Meghan Burton began the meeting at 12:30
Pledge: Suzanne Boxer-Gassman
Inspiration: Suzanne Boxer-Gassman: From the book: A Whack on the Side of the Head, because sometimes that is what we need in life. To be creative in life we need metaphors:
- life is like eating a grapefruit, sometimes sweet and sometimes tart
- life is like a jigsaw puzzle, finding the right pieces
- life is like a maze, sometimes we get lost but find the right path
- life is like an elevator, sometimes up and sometimes down
- life is like a puppy dog
Guests: Elaine Ware and Jenny Athena Wong, both prospective members
Rotarian in the Wild: Tina Orsi-Hartigan hugging an elephant at a sanctuary in India.
Mission Trip to Punta Colonet. Mexico: Skip and Donna Brewster shared about their trip to Mexico to build a house in 5 days. This trip has been partially sponsored by Rotary for the past 25 years and they have built 34 houses. After 5 days of labor, giving over the keys to the family who now owns the house was emotional and magical.
Red Badge Presentation: Jeff Blum presented Ryan Rosenberg with his Red Badge. Welcome to the club, Ryan!
Centennial Celebration: Mike Norcia shared that there will be some surprise guests and lots of fun next Tuesday night, May 7, at the Mountain Winery at 6pm. There will be a shuttle to the venue from downtown Saratoga, please let Mike know if you will be using this service. There will also be golf carts from the parking lot into the venue. Arrival time is 6pm, 6:45-7pm dinner and 8pm is the program. The shuttle service starts at 5:45.
Polio Plus: We are almost at the end of our drive. It will go into the beginning of May. Marty Fishman spoke about Rotary creating the Polio Plus drive in 1985. Rotary and its partners have reduced polio cases by 99.9%. We continue to get close to the final push, with one area on the border of Pakistan and Afghanistan still active. We must continue to vaccinate, monitor outbreaks and improve health resources. Donate at rotary.org/donate, donate by check or credit card or join the Polio Plus Society.
30 for 30:
Lissa Kreisler gave in honor of the Los Gatos Thrives Foundation. The Fall Guy with Ryan Gosling, will be playing on Monday, May 6 at 10am at Los Gatos Theatre downtown. The tickets are $10 each and the money goes to support the foundation.
Randy Cobb gave for the wonderful district conference that he attended over the weekend. Lots of members in our club were present and Meghan, Rachelle (special award) and John Pencer were all acknowledged for their work in the club.
Gary Allison gave $90 to the Scholarship Foundation to celebrate his 90 days of skiing at Lake Tahoe this winter.
Patti van der Burg gave $100 to the Charities Foundation to celebrate the wonderful leadership in our club.
Judy Rodriguez gave as a thank you Rachelle and Michelle Myers Nelson for setting up and providing food at the NUMU Museum in Los Gatos last Tuesday. Great field trip!
Guest Speaker:
Cordelia Willis, Criminologist with the Santa Clara County Crime Lab.
She has been working at the crime lab for 26 years. She was a fabulous speaker, very engaging and informative.
Criminalists, what do they do?
- Mark forensic evidence, footprints, blood, fingerprints, etc.
- Blood stain pattern analysis and blood enhancement analysis of blood that has been cleaned up. They use an ICD chemical that turns purple in the presence of blood.
- Laboratory Testing is the majority of the job
- Toxicology Testing, drugs and alcohol.
- Controlled Substance Analysis, test the drugs themselves to make sure what they are.
- Fire Debris Analysis, fumes stay in charred debris and can be tested.
- Digital/Multimedia evidence, computer and cell phones.
- Gunshot residue Testing.
- Fit bits and Apple watches can help solve murders
- Comparative Science, comparing crime scene to other sources.
- The Sierra Lamar case, in which Ms. Willis testified, got a conviction without a body because of forensic evidence.
- Lots of paperwork and then the final step in the process is testifying in court.
Meeting was adjourned at 1:30pm.