Meeting Notes from February 28, 2023

Los Gatos Rotary Meeting notes The Cat Tale
 
Meeting called to order by President Mike Norcia
 
Pledge led by Ileana Aguilar
 
Inspiration by Doug Brent. Doug shared three lines from tennis great, Arthur Ashe to help us all pursue our goals whatever they are:
 
Start where you are
Use what you have (an antidote to excuses)
Do what you can (things are supposed to be hard, that’s how you get better)
 
Guests:
  • Mike introduced Joe Albers 
  • Marlon Smith introduced Elaine Knoernschild 
  • Hal Rosen introduced Lydia Rosen
  • Also visiting was Jaya Basu
Announcements:
  • Speaker for today had to cancel due to Covid. Mike was thankful for all the members willing to step up today to fill in. 
  • Champion forms due today at midnight.
  • Next Tuesday March 7 is First Tuesday. We will meet at Hercules Draft House and Cantina (where Flights used to be) from 5:30-7:30. They will be extending happy hour to 7:30 for us.
  • Rise Against Hunger Saturday April 8 at Saratoga High School. There will be two shifts 7-10 a.m. and 10 a.m.-1 p.m. This is a project with District 8. Signups coming soon.
  • Police officers ball March 4 6:30-11 p.m. at Testarossa Winery. Tickets are $150, $75 to sponsor an officer. 
  • Thank you, Randy Cobb and Kathie Benko, for the beautiful cloud themed eggs. Kathie always comes up with something creative.
 
 
Joe Albers from Grande Center for Education in El Salvador received the DDF check for $15,600. This was their first official grant and he was very thankful. Joe spoke to us last year about the center. If you are interested in visiting in the fall let Mike know. Joe gifted Mike with a shirt from the center. 
 
Youth Protection
Jeffrey Barnett, our Youth Protection Director, gave an overview of what Rotary does to ensure all youth we come in contact with are safe. He started with a thank you to Grady Jeter who has been our Youth Protection Officer (YPO) for years and has done a great job making sure we are following all of RI protocols. 
Everyone who is involved in youth activities including: Youth Exchange, RYLA, Interact, Scholarship, Speech Contest, and Boy Scout Troop 2 must obtain Youth Protection Certification. This includes submitting references and fingerprinting. The district policy is available at Rotary5170.org. RI policy can be found at 2.120 of the Code of Policies on MyRotary.com.
The policy applies to all Rotarians, spouses, and other volunteers who work directly with youth.
All members have a duty to report actual and suspected violations to our district YPO, Scot Smithee. It is also recommended that you report to Grady as well. District YPO advises also reporting to the police.
 
 
30 for 30
  • Nicholas Welzenbach gave $100 for the Chiefs winning the Super Bowl.
  • LeRoy Neider told us his two grandsons who went flying fishing in Argentina, but got distracted and didn’t do any fishing. His grandsons, Dillon and Chris, said they would like to go back with him to fly fish. He told them he would go as soon as he was 23 again. He gave $100.
  • Fabio Giannetti and Ane Troger each gave $100 for new jobs. Congratulations!
  • Haryl Pascal reported that Henry Vitkovich is home and doing well. 
  • Hal Rosen wanted to brag about his son Toby who works for Dreamworks. His latest movie, Puss and Boots: The Last Wish is up for an Academy Award. Congratulations!
  • Lisa Cheskin gave $86 for her mom’s birthday. They took her to the Sharks game. Lydia and Dom always used to go to the games. Happy birthday Lydia!
  • Gae La Torre just got back from Antarctica. She had a great time. She figured if Ed could go, so could she.
  • Jeffrey Barnett gave $200 in honor of our club’s Rotarians who are among the most compassionate and generous community leaders. 
  • Doug Brent’s son just got engaged, he gave $100.
 
KIVA Microlending
Tom Boyce said he got a call from Mike yesterday to help fill in, he figured it was due to his known gift of gab. Tom gave us a history of his (and our club’s) history with KIVA. The idea of microlending was started by Muhammed Yunus in the 1970’s. He went on to win the Nobel Peace Prize in 2006 in economics for his work. The idea was to lend small amounts of money to poor women to help change their lives. 
 
In 2005 KIVA was started by a group of software designers in San Francisco. So far 34.6M borrowers have been loaned 1.86B dollars from 2.2M lenders. In early 2012 Tom got involved after he and his family went to Kenya and were touched by the hardworking people who just wanted a little help to get out of poverty. He found out about KIVA when he got home. His family started making microloans in Kenya and found they worked. He shared one of the bracelets his granddaughter made from antique spoons. She sold them and donated $600 for microloans. 
 
Spring of 2012 Tom and five Rotarians each donated $100 and asked the club for a matching grant. The loans were paid back and the funds were ready to be loaned out again. They asked if anyone else in the club was interested and 29 people signed up. They each were assigned a borrower and they have loaned money for cows, sewing machines, and food stalls. There are currently 53 members with matching funds from the club. If you are interested contact Tom. You can send a check to Tom for $100 or more, made out to KIVA. So far, our club has changed the lives of 350 borrowers through more than $100,000 in loans. The goal is $25,000 a year. 
 
Outstanding Rotarian
You have probably seen the plaque with the names of the outstanding Rotarian from each year. Did you know that plaque is unique to our club? Ron Cassel told us the story that in 1996 LeRoy asked his students to design a plaque to recognize the annual winners. At this time Ron had three students who had won national recognition for their talents in design. One in particular developed the technique to render the wheel from the Rotary logo.
Ron thanked LeRoy for suggesting this project. 
 
No lunch meeting next week. First Tuesday happy hour at Hercules Draft House and Cantina.