DIGITAL EDITION No. 225 May 17, 2017 EDITOR: Kris Anderson PHOTOGRAPHER: Diane Moresi PUBLISHER: Richard Lazovick
Our Program For May 24, 2017
PASSIONS, PROFESSIONS, POLIO:
A BALANCED LIFE
Craig Needham
Award winning trial attorney, professor, family man, triathlete, and avid cyclist for philanthropic causes, Craig Needham strives each day to maintain a balanced life. After 45 professional years, no dreaded “burn out” for him, as he quickly dismisses any thought of the “R” word.
On May 24th we will hear how he successfully does it, but that is not all.
Craig Needham
When Craig Needham was three years old, his mother contracted polio and was in an iron lung.
Because of this early experience, Craig says “I am honored to have the opportunity to thank Rotary for their amazing efforts to get rid of Polio, worldwide. I find the best way to do so is to share my Mother’s story.”
Craig was born in Palo Alto, graduated from Bellarmine Prep, Santa Clara University and Hastings College of the Law. After serving in the military, he began a career as a plaintiff’s trial attorney and today leads Needham Kepner & Fish LLP in San Jose. He has been named Trial Lawyer of the Year and Mediator of the Year and has been active in, and often led, trial lawyers associations on the local, state and national levels.
Craig has also been a faculty member at Hastings, Pepperdine, Santa Clara and Lincoln Law Schools, and a lecturer for continuing education programs all around the state.
Craig and his wife, Stephanie, have three children and six grandchildren.
In his leisure time, Needham has taken endurance to another level: a 4,200 mile ride across North America, a trek through the French and Italian Alps, and a 2,500 mile ride from El Paso, Texas to Jasper, Alberta, Canada (think Rocky Mountains), raising money in each for the Children’s Skin Disease Foundation. A cancer survivor, he has also raised money for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society of America and AIDS research.
Again, that’s not all. Craig has completed 12 marathons and over 40 triathlons, six of which have been “iron-man.” He has not missed a Bay to Breakers since 1970.
UPCOMING PROGRAMS
Wednesday May 31th: The Sustainable Groundwater Management Act
Wednesday June 7th: Encore Songwriters Performance
Wednesday June 14th: Cannabis: A Conversation with Jack Tibbitts
Wednesday June 21st: President Jose Guillen Year in Review
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
NEW: Giro Bello Signup Genius: https://santarosarotary.com/signupgenius
NOTE: All images are clickable. Click on the pictures to see them in full size.
NOTE: Hover your cursor over the pictures to see descriptions.
Opening Ceremonies:
Layne Bowen led us in the Pledge of Allegiance and Kim Murphy gave us a thought for the day from the Farmer’s Almanac…..look out for those black flies!
Visiting Rotarians:
Former club member Dave Del Monte was visiting from the Rotary Club of New York City and Bruce Campbell was visiting from Sebastopol Sunrise
Visitors:
Matt Everson brought himself and Angie Sparks for the day. Bob Bratberg was introduced by Jack Abercrombie. Bob has turned in his application to join our club!
Giro Bello Update:
We are now have raised $29,250 in sponsorships for Giro Bello! $18,250 is from our members and $11,000 is from non-Rotarians
Announcements:
New Gen graduation is this Saturday, 1:00 – 3:00 at the Village Elementary School- Santa Rosa Sunrise Rotary has their golf tournament on June 9th at Oakmont. See Don McMillan if you wish to participate.
- Petaluma Back Roads Challenge is this Saturday. Our club is working the Tomales rest stop. Doug Johnson still needs help. Kris Anderson, Nicole Le and Doug Garrison will be putting Giro Bello fliers on cars at the Back Roads Challenge in Penngrove Saturday morning
- Anne Laure Boudin will be leaving for home in France very soon. Susan Nowacki will be having a good by potluck at her house on June 11th. Contact Susan at sdnowacki@yahoo.com
President Jose’s debunking will be Wednesday, June 28th at the Flamingo but not for lunch! We will be having an evening meeting.- MCB will be having a concert at Layne Bowen’s house on June 11th
- President Jose needs more SAG volunteers to help during the Giro Bello. Let him know if you can help.
- President Jose announced that the new Chase/Sorenson Fund is up and running. Robbie Chase’s brother is willing to match donations for the first 60 days up to $10,000. We started today at $2300. This fund is not just for scholarships, but also educational support. Anyone who donates $100 will be invited to a BBQ at Jose’s house in the future. Needless to say
when President Jose open up for $5.00 and $10.00 recognitions, he got a lot of people willing to contribute to this new fund besides the usual gift to the club. (For update on the fund, or to donate, click here.) - Jackie McMillan wants everyone to locate their green Giro Bello volunteer shirt. Make sure it is washed and ready for Giro Bello! If you do not have a shirt, please let her know! She will be placing an order very soon
Recognitions:
Kathleen Archer is just back from a month long vacation in Europe… Rick Allen is just back from 20 days in Europe… Blaine Goodwin is just back from visiting family in Massachusetts… Bill Crowley was supposed to cover fellowship duties for Blaine while he was gone and it all went awry. Needless to say Blaine is looking for volunteers to do fellowship duties in June… Karen Ball just discovered the fun Nevada town of Genoa. Quaint old bar with lots of history (and really good Bloody Mary’s per this writer’s experience!)…Matt Everson was happy to be back!…Don and 
Jackie McMillan are excited about their son’s family coming out to visit for their 40th wedding anniversary…Rich de Lambert was back up a Murphy’s . He is a bit concerned, but proud none-the-less, that his son is off to Iraq…Doug Johnson announced that Rob Sandville’s company is merging with Discovery Office Systems… Brandon Ulrich was just off on a Mustang show and drive in southern California… Matt Fannin needed to get away and went to Charleston, Minneapolis, and Chicago… Robert Pierce is trying to be retired, but he keeps finding photography work. What’s up with that?….Wally Lowry says that of his 10 grandchildren, 4 are girls and they are now all college graduates!…
Rotary District Conference Round Up
A number of our club members went up to Incline Village, NV this last weekend. Our club got 4 awards: Community Service, Vocational Service, Club Engagement and recognition as being a Peace Builders Club. In thanks for helping us get the 
awards, Jose gave Yale Abrams and Doug Johnson a peace pin. A highlight of the event was Lacy J Dalton for entertainment on Saturday night. She even has written songs about Rotary! President Jose played one of them for us.
Chase/Sorenson Fund:
We had a number of donors to the fund today. Please excuse me if I have missed any one: Kathleen Archer, Matt Everson, Don and Jackie McMillan, Rich de lambert, Matt Fannin, and Robert Pierce.
(For update on the fund, or to donate, click here.)
Raffle:
There was $135.00 in the pot. Tim Delaney told this bulletin writer that he was going to win today because the last 3 numbers on one of his tickets was 747. OMG! He did not win with that ticket, but win with one of his other tickets!
A New Paul Harris Fellow:
Bruce Campbell was here today to give President Elect Julia Parranto her Paul Harris Certificate and Pin.
May Birthdays:
Karen Ball, Matt Fannin, Bob Higgs, Steve Marburger, Don McMillan, Doug Roberts, Bob Stone, Gary Swartz, and Gary Vice.
Foundation News
Outstanding Graduating Senior Leadership Award & Scholarship in memory of Stanley L. Lance,
This year’s outstanding high school student leader for the greater Santa Rosa area is Lidia Tapia Romero (see photo) from Roseland University Prep. Lidia is a mathematics major headed to UC Santa Barbara with a 4.13 GPA. She is serving as Senior Class President this year and has filled many leadership roles during her four years at RUP. She also has volunteered at numerous community events and is a former RYLA participant. Her career goal is to become a math teacher when she returns to Sonoma County. The amount of the scholarship is $1,750.
This leadership award and scholarship was established by the foundation when Stan Lance passed away in September 2000. Stan was a leader in the truest sense of the word. He was Club President in 1959–60 and District Governor in 1966-67. He served on the Grand Jury, President of the Cancer Society and March of Dimes, Director of the Rose Festival, Chamber of Commerce and YMCA. He served three terms on the Santa Rosa School Board and supported many, many local organizations. As the owner of Eggen & Lance Mortuary, he served on numerous boards and committees related to his profession. He received the Herald Bostock Lifetime Achievement Award from the Rotary Club of Santa Rosa in 1998.
The “Lance Fund” has grown to over $55,000 thanks to the contributions of family, friends and fellow Rotarians plus the return on investment from the foundation. Additional contributions to the Lance Fund or any other fund of the foundation are gratefully accepted. Rotarians who would like to learn more about establishing a scholarship fund are advised to contact Steve Olson, Scholarship Chair.
Guest Speaker: Angie Sparks from Community Support Network
Sonoma County has a thriving economy, but we also have a homeless problem. There are many ways to handle the problem; no one solution. Today we had Angie Sparks to talk to us about her organization and what they do to help the homeless and in turn save the County of Sonoma millions of dollars each year. 
Much of the homeless population has mental illness, drug and/or alcohol problems. They focus on the foster kids 18 -25.
As soon as a kid hits the streets after aging out of the foster care program, they have a 33% chance that will come into human trafficking within 48 hours.
21-48% of homeless youth will be subject to sexual abuse. There are about 566 homeless youth in Sonoma County as of the last homeless count. So what does Community Support network do?
In Sonoma County they have 9 homes to shelter the kids. They get them off the streets and into needed programs to help them be successful. 91% of the kids are successful! They have 86 beds between nine houses. They will have about 200 kids come through in a year The County has a linkage meeting once a week to get foster kids into programs. Community Support Network is doing their part to help Sonoma County’s kids.
They invited us to a Luau at Kendall –Jackson on Friday, June 23, 2017 (see the attached flier).
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OFFICERS
Rotary Club of Santa Rosa Officers
President: Jose Guillen, President Elect: Julia Parranto, President Elect Nominee: Tony Roehrick, Past President: Doug Johnson, Secretary: Debi Zaft, Treasurer: Cecil G. Humes
President Rotary International
John F. Germ, member of the Rotary Club Of Chattanooga, Tennessee
Governor, District 5130
Wulff A. Reinhold, Sr. member of the Rotary Club of Rohnert Park – Cotati
Attendance Secretary
Debi Zaft P.O. Box 505 Santa Rosa, CA 95402
Board of Directors
Kathleen Archer, Jack Atkin, Gesine Franchetti, Ray Giampaoli, Will Haymaker, Elizabeth Karbousky, Steve Marburger, Jackie McMillan, Diane Moresi