rev newsletter head 7-17
January 22, 2010  
Reporter: Ron Brown      Editor:  Ron Brown          Photographer: Tom Black 
President: John Fazel, 2009 - 2010          

THOUGHT FOR THE DAY
 
walt 1-22 10"You must be the change that you want to see in the world."
Thus spoke Mahatma Ghandi via Walt Nelson.
 
TRYING FOR A NEW RECORD ON VISITING ROTARIANS AND GUESTS
 
Earl Kilmer - District Governor
Colin Barnard - Assistant District Governor
Laura Day - District Training Team
Mike Heller - Lafayette Club
John Sherry - Lafayette Club
John Moulthrop - Clayton Valley Sunrise Club
Lynn Cannady - Orinda Club
Larry Sly - Concord Club
Mary Lou Fazel - John's definitely better half
Caroline Kunkel - perfect attendance daughter of Robbie
Cameron Shearer - Scion to dad Rich
Parker Watson - Son of Dave
 
BIRTHDAYS, ANNIVERSARIES and GOINGS-ON
 
Kevin Croak owned up to joining Rotary 16 years ago which cal & kevin 1-22 10warranted a $20 contribution.
 
Cal Lee announced that daughter Jenny had run off and gotten married after a very lengthy courtship. Further mumbling on the part of Cal was graciously overlooked. His offering was not made public.
 
Then there was the strange case of Gillett Johnson. He rose to gillett & fazel 1-22 10acknowledge something or other suggested by King John. It was immediately noticed that his person was shockingly lacking a rotary pin and a badge. A verbal pelting from all directions ensued. It's a wonder the governor's delegation didn't head for the exits post haste. But Gillett withstood the barrage with studied patience and suddenly transformed the howling mob from jeers to cheers with a check for $100 to the Haiti relief project. Methinks this was a set-up from the beginning!
 
Tom Black seemed inordinately pleased with himself that son tom black 11-14Andrew was completing his Masters at MIT and going to work for McKinsey. Daughter Jessica has completed her post-doc work at Stanford and is going to a great position at Boston College. Son and daughter are exchanging coasts, as it were. Two really good reasons for papa Tom to be proud!
 
BRIEF WORDS FROM AYMERIC
 
Aymeric had to leave early this morning for final exams so he was a man of few words. He promised a slide show next week. He did haveaymeric 1-22 10 time for a Cal/Stanford gymnastics event on Saturday with Don Reichert. Aymeric went back for a visit to San Francisco, his favorite U.S. city, with another exchange student and performed his first community service act with the Bay Area Crisis Nursery in addition to taking finals. Aymeric expressed thanks to the club for making his year with us so enjoyable thus far. The feeling is mutual Aymeric!
 
HAITI RELIEF EFFORT UPDATE
 
King John updated the club on the strategy for the best way to donate our fair share to the Haiti relief effort. This coalesced after a fazel 1-22 10conference call with 25+ other Presidents and District leaders. Our clubs will send money to the District, which in turn will disburse funds to the Haitian District in order to ensure most efficient use of the funds. LSR will be donating undesignated profit from the sale of the Rotary cook books (each club member will be billed for five books at the retail price of $12 per book) which will amount to approximately $2,000 after deducting the cost of the books. Envelopes were on the tables for anyone wishing to add additional donations for the relief effort.
 
The Districts intend to use these funds to provide shelter and lasting water supplies to the people of Haiti after the initial relief effort has dissipated. This is one more example of the rich history of RI and our own club in disaster relief follow-up.
 
INTERCITY FIVE CLUB MEETING
 
john sherry 1-22 10John Sherry was front and center with a flyer promoting this meeting which is hosted by the Lafayette noon club. The vital facts are:
 
Thursday, February 25
          Lafayette Library & Learning Center
          3491 Mt. Diablo Blvd., Lafayette
          Parking Garage, accessible from Golden Gate Way.
          Price: $20
 
11:45 - 12:15 No host bar sponsored by Orinda Club
Lunch at 12:15 catered by Chef's Touch
 
Speaker: Barry Jekowsky, Conductor, the California Symphony
 
John said only 150 seats will be available so don't wait to contact him or Buddy Burke for tickets.
 
SOROPTOMIST CRAB FEED
 
Mike Heller was also here with a flyer for Soroptomist crab feed andmike heller 1-22 10 silent auction to be held on Saturday, February 20 at the Oakwood Athletic Club. The proceeds will benefit Soroptomist International 24-680, a non-profit organization that works to improve the lives of women and girls in local communities and throughout the world.
 
Tickets and information can be obtained at www.soroptomist24-680.org or 925-688-1480.
 
SUPERBOWL FORECAST AND HOME TEAM UPDATE
 
Maybe Hays really is in the know. He predicted a Superbowl victory for the Colts over the Saints...24-21. At the very least he got the hays 1-22 10competing teams right! Also, he had the audacity to wear a Colts #18 jersey to make sure we knew where his loyalties lie.
 
He and Joe Bettencourt, the founders of the Home Team project, explained the program again for the benefit of our many visitors. Hays follow-up email on Saturday says it all:
 
"Thank you all for the incredible offering of support for our newest service project, the Home Team!  I want you all to know that I must have had 10 or more members come to me yesterday offering immediate support and wanting to help on our first service day of Feb. 13.  It's really nice to have more volunteers joe b 1-22 10than you need!  Please note that Lynn Cannady of the Orinda club, who was a visitor yesterday, came to me and asked if HE could participate!  Needless to say, OF COURSE, I said.  Here are the volunteers for the 13th:
 
Hays Englehart   Joe Bettencourt   Alex Arnold   Rick Ashburn   Paul Bettelheim   Chuck Bove
 
Please plan on meeting at Postinos at 8:30 a.m. Saturday Feb. 13th for initial instructions.  Joe and I will be leading the teams and you will get the lowdown on what to do.  Please plan on working until 1:00 p.m. or so. 
 
Next on the agenda is our request for supplies and tools so we can "do our magic".  Thanks to David Waal for the suggestion. Here is a preliminary list of things we need.  Please go to your garage or wherever you keep your tools and supplies and grab any duplicates of things you can donate.  For example I found I had six hammers.  How many do you have?  And don't limit yourself to what's on the list, if you can think of something we've missed that we should have, please bring it!
 
Item Description Quantity   Tools
       
Drywall Screws, 1 inch 1 box   Staple Gun
Drywall Screws, 1.5 inch 1 box   Hammer
Drywall Screws, 2 inch 1 box   Channel lock pliers
Small Nut + Bolt assortment 1   Linesman Pliers
Electrical Tape 2 rolls   Adjustable wrench set
Duct Tape 1 roll   Pipe wrench set
WD-40 1 lg. can   level
Box nails, 1 inch 1 box   6'  ladder
Box Nails 1.5 inch 1 box   Cordless Drill
Box Nails 2 inch 1 box   Drill bit set
Washer assortment 1   Circuit tester
Picture hanger assortment 1   Multi tip screwdriver
Wire, all purpose 1 sm. Roll   Box cutter-knife
6' extension cord 1, white    
Outlet multiplier 2-6 1    
staple assortment 1    
15w CFL bulbs 6    
Under counter fluorescent 2    
Std. 75 watt bulbs 4    
Std. 100 watt bulbs 4    
9 volt batteries 6    
AA batteries 36    
AAA batteries 18    
C Batteries 6    
D batteries 6    
Toilet tank repair kit 1    
Teflon thread tape 1 roll    
Loc-tite 1 bottle    
Wire nut assortment 1    
 
We also want some tool boxes that can hold a full set of tools.  Clean out those garages and see what you have.  We'll begin collecting tools and supplies at the next meeting, so bring anything you can donate on Friday, PLEASE!
 
Lastly, we have had our very first successful Home Team repair event. Joe and I visited Anita Arboles in Concord yesterday after the meeting to help her with a rotted out hand rail to her back door.  Anita lost her husband years ago and lives alone.  She is very unstable and asked if we could firm up the railing her husband put in years ago.  In about one hour installation time, Joe and I replaced the old wooden rail with a brand new, custom made galvanized steel rail that will last longer than the house.  Anita was so appreciative of our work and was very pleased.  A job well done." Kudos to Joe and Hays!!
 
PROGRAM
 
District Governor Earl Kilmer alternately regaled and inspired us thiskilmer wine morning as our featured speaker. He first presented King John with a bottle of wine admonishing him not to open it until July 1, when John, the other District Club Presidents, and the District Staff will pop the corks and toast each other on the completion of a job well done.
 
Earl then issued a lengthy explanation of the official Rotary coat to be worn at all occasions this year. RI President John Kenny, he of the Scottish ancestory, decreed that this year's coat would be plaid. Earl readily admitted that this early decree was not greeted with whole-hearted enthusiasm by his newly annointed brethren.kilmer coat 1-22 10 Imagine their delight therefore, when they discovered that the plaid is on the lining inside the coat which Earl proudly displayed for all to admire. Blue blazer dignity had not been displaced after all!
 
He then carefully explained the District role as he was leading it. It is the only official representative of Rotary International. But it is not an enforcement arm for policies handed down from on high. In fact, his tours of 40 or so of the 67 clubs within the district have shown time and again that we are 67 clubs doing the same thing in 67 different ways. His intent for the District is to be a support arm, with 134 people on a support team to help out those clubs seeking information and/or activity direction in order to make a club better.
 
John Kenny has set a Rotary International goal of growing membership in each club by a net +1 at the end of the year. This sounds like a fairly modest objective, but two things about this goal are important; 1) it is a goal which is attainable and 2) it will add 33,000 new members world-wide at the end of the year.
 
Earl followed this with a segue to his activities over the years as a kilmer 1-22 10volunteer fire fighter. All fire fighters are taught  the ABC's of life saving requirements in emergency situations. A) stands for airways, B) stands for Breathing and C) stands for Circulation. If not all three are obtainable, a victim cannot survive.
 
Earl has translated the ABC's to the life of a Rotary club in like fashion:
 
A.   Activity - This is how rotary clubs keep members.
B.   Bodies - You cannot have activities without members.
C.   Cash - Is the way to fund activities.
 
Each of the ABC's is dependent on the others for healthy and robust Rotary club life.
 
So, membership is a life-giving ingredient for successful Rotary clubs. Why else do we strongly encourage new memberships? Earl asked us to consider why we are Rotarians. He asked us why we love Rotary? In his own case he loves what he does because of how it makes him feel. For example there is nothing as personally gratifying as presenting wheel chairs in Mexico to a four year old child or a 90 year old great grandmother and watching their faces light up in gratitude and thanks for the life changing gift of mobility. Why wouldn't we want a friend or acquaintance to experience this same loving feeling? We have to know at least one such person who we can invite to a meeting, or a community project, or a celebration. Rotary grows and continues to prosper one person at a time.
 
Earl concluded with remarks about the Rotary Foundation. He told a story of a club that wanted nothing to do with the RI Foundation since they had no idea where in the world the money was going. They wanted 100% of their donations to be used "right here at home."
 
Earl acknowledged that each club has the right to manage its own affairs, but then asked if this club knew what actually happened to Foundation donations. As it turns out they didn't know that for the first three years the funds are invested, so that the income earned can cover the cost of RI administration. After three years 50% of the funds then come back to the District from whence the funds originated, to be used to fund local projects and 50% is used for international projects.
 
Earl further explained that the Foundation funds such worthwhile endeavors as the Peace Scholar Program and the Exchange Student Program. The Polio erradication program has successfully eliminated this dread disease in all but four countries in the world. How can Rotary do this? The answer is simple, Because we are there and have the cash to support it. Rotary is not politically- religiously- or governmentally-, bound. Every Rotary dollar goes to the project or effort undertaken.
 
At the conclusion of his remarks the member who had admonished Earl not to speak about the Foundation apoligized and gave him a check for $1,000 for the Paul Harris Fund, saying that as a member of Rotary for 23 years, he had no idea how it was administered or the great amount of good it was doing in the world.
 
The simple goal of adding one net member to every club, every year, will contribute mightally to the effort of changing people, one person at a time. As the RI slogan of the year so aptly puts it "The Future Of Rotary Is In Your Hands!"
 
Thank you, Earl Kilmer, for a message well presented and well received.
 
King John bestowed upon Earl the traditional LN4Hand certificate and the gift of pastries concocted by our resident Chef Instructor David Isenberg. Earl remarked we really didn't need to know what was inside the box.
 
P.S. This email message just in from our erstwhile leader and a fitting way to end this Newsletter:
 
 Dear Newsletter Team,
 
The following is an e-mail I received from Laura Day regarding the District Governor's visit on Friday. I think this is a quote that might look good in our newsletter as it tells our members what a Great Club we have from an unsolicited, reputable outside source. It's also something we have all know for a long time.
 
John


--- On Sat, 1/23/10, [email protected] <[email protected]> wrote:

From: [email protected] <[email protected]>
To: [email protected]
Date: Saturday, January 23, 2010, 9:06 AM
Hi John:  What a great meeting!  We thank you and your club for your hospitality, dinner and everything. 
 
When Earl and I got in the car after leaving the restaurant, we said "Wow, now that was a Great meeting!"
 
Thanks John.   Laura 
 
CALENDAR  
  
Friday, January 29 - Adarsha Shivakumar, the Jatrophia Miracles
 
Friday, February 5 - Terry Englehart, Seniors without walls
 
Friday, February 12 - Dave Simpson, Lafayette Book Store
 
Friday, February 19 - 4 Way Speech Contest
 
Thursday, February 25 - Interclub meeting, Lafayette library
Lamorinda Sunrise Rotary Links
Lamorinda Sunrise Web Site
Calendar Link
Picture Archive
Older Picture Archive
Lamorindan Archives


ADDITIONAL PHOTOS OF THIS AND OTHER LSR EVENTS MAY BE FOUND AT TOMBLACK.SMUGMUG.COM. SHOULD BE YOU SMITTEN BY A PARTICULAR IMAGE, PRINTS MAY BE ORDERED FROM THIS WEBSITE. (THE QUALITY IS EXCELLENT.).
Contact Us

Rotary Club of Lamorinda Sunrise
PO Box 1491
Lafayette, California 94549
www.lamorindasunrise.org
E-Mail Us