Redwood Empire Food Bank – 2nd Wednesday of the month.  The next one is December 13th – 5 PM – 7 PM

SRJC Rotaract Fundraiser – You can make your donations here: Click here to donate

SRJC and Sonoma State Rotaract members support the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention. If you would like to donate, you can make a donation here.

For more details and additional events, see the Announcements section below.

More socials, projects, & events coming soon!

Rotary Announcements

See the Announcements section below.

Opening Ceremonies:

Dan Balfe led us in the reciting of the Pledge of Allegiance and the FourWay Test. His Reflection was as follows:

“Let us take a moment to remember all the religions represented in the Rotary family. Let us also recall that when we were invited to join our Rotary Clubs, we were not asked “Are you a Protestant, a Hindu, a Muslim, a Jew a Catholic, a Buddhist, or a Sikh.” You were not asked because all religions are welcome in the Rotary family.  Please join me in a moment of reflection and thanks with these words:

With our friends beside us, and no person beneath us, with bonds of Rotary between us, and our worries behind us, with our goals before us, and no task beyond us, with a thirst for knowledge and a dream of a polio free world, we are thankful for our Rotary friends and the meal we are about to share.” Chris Offer, District Governor 5040, 1999-2000.

Visting Rotarians:

No one today

Guests:

Brittany Mundarian, our guest speaker

Sunshine Report:

Fred Levin has hurt his back.  Andrea Henry, Matthew’s wife, has been hospitalized and it looks like she will be there for some time.  Heather Thurber will be organizing meals for Matthew and his daughter.  Please contact her so that Matthew does not get 10 macaroni and cheese casseroles at one time.

Raffle:

We had eight marbles and $72.00 in the pot.  Heather Thurber’s ticket was pulled, but she did not win the pot. C’est La vie.

Birthdays for December:

Nona Lucas and Robert Pierce were here today for our December birthday celebration – well we do sing happy birthday and Keven Brown graciously donates gift cars to Corrick’s. Other December birthdays that were not here are: Mary Graves, Norm Owen, Chuck Wear and Ted Wilmsen.

Announcements:

Rich Rossi is recruiting for the 2024 Giro Bello.  We are changing the start/end of the ride to the Luther Burbank Center, because O’Reilly Media is no longer available to outside organizations. If there is a particular assignment that you would prefer, please let him know.

Heather Thurber says that we collected $945.00 last weekend ringing the bells for the Salvation Army. As of this writing the Saturday, December 9^th, spot from 3:00 – 5:00pm was still open.  Please call her if you can fill it in.

Sam McMillan still has some meat to sell from the meat auction.  Please see him for what is available and to purchase.

Natasha Perez has arranged a special price for the Nutcracker on December 16^th.  See her recent email for details.  It would be fun to have a lot of Rotarians at the event.

Casey D’Angelo says that there will be an increase in our lunch costs next year.  He is in the process of negotiations with the restaurant.

Recognitions:

Diane Moresi is not letting on what birthday she just has on November 20^th.  She says it ends in a “0.”

She is donating $150.00 to the club.  I don’t think she turned 150.

Julia Parranto and Rose Wognum Frances were in New Orleans for Thanksgiving (they travel to a different city each Thanksgiving holiday). Julia is donating $150.00 to the club.

Dan Balfe, who has passionately worked to raise money for the Zimbabwe Wash water project, was pleased to announce that along with District 5160 they have raised $185,000 to fund the project. Our international committee raised $5500.

Paul Hamilton was very thankful for a tableful of friends and family for Thanksgiving, so he donated $150.00 to the club.

Today’s Guest Speaker, Brittany Mundarian, General Manager of the Montgomery Village shopping center.

WS Property Management bought out the Codding family’s ownership of Montgomery Village 2 years ago.  They have steadily made improvements with all currently scheduled improvements to be done by the end of 2025. She says that WS Property Mangement’s style is to make their shopping centers approachable, creative, innovative with a combination of national and local stores. It encourages new concepts and emerging brands to thrive. She showed us some pictures of other malls that WS has purchased; both the before and after renovation photos.  The property vision was a spin on the Town and Country theme.  The landscape will be drought tolerant, native/Mediterranean and fire resistant.  There will be places for people to gather, including children’s play areas, in all three areas of the center: The Terrace, Village Court, and The Courtyard. The Passage is being made wider and brighter with better lighting.  The Classic Duck store will be remodeled as a space for two stores. It looks like an informal sandwich shop and an ice cream shop. The Bear statue in front of Monti’s will be moved…. but he is not going away!  All public restrooms are to be remodeled.  Live music will not be as prevalent as in the past.  The concerts were fun, but they did not draw people into the stores (that is the point).  Shake Shack will be opening in February and Paper Source will be opening in March.  They now have contracted with a local security company and that means double the coverage. 97% of the property will have cameras.

Questions: Will there be solar panels on the roofs?  Maybe, but they are working on roof repairs now.

Will there be EV chargers?  Most likely and Brittany would like to hear what kind the public wants. Will there be any meeting space for organizations? The Passage will be available as well as other common areas.  What about the Cattleman’s location?  Like Classic Duck, it will be subdivided into three other stores.  They are looking at wellness and/or beauty for those new locations.

should buy it. And read it.

Program Slides

Click on image below to view the program”s slideshow.