Recitation of the 4-way test
Meeting Duties
Pledge – Mike Holmes
Song – Kathryn Gonzales: God Bless America
Thought of the Day – Steve Grundmeier: Passing the gavel welcome message
Greeter – Geoff Davis
Front Desk – Lori Tomkins
Sgt. At Arms – Cindy Eklund
Raffle – Lori McIntosh
Set Up/Clean Up – Terry Cooney
AV – Kim McClintock
Visiting Rotarians
Steve Bender from Roseville club, spouse of President Nancy; classification of retired insurance broker
Guests of Rotarians
Shelley Paris – retired teacher, has done service outreach in our community
Steven Hart – Captain of the Salvation Army
Candace Vaughan – spouse of Chris Vaughan
Jillian Bender – President Nancy's daughter
Birthdays
7/2 – Chris Vaughan
7/2 – Randy Tooker
7/6 – Phil Booker
Anniversaries
Chris and Candace Vaughan, got married on Chris's birthday: 47 years
Rotary Anniversaries
Jim Evans – Joined July 1, 1989 for 36 years
Announcements
Catherine McGregor: today is Canada Day! BBQ meeting at 5 pm July 9th, Gold Rush Chevy conference room.
Liza Stefani: Update on the We Give campaign money that went to the 4H group. Local group sent one more delegate to the Washington focus. Liza's son Joey and another young lady presented our Hogs for the Hungry project at this gathering. This project got selected to move on to the next round for Youth in Action. If it wins, our club will be given $5,000 to do that project again for another year.
President Nancy Bender: Thanked President Carolyn for the necklace given to her at Carolyn's demotion dinner.
Happy/Sad Bucks
Lori McIntosh - $5 nervous bucks. Hot Wheelz and Lori will do the Tevis cup trail from Francisco's at 2:30 in the morning, cross the American River in the dark through 2 rows of glow lights, finishing at the lower quarry. Night right to practice tomorrow night.
Jeff Spoor - $10 happy bucks. Thanked everyone who was at the Demotion Party and everyone who helped. Special thanks to Lori M for the skit.
Peter Konrad - $5 happy bucks. Sorry he could not attend the Demotion Party, but was on a 3-day motorcycle ride on the coast with his wife. He did not think she would really do it, so he pulled his Camaro out of the garage and uncovered it as his back up vehicle. But they did it on the Harley and it was really nice.
Al Lombardo – Could not make the Demotion Dinner because it was his wife's birthday and they had a party for her.
Bill Radakovitz - $5 sad bucks. On Saturday we had Mary's BD party. Prior to that, had a party for his 2 y.o. great grandchild. Wife and he attended the 2 parties, came home and fell asleep right through the Demotion Party. So sorry.
Linda Maeding – Rode with her husband on his motorcycle for 8 days around Utah, Wyoming, Colorado and Idaho. Very bonding: temp of 49 degrees when they woke up. Had a great time. Martin still on his way back.
Carolyn Metzger – Last night's clap of thunder was the transfer of power. $5 happy bucks because she is sitting in the audience this week instead of standing at the podium, and $5 happy bucks to thank everyone for the lovely demotion party. Very fun, thanked individuals who did the decorating and entertainment.
Kathryn Gonzales - $5 Happy Bucks because she left Dancing Dog but still at the bar. In the process of becoming a travel agent so she can work from home and spend more time with her mom. Specializing in Viking Cruises first.
Steve Galyardt – Happy $10 because our club has a brand new treasurer.
Amy Austin - $5 happy bucks because Party in the Park is done for another year. Thanked those who stayed and helped all night long: Kathryn Gonzales, Kim, Jolie and her husband. Mostly wanted to thank Bill Radakovitz because he stuck around to clean up when no one else was around. Amy could not have done it without him
Phil Booker – Happy bucks he and his wife have a 50-lb Labrador. Daughter and son-in-law have a golden doodle that is at least 80 pounds. Daughter and son-in-law have been in Europe for 2.5 weeks, coming home this weekend so Phil and his wife will be back to 1 dog.
Raffle
Pot is up to $421. Guest Jillian chose the ticket. No winner.
Steve Galyardt – after many years, now has to pay for his lunch. President Nancy presented him with past treasurer pin.
Introduction of our New Board
Brandee Ambrosia – President Elect
Jeff Spoor – Club Services
Catherine Russell McGregor – Vocational Services
Amy Austin – Youth Services
Liza Stefani – International Services
Kim McClintock – Secretary
Gina Acia – Membership
Jolie Huston – Treasurer
Chris Vaughan – Community Service
Steve Snyder – Rotary Foundation
Lori McIntosh – Public Image
Nancy Bender – 2025-2026 President
Steve Snyder – Explained how donations to the Foundation work. For $1,000 donated to the foundation, you get a Paul Harris and a pin. For every $1,000 after that you get 1,000 recognition points. 1,000 recognition points allow you to give a Paul Harris award to anyone of your choosing.
Currently we have 2 members of this club with over 10,000 recognition points.
President Nancy has quite a few recognition points, so she has decided to give some of them to members of our club. Following people recognized: Jeff Ambrosia, Rod Borges, Cindy Eklund and Ron Martinez. Foundation committee, instrumental in deciding who gets Paul Harris awards. All past presidents, still contributing. Nancy presented each with a Paul Harris.
Jeff – PH +7
Rod – PH +3
Cindy – Major donor level
Ron – Major donor level
President Nancy discussed the change in International Rotary President. Former president-designee unexpectedly had to resign a couple of weeks ago. 2 weeks ago, with no preparation, another member assumed the role of International President. His name is Francesco Arezzo, from Ragusa, Italy. Had to adopt the already decided-upon program and theme: Unite for Good, emphasis on increasing and maintaining our Rotary membership worldwide. No Rotary magazine until the end of July to make these changes.
Nancy's theme is Promoting Peace through Service. She has purchased 2 Rotary peace poles for the club. 8 feet tall with the theme May Peace Prevail on Earth in English and 7 different languages.
One peace pole will be placed in School Park Preserve below the pickle ball courts and the other will go in Rec Park by the Gazebo that Rotary built several years ago. There will be a dedication ceremony with other clubs and Auburn dignitaries invited, as well as Auburn Journal and Chamber of Commerce.
2 granite plaques will be imbedded in the concrete, giving credit to our rotary club.
Second project: re-doing the Rotary Wheel out in front of the Elk's Club. Rebuild the structure, paint it and get a new sign. Nick Willick has volunteered to spearhead this. Sign-ups will be coming around in the next 1-2 months.
Bart O'Brien announced another new project our club will have under Nancy's leadership: Book Buddies. Goal is to increase reading and writing in a 3rd grade classroom. Our club will work with a 3rd grade class at Auburn Elementary School. Every student in class will be paired with a member of our club. About 6 times a year, each club member buys a book and deliver the book to the student. The club member includes a letter to their student, telling them about themselves, why they selected the particular book, and any other information you think the student might find interesting. The student gets the book and writes a letter back to you, telling you about the book, if they read the book and if they liked it. Program will kick off in late September when we will go to the elementary school, meet our student and give the first book and letter. Every 6 weeks after that, we will send off a new book and a letter. In May, we will go out to the school, meet with the kids, have a meal and celebrate reading.
Sign up sheet for Book Buddy will come out in the next few weeks. Lori McIntosh will help Bart with a logo for this program. Program idea came from Steve Bender whose club has been doing it for 17 years.
Stand Up Placer: we are putting together a multi-club grant and an additional district, Roseville club and Lincoln club, to buy all the washers and dryers that SUP needs. On a weekly basis, we will be making a donation to SUP in honor of that week's speaker for supplies for their art therapy group classes for children going through acute trauma. We will do another project for SUP later in the year.
Rotary Magazine will be the basis for a multiple choice question on the last Tuesday of the month. One table will be selected. If you do not know the answer, you will pay $1. If you get it right, you will get a candy prize from President Nancy.
DG visit on 7/29, our last Tuesday of the month.
“Aw, what a cutie” every week: baby pix of members. A table has to choose the correct one.
This week – Scott Christensen was NOT identified.
Next week, July 8th will be western wear day. Celebrating Calgary international convention. Speaker next week will be Gary McDonald, CEO of SUP, and his subject will be peace for families.
On the last Tuesday of the month there will be no speaker. We will do club business: we will induct new members, new member bios, re-introduction of seasoned members.
