Meghan Burton called the meeting to order at 12:30
Rachelle Lopp led the flag salute
Jean Marc gave our inspirational message by sharing a story about a Soviet world record gold medalist swimmer who saved dozens of lives by diving into a cold and polluted lake to save people trapped in a bus. It cost him his career due to injuries sustained, but he was a champion in the best way.
Visitors
Michelle Myers Nelson introduced Barbara Stone, a friend and fellow Giants fan who recently retired from Intel.
Richard Bobis brought his friend Mike Butcher, who is interested in joining Rotary.
Our Rotarian in the Wild this week is Andrew Sterns, working in his garden and enjoying nature.
Meghan Burton shared a photo of the decorated eggs for veterans day with a thank you note from St Lukes Pantry. Thanks Tina and her weekly team for making it happen!
The club took a moment to honor all the veterans among us.
Our Fall Movie Fundraiser was a success. The final number is still being worked on, but likely over $3,000. Thank you to everyone. Proceeds will go to Los Gatos Music Boosters this year.
Happy birthday to Henry Vitkovich, Sue Heller, Suzanne Boxer-Gassman, Ensy Afdari, Stefka Bonev, Russell Couch, Avis La Grone, Nava Fathi, Misty Hartung, Greg Smith,, Anna Maria Valenzuela, LeRoy Neider, Ileana Aguilar, and Terri Trotter.
November Rotary Anniversaries: John Colwell 58 years, Ed Stahl 57 years, Tina Orsi-Hartigan 22 years, Greg Smith 10 years, Gordon Levin 9 years, Neal Mudgett 8 years, Margaret Smith 8 years, Hal Rosen 7 years, David Hubbard 5 years, Russell Couch 4 years.
Jean Marc spoke about his attendance in Rotary of Bangkok DACH and presented a flag.
Upcoming:
- Our Planter Box holiday planting is Thursday 11/16 at 2pm. If you’d like to help beautify our box come to the corner of Bachman and N Santa Cruz.
- The Holiday Parade is Sat Dec 2. Join us!
- Presidents Brunch is on Sun Dec 3. It’s the last week to buy tickets.
- Toys for Tots! Please bring an unwrapped toy either to the Presidents Brunch or to our club meeting the last week in November.
Projects
Paul Johnson updated us on Guatamala Round 3! Three LG elementary schools have each adopted a school in Guatemala to send computers and books. Our club has the opportunity to participate in the Spanish-language book drive, along with the schools and the Los Gatos Interfaith Council. The US military will airlift all the books for free next Spring when Paul leads his next trip down there to put RACHEL devices in the schools. We are also partnering with local Guatemala Rotary Club there. Last year we impacted 3300 students and this year we expect to get computer access to another 3000. Want to help? It is super easy to donate books at https://www.lgusd.org/apps/
Nominations Committee
Doug Brent spoke about the nominations for board of directors for next year. Look for an email about this. The whole process will be online. If you are interested in being on the board of directors, let the soon-to-be-formed nominating committee know!
New Red Badge
Mike Norcia presented a red badge to Terri Rodgers. Welcome to the club, Terri!
Terri has had Rotary on her radar for a while and as soon as she came here she felt comfortable and welcome and she’s excited to join.
Ileana Aguilar Red Badge Bio
Ileana was born in Guatamala. She married soon after high school graduation and when her new husband got a job in California he brought her over. She attended college here and had 2 children. She volunteered as room mom and raised her kids. For a while they moved back to Guatemala and then Panama for her husband’s job, but then settled again in San Jose CA. She worked for Lancome at Nordstrom. Her daughter studied to be a civil engineer and her son was in the AirForce.
Tragedy struck her family. Soon after he got married, her son was diagnosed with Parkinsons, then her husband was diagnosed with stomach cancer, and she lost both of them. She volunteers at the American Cancer Society Discovery Stores in honor of them. She likes Zumba, yoga, reading, and doing things with her daughter and friends.
She thanks us all for making her feel so welcome, especially her friend, Gae LaTorre, who brought her into the club.
Rick Rauscher Red Badge Bio
Rick is the principle at Van Meter Elementary School, part of the marvelous block of educators who have joined our club in the past year or so.
He is a local kid, growing up in the area. He is the product of two AirForce veterans.
After attending De Anza, he went on to get his teaching credential and he loves it.
He is married with 2 teen girls, one at college and one in high school. He is busy with Dad life - particularly his daughter’s traveling softball team. And, he is an A’s fan and a Dallas Cowboys fan.
Guest Speaker
Ramon Ware introduced us to his friend Andre Lewis whom he sang with in the Air Force gospel choir many years ago.
Andre is now a FedEx pilot and owner of the publishing company Literary Engineers.
His passion is children and literacy - helping kids achieve academic excellence. He was dismayed that too many kids in our country were set on a track and weren’t going to be able to change their circumstances, so, in 2005, he decided to do something.
He decide to start at the elementary school level where he could set a foundation of inspiration. And he decided to write a children’s book that infused core values into the story. He started by writing ‘I Want to Fly’, an autobiographical work about how his grandfather gave him the values that allowed him to become a pilot. Then travelled to schools to speak to groups and every single child got a copy of his book to take home.
When he visited Casper Wyoming, he found they needed a book to explain bullying so he wrote one for them. Then the police chief asked him to write a positive book about the police force, so he wrote one for them. Now it’s a national resource that officers can use when they go talk to schools. They can give the kids a book to take home and let them know they are there for their safety.
He was in Taiwan in 2016 where he met a Rotarian who was going to a school in Kenya. Andre donated 300 books to that school and decided to become a Rotarian.
Pretty soon he was club president and he brought his passion for literacy. Only 25-30% of African American boys passed literacy in 3rd grade in Benicia. So he mobilized his community and created the Literary Portal. It allows you to get any book into any language. It also gives parents resources.
He’s all about changing and saving lives through literacy.
He concluded by speaking of Mr Finley, his 6th grade teacher, who changed the trajectory of his life. Young African American men don’t always know what is possible for them. He wants to be the Mr Finley to as many as he can.