–> Redwood Empire Food Bank – 2nd Wednesday of the month.  The next one is March 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 pictures and descriptions of previous socials and other events click 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:

“Welcome to the Rotary Club of Santa Rosa where we have fun by doing good in the world.” says President Ann Gospe.  But she also says, “I love the power of the bell!”

Past President Ray Giampaoli let us in the reciting of the Pledge of Allegiance and the Four-Way Test.  Today’s Reflection were several quotes on peace by some famous people.  I won’t give them all to you, but here are a few:

“When the power of love overcomes the love of power the world will know peace.” Jimi Hendrix

“An eye for an eye only ends up making the whole world blind.” Mahatma Ghandi

“Peace is not the absence of conflict; it is the ability to handle conflict by peaceful means.” Ronald Regan

“You cannot shake hands with a clenched fist.” Indira Ghandi

“If you don’t know the guy on the other side of the world, love him anyway because he’s just like you. He has the same dreams, the same hopes and fears. It’s one world, pal. We’re all neighbors.” Frank Sinatra

Visiting Rotarians:

Ruben Garcia from the SRJC Rotaract Club.  He is our new liaison.

Guests:

Dewayne White, Leslie Barnes, Catherine Doyle, David Kindrick, Lisa Trepel, and Patty Kolin

Potential Red Badgers!

Lisa Trepel has had her meeting with Casey D’Angelo.  Her next step is Rotary Informational with membership chair, Julia Parranto.  Leslie Barnes attended today’s meeting to get to know us.  She is interested in joining Rotary!  Patty Kolin turned in her application today to join Rotary (Your bulletin letter called Julia Parranto, membership chair, to let her know we have new members in the making).

Sunshine Report

Rose Frances will be leaving Apple Valley Rehabilitation on March 11.  Yay!!!!

Raffle:

Only 6 marbles and a pot of $360.00! Debi Zaft had the right ticket but did not pull out the blue marble.  Her $10.00 prize went into the polio pail.  Maybe next week!

Announcements:

1. Ray Giampaoli reminded us to look out for potential sponsors for the Giro Bello.  We should all try to find at least one sponsor outside of our club. We must pay the LBC to host the ride exposition, so it is more important than ever to sell those sponsorships.
2. Rich Rossi revealed the bike jersey design. It is stunning! Some of our riders have already bought the shirt without seeing the design. Thanks to Robert Pierce for the design (he is so artistic!).  Also, some of the Giro Bello team went out to the LBC to see the site where the ride will begin and end this year.  It is going to be very nice for us and the riders.
3. Sam McMillan thanked the people who bought the last of the pork and lamb from the meat auction.
4. Karen Ball oversees the Expo at the Giro Bello. The cost of the booths will be $75.00, though nonprofits, sponsors and others may be able to negotiate a better price. Does anyone know of any food trucks?
5. Isidora’s Chilean dinner this Saturday has sold out.
6. District Assembly is on Saturday, April 6. If you sign up and go, the club will reimburse your cost of $60.00.  Let’s all go!  It really is fun and educational.

Auction!

Susan Nowacki brought back a pashmina from her trip to Singapore and the cruise to Malaysia, Viet Nam, etc.  There was some serious bidding going on for it, but Laura Stephens won out in the end for $130.00.

Dates to Remember:

March 6: High School Recognition Program
March 13: Center For Well Being
March 13: Redwood Empire Food Bank 5:00 – 7:00pm
March 20: Amigo de Guatemala
March 27: TBA
April 3:  Past President’s Day with guest speaker Keith Woods
May 17-18: District Assembly at Sally Tomatoes in Rohnert Park

Today’s Guest Speaker, from the Performing Animal Welfare Society (PAWS)

Catherine was a guest speaker a few years back when we were locked down with Covid, so it was nice to meet her in person! Their Mission Statement:

PAWS is dedicated to the protection of performing animals, to providing sanctuary to abused, abandoned and retired captive wildlife, to enforcing the best standards of care for all captive wildlife, to the preservation of wild species and their habitat and to promoting public education about captive wildlife issues.

PAWS was founded by Pat Derby and Ed Stewart in 1984 (they were former Rotarians). The sanctuary is in San Andres, CA on 2300 acres.  They have tigers, bears, elephants, monkeys and a variety of other animals rescued from circuses, petting farms, private ownership, zoos, etc. They were neglected and/or abused before they got to PAWS for most of their lives. They rehabilitate the animals and give them the space they have long been denied in their lives.

The elephants are Asian and African they are very active in mind and body. They will travel in a range of 92 – 700 miles in their native lands, foraging for food.  It is a matriarchal society. They use tools, show emotion, show empathy to each other and mourn their dead.

Tigers are the largest cats in the world. They have a territory of 6 – 500 miles. They are highly endangered with only about 5000 in the wild.  When you see a white tiger, it is only white because of inbreeding.  They have no conservation value. Big Cat Public Safety Act was passed in 2022 and prohibits the private possession of big cats.

Black bears are intelligent, strong and active.  They live in forested areas.  Highly intelligent.

They use tools, have a home range of 50 miles.  There are about 600,000 in North America. They are very important to the environment.

Lulu, an elephang is 58 years old and has lived at PAWS for 19 years.  That means she lived 39 years in horrible conditions.  Mara was luckier.  She came to PAWS when she was 5 andhas been at PAWS now for 34 years.  Monkeys Zeppo and Chico have been there 28 years.

The Colton Tigers was one of the biggest tiger rescues in 2004.  39 tigers were rescued, but many more were dead.  The last of the Colton tigers died in 2020.  The cost of their care for 16 years was 3.75 million dollars.

They have lots of small cats too. These cats come from “animal encounters” like roadside zoos, circuses and traveling fairs.

For more information go to https://www.pawsweb.org/

Program Slides

No slides this week.