DIGITAL EDITION No. 281 August 15, 2018  EDITOR: Layne Bowen PHOTOGRAPHER: Kris Anderson PUBLISHER: Richard Lazovick

Our Program For Wednesday, August 22, 2018

Fire Recover and The Building Industry

Keith Woods

“Rebuilding the North Bay: What’s Going Right and What’s Going Wrong”

Keith Woods is CEO of the North Bay Coast Builders Exchange, the 1250-member organization representing contractors and construction-related firms in Sonoma, Lake, Mendocino, and Napa Counties.

Keith has spent the past 10 months working closely with fire victims, residential contractors, government officials, the media, and others as the North Bay recovers and rebuilds after last October’s devastating and historic firestorms.  

UPCOMING PROGRAMS

Wednesday August 29, 2018: Barbara Spangler – Welcome our District Governor
Wednesday September 12, 2018: Patricia Schaeffer – New Gen Update
Wednesday October 24, 2018: Buck Institute – Dr. Eric Verdin

UPCOMING SOCIALS

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

Opening Ceremonies

President Tony Roehrick called the meeting to order.

Pledge: Layne Bowen

Invocation: Jackie McMillan

Guests

Angie Rizzo and Lorna Brown. Laurentius Martono, our inbound Rotary exchange student was a guest of Craig Meltzner.

Visiting Rotarians

None were present today.

Sunshine

Debi Zaft reported that Steve Marbuger’s mother passed away. Please keep him in your thoughts and prayers.

Wobby’s Waffle

Robby announced that $359 Yankee dollars were up for grabs and then had his own ticket drawn. He promised, if he won, to split his winnings with the club, but did not get the winning marble. We are down to two marbles, folks!

Cathy’s Joke

I was walking home last night and decided to take a short cut through the cemetery… 3 girls walked up to me and explained they were scared to walk past the cemetery at night, so I agreed to let them walk along with me. I told them “I understand…I used to get freaked out too when I was alive”.

I’ve never seen anyone run so fast!!!

Announcements

Tony announced a fundraising event

Doug Johnson sent around a signup sheet to work the Rotary rest stop at Monte Rio for the Gran Fondo in October.

Craft Talk for Jack Geary

Peter Holewinski described Jack’s life starting in Philadelphia. He attended the University of Arizona and met his wife Edelweiss there. They raised two children Andrea and David  After working for Del Monte, Jack got a teaching credential and started teaching. He got a masters at Sonoma State. Jack has been a Rotarian for over 37 years. He started Geary and Associates with a number of satellite offices working with many businesses and business leaders.
Jack was the Sergeant of Arms for our club for many years and has been a wonderful influence on younger members.

Yale Abrams presented Lorna Brown an award recipient from our fire fund. Lorna’s Childrens Fitness Ctr. My Gym had a tough 2007 from difficulty staffing to the fire on October 9th. She shared how the $5,000 grant helped her in a tremendous time of need. Many customers, young families, lost their homes in Coffey Park and Larkfield. Lorna used the money to pay it forward from customers who lost their home so that they could continue the normalcy of attending My Gym.

Program

Diane Moresi introduced Rotarian of the Year Jeff Kolin. First, Diane gave an overview of Jeff’s impressive career as a city manager for Pittsburg, Santa Rosa and Beverly Hills. 

Jeff presented today’s program, a review of our largest fundraiser, Giro Bello. Looking ahead, Jeff discussed ways we can keep the event vibrant and profitable.

He began by saying that this should be a celebration of accomplishment. It is one of the top 5 cycling events in Sonoma County, Jeff gave the statistics of items that generate income. We made $40,000 on sponsorships, not counting in kind sponsorships. Total net proceeds from the event were $78,245.00, a record for our club!

Jeff noted a number of new and returning cycling teams attended our 2018 event. 2014 was our peak ridership year, but we are more than making up for that in sponsorships. Cycling teams who participated this year were: Team Asha, Tea, Viavi, Sutter, Santa Rosa Memorial Hospital, Keysite and Club Sport Pleasanton. We received over 95% positive feedback, an extraordinarily high number of positive comments. We receive high marks for the course, rest stops, personalized service and attention to detail.  Over 50% returning riders on average are returning riders.

Jeff noted that we are assisted in this event from organizations outside our club  including:   SR Cycling Club, Salvation Army, Boy Scouts, Cardinal Newman Baseball Team. Thanks to those organizations for helping make our event such a success!

Thanks to REI, Windsor Cycle and Sport, Sebastopol Bike Ctr., Peter Testi and Alfred Mascey for their assistance and in kind donations. 

Jeff also offered thanks to Rotarians who stepped up in various roles:

• Kim Graves who handled producing printed materials.
• Kris Anderson, our Facebook guru for social marketing.
• Diane Moresi for beautifully coordinating rest stops and making sure every stop was staffed and had what they needed.
• Layne Bowen for coordinating use of facility with O’Reilly Media and permits with the City of Sebastopol. Layne all booked entertainment, sound support and the Lagunitas beer donation as well as ABC licensing for the event.

2019 Giro Bello

Day of Event Coordinators:  Both Doug Johnson and Carmen Sinigiani will be onsite at the 2019 event and will lend their experience and support. Obviously, Jeff will also be there to mentor the new director.

Course Markings: Dave Berman

Sponsorships: Steve Baime

Sag: Jose Guillen

Parking: Pete Lescure

Going forward, we need a new event coordinator for next year’s event, June 22nd, 2019. We need someone to handle registration with Jackie moving to Virginia. Some changes suggested:

1. Moving the Friday night registration from Franchetti’s to O’Reilly. 
2. Ride arrows from other events have been an issue, so Jeff suggested next year we  will need to mark our arrows with GB. 
3. We plan for rotation of key leaders and utilize the experience of those who have been doing this for many years.
4. Investigate purchasing satellite phones for better communications.
5. Purchase new yard signs and holders.

Questions going forward:

1. Are there alternative fundraising methods we should consider? Are there alternative fundraisers that are less labor intensive? Should we continue with Giro Bello?
2. Should Giro Bello continue to be our major fundraising mechanism?
3. How do we build a more sustainable leadership team for Giro Bello?
4. Can we develop a stronger committee structure that will develop and advance Rotarians into leadership roles?
5. Who will lead the Giro Bello 2019 leadership team for the10^th annual Giro Bello?

In summary, every Rotarian in our club can be involved in GB to support our efforts to raise money for our charitable projects.  We have planning and coordinating jobs  that start 6 months prior to the event through the day of event. Help us to develop a 10^th annual theme for the 2019 event! 

President Tony thanked the following club members who helped make today’s meeting a success:

Pledge: Layne Bowen
Inspiration: Jackie McMillan
Greeters: Bill Hatcher and Holly Garretson
Raffle: Robby Fouts 
Lunch check-in: Dave Berman
Lunch Ticket Collection: Dan Schell
Visiting Rotarians: Matthew Henry

Governor, District 5130

Barb Spangler, Valley of the Moon Rotary Club

Attendance Secretary

Debi Zaft P.O. Box 505 Santa Rosa, CA 95402

Board of Directors

Club Service I, Membership, Ryan Thomas
Club Service II, Club Meetings, Jeff Kolin
Club Service III, Fundraising, Steve Baime
Club Service IV, Member Activities, Anne Gospe
Club Service V, Information Technology and Records, Brandon Urich
Community Service I, Member Involvement, Andrea Geary
Community Service II, Youth, Laura Held
Vocational Service, Carolyn Fassi
International Service, Peter Holewinski