Redwood Empire Food Bank – 2nd Wednesday of the month.  The next one is January 10th – 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:

President Ann greeted us and turned the opening ceremonies over to Doug Landin for the Pledge of Allegiance, The Four-Way Test and the Reflection.  Once again, the flag is missing, but we had a small flag this week. Doug had three quotes from the same person, “Friendship improves happiness and abates misery, by doubling our joy and dividing our grief.” “What nobler employment, or more valuable to the state, than that of man who instructs the rising generation?” “Times are bad. Children no longer obey their parents, and everyone is writing a book.”  Who are these quotes from? Sounds like something you might have read this week on Facebook.  But no, these quotes were from Marcus Tullius Cicero who was born January 3, 106 BC and died December 7, 43 BC only going to show somethings never change.

Guests of Rotarians:

Isidora Sarria, Jennifer More, Jake More, Joan Rossi, Ainsley Taylor and Janine Taylor

Sunshine Report:

Well, it sounds like a couple of people had too much fun this holiday season!  Kim Murphy has RSV, Debi Zaft has COVID, and Rose Frances is getting ready for knee replacement surgery on Monday, January 8 (both knees!). Party on girls!  Andrea Henry is recuperating at home.  We wish them all speedy recoveries!

Raffle:

Karen Ball said we had $161.00 in the pot today with 5 marbles. Jim Green had the opportunity to draw the blue marble, but he got a yellow.  The pot rolls over to next week!

Announcements:

BIG NEWS! Robert Pierce has discovered why the microphones cut in and out so much.  It has to do with anyone with a Bluetooth device near the microphone!  So, if you are sitting at one of the front tables, please turn off Bluetooth on your phones so that it does not interfere with the microphones.

Robert Pierce will be taking new head shots for anyone who needs one.  There will be a fee that will go to the club, not him. He will announce at the January 10 meeting when it will happen.  It will be before or after an upcoming meeting.  This is especially important for those of you still using your high school picture in the roster/DACdb.

Save March 2, 2024, for Isidora’s Chilian Dinner Fund Raiser. She will be preparing a meal of her favorites from Chile. The money she raises will go toward her Western States Tour that she and the other exchange students go on next summer.

Sam McMillan still has eight packages of pork and lamb chops still available to purchase.  Please contact him directly to buy.

Birthdays:

We had three of our January birthdays here today: Jeff Gospe, Pete Lescure, and Steve Olson.  Other birthdays in January that were not here are:  Michael Moore

Recognitions:

Casey D’Angelo was in Denver for the holidays (no sign of Obi in Colorado) with his daughter’s family. He donated $75.00 to the club.

Paul Hamilton was in Las Vegas and went to see the Cowboy Christmas exhibit.  It was amazing! He donated $50.00 to the club.

Charlie went to Utah for the holidays and his faithful Prius with over 200,000 miles decided it was time to pass away on the trip. They had a long tow truck ride! He donated $75.00 to the club.

Guest Speaker, Jennifer More, on Prenatal Yoga:

Prenatal Vinyasa Yoga teacher trainer, Doula, Hypnotherapist, Childbirth professional, Prenatal Vinyasa Yoga Training

Proud father, Rich Rossi, introduced his daughter to us.  She was already teaching yoga for four years when she got pregnant 25 years ago.  She talked to her doctor about yoga positions.  Could she still do a Downward Dog? The doctor did not know. There was no research on exercise during pregnancy, let alone yoga.  25 years later doctors now recommend 30 minutes of exercise a day for pregnant women.  Pregnancy is stressful for the mother and the baby. By doing yoga, etc. both the mother and child have a better pregnancy and birth. Mortality rates for mothers and children drop.

There are less cesarian births.  In the United States we are ranked 55^th for infant deaths in developing countries.  There is less preterm labor and delivery, less diabetes, depression, stress, infant health and behavioral problems.

Women feel empowered during their pregnancy.  Less stress is better for the family as a whole. Cesarians are still done too often around the world. Some hospitals it can be 70% of the births.  It should be 70% natural births.  A question was asked, “What is a doula?” I Doula is a coach, an event coordinator who helps all through the pregnancy through the birth.  She says some countries don’t like the word “yoga.”  She has no problem calling them exercises or something else.  She and her husband Jake travel the world training women to be the coach, the doula, to help women have a better pregnancy and birth.   After her talk we gathered around her to talk about Rotary’s Avenues of Service of which women and children are one.  President Ann said she would see if there was some connection that could be made at Rotary International.  That would be very cool if we could make a connection!

Prenatal International would appreciate any support or connections to foundations or donors to help fund this important work.

Program Slides

Click on image below to view Jennifer’s presentation