Meeting was called to order by President Andrew Stearns.
Pledge was led by David Wells.
Inspiration by Gary Allison was a series of quotes from Robert Burns, George Bernard Shaw, Albert Schweitzer and Wilbur Wright that made him think about Rotarians. Reminding us that we have all joined Rotary to serve others.
Maddie Smith was today’s greeter. There were no guests or visiting Rotarians.
Anjana Bose is the member in the spotlight this month. She has been a member since this past January and has really enjoyed being a part of Rotary. Andrew told us one of the quotes Anjana likes is by Woodrow Wilson, “There is no higher religion than human service.”
Rotary Anniversaries:
- Mike Frangadakis, May 1 (30 years, actually 43 – see below)
- Eric Eberle, May 2 (21 years)
- Meghan Burton, May 7 (2 years)
- Lisa Mize, May 8 (3 years)
- Susie Mize, May 8 (3 years)
- Bill Pope May 8 (3years)
- Tom Boyce, May 10 (35 years)
- Michelle Behr (1 year)
- Sandy Bocks, May 11 (17 years)
- Randy Cobb, May 14 (2 years)
- Sandeep Gopisetty, May 14 (2years)
- Ed Bowen May 15 (53 years)
- Chris Potter, May 28 (2 years)
- Len Smith, May 29 (37 years)
Tom Boyce introduced new member Eric Beckstrom. Eric is a local architect. We’ll hear more about Eric when he does his Red Badge speech. Welcome Eric, we look forward to hearing more about you.
May is Youth Service Month, a time when Rotarians focus on youth projects. Doug Brent reported on the LHS Interact Club’s electronic pickup fundraiser. They earned $280. Members who participated had positive comments about the fundraiser. Doug has been really proud of how busy they have been during this difficult time.
Lisa Cheskin reminded us about the New Member Schmooze this Thursday 5/13 at 5:30. This month’s topic “Finance & Philanthropy” will be presented by Suzanne Boxer-Gassman. Anyone is welcome but it is geared to members 2 years or newer. The link was in the chat.
Amy will send us the link for the next House of Hope sign up. Spaces go fast if you’re interested. Randy Cobb volunteers every week (in addition to his wonderful decorated eggs for St. Luke’s). Tom Anthony told us how rewarding it is and is very well run. Join in, if you can.
Andrew had a picture of the new LG Rotary flags. You will be able to get them from Gregg Butterfield. Be sure to get one if you’ll be attending another club’s meeting.
Announcements:
First Thursday was a huge success. Forty people attending. Nicholas Welzenbach thanked everyone for supporting the local restaurant that provided the meals. Everyone really enjoyed getting together. Thank you to Maddie Smith and Gae La Torre for setting it up.
Board meeting Thursday May 20 at 5:00
Next Santa Maria donation drop off is this Friday, May 14. Barbara Fishman will let us know about volunteer opportunities with Santa Maria.
Roast & Toast is June 29 6:00-9:00 at Villa Ragusa.
Leigh HS Interact Club is still offering their services as personal shoppers.
Thank you St. Luke’s volunteers.
20 for $20:
- Kirsten Bridges $50 for seeing her mother after months and her daughter’s visit for Mother’s Day.
- Robert Chaykin $100 in honor of his daughter’s graduation from med school. She will be doing her residency at Mt. Sinai in NY. Congratulations Robert and family!
- Mike Frangadakis donated because he is feeling so much better after having a cyst removed from his spine. Glad you’re feeling better Mike. Mike also told us the story about transferring from the Cupertino, which he joined in 1978, and transferred to the LG club in ’90 or ’91.
- Nicholas told us there was $50 left over from 1st Thursday that he is returning to the club.
- Dan Snyder is giving $20 for the lack of SAT testing places in California. The family is making the best of it and going to Dayton, OH for his daughter to take the test and have little a family reunion. Good luck on the test!
- Sarita Johnson gave $20. She wanted to give Andrew Stearns’ mom an “Atta Girl” after reading about her. Sarita was one of 7 women in her class of 700 when she graduated from med school in 1954. Atta Girl Sarita!
- Dan gave another $100 for Sarita knocking down doors. Andrew S. gave another $100 in honor of Sarita, too.
This week’s program
This week's program was introduced by Chris Potter. Our guest was Yavuz Atila from the Monterey Cannery Row Rotary Club. Yavuz is head of the ESRAG for the western region. ESRAG is the Environmental Sustainability Rotary Action Group. The Inaugural meeting of ESRAG took place June 2015 in Sao Paulo, Brazil. While environmental projects are not new to Rotary ESRAG advocated to make the environment a new area of focus for RI. We were shown part of a video which is available on YouTube if you missed the meeting or would like to see more. Search ESRAG on YouTube. To see what other clubs are doing go to iFixThePlanet.org for the video competition which closes May 31, 2021 Or go to ESRAG.org for more information.
Next week’s speaker is our own Paul Johnson for the State of the State in the Los Gatos Union School District.