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Friday Facts Continued |
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Friday Facts of District 5220
Friday, November 11, 2011
District Governor Dave Mantooth RI President Kalyan Banerjee
DG Dave's Comments
Thanks to all who made the Foundation Dinner last Saturday night in Tracy such a huge success. It was great to see so many Rotarians sharing fellowship with their club members and other Rotarians in the district. Check out the next two categories for the thank-yous to those who made the event possible and a list of those recognized during the evening.
Last Tuesday was a busy day that provided me a great overview of the great things that happen in our district. I started out at my own club's monthly Board Meeting where we discussed upcoming club events during this busy part of the year—changing smoke alarms, donations to Thanksgiving baskets, distribution of dictionaries and vocabulary builders, Christmas caroling for senior citizens, and our annual Christmas baskets of food, clothes, and presents. All of these are projects that many other clubs in our district are doing at the same time and showing the breadth of how our Rotary Clubs provide so many benefits to the members of their community, especially during the holiday season.
Next up was interviewing some students for RYLA. This year, we have been able to expand our capacity at both camps because of the new cabin at Calvin Crest, the site of our boys' camp. Our first priority for those new slots has been high schools not previously represented, and one of those is Waterford High. We have worked this year with staff from this school and other schools to provide the opportunity of attending our leadership camp for juniors, the number one budget priority for the district. Because Waterford does not have a Rotary Club, the students had little acquaintance with Rotary and RYLA. So it was lots of fun talking about each in general terms and then fielding the students' questions as they wanted to learn more about individuals whose motto is "Service Above Self” and who do projects in local communities and around the world.
Next up was a visit to Modesto Rotary for the purpose of presenting a Quiet Rotarian Award. I was very fortunate to see a great program thanking and recognizing our military forces and veterans in attendance. Club member Paul Campbell put the program together that started with musical tributes to each of the armed forces, Rotarians introducing their "veteran” and active military guests, and then a program presented by Brian Sato of the U.S. Army Special Forces. I know that many of our clubs recognize veterans in their clubs and communities in a variety of ways—hats off to you for those efforts.
My day continued with a quick stop in Oakdale to see an Area 7 Rotary display as part of a celebration of the National Christmas Tree passing through town and ended with the monthly Grants Committee meeting in Salida. There, I met Zain Griffith of Modesto Sunrise, a new Rotarian fulfilling COG requirements for his club, touched bases with Rotarians who had come from all over the district, and heard about some outstanding projects being planned and carried out.
All in all—a pretty great "Rotary Day!”
Dave
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Thank-yous (Foundation Dinner and Raffle, RYLA)
Thank you to all veterans of our military forces and current members of our armed forces on this special day set aside to recognize all of their past and current efforts on our behalf.
Thank you to all the clubs, Rotarians and guests for their attendance at the Foundation Dinner.
Thank you to Foundation Dinner Chair Chris Daly of Sonora Sunrise and all the individuals that made the Foundation Dinner a special event: Chris Elswick, Riverbank and District Administrative Secretary (Registration), Don Murphy of Salida (Raffle Tickets), Tia Saletta of Oakdale (Raffle Prizes), Julie O'Kane and Jane Winning of Madera (Silent Auction), Sally Mantooth and Cathy Mascitelli (Decorations), Robin Phillips of Sonora Sunrise and her crew (On-site Registration), and Bill Nunes of Gustine/Doug Alcorn of Escalon Sunrise (Sergeant-at-Arms).
Thank you to Chris Daly of Sonora Sunrise, Ellen Hancock of Tracy Sunrise, Rapunzel Amador Lewis of Modesto, Dick Ennis of Stockton Pacific, Susan Coston of North Merced, and Dave Gallagher of Modesto Sunrise for their presentations during the Foundation Dinner program.
Thank you to all Rotarians and clubs who donated items for the very successful Silent Auction. Rotarians in attendance made contributions to The Rotary Foundation in excess of $10,000 to purchase the items.
Thanks to Joe Terra of Escalon Sunrise who assisted me in interviewing RYLA candidates from Waterford High School.
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Recognitions (New Members, Quiet Rotarian, Foundation Dinner Recognitions, Miscellaneous Recognitions of Rotarians and Clubs, Area 8 Project in Nicaragua, Wedding Proposal)
We welcome the following new members to District 5220:
Groveland—John Gray—Sponsor John Brunk
Oakhurst Sierra Sunrise—Dena Boortz—Sponsor Steve Raupp
Oakhurst Sierra Sunrise—Carolyn Pipes
Stockton—Steve Luthy—Sponsor Nick Curtin
Turlock Sunrise—Edward Sai III—Sponsor David Woods
Congratulations to David Boring who was recognized this week as the Quiet Rotarian for Modesto Rotary.
At the Foundation Dinner, the following individuals received District Foundation Awards for their contributions in a variety of ways to The Rotary Foundation and its programs: Ray Caparros of Escalon Sunrise, Bill Meehleis of Lodi, Bob Hobbs of Merced Sunrise, Nick Mascitelli of Modesto Sunrise, and Ellen Hancock of Tracy Sunrise.
PDG Don Murphy presented banners at the Foundation Dinner to the top three clubs in per-capita giving during 2010-11: First place to Merced Sunrise ($418.79 annual giving last year), second to Gustine ($333.23), and third to Modesto Sunrise ($332.85).
PDG Don also recognized with a certificate the following clubs for contributions in excess of $2000 to PolioPlus last year: Atwater, Ceres, Lodi, Madera, Manteca, Manteca Morning, Merced, Merced Sunrise, Modesto, North Stockton, Oakhurst Sierra Sunrise, Stockton, Tracy, Turlock, and Turlock Sunrise.
Carl Boyett of Modesto Sunrise is being honored as the Citizen of the Year by the American Legion in Modesto for his long-time involvement in community activities, including Rotary.
Each year, Modesto Rotary helps host the National Philanthropy Day Awards in Modesto. This year, two recipients of awards were club members--Lucille Hammer was recognized with a Lifetime Achievement Award and Tom Van Groningen as the Outstanding Volunteer Fundraiser.
Area 7 clubs (Oakdale, Oakdale Sunrise, Salida, Riverbank and Escalon Sunrise) were part of a community activity in Oakdale Tuesday involving the National Christmas Tree. Assistant Governor Betty Saletta of Oakdale Rotary coordinated a booth that highlighted the clubs. The Tree passed through our district this week with other stops in Sonora, Manteca, Modesto and Merced.
At this week's Grants Committee Meeting, Bob Hobbs of Merced Sunrise and Susan Coston of North Merced presented a matching proposal to provide a wide variety of items to Somoto, Nicaragua. The grant which was approved during the meeting is a joint project of Area 8 clubs—Merced, North Merced, Merced Sunrise and Atwater—and will provide hospital supplies and equipment, student desks and chairs, water tanks and toilets for schools, and toothbrushes.
Congratulations to Riverbank President Ana Merlo who received a marriage proposal as part of her weekly meeting and immediately accepted. I don't think any other club president could top that one this week!
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Upcoming District Events
November is Foundation Month
November 11-13—Zone Institute in Palm Springs
November 13—Rotary International Peace Conference in Palm Springs
November 17—Long Range Planning Meeting
November 21—Budget and Finance Committee Meeting
November 22—Stockton All-City Luncheon
November 30—District Interact Meeting at CSU Stanislaus
December is Family Month
December 1—RYLA Applications Due
December 1—Family of Rotary event at WOW Museum in Lodi
December 5—RYLA Oversight Committee Meeting, Perko's in Salida
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Upcoming Club Fundraisers and Activities
November 12—Livingston Winton-Campini Rotary Crab Feed; Livingston Pentecost Hall at 1237 Main Street in Livingston; social hour at 6:00 and dinner at 7:00pm; all-you-can-eat family-style dinner, dessert auction, raffle prizes; $40.00 per ticket; call (209) 394-7949 or stop in to Livingston True Value Hardware for tickets.
November 12—Sonora Rotary "Thanks for Giving" Texas Hold-em Tournament; Willow Springs Clubhouse at 20522 Willow Springs Dr. in Soulsbyville; dinner at 5:00 and poker promptly at 6:00pm; $60.00 buy-in includes dinner, beer & wine, poker chips, door prize raffle; 1st place $200 @ Black Oak Casino, 2nd place $100 @ B.O., 3rd place gets free buy-in next year; call (209) 586-7400 or (209) 743-5204 for tickets.
Keep me informed of your upcoming events so I can list them in Friday Facts.
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And . . . . . . (Family of Rotary event in Lodi, DSG Reports, New Polio Pledge)
Lodi Rotary will be hosting a Family of Rotary event at the WOW Museum in Lodi on Thursday, December 1. The event will take place from 4:00—6:00pm and be followed by the annual Lodi Lights Parade. The museum has Exploratorium-type exhibits and is great for children, grandchildren and regular Rotarians. Lodi Rotary invites all other clubs to participate and there is no charge. For more information, contact club president Bob Slayback at bslayback856@comcast.net or 209 368-8566.
A reminder to clubs that as they complete their District Simplified Grant projects to be sure to submit the one-page final report with accompanying receipts to DSG Chair Paul Spencer at spencerpj@sbcglobal.net or 1641 Edgebrook Dr., Modesto, CA 95354. Once that is done, clubs will receive their allotted funding.
The governments of Australia, Canada, and Nigeria, along with the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, announced a combined pledge of more than US$100 million to support polio eradication, following efforts by Australian Rotarians to place the issue on the agenda at the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting in Perth.
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Rotary Stories
This week's Rotary story comes from Linda Ogata of Lodi Tokay Rotary.
Sometimes, as Rotarians, we do the back room work that just has to get done. For years, Lodi Tokay Rotary had been moving holiday gifts for our local disadvantaged kids from the Adopt-a-Child office to the Boys and Girls Club where they have their party. At 6:00AM, we form a fire brigade and pass the presents for 1100 kids from their office to a trailer, drive the trailer to the Club, and then create another brigade to pass the presents out into the holding area for Santa to distribute the gifts. Not glamorous work, but it gets the job done.
One year, I convinced my 16-year old son, that we needed his muscles. So he grudgingly got up at 5:30 AM and we made it to the Adopt-a-Child office. His spirits improved as he saw that he was truly needed and could see that there were several well-known and respected Rotarians involved with this project. He enjoys rubbing elbows with our local celebrities.
As we had finished our last trip to the Club, my son had his Rotary moment. He saw the growing line of excited children and parents which had wrapped around the building and down the block. He couldn't believe that so many families would wait in such a long line for toys, a jacket, and a pair of shoes. It had really struck his core.
That stirring of compassion was my son's Rotary moment. My Rotary moment, however, was when I overheard him tell his friends about how this experience had affected him, and that next year, he was going to get them to get up at 5:30AM and get them to help, too. Ahhh!
Please share your special Rotary story by sending them to me at davemantooth@gmail.com.