Next Meeting is Hybrid
Wednesday August 4, 2021

NOTE: This is a Hybrid Meeting.
See details below.

Club Assembly

President Ray Giampaoli

–>  Debi will send you the Zoom login link for the 12:00 meeting once you have paid. Feel free to put your feet up, grab a sandwich, and join the meeting. <–

In-Person / Hybrid Meeting details:
All meetings are in-person and online meetings. In-person meetings will be located at the Epicenter Sports Center located at 3215 Coffey Lane, Santa Rosa, CA.  Use the first door, closest to Piner Road. There will be greeters at the door to guide you.

Meetings times are the same.

–> Please note that you NEED TO MAKE A RESERVATION IN ADVANCE so we have a proper count.  Payments received by Saturday will be considered for the upcoming meeting.  Payments after that will be for the following meeting.
–> Debi Zaft will email you the link for online, once you have paid.  Use this link for details and to pay.  CLICK HERE!

Wednesday August 11: PAWS –  Performing Animal Welfare Society
Wednesday August 18: Sonoma County Ecology Center
Wednesday August 25: “100 Black Men”

Keep checking back.  New Programs coming soon!

UPCOMING SOCIALS

USEFUL LINKS

Visit our district at: http://www.rotary5130.org
Check out Rotary International at: http://www.rotary.org
Come see us at: http://rotarymeansbusiness

Watch The Meeting:  Did you miss the meeting?  Here is a link to the recording of last week’s meeting:
(No recording this week)
Please note it is only available to view until n/a

Opening Ceremonies:

President Ray reminded us to bring a friend to Rotary. Scott Bartley led us in the reciting of the Pledge of Allegiance, The Four Way Test, and the Reflection, “Let us pray that if we are going back to wearing masks that it is not for very long and that we never go back to not meeting in person again.”  Amen to that!

Visiting Rotarians:

Will Haymaker

Guests:

Jeff Gilman from the Redwood Gospel Mission

Sunshine Report:

Nada, which is good!

Raffle:

Sam McMillan had 4 free passes to the Sonoma County Fair that he donated. Julia Parranto was the winning bidder at $75.00.

Giro d’Wine Country Update:

President Ray had the sponsor packets for us today. He handed out a copy to everyone. That packet had one page missing, the page to sign up for the sponsorship. He will be emailing out the page later today. We have $14,000 in money pledged by sponsors thus far.

Weekly Raffle:

There were 7 marbles in the bag. $64.00 in the pot today. Pete Lescure was hoping for that blue marble, but no such luck. The pot rolls over to next week.

Announcements:

Doug Johnson announced the District Conference on October 8^th and 9^th. The North Coast Ethics luncheon is sold out, but they are still accepting nominees. NorthCoastEthics.com

Charlie Howard-Gibbon announce that our first hands-on project is scheduled for Friday, August 27^th at Doyle Park in Santa Rosa. From 4:00 to 6:00pm we will be doing park clean up. Put it on your calendar and invite a friend to come along.

Dan Balfe announced that there still have only been 2 cases of polio this year.

President Ray is preparing for his Mt Shasta climb and did Mt Hood this past weekend. He has raised $680 for Polio Plus thus far. He reminded everyone to come up with their own Polio Plus challenge.

Recognitions:

Karen Ball is thankful that her mother-in-law from Canada is finally here for a visit. Canada had closed their borders this past year so they could not visit her, nor she come to their house. She donated $50.00 to the club.

Dan Balfe’s daughter is visiting from Spain and played cello in a concert the previous night. He donated $50.00 to the club.

Craig Meltzner was able to go to Los Angeles this past week for his mother’s graveside service. Due to Covid they could not have the service sooner. Plus, his son-in-law, a professor at Middlebury College in Vermont, has received a grant to work at the Jet Propulsion Lab in Pasadena for the next few months. He donated $100.00 for both.

David Berman’s son got married on the July 4^th weekend. He was happy to see friends and family again. Plus, his hip had been replaced and was healed up enough that he was comfortable dancing.

Mary Graves lost her father’s Eagle Scout banner and all his wards when her home burned in the Tubbs fire. She commented this to Charlie Howard-Gibbon, and he told her that the Scout program had a fund to replace lost banners, badges, etc. She is thrilled!

President Ray thanked President Elect Kris Anderson for completing an application for a District Grant for planting native grasses at Pepperwood Preserve.

Guest Speaker, Jeff Gilman from the Redwood Gospel Mission:

Jeff Gilman has been Executive Director for the Mission for the past 27 years. “What do they do?” is the Number one question that he is asked. They do so much in the community for the homeless. Just to name a few projects:  they are the oldest homeless program in the county. They do 365 services a year, they run a mobile shower, they have job skills training, they have the largest chaplaincy in the Sonoma County Jail, they feed 5000 for Thanksgiving. As he says, “The Redwood Gospel mission provides a platform for our community to do those services.”  Question #2: “Why are there so many homeless people around?”  People who are homeless are not necessarily houseless. Most are single adults.  This does not line up with poverty statistics because statistics look at families.  40% of all homeless live in 10 cities on the west coast. 20% of homeless people, if offered a place to live indoors with no strings attached would still choose to live outdoors on their own. He says the number one cause of homelessness is broken relationships. Most people who fall on hard times have family they can go to for help.  Not the homeless.  Public policy is hard on safety nets in our society.  Say you have a Section 8 housing voucher. If your income goes up too much, you lose your home. People will decline a raise or a promotion just to keep that housing voucher. Another example, grandma can no longer live on her own. However, if you take her in, you lose your benefits. So, grandma has no place to go. Relationships are the answer. The Redwood Gospel Mission’s job is to help people engage in new and renewed relationship and to experience the community of freedom, and health.

Doug Johnson asked about the possibility of their moving. Yes, they had a site in mind a few years ago, but the cost to build, environmental policies, etc. were too high. Dan Balfe asked if they knew home many of the homeless were veterans (no accounting for veterans/nonveterans). Kris Anderson asked about addiction and mental illness. Yes, these are the issues that destroy relationships. They work with the homeless to try and get them help. What about the concept of “housing first?”  He said he was not a fan of that concept. He told us about the “cobra affect.”  In India they had a terrible cobra problem. They needed to get rid of the cobras. The government started to pay a bounty for dead cobras. After a time, they realized that the cobra problem was not going away. Upon investigation they found that people had developed cobra nurseries to earn money from the bounty. They immediately stopped paying for dead cobras. Craig Meltzner said he thinks Housing First does work, but there was no time for a debate on the issue as it was 1:30.  Another time!

Additional Pictures:

Governor, District 5130

Doug Johnson

Secretary

Debi Zaft P.O. Box 505 Santa Rosa, CA 95402

Board of Directors

Club Service I, Membership, Julia Parranto
Club Service II, Club Meetings, Casey D’Angelo
Club Service III, Fundraising, Diane Moresi
Club Service IV, Member Activities, Anne Gospe
Club Service V, Information Technology and Records, Pete Lescure
Community Service I, Member Involvement, Rio Ray
Community Service II, Youth, Andrea Geary
Vocational Service, Carolyn Fassi
International Service, Dan Balfe

DIGITAL EDITION No. 418 July 28, 2021  EDITOR: Kris Anderson PHOTOGRAPHER: Nicole Le PUBLISHER: Richard Lazovick