The meeting was brought to order at 12:30pm by President Nicholas Welzenbach.
Nicholas welcomed everyone back to the lunch portion of the meeting and thanked Mike Norcia and Lisa Norcia-Cheskin for covering the past 2 meetings while he was out of town on business.
The Pledge of Allegiance was led by Margaret Smith.
Doug Brent provided our Inspiration. Doug reminded us that the news out there is bad but Rotary is full of good news and good deeds. Embrace the power of small deeds.
Guests:
Ken Glass was introduced by Mike Norcia.
Other guests who were not introduced but were present to support Dina Duckworth as she received her Red Badge: Holly Smith, Radhika Martinez, Nierja Patel and Maria Cura Castro.
Visiting Rotarians: From Campbell Rotary; Carol Hoffman and Bob Carlson.
Song of the Week: ‘Afternoon Delight’ by the Starland Vocal Band was suggested by Eric Eberle.
Rotarian of the Week: Tony James
Announcements:
Many thanks Randy Cobb for another week of awesomely decorated hardboiled eggs for our St. Luke’s food donation.
New Member Red Badge: Dina Duckworth was introduced by Karen Anderson. Welcome Dina!
Russel Couch is our newest Blue Badge member. He was introduced by Jack Chevlen. Congratulations Russel!
David Wells highlighted our world service project, World Connect. World Connect invests directly in the ideas of local leaders who are best positioned to drive self-sustaining development in their communities. Last year our Club donated $3500 to this project. David shared the logistics of how this social entrepreneurship program is efficiently run. Some examples of their projects are banana farming in Chipata, Zambia and trash collection in Kaffrine, Senegal.
Patti van der Burg and Tina Orsi-Hartigan thanked everyone who made the WineFest a huge success. The event raised $63,000 which was $2,000 more than last year. $11,100 of that total came just from Raise the Paddle to support local hunger projects. There was a raffle for members who referred friends to buy tickets. The raffle winners were Meghan Burton, Mike Norcia and Suzanne Boxer-Grassman and they received gift bags full of wine.
20 for 20:
Don McCleve shared about his recent fishing trip.
Tom Boyce and Ron Cassel are both celebrating their 60th wedding anniversaries with their wives. Each donated $120 and rang the bell.
Upcoming Events:
February 15 Meeting Speaker: Darren Demonsi, Director of Development from Uplift Family Services
February 22 Meeting Speaker: Eric Drew, We Heal Medical Advocate Network
March 1 Social Hour: Location to be determined
Presentation:
Tina Orsi-Hartigan presented our annual Richard D. King Youth Speech Contest with three local high school students. The students are required to attend school within our District 5170. Their speech must be original, based on this year’s topic, ‘Serve to Change Lives’ and refer to at least one principal of the Rotary Four Way Test.
Today’s prize money was $100 for first place, $50 for second place and $25 for third place. The winner will progress to the Regional Competition which will take place at 7:30am on March 9 at the Los Gatos Morning Rotary meeting. The winner from that event will move forward to the District Contest on April 24 at the San Ramon Marriott Hotel.
Speaker A spoke about conspiracy theories and false news.
Speaker B spoke about the power of compliments as acts of service.
Speaker C spoke about the importance of self-care as a prerequisite to helping others.
Tina thanked all of the Club Members that helped and announced the winners:
1st Place: Alexander Bonev (Speaker A) a 9th grader from Leigh High School
2nd Place: Yang Gao (Speaker B) an 11th grader from Leigh High School
3rd Place: Leo Weng (Speaker C) an 11th grader from Leigh High School
Don McCleve played the piano and led us in singing ‘Happy Birthday’ to Marlon Smith.
Nicholas closed the meeting at 1:35pm.