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Club News
 
Meeting called to order by President Meghan Burton at 12:30pm.

Ramon Ware led the pledge of allegiance.
 
Dan Snyder gave our inspirational message: Dan led us on a journey of how wanting to get into better shape by swimming connected him to one person who inspired him to get involved in community events. Which then led to other opportunities to serve, such as working on a parcel tax, being a trustee for school service, Rotary, providing food service for those with cancer, and many more. Dan was inspired by many people and inspired us to do the same.
 

Visitors:

  • Peter Morris was introduced as a previous Rotarian and new director of The Terraces, Los Gatos.
  • Paul Christensen introduced Damir and Ava Herman; Ava designed the logo for the Great Race.
  • Dan Synder introduced his daughter Allison, who is home from college.
 
Our Rotarian in the Wild this week is Marty Fishman, visiting the pyramids in Egypt.
 
 
Decorated eggs St. Luke's Pantry:  Happy Spring!
 

Announcements: 

  • Red Cross Blood Drive was a great success with ~38 donors. 
  • First Tuesday Happy Hour April 2, 2024 at Chez Phillippe, LG; 5:30 to 7:30
  • Rise Against Hunger Community Service Event: Sunday, March 24, 2024 from 9:00-1:30 at Saratoga High School
  • Dick Konrad—Los Gatos Chamber of Commerce Wine Walk, Saturday April 20, 2024, 1:00-4:00pm STROLL, SIP, SAVOR. Volunteers needed: contact Dick Konrad
  • Paul Christensen—Great Race Logo Design winner: out of 87 logos submitted, Ava Herman was the winner and was presented with a check for $100.00. Congratulations to Ava!
  • Sign-ups for The Great Race at Vasona Park, April 14, 2024 will be coming soon.
  • Mike Norcia—Mark your calendars for the Centennial Celebration at the Mountain Winery, Tuesday May 7, 2024. Cocktails at 6pm, Dinner at 7pm.
  • $175 per person.
 

30 For 30:

Our own resident poet laureate, Jeff Blum read two poems from the heart: the first one was about our Red Cross Blood Drive this past weekend; and the second one was to Lissa and their twelve years of being together.
$30.00 to each one.
Paul Christensen—on the many places he has been, including ski trips to Whistler and Big Sky; and a trip to the Grand Canyon. $50.00 for each.
 
 
The meeting was called to order by President Meghan Burton at 12:30 (welcome back Meghan).
 
Pledge was led by Nicholas Welzenbach. 
 
Inspiration from Erika Buck, who inspired us with quotes about strong women in honor of Women’s History Month.
 

Visiting Rotarians:

Suzanne Boxer-Gassman introduced Kathleen Thomas from SJ Rotary and co-chair of ELC.
 

Other visitors:

Dan Snyder’s guest was Melissa Crow who sits on the LGUSD board with him. 
 
Rotarian in the wild was Jeffrey Barnett and his wife, Annemone, on Shady Lane. We have such beautiful views so close to home.
 
 
Thank you, Kathie Benko and Randy Cobb for the adorable eggs decorated for St. Patrick’s Day. We always appreciate the time you put in each week.
 

March Birthdays

  • Linda Lester March 1
  • Tsovo Massena March 1
  • John Colwell March 2
  • Tony James March 2
  • Tom Picraux March 3
  • Matthew Hudes March 3
  • Don McCleve March 4
  • Tom Boyce March 5
  • Matt Mullikin March 5
  • Michelle Strachan March 5
  • Daniel Doore March 17
  • Patti van der Burg March 17
  • Paul Mudgett March 17
  • Edward Graziani March 20
  • Jamie Hekkelman March 25
  • Clayton Bruntz March 30
  • Norman Snyder March 31

March Anniversaries

  • Preston Hill 52 years
  • LeRoy Neider 44 years
  • Don McCleve 32 years
  • Grady Jeter 24 years
  • Craig Roberts 24 years
  • Suzanne Boxer-Gassman 18 years
  • Paul Mudgett 17 years
  • Larry Jinks 16 years
  • Kamyar Negari 15 years
  • Rami Wazni 11 years
  • Haryl Pascal 7 years
  • Laura Douglas 1 year
  • Amy Liang 1 year
  • Karen Briones 1 year
 
 
Meeting Minutes for Tuesday, February 27, 2024 

Vice President Rachelle Lopp began the meeting at 12:30
 
Pledge: Karen Briones
 
Inspiration: Suzanne Boxer-Gassman: In honor of the students participating in the speech contest, she read a poem by William Arthur Ward on risk taking.  We need to take risks with trust, love, sharing, and hope. We have to reach out and take risks to make life meaningful and interesting.
 
Guests: Rianna and Don Spaulding, guests of Jeff Blum. Ron Mahagon, guest of Sergio Michel.
 
Rotarian in the Wild: Judy and Julian Rodriguez with penguins on the Falkland Islands.
 
First Tuesday Happy Hour: March 5 from 5:30-7:30 at the home of Ed Stahl. 110 Twin Oaks Drive, LG. Please bring an appetizer and beverage of your choice. Red wine and dessert will be provided.
 
Champion Forms: Submit your champion forms by February 29.

Service Opportunities:

Interact at LGHS is making blankets to give to the animal shelter on Wednesday, Feb. 28 from 2:30-3:30 pm.

Resource Drive: we will be collecting NEW Socks/Underwear, Deodorant and Laundry detergent (liquid only, no fabric softener) at the meetings on March 12 & 19 for Jewish Family services to support newly arrived refugees. 

Rotary Sponsored Blood Drive will be held on Saturday, March16 at St. Luke’s on University Ave. in Los Gatos. Please come and donate or if you would like to help, reach out to Jeff Blum.

Rise Against Hunger: Service Project will be held on March 24, 9:00-1:30 pm at Saratoga High School.
 
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Upcoming Events
 
 
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Our Weekly Meeting Schedule
Jan Merryweather, from Sustainable Conservation
Apr 09, 2024
California Water, Weather Whiplash, Climate Resilience and the wisdom of Mark Twain
California Water, Weather Whiplash, Climate Resilience and the wisdom of Mark Twain
Community service
We raised over $14,000 for the Bill Wilson Center Safety Net Shelter for at-risk youth in February 2024.
 
 
We partnered with Rebuilding Together Silicon Valley to help fix up a home in our area in October 2023.
 
 
We assembled back packs full of essential back-to-school supplies for Uplift Family Services in August 2023.
 
We helped assemble 24,000 meals with Rise Against Hunger at Saratoga High School in April 2023.
 
We assembled activity kits for isolation patients at El Camino Hospital for our February service project
 
We helped prep materials for solar kits for Lighting For Literacy at our December service project
 
We collected a record number of toys for Toys For Tots in 2022!
Above, volunteering at Second Harvest Food Bank!
 
Filling backpacks for Back-to-School drives. The Rotary Club of Los Gatos participated in 3 back to school drives this year: Pacific Clinics, West Valley Community Services, and Jewish Family Services.
 
Cleaning the Los Gatos Creek
 
Collecting and sorting books for Stanford Children's Hospital
 
Donating food to the homeless at St. Luke's Church Los Gatos every Tuesday.
 
Our Fall 2022 service project with Rebuilding Together Silicon Valley.  
 
Packing PPE equipment for the elderly at one of our Summer 2022 meetings. 
 
Our Leigh High School Rotary Interact students volunteering at Second Harvest.
 
Donating bikes to Good Karma.
 
Sorting items donated for fire evacuees in Summer 2020.
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