"Be careful not to close the door too quickly on someone; you may just be locking yourself out."  Thus spake a certain Patrick Flaharty, President.

 

GUESTS, VISITING ROTARIANS, AND SUCH

 

Burt Brown - Dan Herbert's father-in-law (we're so sorry, Burt)

Chris Price - here for the third time (and you know what that means)

Simone Raeth - Sellin' them raffle tix

Agatha Sue Lee - Cal's significantly better half

Harriet Ainsworth - Reporter Extraordinaire, Lamorinda Sun

Linda McCowan - the main reason we let Skip hang around

Barbara Hollenbach - friend fo the McCowans and leader of an upcoming Common Hope trip in April 2009

Larry Sly - Concord, Contra Costa County Food Bank

Ulrich Luscher Joanne's hubby and builder of posh living quarters

Mindy Wheeler - Tay's dearly beloved

Carol Chaffey - George's reason for living

 

Whilst introducing the esteemed Ms. Ainsworth, Cal Lee let it be known that she receives the Moraga Club's newsletter but not ours - something to do with e-mail availability and what-have-you - and suggested that the publisher of this fishwrap rectify that situation.  Cal would have gotten off with a mere $10 fine for his temerity had it not been a voice piping up and suggesting that it be raised to $20.  Apparently, Prez Pat felt he could not ignore such a request, especially since it came from a certain Agatha Sue Lee.  Clearly there is great significance in all of this, but it somehow escapes this reporter's feeble brain.

 

BIRTHDAYS & ANNIVERSARIES & MISCELLANEOUS GOOD NEWS

 

Mary Jane Arnold had a birthday, which was spent avoiding crashing chandeliers and having to choose between Raoul and the Phantom.  Yes, "The Phantom of the Opera" is back in town, and Alex took her for the special day.

 

Ray Welles had another birthday, his 79^th, and he and Jackie, along with their daughters, dined at the Donatello, took in some culture at the Asian Art Museum, and learned a thing or three at the newly-reopened Academy of Sciences.

 

Mary Lou Fazel had a birthday that just happened to coincide with Thanksgiving.  So she and John had a vegan Turkey Day feast in Sacramento with their daughter. 

 

Prez Pat has started a new reign of not embarrassing members out loud with the amounts of their fines, or recognitions, or excise taxes, or whatever we're calling them these days, and my investigative skills are waning by the minute, so other than Ray's $20, I have no clue how much anyone forked over. 

 

DR. SEUSS MUST ROLLING OVER IN HIS GRAVE

 

Remember that silly chef's that we inflicted on our Fearless Leader at PETS last Spring?  I didn't, either, but he pulled it out, thereby becoming The Pat in the Hat (not coming to a theater near you) for a few moments.  It was all for a good cause - passing the self-same hat to collect a tip for the Postino staff that takes such good care of us and puts up with our shenanigans all during the year.  The staff - well, two sacrificial lambs came out later to accept and show appreciation for the $1.75 we collected.

 

HELPING WHERE AND WHEN IT'S NEEDED

 

Larry Sly just happened to stop by for breakfast, and we just happened to have a $1,000 check to give him for the CoCo County Food Bank.  There is also an opportunity to help out in a hands-on way come Monday, December 22. With sorting and making food baskets for folks who could reeeeaaaaaally use a little somethin'-somethin' right about now.  The available times are 1-4 p.m. and 6-8 p.m.  Let President Flaharty know if you want to be a part of this.

 

Also, there is an exhibit of the art of John Lennon happening at the Lescher Center (Walnut Creek, corner of Locust & Mt. Diablo - kinda hard to miss if you're in the area) at which donations for the Food Bank are being solicited.  Larry has cards pertaining to said event, so give him a shout if you want to attend this Keep Yoko Alive event.

 

GARDEN PARK APARTMENT UPDATE

 

Brad Davis reports that we have received some "thank you" cards from the urchins at the Garden Park Apartments for the folks who came to help with the pumpkin carving a holiday or two ago.    Quote one: "Thank you.  I had a lot of fun. Come again next year. You rock!" 

 

Way to go to everyone who was there, and another big shout-out to Brad Davis, who has kept this alive.  You are making a real, positive impact on some young people who can use all the positive impacts they can get.  As Brad said: Good on ya.

 

AND WE EVEN GET PRESS IN REAL NEWSPAPERS, NOT JUST THIS SCREED

 

Once again, Tom Black, the Prince of Publicity, the Guru of Getting the Word Out, has managed to get our efforts recognized by the Fourth Estate.  Lafayette Today has an article recognizing our efforts on behalf of Las Trampas.  Way to go, Tom.  You have no idea how gratifying it is to hear members of other area Clubs grumble about how much ink we get.

 

YOU CAN HELP OUT THE AUCTION NOW, WITH ZERO EXTRA EFFORT

Rich Shearer, who is still wondering what on Earth possessed him to volunteer to lead up this year's Dinner and Auction efforts, hade something to say (now there's a first) about said event.  He handed out a list of the businesses that donated to the most recent event.  "Please shop at these establishments," pleaded Rich.  Now here comes the kicker - when you do go in, let them know that you saw them on the donor list of our event.  This will make it more likely that, when we go soliciting donations (and this year, we will more focused and selective about who we target), we will be able to convince the prospective donor that there is something in it for them - good publicity - beyond warm fuzzies from knowing that they supported a worthy cause.

 

Questions?  Call Rich.  And please support the businesses that have supported us.

 

NEWS YOU REALLY CAN'T USE

 

Because this reporter is slow, and because this reporter had an extremely full weekend and is actually having to earn his keep at work for a change, there were some announcements about stuff that will already have happened by the time you read this.  You know, stuff.  Like a meeting of Past President at Paul Bettelheim's place on Tuesday evening.  You probably would have been bored senseless anyway.

 

Oh, and the Christmas party.  Now I'm kinda sorta off the hook for this one, because there is no way this edition would have come out before 6:00 p.m. December 12 under the best of circumstances.  But I bet it was fun, and I know that Tom "Stop Calling Me Ansel" Black got some great shots of the festivities. 

 

IT'S GREAT TO SEE THE YOUNG'UNS DOING GOOD IN THE COMMUNITY

 

Nancy Polis reports that the Adopt-a-Family program the Opportunity Knocks, the Stanley Middle School program we helped start some years back, has taken on, is going great.  Stanley students have adopted 28 families, we have picked up another two.  The idea: get stuff for Christmas for folks who would otherwise be having Grinch-like holidays.  Nancy thanked Chuck Kenney, Venera Maysuryants and Krysten Laine for allowing is to use their trucks to haul the collected loot. 

 

While Nancy has been helping coordinate the whole project, Debbie Cooper is in charge of our end, meaning making sure that we actually get stuff for the two families we signed on to help.  She reported that that process is going well and got Chuck Kenney to collect stuff brought to the Christmas party (somehow, her worked schedule changed so she can't the party - and I thought you didn't have to put up with sort of crap when you got to be the boss). 

 

In any event, this is a great project, doubly so because we get to help the kids at Stanley Middle School do a truly good thing for the community.  It should make everyone feel at least pretty good to know that the generation coming up behind is getting an early start on this whole Service Above Self ethos.

 

Many thanks, Nancy and Debbie, for stepping up and getting this done.

 

1-4-1: MORE THAN JUST THREE DIGITS

 

Hays Englehart, he of the Membership Squad, arose to encourage us all to but into 1-4-1.  So what is that?  Very simple.  The idea is that we all - each one of us - commit to bringing in one new guest during the Reign of Pat.  Just one.  Hence the "one for one" moniker.  If we all do that, we will over 45 new guests and potential members visit us.  And out of that group, there is no doubt that some really terrific people will be chomping at the bit to join us.  So please do your part.  Just bring in one new guest.  Hays and his hordes will take it from there.

 

HELP SOMEONE OUT AND CLEAN OUT YOUR CLOSETS AT THE SAME TIME

 

The Acalanes High Interact Club (hint: we sponsor them), along with other area Interact Clubs, is taking part in "Christmas for Everyone."  This is a project to provide Christmas goodies on Christmas Day to folks who otherwise don't get much, if anything.  How can you help?  They are looking for "gently used" - that is the key phrase - clothing and toys.  Bring what you have to next Friday's meeting.  Somebody will be here to make sure it all gets to where it needs to be.

 

MYSTERY ROTARIAN

 

This weeks Mystery Rotarian almost wasn't announced, as Brad Davis made known his preference for listening to Skip McCowan fumble with the projector over listening to Prez Pat.  Not surprisingly, Brad was fined for his impertinence (and there was no question that this was a fine, not a recognition), calm was restored, and we learned that this weeks Mystery Rotarian: (1) was a newspaper columnist for about a year; (2) was married and had a child by age 19 (and a minor rhubarb erupted when folks guessed it was Cal Lee at this point); and (3) was an accounting major in college.   These three factoids apply to (drum roll, please) Thomas Peeks.  It was a sports column in Dayton, Ohio, and he went to the University of Cincinnati. Thomas made it clear that he attended the home of Bearcats after Oscar Robertson was there. 

 

PROGRAM: GUATEMALA BOUND

 

Former LSR member and Past President Bob Schwein introduced us to the Godchild Project some years ago.  This is a education-focused project in Guatemala near the city of Antigua.  The idea was get the children of this poverty-stricken area into school and educated, with the goal of breaking the cycle of poverty.  Education remains the focus, but the founders quickly figured out that kids can't learn very well if they don't have enough to eat.  Or a decent place to live.  Or have untreated medical and dental problems.  Or have families that are riven by these problems.  Thus the Godchild Project expanded to include medical and dental facilities, and especially to build housing for families.  The houses are small and simple by our standards, but are luxury itself compared to the norm of the area.

A great deal has changed over the years, The Godchild Project is now called Project Common Hope.  There are several sizes of houses available - one- and two-room - where there used to be only one.  There is an active, planned community near Guatemala City in addition to the original site near Antigua. 

 

But a great deal has remained the same.  Such as the focus on educating the children, with every new direction aimed at furthering that goal by stabilizing the child's living circumstances.  That focus has been constant for 20 years now, and has had some notable successes, A large percentage fo the kids finish high school, a huge accomplishment in Guatemala.  One of the Common Hope graduates has completed college and medical school, and is now practicing medicine in Guatemala.

 

Another thing that has not changed is the involvement of Lamorinda Sunrise Rotary.  Today's program was the report of the most recent Lamorinda Sunrise Rotary team to go to Guatemala, roll up their sleeves, and get to work.  Team leader Skip McCowan started out by describing the arduous, months-long slog through deserts and jungles on mules to get there.  Okay, they flew, but it still took a long time to get there, especially with 21 duffle bags full of donated gear for Common Hope.  The team arrived on a Friday and were put to work that afternoon.  Then, as a reward for their half-day's labors, they got the weekend off.  This allowed for various sight-seeing in and around Antigua (once the capital of all of Spain's holdings in the Americas), shop, and try not to cause too many international incidents. 

 

So who was on this intrepid team.  Some very familiar names: Skip, Linda and Amy McCowan; Patti and Roger Witalis; Joanne and Ulrich Luscher; Thomas Raeth; Chuck Kenney; Paul Bettelheim and Bryn Rowe; and Tay and Mindy Wheeler.  They performed various different needed services. They mainly built houses or went along with social workers to help families deal with the myriad problems they encounter.  (A depressing statistic: approximately 70% of the men in the area have drinking problems or are full-blown alcoholics.)  This isn't all that was accomplished by our team, but it accounts for the lion's share.

 

Ulrich Luscher described the house building process.  A major challenge is just getting the supplies to the job site, as this particular house was being built on a serious hillside.  The result was a "million dollar view," says Ulrich, but that also meant that (a) the hillside had to be carved out and retaining walls built (this was already done) and (b) hauling all the needed tools, ladders, concrete pre-fabbed sections, the corrugated tin for the roof, etc., up that blasted hill.  Once that was all there, the wall sections were raised and connected, the roof installed, and voila.  And yes, it was more challenging than it sounds.

 

Later, Ulrich and the construction team went to a workshop to assemble the wall panels that the next team would use to build another house.  And so the circle was completed.

 

Paul Bettelheim and Bryn Rowe had a special reason for being along.  No, it wasn't for their honeymoon, although it was their honeymoon, sort of.  No, they have "adopted" a couple of children through Common Hope, and they were able to visit them.  Jose is relatively well off, at least by the standards of the area.  He has two healthy parents - not nearly common enough in Guatemala - and they have a solid if unspectacular place to live.  Velma is not so well off.  Her father has serious health problems, and the family lives in a one room dirt floored hovel.  Her parents are doing everything they can to keep their kids in school, and Velma wants to be a lawyer.

 

Thomas Raeth talked about working with a young developmentally disabled boy (Byron, if I heard him correctly) who was making what turned out to be a pillow case out of bits of cloth stitched together.  It was a deeply moving experience for Thomas.  A few days later, Thomas and the crew were at a fair or bazaar, and he was drawn to a pillow case.  He flipped it over and saw who had made it - Byron.  Needless to say, Thomas bought it and showed it to us today.

 

Chuck Kenney was the designated shopper which is pretty funny, considering how much he doesn't enjoy shopping under normal circumstances.  He went with $500 and no stuff.  He came back with lots of stuff and no a single penny of the $500.  Among the items he came back with was an exquisitely carved horse, made by what he had been told was a carpenter.  Actually, said Chuck, this man was a master wood carver and wood worker. 

 

Rounding out the program by Tay Wheeler.  Thanks to this reporter's excellent sources and investigative journalistic skills, The Lamorinda can clear up what it was that Tay gave to Paul Bettelheim.  It turns out that Paul had a watch that kept chiming all . . . night . . . long, which blushing bride Bryn found less than optimal.  Paul abandoned said watch on a counter before Bryn could file papers.  Tay rescued the watch.  When he got home, he and daughter Kara scoured the Internet, found the owners manual for the watch, downloaded it, and figured out how to reset it to "divorce proof."  The package Tay gave Paul was that watch.  That would explain the combination of laughter and pain on Paul's face.

 

Thanks to the entire crew for exporting the "I Get It" spirit of Lamorinda Sunrise, to Skip McCowan for leading the way, and thanks to old friend Bob Schwein for introducing us to what is still a great hands-on international project.