PLEDGE / VISITORS
Jane Marashian led the pledge and announced visitors and guests
Guests included:
- Audrey Fox from San Jose Rotary
- “Charles” from an Oregon Rotary Club
- “Patty” - a red badger from Los Gatos Morning Rotary
- Gordon Levin’s wife, Judy
- Avis La Grone’s granddaughter, Jamie, who will be joining our club as a family member and who is also a Paul Harris Fellow.
INSPIRATION
Suzanne Boxer-Gassman inspired us by showing the Crab Fest Raise the Paddle video on Youth Services.
If you were not present for the “Raise your Paddle for Local Youth” at the CrabFest, but would like to donate $100 to our Local Youth Charities, contact Patti van der Burg
ANNOUCEMENTS
CRABFEST THANK YOUS
- Suzanne Boxer-Gassman also recognized and thanked the Crabfest steering committee.
- John Pencer sold steaks (donated by the event’s crab vendor) / crab cakes (made by Eric Eberle). Proceeds from these sales are being donated to the LG Rotary Foundation.
- Patti van der Burg announced the names of all who made the Crabfest a success.
- Rotarian Sponsors: Ed Stahl, Janice Gali, Marty Fishman, Nicholas Welzenbach, Mike Norcia, Meghan Burton, Andrew Howard, Rami Wazni
- Major Bidders: Greg Butterfield, Ron Cassel, Ed Stahl, Mike Norcia, Marty Fishman, John Colwell, Kamyar Negari, Greg Gomon
- Major Solicitors: Art Rabitz, Lisa Cheskin, Neal Mudgett, Henry Vitkovich, Eric Eberle
- Major Donors: John Colwell, Andrew Stearns, Tina Orsi-Hartigan, Marty Fishman, Jane Marashian, David Wells, Elaine Knoernshield, Avis La Grone, Michelle Myers-Nelson, Rene Friedrich
- Major ticket buyers: Ed Stahl, Ron Cassel, John Colwell, Richard Bobis
- Kitchen: Tina Orsi-Hartigan, Andrew Stearns, Michelle-Myers-Nelson, and big crew
- Crab Tech Team and Auction support: David Wells, Lisa Cheskin, AnnMarie Valle, David Hubbard, Rami Wazni, Nicholas Welzenbach, Rob Chaykin, Chris Potter, Haryl Pascal, Norm and Laurel Snyder, Kristen Bridges, Paul Johnson
- Marketing: Amy Potts, Rami Wazni, Ann Marie Valle
- Auctioneer Extraordinaire: John Pencer
- Bar: John Colwell, Greg Smith, and team
- Stage manager: Gregg Butterfield
- Auction slides: Ann Marie Valle
- Basket Team: Lisa Cheskin, Kirsten Bridges
- Online catalog and project pre-bid: David Wells, Lisa Cheskin
- Set up and Tear down and facilities: Art Rabitz, Gordon Levin, and crew
- Crab concierge: Mike Norcia, Greg Gentile, Tony James
BADGE DISTRIBUTIONS
Riley Barr received his Blue Badge and Barry Cheskin received his Red Badge (Family Member category).
DISTRICT 5170 INTERNATIONAL EXPO
The District 5170 International Expo will be held on Saturday, February 1st at University of Silicon Andhra in Milpitas. See the district website for more details.
FIRST THURSDAY
First Thursday will be at the Los Gatos Lodge on February 6th from 5:30 to 7:30. Contact Maddie Smith if you have questions.
INNER WHEEL FOUNDER’S DAY BRUNCH
The Inner Wheel will be having their Founder’s Day Brunch on February 16th from 11am-2pm at Castlewood Country Club in Pleasanton. For additional details, contact Marlene Wiebel at 510-790-2311.
44TH ANNUAL ROTARY SKI CHALLENGE
The Annual Rotary Ski Challenge will take place the weekend of February 28th. To date, no one from our club has signed up. See Eric Eberle if you are interested.
RISE AGAINST HUNGER
Rise Against Hunger Day will be Saturday, February 29th from 10am-12pm at the Monte Vista High School Cafeteria. To sign up, go to tinyurl.com/area8serviceproject.
ELC
This year’s Education Leadership Conference will take place March 11th – 13th at Asilomar. Planning is currently underway. Contact Mike Norcia for additional information.
CARBON INC
The February 12th tour of Carbon Inc. organized by Dave Karwowski is filled.
MENDOCINO MAHJONG SOCIAL
There will be a mahjong social March 10th – 12th to raise money for scholarships for Vietnamese school girls. See Avis LaGrone if you would like to participate in this event.
ST. LUKE’S PANTRY
The next St. Luke’s pantry brunch will be on March 17th. Tina Orsi-Hartigan will be taking signups in early March.
PHILANTHROPHY CALENDAR
LG Rotary Foundation grant applications can be found on our website and are due on February 28th.
ROTARY SPEECH CONTEST
Jane Marashian gave an overview of and the plans for this year’s speech contest taking place on February 4th.
NIGHT TO SHINE
Nicholas Welzenbach announced a Feb 7th event at Home Church in Campbell called, “Night to Shine” – a prom night experience for people with special needs aged 16 and older. Go to www.nighttoshinesiliconvalley.org for more details.
PROGRAM
Today’s speaker, introduced by Greg Smith, was Wayne Gregori, President of Gregori Group. He is an expert in and gave a presentation on bitcoin and block chain technology. He described that bitcoin is an open source software program that is intended to disrupt Wall Street banking. He also described the history of and technology used in the bitcoin platform.
ADJOURNMENT
The meeting was adjourned at 1:30pm.