DIGITAL EDITION No. 184  July 20, 2016  EDITOR: Sam Saunders PHOTOGRAPHER: Kris Anderson

Our Program for July 27th:

REWIRING YOUR BRAIN FOR SUCCESS

ROTARY SERVING HUMANITY LOCALLY AND GLOBALLY

President Jose Guillen points out that serving our community through Rotary also means we are serving humanity (this years’ R. I. theme).  Clearly, this isn’t just a R.I. theme, but it is the chief operating philosophy that President Jose has personally adopted before the “theme” was invented.  That’s why he’s a great fit for Rotary.  And, that’s the jury’s verdict!

Ryan Thomas led the Pledge of Allegiance and Dan Schell gave us more than the Thought for the Day when he sang the names of the Capital cities of all 50 States in a rhyming song that he memorized years ago.  Dan got them all correct. That was some geography lesson – Dan continues to amaze our group with his sharp memory.

VISITING ROTARIANS

There were no visiting Rotarians today, their loss as we had a very informative meeting today.

GUESTS OF ROTARIANS

Dr. Shari Shamsuvari hosted Cathy Ratto (Ratto Marketing).  Kim Murphy brought her husband, DeWayne.  Sonia Delasantos (SRJC teacher) was hosted by Kerrie Chambers and Mikki Cardoza introduced Michael Hammer (Insurance). Welcome to all!

GOT SUNSHINE?

Ginny Cannon says “Yes” we do. Doug Roberts and Cathy Vicini continue on their road to recovery and we hope to see them soon. Past President Rich de Lambert interjected that Steve Marburger had surgery on Monday and he was attending our meeting today.  Rich was fined $5 by President Jose for circulating a false report after Steve clarified that he was supposed to have surgery but it was canceled at the last minute by the insurance company withholding authorization.    

PRESIDENTIAL ACTIONS & INTERACTIONS

President Jose had special badges made for all Club board members and two failed to get theirs at the last meeting – President-Elect Julia Parranto and Past President Kathleen Archer – so they each paid $5.

Two donated Sonoma County Fair tickets (with parking) were auctioned by President Jose for $20.  The winning bid (and only bid) came from David Brown.  Enjoy the Fair Dave!

President Jose recognized Dr. Shari Shamsuvari for her donation of Giro Bello tee shirts to the Guadalajara, Mexico Rotary Club for distribution to needy individuals.  President Jose was thinking of a fine, but Shari pre-empted the strike with an offer of $100 to the R.I. Foundation.

RIPE FOR THE RAFFLE

Casey D’Angelo was the joyful presenter of $173 to Past-President Doug Johnson as the winner of today’s raffle. Those may be ‘just  rewards’ for having led us through a successful Rotary year (2015-2016).

FLOOR ANNOUNCEMENTS

Past-President Doug Johnson said that our club will continue with the ‘$10 per square’ raffle board as a fundraising tool for the R.I. Foundation.  We will attempt to fill up all the squares each month, hoping to top the $13,000 raised last Rotary year.

PROSPECTIVE MEMBER

Matthew Henry, CEO of the YMCA
Sponsor: Yale Abrams

GIRO BELLO (2016)

Past President Don McMillan and Jackie McMillan gave us a final report on the status of the recent GB event.  We had 814 registered bike riders from 130 cities and from six different states.  Overall gross proceeds were about $98,000 and the net income was about $70,000.

This is the highest net income that the GB event has produced.  195 volunteer slots were filled. Some committed Rotarians did multiple tasks over multiple days, from planning and organizing, to set-up to operating and to the clean-up stage. For a Club of about 110 members, we had many non-Rotarians participating.  Don and Jackie hope to increase volunteer participation next year.  Mark your calendar – the 2017 GB will be held on June 24, 2017 (venue still to be confirmed).

Emily Harrington, our GB cheerleader extraordinaire, reported that 50% of our club members helped with the GB event.  She is setting higher goals for sponsorships for 2017 and is planning to attract more riders from the sponsors (call those ‘sponsor teams’). More orange hair on tap.

Don introduced and thanked the members of the GB planning committee, with particular thanks to Past-President David Brown for being totally available for whatever was needed.  David handled the food truck for two days.  Chip Rawson (at 5:00AM) provided ice for the rider rest stops and had to go to extraordinary steps to round up and deliver it.

Don thanked Carmen Sinigiani, the originator of our GB event, for her acceptance of site set-up responsibility and always being such a great resource person.   Past-President Rich de Lambert took on the rider support services task as well as attending to other as-needed jobs.  Layne Bowen was thanked for getting the O’Reilly site confirmed and for arranging free beer, a band and working at the rest stops.

Family of Rotarians who volunteered and went the extra mile were Dennis Ball (Karen), Rita McMillan (Sam) and Bill Archer (Kathleen).

Diane Moresi was recognized as the rest stop coordinator. She had to be cloned to get that job done so well.

The bottom line:  riders were happy and plan to ride again next year!  AMEN.

ROTARIANS OF THE MONTH

President Jose announced that July Rotarians of the Month are: Don McMillan, Jackie McMillan, Emily Harrington and Tim Delaney.  He rewarded Jackie and Emily with bouquets of flowers and Don and Tim with wine.  All received gift certificates.

ROTARY CLUB OF S.R. FOUNDATION    

Trustee Bill Hatcher made presentations to donors who reached certain levels of cumulative giving to our ‘local’ foundation.  New Founders ($1,000 level) were Carmen Sinigiani, Matt Fannin, Julia Parranto, Cathy Vicini and Tim Stewart.  New Patrons ($5,000 level) were Kim Murphy, Bob Sorenson, Wayne Rowlands and Tim Delaney. Each was awarded a silver or gold disk to attach behind their Rotary pin.   New Major Donors ($10,000 level) were Past-President Jeanne Levin and Ted Wilmsen (both are current trustees of the RCSR Fdn) and they received silver bowls as a thank you gift.

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THE PROGRAM

President Jose introduced our speaker, Lisa Carreno, the Regional Director of the 10,000 Degrees education program for Sonoma County.  President Jose is a mentor for students in this program and Lisa is both a friend and mentor to our President.   The 10,000 Degrees program is designed to encourage, mentor and support students from low income families who are bound for college.  Many of these students face barriers and 10,000 Degrees helps remove these.

Lisa introduced two members of her office, Chris Gonzalez and Megan Topping, who gave a full explanation of the mission and operation of the program and the mentorship aspects.

All of the students selected for this program are in high school and have some obstacles to overcome before they can become college students.  The starting point is gaining access to college via getting these students ready to apply and lining up financial aid and continuing support services.   The program provides volunteer mentors to work with the student from mid-way through their junior year and until they graduate from high school.

The mission is to provide “Education Equity” to every student who wants to pursue higher education.  This involves making the student aware of opportunities, help with college entrance (‘access’), being there for the student to help them persevere and maximize their potential.  After graduation, the students become role models for others and they attend events to foster leadership skills.

318 students were served last year in this program.  Generally, 84 percent of them graduate from college.  Mentors provide unconditional support and help the student believe that they can successfully get through a college education.  They act as resource guides, provide tutoring, advocate, motivate and help with college visits and applications.

Sounds like a great opportunity to get involved directly.   President Jose testified of his experience as a mentor and described it as a gift to himself at the same time he was helping a student achieve their educational goals.  In other words, it’s very rewarding to help someone else succeed in life.   For more info, contact Megan Topping at (415) 451-4018 or contact her at mentors@10000degrees.org.

PACKING IT UP

President Jose thanked all the Rotarian volunteers at today’s meeting and left us with this idea:  Each day is an opportunity to design our own happiness.

OFFICERS