Meeting Notes from June 21, 2022

Los Gatos Rotary Meeting notes The Cat Tale
 
Meeting called to order at 12:30 by President Nicholas Welzenbach.
 
Flag salute led by Boy Scout Troop 2.
 
Inspiration by Doug Brent. Doug talked about how we often don’t know the impact we have on our community. He shared a story about having dinner at the Palms when his server said hello Doug, I was a Rotary scholarship recipient. He was so impressed she remembered him, by name, after just meeting with him for few minutes and seeing him at the awards ceremony. She told him how much the award meant to her. He also read a letter of thanks he received from a parent who had two children who had been touched by our Rotary club. One, an exchange student, had been selected for ELC. The other, had received a scholarship. Thank you, Doug, for sharing these stories with us.  

Guests:

Rotarians
Kathleen Grom from Pleasantville, NY (past president) Kathleen is out here visiting her two sons.
Jan Nordmo, introduced by Dick Konrad, Santa Clara Rotary and Troop 2
 
Non-Rotarians
Ann Marie Kirkham, also introduced by Dick, Troop 2
Kevin Haas Troop 2
Andrew Haas Troop 2
Nick Huang Troop 2
Ileana Aguilar, introduced by Gae La Torre. Ileena is in the process of applying for membership.
Eric Drew, introduced by Gae
 
Song of the day Thank You by Sly and the Family Stone. The playlist of suggested songs will remain on Spotify if you want to go back and relive the year. 
 
Thank you to Kathie Benko and Randy Cobb for the Warrior NBA championship themed eggs. We look forward to seeing what you come up with every week. 
 
We celebrated June birthdays. Don McCleve wasn’t at the meeting, but he was there by video. Thank you Don. We sang Happy Birthday to:
  • Eric Eberle June 2
  • Don Kuehn June 2
  • Ed Bowen June 10
  • Jane Marashian June 24
  • Haryl Pascal June 24
  • David Wells June 24
  • Lisa Cheskin June 29
  • Sidd Madiwale June 30
 

Announcements:

  • President-elect Mike Norcia will hold our first Tuesday of the new year on Monday July 4 from 12:30-2:30 at Oak Meadow Park, meet at the wine and beer garden. We will be participating in the Town of LG Fourth of July celebration by staffing the wine and beer garden from 10-4. This will be a fundraiser for us. Money will be split between us, Morning Rotary, Kiwanis, and Lions. Janice Gali donated two cases of wine. Thank you, Gali Winery. Please let Mike know if you can work an hour or two.
  • Avis shared a photo from International in Houston of Pubudu DeZoysa from Sri Lanka. Pubudu sent thanks to our club for help with a Roteractors project in Sri Lanka. The country has been having a problem with young people leaving the island. The purpose of the project was to encourage tourism to provide jobs for young people. Avis also presented Rotary flags she had from other trips she had taken. She encouraged everyone to try to do an international project with Rotary.
  • Dan Snyder pointed out Nicholas’ shoelaces. We’ll miss seeing your style on the podium Nicholas.
  • Gae presented a check to Eric Drew for the We Heal Foundation’s work with Cancer Commons. Eric thanked us for the check and told us about some of the work the foundation has been doing with Cancer Commons. 
  • Suzanne Boxer-Gassman announced that in person Back to School shopping with West Valley Community Services is BACK! It will be held August 6 at Old Navy in Westgate. Signups to volunteer are at wvcommunityservices.org/b2s.
  • Gregg Butterfield gave special certificate recognition to Russel Couch. Russel helped him out all year when he was unable to set up and take down the meetings. In honor of his service to the club, the locker where we keep all our Rotary supplies has been named the Russel Couch Rotary Locker, a well-deserved honor. Thanks for your help, Russel, you made a year full of changes run more smoothly. 
  • Still time to donate to Polio Plus. We’ll be closing this out at the end of the month. 
  • Haryl Pascal was not at the meeting, but we were reminded he is still collecting phones for Ukraine.
  • Roast & Toast is next Tuesday at Villa Ragusa. Tuesday afternoon was the last chance to sign up. We hope to see everyone there!
  • July 5 dark NO MEETING
  • Thursday July 7 LG Promenade Rotary booth*
  • Thursday July 21 LG Promenade Rotary booth*
  • Thursday Aug. 4 LG Promenade Rotary booth*
    • *Signups will be coming out for all three events.
 
No time for 20 for 20.
 
Nicholas reflected on the changes this year and how lucky he is to be in a club like ours. He thanked us for embracing the changes we’ve gone through with our new location and process for getting food. He felt honored to have been our president. Thank you, Nicholas, we were honored to have you lead us through these times. 
 
 
In meeting project was sorting books for the Lucille Packard Tiny Libraries. Our speaker Dana Rhine from the Lucille Packard Foundation explained that the books go to the various Lucille Packard clinics. In non-Covid times, students from Stanford read to the children who are also invited to take a book home. The books go to under-served communities and help families build a home library.  
 
Meeting adjourned at 1:30.