Rotary Newsletter DRAUGHT ~ 11/12/1
THOUGHT FOR THE DAY
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| Arf, Arf...Arf! |
Paul "Short Story Long" Fillinger recited a soporifically shaggy monologue, appropriately, about dogs. Just as Prez Peeks was about to adjourn the meeting once he saw that people were ignoring Paul and playing video games on their iPhones, Paul finished, to shaggy applause. Gist: Dogs behave better than humans in all endeavors, so - particularly if you are Buddhist - pray that in a future life one of your principal quotidian concerns will be when your next Alpo ration comes. Also, where the nearest fire hydrants are. Funny that Paul should regale us about dogs inasmuch his own avowed affinity is for felines. Bottom line: Arfers are role models save perhaps in the manner in which they exchange up-close-and-personal greetings.
GUESTS
Seri Madgett - Volunteer coordinator, Meals on Wheels, Walnut Creek (more on her in a bit)
Cindy Sekkel - Spouse of featured guest speaker Ron Sekkel (a lot more on him later)
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| Watch what happens when you visit my Club |
Don Jenkins - Orinda club. Peeks summarily "recognized" him as being tardy and commanded him to pay for the insulting infraction. Don searched desperately for small change, but could find only folding money. How much we separated from Don's lunch money was not clear. But any money we can divert from the Orinda Club is especially welcomed.
Lorenzo Friar - Guest of John Fazel
Dennis Smith - Guest of Alex Arnold
Pat Burgess, Danville-Sycamore Rotary Club - guest of Gillett Johnson
Carol Chaffey - Self-evidently and inarguably George's better half
Akoni Viray - Guest of all of us and president, Acalanes HS Interact
BIRTHDAYS, ANNIVERSARIES, ANNOUNCEMENTS
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| Enough cooking already! |
David Isenberg, master chef and Zagat-rated gourmand, announced that he successfully ground (as in pepper) his way to a baccalaureate in culinary management from Cordon Bleu School in Arizona. It is affiliated with the Culinary Arts Academy in San Francisco, where Dave whips up how-to lessons for students. His thanks for having successfully completed the program: $100 to the club. We'll drink to that! Hey, Gillett, where's the celebratory Champagne?
David Waal admitted to another Jack Benny birthday (making him 39ish). He marked the occasion by attending an Acalanes
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| Peeks telling Waal he's all wet! |
HS girls water polo match in which his daughter participated. After the match, in Marin County, they all went to Point Reyes, where they all watched whales, stranded ocean liners and miscreants trying to muscle mussels from the water. (Some of the foregoing is true.) Thanks to David's spontaneous largess, the Club is $20 less strapped. Thank you, sir.
Hays Englehart reminded us of two things: 1) November 2010 marks
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| The tools guy |
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| Joe, the client guy |
the one-year anniversary of his and Joe Bettencourt's brainchild volunteer service program, named HOME Team, which goes out into the community to make minor home repairs for seniors and others who cannot do the work themselves for one reason or another, oftentimes financial. 2) Tomorrow (13th) is the next put-on-your-bib-overalls day. He said that "seven or eight" sites are lined up and that for the first time, the worker-bee SWAT team includes - ta-da! - the president of the Richmond Rotary Club and "non-Rotarians" to boot,
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| We can learn from these young hotshots. |
among them Gillett Johnson reminded us that November 2010 marks the first-year anniversary of another endeavor, that of creating another Rotary Club in Walnut Creek. It is designed primarily for young working professionals. It meets Tuesdays at 5:30 (that's p.m.) at Pyramid Brewery on Locust Street. Gillett says they now have 25 to 30 members, not bad for a fledgling club. For the record Lamorinda Sunrise Rotary helped get the sister club off the tarmac.
Yolanda Peeks, who, as First Lady, really is not a non-Rotarian. (Aside to Yolanda: What's your husband's alibi? Better be a good one, because we are wont to fine wanton slackers.) Anyone wishing to join our
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| Wanna build a boat? |
illustrious weekend warriors should report tomorrow (Sat.) to Gary Fulcher's woodshop on Moraga Road in Lafayette. Gary's latest major project, BTW, was to build from scratch a wooden row boat. It actually floats. But if you want first-hand proof, you'll have to go to the Puget Sound, where it's berthed. And contrary to rumor, it's not named "Berth of a Nation."
Pointing to the fistful of letters in his mitt, Prez Peeks commented on the receipt of yet another batch of thank-you letters from pupils and their teachers for the freebie dictionaries we distributed in September to every third-grader attending a public elementary school in Lafayette. In all, we handed out some 300. In the 13 years we've been doing this - this brainchild is that of George Chaffey's - we have invested nearly $50,000 in purchasing the books ... at a substantial discount to us. The operative word here is "investment," which is what the Club regards the program to be, not expenditure per se.
Not to be outdone by third-graders, Brad Davis told us he received a
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| You better show up! |
nice thank-you from the kids at Garden Park Apartments in Pleasant Hill. They're the ones we help carve Jack O'Lanterns every year. The kids achieved a milestone of their own. Every one of them who was eligible scholastically graduated from high school this past June, a first. Thank you, Brad, for creating the pumpkin program and for all you've done in the six years since its inception. But for you it wouldn't exist.
The self-same Prez Peeks reported that he led a delegation of LSRers who attended the District Conference in Sacramento last week. Others included Yolanda (natch), George, Hays, Pat Flaharty, Akoni Viray, and our exchange student,
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| Go Bears & Dons! |
Arianne Anez. Speaking of Arianne, although she wasn't at the meeting this week she is still in the news. Seems Don Reichert believed her education would be sorely lacking if she didn't get to see the Cal Bears pull the upset of the year on Saturday against Oregon. She didn't quite get that job done, but Don claims she has definitely caught the spirit. He has no doubt that Stanford will suffer a cruel fate next Saturday with just a tiny bit more urging from Arianne!
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| I can hear 'dem bells ringin |
Mark Roberts, a.k.a. Mr. Organizer, announced that the Salvation Army is looking for kettle ringers to help leaven the Christmas coffers. Several, believing themselves to be Kris Kringle himself, raised their hands. Details to follow.
GuestSeri Madgett spent a few minutes telling us about one of the Senior Outreach Services offered by Meals on Wheels in Walnut Creek, which has been motoring victuals about town to
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| How about a helping hand folks |
homebound seniors since 1977. Seri is coordinator of the Friendly Visitor Program. She can use all the volunteer help she can muster, as the waiting list for beneficiaries is a block long. If you can offer an hour or two a week to aid a wonderful organization that aids others less fortunate, contact her - (925) 937-8311 x119 or e-mail smadgett@mowsos.org.
Red Badger Ken Thomas won the raffle, fresh evidence that the betting is rigged ... even when Gary Fulcher isn't fondling the greenbacks.
PROGRAM
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| Nobody knows everything George knows! |
He who introduced our guest speaker could not have been a better choice, George Chaffey? Two reasons: 1) It is categorically true that no matter the occasion George qualifies as a good choice, and 2) more to the point, once upon a time George was Governor of 5160, our very own District. Introduced to a packed house (seriously) was Ronald P. "Ron" Sekkel, described by George as "not flashy, just the best." Truer words were never spoken, even by a non-lawyer.
Ron is a member of the Rotary club in Felton in District 5170, which embraces 57 clubs and stretches from Oakland to Hollister. More germane to the occasion, he also is incumbent Communications Chair and Special Assistant to the Director of Rotary International, zones 25 and 26.
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| Never acknowlege the impossible! |
This past year Ron was on a special mission, one which in the past had proved Mission Impossible. He was the designated point-person for presenting to the Rotary International convention last summer a proposal that, if enacted, would officially expand the scope of RI to include a new "avenue of service," that of serving youth. What are the extant four avenues? Lest you asked (even though you ought to be ashamed for not knowing): vocational, club, community, international ... in no particular order.
He had exactly two-and-a-half minutes in which to give his "elevator" spiel in championing an expansion of service scope. He recited, word for word, the text. Well-written and compelling, at least on the face of it. After the final word passed his lips, he awaited the straight up-or-down vote from the delegates in attendance. The 10 seconds of lag time between when the delegates entered their vote into their individual keypads "seemed an eternity," he said. He looked at the monitor and there were the results: Nay, 250; Yea, 263. Because a simple majority was ample for passage, Ron had carried the day.
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| Because anything is possible! |
He likened himself to the "underdog" 2010 San Francisco Giants, Ron noted that attempts had been made repeatedly in the past to add "youth" as an avenue of service, only to have it voted down each time. It had been 89 years (89!) since the RI manual had been so amended. The only amendment made to the amendment was a semantic change, opting for "new generation" instead of "youth." He told this after the meeting that he preferred "youth," but, smiling broadly, he said he could "easily live with it."
What makes Ron's accomplishment the more remarkable is the context. From a total of 219 proposals - each heard and weighed by peers representing 200 nations - two were forwarded (i.e., did not get axed) and only one was enacted ... his!
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| Scribe, Photog & New Generations Agent enjoy the moment |
Thus, thanks to the (under)dogged efforts of Ron Sekkel - not literally single-handedly but close - after an intervention of nearly nine decades of status quo - Rotary International has formally and enthusiastically embraced a fifth avenue of service, commemorated at Postino by George Chaffey's handing out Fifth Avenue candy bars (hey, Gillett, where's the Champagne?).
The "new generation" avenue embraces four elements: Youth Leadership Summer Camp (what we call Camp Royal), Interact, Rotaract and Youth Exchange.
If you are interested in reading the exact language of the Fifth Avenue, it's already been incorporated in the new RI Manual of Procedures. It's obtainable from the publications office at RI HQ in Chicago.
Thank you, Ron, for the stellar talk and carrying the ball ... and the day. You have offered fresh proof that, not unlike major league baseball, it doesn't make changes often. Baseball calls it "tradition." We call it good sense. And part of "good sense" is knowing when change is for the better.
CALENDAR
November 19 - Candy Pierce on Rotary Foundation
November 26 - Dark
December 14 - Board Meeting, 7AM
December 17 - Expose Yourself, TBA
