In Nicholas’ absence, due to work travel, Lisa Cheskin started the meeting at 12:30pm.
Announcements:
We are hoping for the lunch portion of our meetings to return in February.
Due to the continued high rate of Covid, the First Tuesday scheduled for February 2 at Rootstock has been canceled.
Shir Hadash has been a little chilly lately; we expect heat to be returned to the building next week.
The Pledge of Allegiance was led by Tom Boyce.
Inspiration: Suzanne Boxer-Gassman, donning her adorable wine dress, shared some inspiration related to our upcoming WineFest. She reminded us that when life gives you lemons make lemonade…with wine! We looked back on some pictures from last year’s event and Suzanne reminded us to send in pictures from our celebration of the WineFest this year.
Guests: Cameron introduced himself. His father was a member of Cupertino Rotary and he is looking for ways to give back to the community.
Visiting Rotarians: None
Song of the week: Nina Simone’s ‘I Wish I Knew How It Would Feel to Be Free’, suggested by Marty Fishman.
Rotarians of the Week: Marty and Barbara Fishman.
Anniversaries: Lisa shared a long list of January anniversaries highlighted by John Pencer’s 50th anniversary! John joked that he started Rotary when he was 12 years old. Congratulations John!
New Members: Marty Fishman introduced two new members; Jean Marc Blanchard and Sid Madiwale. They both thanked Club for the opportunity and said that they were looking forward to contributing to our the community.
Thank you Randy Cobb for another week of beautifully decorated eggs for St. Luke’s.
We looked back on some of the great NFL football playoff games from this past weekend! Most of us were pleased with the San Francisco Forty Niners’ win and Nicholas, only Nicholas, was pleased with the Kansas City Chiefs’ win. Go Niners!
Ed Stahl shared with us about his recent fabulous trip to Antarctica and donated $100…and rang the bell!
Patti Van der Burg, festooned with wine goggles, reminded us that the WineFest is this coming Saturday. Tickets will remain on sale until Friday at midnight. The auction item lists were on each table and are also available online. Please remember to bid! Patti and her husband, Erik have an open door policy at their home; if you bring wine, they will open their door. Patti, be careful what you ask for!
Lavender Fields will be singing during the WineFest and they are an auction item too.
Upcoming Meetings:
February 8: Rotary Speech Contest
February 15: Darren Demonsi, Director of Development from Uplift Family Services
February 22: Eric Drew from We Heal, a medical advocate network
20 for 20: Barry Cheskin donated $100 in honor of Patti and Erik Van der Burg for inviting them over for wine.
Speaker:
Our Speaker was Dan Pulcrano. Forty years ago, as a 23-year-old recent graduate of UC Santa Cruz, Dan Pulcrano moved to Los Gatos, founded the Los Gatos Weekly and joined the Los Gatos Rotary Club.
Funded by community investors, the Los Gatos Weekly competed with the established Los Gatos Times-Observer—which he bought eight years later to create the Weekly-Times.
Dan also founded the free weekly Metro Silicon Valley, and has bought four other similar papers around the Bay Area, including Good Times in Santa Cruz and the East Bay Express. The publishing group, known as Weeklys, now owns more than 15 publications, including community newspapers in Gilroy, Morgan Hill, Scotts Valley, Watsonville and King City.
His newest publication is the Los Gatan, which began publishing in September.
He is married to his wife Juliana, and has three daughters.
Members who are interested in subscribing to the Los Gatan can use this link to do so: lgsubs.com
Lisa thanked Dan with a certificate noting 50 polio inoculations to be made in his honor.
Since we had a few minutes left over after our speaker presentation, John Pencer shared some stories and highlights from his 50 years in Rotary. Thank you John!
