The pledge was led by Ed Stahl. John Pencer inspired with a  quote by Saint Theresa about accepting yourself and practicing joy.
 

Visitors were

  • Jeffrey Blum, and attorney invited by Tina, checking out the club
  • Rebecca Alvarez from West Valley College (assistant to the WV President) hoping to connect students with us and experienced in large events
  • Esme Hekkelman, Jamie’s daughter
 
Members shared backgrounds of winter wonderland scenes from around the world, and President Andrew wore a virtual reindeer outfit that moved along with his head…wow
 
Don McCleve played a Christmas concert of jingle bells on his piano, with special assistant Greg Butterfield.
 
This week’s social media spotlight was on dedicated member and everyone’s favorite chef Michelle Myers-Nelson.
 
Wine Fest is coming Jan 30!! Click here for video that explains the event. David Wells and David Hubbard demonstrated live how to buy tickets. Go to our club website and click on the event to buy tickets, or click here.  Note 1 ticket for $150 is for 1 wine kit, which serves 2 people. You will need to register for an account to get setup. See David Wells if you have a question. Thanks David!
 
Note there is no first Thursday in January.
 
Champion forms are due 2/28. To find a blank champion form, go to losgatosrotary.org, sign into the member area and then click on the member link, then click on green book on right Club documents and search on “Philanthropy”. Once you complete the form please email it to Andrew Stearns.
Help local restaurant workers by shopping at Flights WinterWonderland Drive Thru Market, where food, drinks, and gifts are offered.
 
Toastmasters is joining forces with Rotary, Wednesday mornings at 7:30. See Doug Brent if interested.
 
Dick Konrad shared how his Community Service members (Greg, Rachelle, Nick, and Jeffrey) helped assemble and hand out festive meals to seniors and others in need in our community thru the Chamber’s LG Gives program. Over $9000 was raised, and 225 families were served.
 
Judy gave a Project Amigo update. The University of Colima studied the Project Amigo program and due to its success in helping students thrive, recommends replicating the program throughout the entire country. LG Rotary is proud to be an ongoing contributor to this successful program.
 
Family Giving Tree is still accepting donations here through Jan 15. Lisa updated that to date our club has given 90 gifts, and would love to shoot for last year’s total of 126.
 
St. Luke’s food donations came in once again this week, and Randy’s eggs sported a festive Christmas theme (of course).
 

20 for 20:

  • Randy cobb recently went through his father’s many Rotary awards, and some were earned by his mom as well. We are fortunate Randy carries on the legacy.
  • Maddie Smith shared a photo of a vintage 1955 Rotary stamp her nephew framed for her. The design included the earth and Service Above Self.
  • Andrew Howard shared he was proud of his business BetterWealth earning the 1% for environmental causes certification. See him for details if your business is interested in this program.
  • Dan Snyder shared his refrigerator repair horror story of being on hold for 3 hours multiple times…and it’s still not fixed! Marty shared there should be a supply of dry ice available soon.
  • Robert Chaykin highly recommends a recent book he read “Lincoln on the Verge, 13 days to Washington”, a great historical read.
 
Our speakers were introduced by Meghan. They were Sue McKinney (Oakland Uptown Rotary) and Uyen Huang (Milpitas High School Interact) with the Rotary Vietnam Project. RVP was founded in 2015, and has 2 advisors from our club: Avis and Jamie. LG Rotary has awarded grants to them for the past few years. RVP addresses human trafficking in Vietnam by teaching English (important for jobs), self-defense, and life skills. They help run summer camps and provide scholarships for young Vietnamese to attend. See their website here
 
RVP successes are that they have raised over $200,000, partnered with 2 other international rotary clubs, and been awarded Global Grants.
(Note that the WineFest Raise the Paddle cause this year is our LG Rotary international youth programs, featuring RVP’s ongoing efforts to prevent human trafficking.)
 

There is no meeting next week. Our speaker Jan 5 will be from the Marine Mammal Center on the subject of sea lions.

Happy Holidays and Happy New Year from the Cat Tale Committee!