Wednesday, January 31st – PACIFIC COAST AIR MUSEUM
It’s the 5th Wednesday of the month so our regular Rotary meeting will be substituted with a visit to PCAM (Pacific Coast Air Museum). Hours are 12 – 4.
–  We have been invited for a private tour of the facility at 1:00.
–  You are welcome to bring family members or friends. Cost is $10 pp.
–  The museum is located at the Charles M Schulz Sonoma County Airport, off Airport Blvd. On the corner of N. Laughlin Rd. and Becker Blvd.
–  There is plenty of free parking outside the Air Museum building and along Becker Blvd.
–  For those who would like to meet for lunch at |1: 30 we suggest Kafe Mocha next to the Airport Cinemas.

Redwood Empire Food Bank – 2nd Wednesday of the month.  The next one is February 14th – 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:

“Welcome to the Rotary Club of Santa Rosa where we are having fun while doing good in the world.” says our President Ann Gospe.

Multitasker, Kris Anderson, led us in the reciting of the Pledge of Allegiance and the Four-Way Test (yes, we are having fun!).  Her Reflection was AI generated from Chat GPT on leadership.  It was a little long so it will not get reprinted here, but you editor suggests you try AI….oh, alright.  Here is one paragraph: “The journey of leadership is not a solo expedition; it’s a shared exploration where the leader and the team grow together. It’s a dynamic, ever-evolving role that requires adaptability and resilience.  In the end, a leader’s legacy is not measured by the height of their pedestal but by the impact they leave on the hearts and minds of those they’ve led.”

Visiting Rotarians:

Today we had David Gallagher and Mikel Cook from Sebastopol Sunrise

Guests:

Isidora Sarria

Sunshine Report:

Per Julia, Rose is two weeks down and four more to go before she can put any weight on her broken leg.  She is doing OK.  Jeff Gospe’s mom is now in hospice care at Spring Lake. Matthew Henry is very appreciative for the help we have given his family.

Opportunity Drawing:

Multitasker Kris Anderson said there were only two marbles left and the pot was up to $276.00! Buying of raffle tickets was quite strong.  Diane Moresi bought $10.00 worth.  However, we were all disappointed that blue marble was not pulled.  That means the pot rolls over and we start with ten marbles at our next regularly scheduled meeting on February 7, 2024.

Announcements:

Isidora’s Chilean dinner is on Saturday, March 2 at the Gospe’s home.  The price is $75.00 per person or $125.00 per couple. Space is limited.  If you want to go RSVP to Isidora via text at (707) 909-5620 or email at isidora.sarria8@gmail.com.

Since we are not having a meeting on January 31, 2024, we are having a social that day.  The social committee has arranged for a private tour of the Pacific Coast Air Museum at 1:00pm.  The cost of the tour is $10.00. But wait! There is more! For those who would like, we are meeting at Kafe Mocha (next to the Airport Cinemas) at 11:30 for lunch.

Save the Date! On February 17, 2024, there will be a Valentine’s Day Brunch at Jeff and Patty Kolin’s home. The guest chef is Casey D’Angelo.

The Rotary Club of Cloverdale is hosting SCARC for their annual crab feed on February 29, 2024, at St Peter’s Parish Hall, 491 Franklin St., Cloverdale.  6:00pm cocktails and appetizers. 7:00pm dinner (which includes crab, salad, bread, wine, and dessert).  The cost is $70.00, and you MUST make a reservation (see Debi Zaft to make the reservation).  RSVP is February 23, 2024.

Steve Marburger let us know that there is an environmental project on the morning of February 3, 2024, to clean up a weed that is choking area waterways.  See him if you can help.  He also announced that the club’s environmental committee will have a meeting after our luncheon on February 7, 2024.

The SRJC Rotaract meets on the second and fourth Friday of every month in The Center of Student Leadership, in Bertolini Hall from 12:00 to 1:00pm.  They are looking for new members.

Heather Thurber announced two possible hands-on projects for the club to support.  The first is developing a play area for the Rinconada Park in Santa Rosa.  The other is more in the future.  We would like to get involved with the development of the Southwest Greenway.

Robert Pierce was taking professional photos today for $100.00 that would go to the club.  If you missed out, talk to Robert about a future date.

Paul Harris Fellows:

Doug Landin had three people to give new Paul Harris pins for their contributions to Rotary.  Andrea Geary received a pin with a third sapphire.  Diane Moresi  received one pin with 4 sapphires and one with 5 sapphires.  Ray Giampaoli received two pins: One with 5 sapphires and one with his first ruby.  For our newer members, you will get our first pin (no stones) when you make your first $1000 contribution to Rotary International.  After that, you get a new pin for each additional $1000 contribution.  So, a pin with 5 sapphires means you contributed $6000.  A pin with on ruby indicates contributions of $7000 to Rotary International.  Thank you, Andrea, Diane, and Ray, for your commitment to Rotary.

Craft Talk, Jim Green:

Jim Green is one of our newest members, but he is not new to Rotary.  He was born December 31, 1939, in Cleveland, OH.  However his family moved to Antioch, CA when he was little.  After he graduated from high school, he attended Fresno State and joined the Sigma Chi Fraternity (your editor is a Sigma Chi Little Sister).  He went back east to the University of Maryland for dental school and joined the Navy. He was stationed in Seattle and was a dentist in the Navy. One he left the service, he moved back to Antioch and started dental practice.  He joined the Rotary Club of Antioch and was district chair of the Boy Scouts.  In 1985 Rotary had a program called Health, Hunger and Humanity.  This was just before Rotary went all in on fighting Polio. He has been to the Philippines to do polio vaccinations.  He has been to Mexico to do dentistry for indigenous Indian tribes.  He has been to Zambia 10 times to do dental clinics. He put one young woman through dental school after he figured out that he could do that for less money than do a clinic in Zambia. She is now a Rotarian and a Paul Harris Fellow.  That girl will be coming to visit in April and Jim will take her to a club meeting. He knows enough Swahili to be dangerous. He helped open a library in Zambia that is one of the best in all of Zambia. Besides dentistry and Rotary, he was with Bear Flag Vineyards for 20 years.  How did we get so lucky to have him choose our club for membership! All his kids, grandkids, and a bunch of pets are all Paul Harris Fellows!

Elections and Board/Committee updates:

Kim Murphy was officially nominated and voted to be our club president for 2025-2026.  Julia Parranto is staying on the board as Membership Director. Heather will be Local Service Director. Rick Allen will be International Service Director next year.  We do not have a Rotary President elect designee for the year after Kim’s presidency.  That would be 2025-2027.  So, if you, or anyone you know would make a great future president, talk to President Ann, President Elect Casey or President Elect Nominee Kim and they will make sure you have all the qualification and training to be our president in the future.

President Ann’s Mid-Year Review:

President Ann wanted to go over how we are doing with our goals and priorities for this presidential year.  Her goal is 80 members by June 30, 2024.  We started the year with 69 and are presently at 68.  Let us get inviting more people.

Our meetings were sparsely attended with only 25 members showing up at the beginning of the year, now we are getting 30-35 per week.  She thanked Susan Nowacki for her excellent programs each week.

The plan is one social a month and that is exactly what we are doing.

She wants more people to attend the District Assembly and District Conference.  Her goal is to have at least 10 people at the District Training Assembly.  The cost is $50.00, but the first 10 will get reimbursed to go. If there are more, she will go to the board to request funds to pay for additional attendees. District Training Assembly is a fun day full of all things Rotary.  It is usually in Ukiah and there are lots of fun classes and members come from all over the district.  We carpool so you do not have to go by yourself.  This year it will be April 6, 2024.  The District Conference will be at Sally Tomatoes in Rohnert Park this year.  It will be on Friday and Saturday May 17 and 18, 2024.  President Ann would like to see at least 30 members attend some or all of the conference.

Her Annual Fund goal is $15,000.  We are currently at $9000.  She suggests that the easiest way to participate is to sign up for Rotary Direct. You can contribute as little as $10.00 a month. If you contribute $83.33 a month, you will complete a Paul Harris award every year.

Please note: the club has “points” that we can give to members to help them get their first Paul Harris award.  So, if you need a little help with that first $1000, the club can help.  In Jeff Kolin’s year as president we became a 100% Paul Harris Club, and we want to stay that way.

President Ann’s Polio Plus goal is $6000 for the year and we are currently at $3000.

The Rotaract goal was to have two clubs in this county, and we have two. Let us help the SRJC Rotaract grow its membership.

We have a goal of 18 service projects this year.  Eleven completed between the food bank, Pepperwood Preserve, the Salvation Army and other environmental projects.

We would like at least events reported in the media (like The Press Democrat).  Denys Andrushchenko’s visit from Ukraine in October got us coverage in the Press Democrat (and also led to additional contributions for our Ukrainian efforts).

The Ukrainian Relief Committee set a $75,000 goal for their Phase 3 programs of additional power equipment and a children’s trauma relief program. Since Deny’s visit in October, we have blown past that with assistance from our other Rotary Club partners, especially Santa Rosa East/West.

President Ann thanked Fred Levin for our Veteran’s program.

The professional auctioneer for the meat auction helped us raise $4000 more than the previous year.  Many clubs are dropping Youth Exchange.  Not us! We are slated to send both a short-term summer and a long-term exchange student this year.

We are phasing out the third-grade dictionary project and replacing it with a new book that the schools really like.

Natasha Perez’s leadership of the Children’s Nutcracker program was an amazing success!

We are working with the Boy’s and Girl’s Club of Roseland to develop a reading program.

We are proud of the assistance that we give our Rotarians in need, like Matthew Henry, Julia Parranto and Rose Wognum Frances. Just ask!

Overall, it has been a great first half of the year.  Let us finish strong.  Bring a friend to Rotary!

Program Slides

No program slides this week.