A New Rotary Year!

Our President Cindy Eklund started off her term with a few surprises including a roast/demotion of Past President Steve! 

• Zoom Meeting Host: Richard Hall, 68 attendees

• Flag Salute: Bill Radakovitz

• Notetaker/Bulletin: Nancy Nittler

• Thought of the Day: Bob Santin - Happy new year to Cindy, only 5 months to the holidays! Past President Steve had an unprecedented year with many challenges and through his leadership we start the new year with a club that is strong and vibrant with our membership numbers up, an increase in women members and a spirit of getting things done. We do make a difference and many hands do make light work.  Bob gave $100 towards the Paul Harris Fellow for Dennis Bennett and closed with a blessing for each of us, the club and our country.

• Song of the Day: Bob Santin aka "Minnie Mouse" gave us a rousing and humorous rendition of the traditional Mickey Mouse Club Song altered to fit our Rotary Club. If seeing Bob in a polka dot dress singing the club song doesn't make you laugh, I'm not sure what would! Here's the ling: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1enyyUZR7nTXMpWxqeyfpCITcLlrGHvYc/view?usp=drive_web

President Announcements

We heard via video from each of our Board of Directors about their area of service:

• Al Lombardo - Club Service: Meeting programs, coverage of meeting tasks like thought of the day and pledge.

• Gary Ransom - Youth Services: Middle school (REGL) and high school (Interact, RYLA) programs which are a bit up in the air this year given the pandemic. He will have more information to share when school starts.

• Jeff Ambrosia - Foundation: Enables Rotary International to fund world-wide programs for goodwill, peace, ending poverty, polio eradication, clean drinking water, and literacy for women and children. Community Fund D supports local programs. Some portion of funds donated to the Foundation come back to the club for projects.

• Bobbi Allen - Membership: Recruiting new members and helping them with red/blue badge process. Membership also includes the Fun Committee and Sunshine Committee.

• Scott Christensen - President-Elect: Looking forward to supporting Cindy in her year and preparing for his term next year.

• Earl Wilson - International Service: Projects include orphanage in Viet Nam and Freedom for Girls in Africa. Joint projects with other local clubs are partially funded through Bingo Night and include Trees for Kilimanjaro, Rancho Genesis Orphanage support and the shelter box program.

• Tara Cavrikas - Public Image: Website, social media and newsletter. Need help from members in providing information to post including live feeds from club activities.

• Jeff Wood - Vocational Service: Award and recognition programs like Harold Weaver and Teacher/Student of the Year plus more!

• David Gibson - Community Service: Projects include Festival of Lights, Standup Placer Holiday Program and the Community BBQ. Will need to be flexible and creative this year to generate revenue!

• Steve Galyardt - Treasurer: All things financial including handling money at meetings and events, budgeting, working with CPAs on taxes, financial reporting and support to the Board and President.

• Mark Smith - Secretary: Unable to join meeting. The Secretary takes care of membership reporting through Club Runner to Rotary International, attendance tracking, and a lot of "behind the scenes" work that keeps our club running.

• Cindy Eklund Rotary Theme for 2020-2021 – Rotary Opens Opportunities

  We have an opportunity to be down or find our path. I personally choose to find a positive in everyday and find other options for our club to help our community. To do this our board needs everyone’s help and feedback. This is your club and only we can make it better and grow during this challenging time.

  “Not every day is good but there is good in every day. Rotarians are the change makers that can change the world.”

• We were joined by District Governor Berta and Area 5 Assistant District Governor Tracy. Both are excited for this new year and the flexible options that are being worked on to keep Rotary strong and active. As Berta says, "look for the joy in the journey"!

• Kahl Muscott introduced guest John Donlevy from the City of Winters. John will be the new Auburn City Manager and has 19 years of Rotary experience. He has worked on international projects, water projects and projects with local parks and schools. Note to cooking team: John has tons of experience feeding people at large events!

Demotion Hearing

• Usually there is a demotion party skit for the outgoing President and this year was no exception! Please see the attached summary of the "demotion hearing" for our own past-president Steve Grundmeier. The players were Judge Terry Cooney and "attorneys" Bill Litchfield and Ron Martinez. The good-natured roast/case presented about Prez Steve not fulfilling his presidential duties has 10 points  - take a look using link at the bottom of the bulletin! 

Club Business

• Birthdays:  "Vanner" pulled out of the basket the fines associated with each birthday. Phil Booker $15, Mark Smith $20, Ed Graves $20, Leonard James $20, Tim Busk $10. Happy birthday to all!

• Anniversaries:  Monti and Dianne Reynolds, Bruce and Pam Dear, Jen and Jeff Watkins, Bruce and Carol Lundberg, Rotary anniversaries: Jim Coleman and Richard Hall.

• Next week assignments: Pledge - Mike Holmes, Thought - Joseph Rodrigues