Meeting was called to order at 12:30 by President Mike Norcia.
 
Pledge was led by Nicholas Welzenbach 
 
Inspiration was from Ericka Buck who shared a chapter from the book, It’s Not Rocket Science, titled A Germ of an Idea. She shared several fun facts about germs including Bacteriophages (phages) are viruses that attack bacteria. Phages were used to treat bacterial infection before antibiotics, they are still sprayed on ready to eat meat to kill Listeria. She closed by wishing us a happy lunch time.
 
Guests: 
  • Paul Johnson introduced his guests:
  • His wife, Debbie 
  • From the District 
  • Rhonda Beasley
  • Misty Hartung
  • Thomas Lettiere
  • Michell Strachan
  • Lisa Reynolds
  • Amy Liang
  • Jason Deppong
  • Laurel Prevetti from the Town of LG
  • Marlon Smith introduced John Walker
  • Tina Orsi-Hartigan introduced Marie Rector
  • Hal Rosen introduced his wife, Lydia
 

Announcements:

  • Jeffrey Blum presented Tom Picraux with his Red Badge, welcome Tom.
  • Jon Cowan was presented with his Blue Badge. Congratulations Jon.
  • Mike N. gave a shout out to Gregg Butterfield. Nothing was working when he arrived and Gregg got all our electronic systems working. Thanks Gregg. 
  • Avenues of Service was held at Mission College this past weekend. We had 5 people attend. This is always a good event to see what projects the other clubs in our area are involved with.
  • Presidents Brunch is December 4 from 10-1 at Cinnabar Hills Golf Club. Sign up online. Cost is $60 per person. This is always a fun event; you won’t want to miss it. Sign up is in Mike’s email.
  • Fall Fundraiser is November 12 sometime around 7:30. The movie is Black Panther: Wakanda Forever at the Cinelux Theaters in Campbell. Price is TBD. This event is supporting Lighting for Literacy.
  • We have been invited to the monthly social with Morning Rotary on October 19 from 6-7 p.m. at the Galli Winery Tasting Room. We have started to do more projects with the morning club, this will be an opportunity to get to know them better. RSVP to Ginger at gingergtmmkt@gmail.com so they can make sure they have enough appetizers. 
  • Randy Cobb fell and broke his wrist. He is home now. Please keep Randy in your thoughts. We hope you heal quickly Randy, looking forward to having you back with us soon.
  • Update from ShelterBox regarding donations to Ukraine. Our donations have been helping in Ukraine. We are not partnering with Rotary Clubs there at this time. The clubs in Ukraine are working with the Rotary Foundation disaster relief fund which has 15M dollars available. There are stipulations as to how the funds can be used which do not allow it to go to SB. ShelterBox is working with NGO partners, who specialize in disaster relief and with whom we have worked in the past in Syria. SB is entering the second phase in Ukraine. Besides the ShelterKits they are providing blankets, warm clothes, stoves and firewood to help the Ukrainians survive the winter. To show their gratitude to us we have been invited to join their annual benefit on November 3 at 5:00 p.m. PT to hear from the families we have helped and to get updates on the work SB is doing around the world. 
  • Doug Brent announced voting for the Nominating Committee. The NC is formed every year to come up with a slate of officers and board members. You will get a ballot in an email, please vote for one person. After you vote scroll to the bottom and submit or your vote won’t be counted. Next week there will be a slate of 10 candidates, we will vote to come up with the 5 members for the committee. 
 

Service projects:

  • Do you have children or grandchildren who need to do service hours? Alex Hult of Flights, who has supported our fundraising in the past is hosting a Pumpkin Patch @the plex from 9-2 on October 22 and 29. Volunteers should arrive at 8:30 a.m. to work all or part of the day. You can just show up or call Alex at 408.477.4632. They will also need volunteers for a Winter Wonderland on December 3, 10 and 17.
  • Rebuilding Together is this Saturday. Signups closed.
  • October 29 there is a Girl Scout project to make repairs to their camp at Hidden Falls in Soquel. The Girl Scouts lost 2 of their camps in the fires and would really like to get Hidden Falls back and running in time for all their activities. Avis La Grone is a long-time champion and supporter of the Girl Scouts. Sign up in the link in last week’s email.
  • We had a thank you from Days for Girls which is an organization championed by Andrew Howard. Without their products girls miss school which leads them to dropping out. Such a small thing can have such a great impact on the lives of girls. Unfortunately, we were unable to see the video. 
 

30 for 30

This was Gregg Butterfield Appreciation Day:
  • Judy Rodriguez thanked Gregg for bringing Rotarians to visit Julian on Fridays. They talk and laugh, Julian loves it. 
  • Dan Snyder gave $60 for Gregg and all he does for the club. He also donated for Marie Rector and her years of help with the scholarship committee.
  • Avis donated in honor of Gregg. 
  • Haryl Pascal donated in honor of all the people (such as our guests from the district) who walk into the petri dish known as a middle school every day. 
  • Margaret Smith gave in honor of her grandson who came home from college with long hair. His dad gave him a hard time, and she reminded him it was exactly what he did. 
  • Jon Cowan gave in thanks to all the people who have been so welcoming. 
  • Lisa Cheskin gave in honor of her brother, Mike N., who took in a friend’s 2 100-pound dogs while she is in the hospital. She said he is always so willing to help.
  • Meghan Burton gave in honor of the Padres beating the Dodgers.
 

Program:

Paul Johnson spoke about the trip he and his wife Debbie took with Marty and Barbra Fishman to Guatemala last March. Seems that Marty is a real celebrity down there from his work in the eye clinic. 
The purpose of this trip was to lay the groundwork to help the local schools in Santo Tomas and Mazatenango. The schools have no supplies, no books, old desks. Through a grant from our club and donations from the district we are bringing Remote Area Community Hotspot for Education & Learning (RACHEL) units which allow teachers to download educational material for the schools. Each hotspot allows for 80 users. As part of a project with the Los Gatos Union School District we will be delivering 350 Chromebooks, 350 power chords, 2 projectors/doc cameras, 10 MacBook Pro teacher laptops and 5 RACHEL units. If you are interested in traveling with the group there will be a week-long trip during the district’s spring break next year. During this trip the RACHEL units and computers will be delivered to 5 schools in Mazatenango schools, they will also distribute school supplies in Santo Tomas and Mazatenango. Locally they will need people to help clean up the desks before they are loaded into the shipping container. This project is being done in partnership with the Mazatenango Rotary. Looking to the future we are looking into a grant from RI expand into more schools in Mazatenango.
Paul mentioned several times how life changing and heart-warming this experience was. Avis mentioned everyone should try to do an international trip with Rotary. 
 
Next week:
Club Assembly-committee activities