Past Pres. Dulcinea Almazan (11-12) opened our meeting this past Tuesday in honor of our club's past presidents. Our Rotary guests included Brenda & Bob King, Sasquatchian, Canada (the first Rotary club formed outside the US), and Diane Griffin, returning from Prince Edward Island. We were happy to welcome Past Pres. Elise Sauers (97-98) back, as well as former member Jim Schmidt, guest of Past Pres. Roger Tabor (02-03) and Brenoch Wirthlin who was a guest of Mike Woodfield.

Block Party Co-chair Carla Smith asked everyone to commit to securing auction items and remember to sell those tickets. Past Pres. Scott Stolberg (07-08) announced Rotary at Work day has been moved to Saturday, May 4th, 8:00 am (please note date change from meeting announcement). We will be sprucing up the gardens at the Easter Seals facility. Remember to bring tools, gloves, hats & trash bags.

Cross fines to Carla for enjoying the casino "experience" prior to the meeting and for being absent the week prior, which caused her to miss the special birthday presentation President Lane had planned to deliver, to PP Roger for inviting PP Scott to an art exhibit at a synagogue and knowing more of the guests than Scott, to all "non" past presidents who have yet to serve and finally to President Lane for having absolutely no clout at the meeting.

Our past presidents meeting is always one of our favorites as we have an opportunity to hear how our club has grown and evolved over our 27 year history. We were sponsored by the Southwest Club and chartered in 1986 with a group of young and vibrant members. PP Jim Main (87-88) said the members preferred the hands-on projects (like today) rather than sending money outside our community. The 1986 International Conference was held in Las Vegas in 1986 which was a boost to the Las Vegas clubs, including Fremont. The infamous belt buckles were brought in that year as a fundraiser - and the story is too long to tell here about how they continued to show up in someone's garage over 27 years until we found a way to distribute them once and for all. PP Drew Levy (91-92) was honored to serve as president in Rotary as his father was in the big club. During his year our club received its first District Awards and a good amount of fundraising was completed. PP Roy York (95-96/10-11) served twice and remembered a very successful fundraiser at Lonnie Hammargren's home, which funded the dollars for the Clark County Health District mobile immunization van. During PP Roy's second term the Big Game boards were introduced and those have continued to be an important part of our club's fundraising. PP Roger Tabor (02-03) served again in our club after being president in his previous club. He remembered the comradery was high in our club with so many socials, and many of our events were downtown to support our "downtown" club status. He started our current captain assignments during his year and encouraged our members to do makeups any time there were away from their home club.

PP Allen Puliz (04-05/06-07) also served twice with a big push on membership. He admitted he wasn't too big into the "district stuff", but that changed when PP Roy served as District Governor and brought the spotlight to the Fremont club. Lots of fundraising was done with hats, shirts and belt buckles (see-they keep turning up!). PP Allen was very proud of the momentum our club was gaining during his terms and was very pleased to pass the gavel to PP Scott Stolberg (07-08). PP Scott admitted he probably ignored the DG district a little too much, but he said the reason he served was because of what we did in our own community. Under his term we completed our first cleanup at the Rotary Reflection Garden at Easter Seals, which took an army of volunteers and an entire day to complete. He hopes to finally remember his debunking someday. PP Linda Bertuzzi (10-11) learned our club's 25th anniversary was during her year, so we hosted the biggest block party ever on Fremont Street celebrating the service of our club in the world of Rotary. The dollars raised went towards our literacy project - the new Las Vegas Fremont Rotary Reading Room at the Agassi Club, complete with new furniture and nearly 1,000 new books. She also recognized our 3 charter members and started our Rotarian of the Year program. PP Dulcinea Almazan (11-12) said she held a tremendous amount of respect for the all the presidents who had served with dedication and passion before her. Her goal was to "keep it humming" which she did by holding a strategic planning meeting, providing a club plan for her year and future years. We earned 9 awards at the District level and she was thrilled to see our "signature event" really take shape with our 2nd annual block party on Fremont Street. She remembers her debunking well and is thankful for her extended family of step-sisters and queen mother.  Thank you to all of our presidents who have led our club - it's an awesome job to hold!