Meeting Notes from February 22, 2022

Los Gatos Rotary Meeting notes The Cat Tale
 
Meeting called to order by President Nicholas Welzenbach at 12:30.
 
Pledge led by Nicholas’ guest Larry Maggio.
 
Today’s song was Solitary Man by Neil Diamond, suggested by Greek.
 
Doug Brent provided inspiration by asking what is inspiration? Doug drew from an article in Harper’s Business Review which said there are 3 parts to inspiration:
  1. Evocation- inspiration is something that happens to you, it evokes a response.
  2. Transcendence- the realization that it is something bigger than you.
  3. Approach motivation- where the individual tries to express, or actualize a new idea or vision.
While we can’t make ourselves be inspired, we can set ourselves up for inspiration. Link to the article is https://hbr.org/2011/11/why-inspiration-matters

Guests:

  • Nicholas introduced Larry Maggio.
  • Gae La Torre introduced Ileana Aguilar who is visiting us for the second time.
  • Lydia Norcia introduced her friends, Yvonne and Ray Blockie.
  • Cameron visited us for the second time. Cameron’s father is a member of Cupertino Rotary.

Announcements:

​​​​​​​
  • Thank you, Randy Cobb and Kathie Benko for the adorable puppy themed eggs. 
  • Nicholas announced that we are starting to think about a Centennial project to honor 100 years of LG Rotary in 2024. The project could be local or global. Let Nicholas know if you have any ideas or if you’re interested in getting involved.
  • Mike Norcia announced that the Great Race is back on May 1, but will be a bit different.  It will be held in Oak Meadow/Vasona. The new venue will allow to try some new things like a kid’s short race. We will need 50-60 volunteers. He also thanked Sarita Johnson for being our first sponsor with a $15,000 donation. Thank you Sarita!
  • Rise Against Hunger is April 2. We will be working with Saratoga Rotary. This is a great event. Many of our members have done this before, you’ll want to join us if you haven’t.

Club Anniversaries:

Clayton Bruntz 34 years
Kent Cooper 31 years
Beth Smith 23 years
Art Rabitz 16 years
Judith Propp 9 years
Henry Vitkovich 6 years
Paul Johnson 3 years
Barry Cheskin 2 years
Jamie Hekkelman 2 years

20 for 20

  • Greek for his beard, he’s shaving soon.
  • Sue H. Her grandchildren have recovered from Covid.
  • Kirsten $95 in memory of her mother.
  • Nicholas matched Kirsten’s pledge.
  • Sarita thanked John Colwell for the gift of inviting her to a meeting in 2008. Rotary has been a gift to her every day since then. She donated $100 to scholarship.
  • Lydia gave $100 in honor of Dom who passed away 2 years ago.
  • Randy gave in honor of his mom who did the registration and cut oranges for all the Great Races. He has tee shirts from every race.
  • LeRoy Neider gave in honor of his grandsons skiing and fishing in Utah.
  • Nicholas gave in honor of a relaxing family getaway to Yountville.
  • Eric Drew for 2/22/22 and all the love and gratitude in the room.
  • Marlon Smith gave for Marshall’s birthday.

Upcoming:

NO lunch meeting next week. First Tuesday will be at Hapa’s from 5:30-7:30. They’re located behind the downtown Ace Hardware. Come have some fun socializing and supporting a local business. 
 
March 8 Apura Mehta from Stanford Linear Accelerator will be our speaker.

Program:

Our speaker today was Eric Drew from the We Heal Foundation. Eric was diagnosed with terminal cancer in 2002 at the age of 35. Rather than accepting his prognosis he advocated for himself until a cure for him was found in Italy. He realized the medical system can be overwhelming at a time when all you should be focused on is your health.
 
Eric told us that LG Rotary holds a special place for him. We were the first place he went to speak about his experiences. He has so much gratitude for our club. Eric created the Eric Drew Foundation and later the We Heal Foundation which provides what he calls Crowd Healing. His goal is to provide information and advocacy for people facing life threatening illness. He has appeared on television, radio, he has done a TED Talk, as well as being an in-demand speaker. You can read more about Eric and his journey, including fighting for his rights as a victim of identity theft at Weheal.org.