October 17, 2012 Bulletin

DIGITAL EDITION     No. 1     October 17, 2012     EDITOR: Jim Johnson     PHOTOGRAPHER: Diane Moresi

Our Program For October 24th:

“LET US WATER THE FLOWERS”

In person: the memoirs of a political prisoner in Iran

Flamingo Resort Hotel, Wednesday, 12:00 noon

In the summer of 1988, the Islamic Republic of Iran began a systematic execution of political prisoners. Overriding earlier prison sentences handed down by its own tribunals, the regime summarily hanged thousands of inmates, many of them incarcerated at the notorious Evin Prison in Tehran. In great secrecy the bodies of the victims were transported to mass, unmarked graves. For five years, from 1984 to 1989, Dr. Jafar Yaghoobi experienced the terrible ordeal of being a political prisoner in Iran between 1984 and 1989. Against all odds, he survived the wave of state-sponsored killings and brings to us in person his story of the events of that terrible time.

UPCOMING PROGRAMS….

October 31: Press Democrat Editorial Director Paul Gullixson November 7: No meeting due to Veterans Salute on Nov. 8^th November 14:Costas Schuler “The Pen Guy”

THE NEW SANTA ROSARIAN – 2012

Ten years ago, the Rotary Club of Santa Rosa’s weekly newsletter entered the digital age, moving from a bulletin actually printed by a printing press on paper to a similar-looking publication entirely created using computers and put together as a photo-like JPG image that was distributed via online email to fellow Rotarians. This issue advances our club’s technological process another giant step forward, thanks to the in-house skills & talents of Rotarians like Wayne Rowlands, Matt Fannin, and honorary Rotarian Susan O’Rourke. Not only will these changes lower the cost of internal club communications but allow us to expand our scope and content, include more member-to-member involvement and interaction. We won’t bore you with details, but please scroll through the new Santa Rosarian, enjoy more photos from our meetings and other club activity. On the last “page” of the October 17^thbulletin, you will find an immediate news release about next Wednesday’s World Polio Day and the world’s biggest commercial.

OPENING CEREMONIES

After a brief welcome to all our guests, visiting Rotarians, and fellow Rotarians by Bill Rousseau, our Rotary Club President, Shannon McConnell led us in our Pledge of Allegiance. The invocation was presented by Club Treasurer and Rotarian for 29 years, Cecil Humes. Cecil highlighted one of life’s great obstacles and brought to us a valuable lesson in overcoming the many of life’s obstacles.

VISITING ROTARIANS

Gary Chow, from the South San Francisco Rotary Club, was making the rounds this week, exchanging club banners and seeking volunteers for Cancer Prevention Study #3. For more details, scroll down for more details under Announcements. And the familiar face of Dan Erickson, still a member of the new Healdsburg Sunrise Rotary Club.

GUESTS OF ROTARIANS

Prospective member & real estate agent Jane Duggan was introduced, again, by her Rotarian daughter, Shannon McConnell, who then introduced her guest & fellow worker from Sonic.net, Loie Sauer. Matt Eversonintroduced his guests—significant other Sarah Trejo and prospective member & United Way CEO, Mike Kallhoff. And representing Canine Companions for Independence, Tammy Gass, and Michelle Lewis, today’s speaker, and her service dog, Angel. Other CCI representatives also in attendance was CCI Service Dog Marnie , Cathy Vicini’s CCI stud dog, Nox, and several other canine companions others whose names we did not catch.

ROTARY MEANS BUSINESS

Talented photographer and dedicated Rotarian Robert Pierce, owner of Robert Pierce Studios, eloquently discussed his love and enthusiasm for his chosen profession of capturing images of world and its people who surround us and ended his presentation typically promoting his craft and his photographic charm and how his skills can be used to benefit all of us in our professions and in our avocations.

SUNSHINE REPORT

No one mentioned it, but having our fellow Rotarian Cathy Vicini back from her medical leave of absence at this month’s meetings was double sweet because her macho dog Nox escorted her back this week. And it was reported by several visitors to Creekside Rehab that Dick Jenkins enjoys his Rotary visitors and would like to invite you all to drop by 850 Sonoma Avenue to keep him company. You can also contact him in Room 222 by telephone: 544-7750.

$206 IN THE JACKPOT

With Past President Yale Abrams owning the lucky ticket, his luck ran out when he carefully withdrew the wrong playing card (although $10 is always welcome). Nick Knickerbocker’s mission at Saturday night at Casino Royale—if he chooses to accept it—will be to check with the gamblers attending and get an accurate count of Anti-Joker cards remaining in the Raffle Deck for next Wednesday’s jackpot.

 ROTARY QUIZ

Be prepared to answer correctly Nona’s Question from the October issue of Rotarian magazine, and qualify for the big cash prize drawing:

What music is Lisbon, Portugal known for?

The Rotarian digital edition is here. Just like the Santa Rosarian, Rotary International has gone digital. Click on the link and subscribe to the digital edition. You might even find the answer to the Rotary Quiz quickly!

KATIE BARR’S CRAFT TALK

Looking very stylish in a professional pants suit, new Rotarian Katie Barr explained that even though her fellow Rotarians know her as a yoga instructor, she actually has a day job at Tomorrow’s Leaders Today, the non-profit leadership skills training program for Sonoma County high school students entering their junior school year. She also confessed to being a Duck (an Oregon University grad) with a degree in History & Latin American Studies. As an exchange student she worked on a farm in Germany.

Upon her return to the U.S. Katie went to work for Planned Parenthood only to lose her husband and a daughter in tragic highway accident. Only she survived. After selling her home and moving back to California, Katie earned her teaching credential, became a school teacher, and got her Master’s Degree in Education & Leadership at San Francisco State,  and became a high school principal.  She returned to Oregon and set up a non-profit foundation in her husband’s honor to help at-risk kids and established a scholarship in her daughter’s name. Today, Katie has remarried with two children, teaches Yoga classes and enjoys her work with Tomorrow’s Leaders Today. Her fellow Rotarians are honored that she has become a hard-working member of the Rotary Club of Santa Rosa. Thank you.

STONEY NEWTON

The good news spread rapidly today that former banker Stoney Newton had accepted a position in Santa Rosa with New York Life, a mutual life insurance company established in 1845. The best news for his fellow Rotarians is that Stoney will be returning soon to our Rotary Club.

OUTSTANDING STUDENT

High School Recognition Chair Bill Hatcher introduced Principal Laurie Fong, to describe the achievements of Santa Rosa’s Montgomery High School’s outstanding student, Emily Goldfield. The first female to be elected president of the student body in many years, 17 year old Emily has achieved a 4.72 grade point ratio, and has the distinction of raising $15,000 while in the 9^thgrade to purchase a machine for a clinic in Tanzania where her mother had volunteered.

RING RING DINGALING

Amazing that those few musical notes coming from Darrell Horn’s tiny telephone can be worth $5 to our Rotary Club. If you don’t believe it, check with Darrell.

ANNOUNCEMENTS

Volunteers Needed for Cancer Prevention Study #3: Visiting Rotarian Gary Chow exchanged Rotary banners with President William and fulfilled his mission to the North Bay’s Rotary Clubs to alert service-minded Rotarians that Redwood Regional Medical Group has partnered with the American Cancer Society to help save lives from cancer through the Cancer Prevention Study—3. They are looking for people between 30 to 65 years of age willing to make a long-term commitment over the next 20 to 30 years to follow-up surveys at home. Volunteers must never been diagnosed with cancer (not including basal or squamous cell skin cancer). To see more details on date/time/location and to register for an appointment, visit: www.cps3sonomacounty.org.

Casino Royale Chair Debi Zaft made some final announcements for Saturday evening’s upcoming fundraising event from 6 pm to 11 pm at the Furth Entertainment Center in Windsor. Everything is in place for a grand evening and she urged all of us to invite our friends and neighbors for a grand evening of games of chance, fantastic food, and great prizes, including Dave Del Monte’s exceptional contribution of a three-hour private personal tour of New York City.

Veterans Salute Sponsorship: Club Chair Nick Knickerbocker announced that one sponsorship is still available to the 12^th Annual Veteran’s Luncheon on Nov. 8^th at the Veterans Memorial Auditorium. If you are interested contact Nick immediately; only a few days remaining to become a sponsor. The cost is $500.

Football Fever: Apparently there exists in our Rotary Club some sort of competition involving institutions of higher learning, touchdowns, field goals, and money. If you attended Stanford University or like the Cal Bears and would like to participate, contact any alumni of those schools. You will be able to recognize them easily. They will be the ones foaming at the mouth.

PROGRAM

Not only was our Rotary meeting enhanced by some special visitors of a different species but we had a unique opportunity to experience life with a service dog from Canine Companions for Independence through the eyes of  husband, young mother, and client Michelle Lewis and her service dog, Angel. We also had the pleasure of observing our guests in action and learning so much from today’s guests.

WORLD’S BIGGEST COMMERCIAL

Get Involved: Next Wednesday, on World Polio Day, Rotary International invites every one of us to get online and participate in the World’s Biggest Commercial, promoting the global effort to eradicate this crippling childhood disease. The innovative, interactive campaign gives everyone a chance to join Archbishop Desmond Tutu, Bill Gates, Jackie Chan, Amanda Peet and other world figures and celebrities already participating in Rotary’s “This Close” campaign in raising awareness and support for polio eradication.

Upload your photos: Participants can upload photos of themselves to Rotary’s polio eradication website, endpolionow.org, to be edited into the constantly expanding promotional spot. Participants will receive an email with a direct link to their image and comment within the commercial. Also on World Polio Day, Rotary will make available for purchase “End Polio Now,” an eclectic album of songs performed by its celebrity polio eradication ambassadors from the music industry, including polio survivors Itzhak Perlman (classical violin); Donovan (folk rock); and Staff Benda Bilili (Congolese soukous). The album will be available via iTunes and at shop.rotary.org.

Huge funding gap: But beneath the entertaining nature of the online and music projects lies a very serious issue adding gravity to World Polio Day 2012.  A $700 Million funding gap threatens to undermine all of the progress achieved against the disease since 1988, when Rotary joined with the World Health Organization, UNICEF and the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to launch the Global Polio Eradication Initiative. The irony is that despite the funding gap, there has never been a more opportune time to finish off polio, with new cases at an all-time low and the wild poliovirus now confined to only a few pockets in Afghanistan, Nigeria, and Pakistan. In 1988, polio infected and disabled about 350,000 people a year, most of them children. In 2011, fewer than 700 cases were reported – a reduction of more than 99 percent. The success is due to mass immunization drives that have reached more than two billion children with the oral polio vaccine.

$75 Million in new funding: In response to the crisis, Rotary on Sept. 27 announced a funding commitment of $75 million for polio eradication over the next three years during a special United Nations General Assembly session on polio. Rotary also delivered to the UN an online petition supporting polio eradication signed by more than 7,000 global citizens.

Greater advocacy: To date, Rotary members have contributed nearly $1.2 billion to the effort. Coinciding with World Polio Day, Rotary is ramping up its advocacy work in the 200 countries and regions where Rotary clubs exist to encourage every national government to commit to the funding levels needed to close the gap.

Possible polio rebound: But public health experts say that if the eradication effort stalls now, polio could rebound quickly, potentially paralyzing 250,000 children a year. Unvaccinated children everywhere, including countries now polio-free, would be at greatly increased risk. The message to world leaders is clear: support the final push to achieve eradication now while the goal has never been closer, or face the potential consequences of a new polio pandemic that could disable millions of children within a decade.

PROSPECTIVE NEW MEMBERS

Mike Kallhoff- CEO United Way of the Wine Country, Sponsor – Matt Everson Jane Duggan – Commercial Broker Associate, Sponsor – Shannon McConnell

Officers

Bill Rousseau, President Peggy Soberanis, President Elect Jack Abercrombie, Secretary Cecil G. Humes, Treasurer Jack Geary, Sergeant at Arms

President Rotary International

Sakuji Tanaka – Rotary Club of Yasjio, Japan

Governor, District 5130

Michael Juric – Rotary Club of Windsor

Attendance Secretary

Jack Abercrombie P.O. Box 505 Santa Rosa, CA 707-538-4770

Board of Directors

Matt Fannin Jose Guillen Paul Hamilton Nicole Le Diane Moresi Vinay Patel Robert Pierce Carmen Sinigiani Creed Wood Marnie Goldschlag, Past President