Ann Gospe to give us an introduction to our Club website link to Sign-Up Genius where we can schedule our volunteer time for the Giro Bello event.  She made it look so easy!  Thank you, Ann.

When President Doug started up his computer recently he noticed that his desktop icons were hidden behind a gray screen and unaccessible to him due to an attack by some ransomware that took control of his files. His anti-virus software must have let him down.  He regained control because he had made a back-up copy of his hard drive and was able to wipe out the hard drive and reinstall the back-up copy.  Steve Margburger helped him and Steve said that ransomware has infected older versions of Adobe’s Flashware software.  He recommended going to adobe.com and installing an updated version of it.

ANNOUNCEMENTS OF NOTE 

Jack Geary of the Sergeant-at-Arms committee asks for two volunteers to help set-up and take down at our weekly meetings.  Sounds like a reasonable request.  See Jack if you can help.

Past President Debi Zaft reminds us that May is Rotarian magazine month and she’d like to bat a thousand (as in 1.0) in the readership realm.  Sign up for this at next weeks’ meeting.

Rotary does a float for the Rose Parade?  Yep, that’s what Diane Moresi said.  Our club is collaborating with several other clubs to sponsor a float.  She is looking for a few volunteers and some roses.  Ahem, and who might have those thorny gems??

Jeff Gospe said that our Youth Exchange committee is looking for a family to host our foreign exchange student for a few months.  See Jeff if you can make that happen.

Steve Olsen presents the John Brown Memorial Scholarship to Mathew Smith

Steve Olsen presents the John Brown Memorial Scholarship to Mathew Smith

Past President Steve Olson presented a $2,000 scholarship from the John Brown Memorial Veterans Scholarship Fund to SRJC student Matthew Smith.  Matthew has a 3.72 GPA and will be majoring in Sociology at a 4-year university to be determined.  Matthew graduated high school in 2003 and enlisted in the U.S. Marine Corps and was sent to Iraq as part of the Iraqi Freedom deployment. He honored our late member, John Brown, a Marine Corps Colonel (Ret.).

Steve requested additional donations to the John Brown Fund of our local Foundation so that the fund would be sustained on a continuous basis, beyond the original donations of Vickie Hardcastle and Wayne Rowlands.

HOME RUN ( $ ) DERBY

President Doug possessed a pic of Vickie Hardcastle at a SF Giants baseball game last weekend.

Vickie stood up and said that pic was worth $100.  She bunted that amount as a donation to the John Brown Memorial Veterans Scholarship Fund.

Sergeant-at-Arms Jack Geary informed the group that President Doug will be missing President Jose’s first meeting in July.  Doug explained he and his granddaughter will be at Disneyland for a few days, so he called out a $100 donation from his bullpen for the John Brown Fund.

Robbie Fouts was getting tickets to another Burning Man event for 2016 and he decided it would also be a good time to donate to the John Brown Fund – $150 and also $50 to the Jack Levar Memorial Communications Scholarship Fund.  Way to go, Robbie!  A double play!

Batting 4th in this rotation, Peter Holewinski made it to the podium to introduce today’s program when he determined to not be left out in left field and miss all the fun; so he, too, donated $100 to the John Brown Fund!

If that isn’t a home run, I don’t know what is!

FEATURED PROGRAM

World Community Service committee chair, Peter Holewinski, MC’d our program which focused on what our Club is doing in the international effort to improve human living conditions.  Six projects were highlighted today by various committee members.  In these six projects, we are partnering with other Rotary clubs and sometimes obtaining grants from Rotary International as a means of increasing our effectiveness in these endeavors.

  • Project Amigo poster

    Project Amigo poster

    Project Amigo – In Colima, Mexico, hundreds of poor children from elementary school to university level are receiving medical and dental care, literacy help, and donated school supplies and clothes and tuition assistance to help them achieve their highest potential. The on-site director of this project, Jenna Saldana, was introduced by Past President Will Haymaker.  Jenna spoke of the remarkable advancement made by two specific students.  Her primary goal this year is to increase the graduation rate of university students because the ‘ripple effect’ extends the economic and social impact beyond just the lives of the students as it touches the lives of others in their local communities.   Our club sponsors five students.

  • Global Micro-credit (loans) – Past President Kathleen Archer explained that our club is funding small ($400 – $600) short-term loans (1-yr) to impoverished people in Columbia to use for starting a trade or business. The loans are repaid weekly and at the end of one year, the repaid money is circulated again in a new round of loans to others starting or growing a business. Many of the borrowers are women and young adults.
  • Rotarian Rich deLambert spoke on the Foot Project for Diabetics

    Rotarian Rich de Lambert spoke on the Foot Project for Diabetics

    Nepal Foot Care – this is a new project, introduced to us by Past President Rich de Lambert, who started off with a $50 donation to the John Brown Fund. Rich introduced Laura, a nurse with Kaiser who has experience with treating diabetics with foot problems.  She is coordinating care on multiple fronts by recruiting nurses to journey to Nepal because the conditions there are quite dire.  Rich presented a $1,000 check to Laura to start the production of a foot care manual to be used in that effort. You could say we are footing the bill on this one.

  • Shelter BoxRick Allen has been on the World Community Service committee for twelve years and the Shelter Box project has been sponsored by our club for about ten of those years. The box is a crate with shelter supplies delivered to  areas hit by a catastrophe. It contains blankets, water, lamp, tools, cooking utensils and a kids activity book.
  • Telemedicine Project – Four Rotary clubs are involved in providing iPads for communications in India (this year) to allow locals to get medical information via electronic means. The iPads will be delivered this year.
  • Project Peanut Butter – this is non-profit organization making and distributing ready-to-use therapeutic food to severely malnourished children in primarily sub-Saharan Africa. It is a peanut-based, lipid-rich paste that the United Nations and World Health Organization has recognized as a standard of care for acute malnutrition.]

While we are doing a lot to alleviate some of the world’s worst-suffering conditions, there is no end in sight for the need.  This was a good eye-opener.  Thanks to the World Community Service committee for bringing this to our attention.

President Doug adjourned the meeting in extra innings by thanking all the volunteers today who helped make this meeting a success. What?  No peanuts? Red Sox fans dont like peanuts?

PARTING SHOT

Molly McNeill guest of her dad, Rotarian Jock McNeill

Molly McNeill guest of her dad, Rotarian Jock McNeill

 

OFFICERS

Rotary Club of Santa Rosa Officers

President:Doug Johnson, President Elect: Jose Guillen, President Elect Nominee: Julia Parranto, Past President: Mark Burchill, Secretary: Jack Abercrombie, Treasurer: Cecil G. Humes, Sergeant at Arms: Jack Geary

President Rotary International

K.R. “Ravi” Ravindran, member of the Rotary Club of Colombo, Western Province, Sri Lanka

Governor, District 5130

Erin Dunn, member of the Rotary Club of Fortuna Sunrise

Attendance Secretary

Jack Abercrombie P.O. Box 505 Santa Rosa, CA 95402 707-538-4770

Board of Directors

Jack Atkin, Karen Ball, Tim Delaney, Tim Fawcett, Gesine Franchetti, Bill Hatcher, Will Haymaker, Elizabeth Karbousky, Steve Olson