Meeting called to order by President Nicholas Welzenbach.
 
Doug Brent led us in the pledge.
 
Doug also provided inspiration. The inspiration was taken from an article Doug read in Forbes Magazine. The point of the article is positive thinking won’t change your life, adversity will. Adversity requires that we change and grow. The main take away was you must do the thing you think you cannot. 
 
Today’s song was All You Need is Love by the Beatles. Recommended by Nicholas.

Announcements:

  • John Colwell shared that Dick Irion has passed away. Dick was a long-time member of our club.
  • Nicholas shared that Len Smith’s wife, Ditty Smith, has passed away.
  • Nicholas mentioned that reaching out at times like this is always appreciated by grieving family and friends.
  • We had a total of 67 people at the meeting, including 9 people on line today. This week or next will most likely be our last hybrid meeting. Looking forward to seeing everyone at our beautiful venue, Shir Hadash.
  • No guests or visiting Rotarians.
  • Our Rotarian of the week is John Colwell. John has been a member since 1965. Thank you, John, for all your contributions over the years.
  • Thank you, again, to Randy Cobb and Kathie Benko for your beautifully decorated eggs for St. Lukes. This week they did both Valentine and Olympic themed eggs. 
  • Don McCleve played happy birthday as we celebrated our February birthdays:
    • Sandeep Gopisetty Feb. 3
    • Judith Propp Feb. 3
    • Erika Buck Feb. 5
    • Marlon Smith Feb. 8
    • Richard Bobis Feb. 13
    • David Hubbard Feb. 15
    • Canan Sonuk Feb. 18
    • Marshall Smith Feb. 22
    • Lydia Norcia Feb. 24
Marty Fishman shared some updated info that he received from El Camino Hospital. Goodbye Omicron, cases are trending down and there are new treatments available, although they are in short supply. Make sure you’re getting your Vitamin D; studies show it helps to keep people from getting as sick.
 
Paul Johnson announced that the Santa Clara County Department of Education awarded Suzanne Boxer-Gassman the Robert Kelly Lifetime Achievement Award. This is the highest award given to a retired educator. Suzanne was chosen, not just because of her work during her time in the LGUSD, but also because of all she has done for the community after she retired. Congratulations Suzanne. We can’t think of anyone more deserving; we’re so proud that you’re a LG Rotarian!
 
Wes Sadumiano visited his family in the Philippines last December and visited the Laoag Sunshine Club. This is the club we partner with in our support of the Suyo Elementary School water project. The project was finished just in time, the other water source has been taken over by the neighboring property owner. Our support is very much appreciated and Wes gave us his thanks. Our next project at Suyo ES will be hand sanitizer stations. 

 20 for 20

  • Michelle Myers-Nelson would appreciate if we could bring vases.  Michelle gets flowers donated from Trader Joes and she delivers them to various organizations. Hospice goes through about 100 vases a week. They prefer the type with a neck. Please bring them to any meeting. If she isn’t here Haryl Pascal will collect them for her.
  • Lisa donated in honor of Randy and Kathie. They have agreed to take over as venue logistics chairs. Thanks Randy and Kathie. 
  • Jean Marc Blanchard celebrated leasing space for his research center after working from home for eight years. Congratulations Jean Marc.
  • Wes brought End Polio Now tee shirts from the Laoag Sunshine to Avis and Dan for all they do for the cause. Avis and Dan each gave $100 as a thanks.
  • Grady gave $100 in honor of Suzanne’s award. As he put it, dynamite comes in small packages. 
 

Program

Our speaker was Darren Demonsi from Uplift Family Services. Darren gave us an update on their programs and how the pandemic really increased the need for their services. He also thanked us for our support of the backpack program. It helps the families to be relieved of the financial burden of purchasing school supplies. 
Uplift Family Services is acquiring another organization from southern California. The new organization will be taking the name of Pacific Clinics. The change is effective March 1, 2022.
They will have their fundraising luncheon at their Campbell campus on April 22 noon-1. We are welcome to attend. 

 

Upcoming

  • Tuesday Feb. 22 Eric Drew, We Heal Foundation
  • Tuesday March 1st First Tuesday TBD
  • Tuesday March 8 Apurva Mehta
  • Saturday April 2nd Rise Against Hunger
 
The most desired gift of love is not diamonds or roses or chocolate. It is focused attention.
Richard Warren
 

Meeting adjourned at 1:26