President's Message

January started off strong with International President Ian Riseley taking center stage at the DoubleTree San Jose. His Theme: Rotarians Who Are Making A Difference – From Devastation Comes Inspiration. Several Niles Rotarians attended the event and were inspired.

At our first club meeting of the year we welcomed a new club member Tina Steckler Fernandez. Tina was sponsored by her husband Craig and will be mentored by best friend Dana Jones. Welcome to the club Tina – we are excited that you are a part of our Family. Rock and Roll was the theme of our day as we heard about the ups and downs and passion for Rock and Roll as lived by musician Roem Bauer. Thank you for sharing you heart for your music. Roem followed the meeting up with a House Party at the Jones.

The second Kick Off meeting “On to Toronto” for the Rotary International Convention was held at BJ travel. If you plan to attend, reach out to Sandi Pantages and get in the Loop. It will be a lot of fun!

Our next meeting kicked off with me getting caught up on my Rotarians of the Months – I went back to October and named Sam Forbes Rotarian of the Month for stepping in at the last minute as Sargent at Arms and for doing such a great job. Thank you so much Sam! Our program that day was a fascinating young man Brian Edwards, Principal Librarian of the Fremont Libraries. He discussed how the libraries are evolving in the technology era. We are very lucky to have people like Brian looking to the future to protect a gem in our community — our Fremont Library.

The meeting on the 19^th included Maria Mendoza being acknowledged as December’s Rotarian of the Month for her work on the eBulletin. Maria stepped in at the 11^th hour to take over the publishing of the weekly bulletin. She has done a wonderful job and now has partnered with Mary Lynn to provide links to Mary Lynn’s Shutterfly Photo albums. If you haven’t take a look you should and can do so by scrolling to the bottom of the eBulletin each week and click on the Shutterfly links provided – no need to sign in or have a Shutterfly password. Great job Maria and thank you to our Ambassador of Fun for her “Fun Photos!” Paul Iannacconi made some Paul Harris presentations. He presented Dan Smith with a plaque for being a Major Contributor to the Rotary Foundation and Paul Harris Society Member; Paul then made a presentation to Mary Florio for her Paul Harris and for being a Paul Harris Society Member. Our speaker for the day was Priya Mayureshwar from the “Yes for Schools” program. Particularly interesting to me was her discussion on breathing techniques for students, parents, and teachers. The program offers life skills to manage stress and emotions. It really was a fascinating discussion with some amazing results in the short time they have been in operation. Best of Luck Priya – everyone could use a program like this.

January 20, 2018 was Starstruck Theater’s James and the Giant Peach social. Niles Rotarians gathered at the home of Sandra and Daren Young for dinner, laughter, and fun. The group finished dinner and moved on the Smith Center for a production of James and the Giant Peach. It was wonderfully done – the kids in this play were amazing. A good time was had by all.

For the last meeting of the month, it was time for Club Assembly – I know how important it is to give the club info BUT sometime they can be so boring. I decided to use this meeting to shake things up a little. At the last Family Fun Meeting I felt very bold and nervous in asking people to change tables. You all did and it was really fun. Soooooo Rich Brunelli told me that next time I should hand out numbers so I would truly mix things up. I have to say I was very nervous about it. I do know that with our lives so busy that coming to Rotary weekly and being able to sit with your friends is a very important part of the glue that holds our club together.   Of course I had Dana Jones (she carries a gun) hand out the numbers, and I am a part of the BEST CLUB on the planet. You all changed seats and tables and did so smiling! I felt like if we could do this a couple of times during the year, it would give are growing group of new Rotarians an opportunity to get to know our seasoned group. Thank you all for your indulgence. The mini slide presentation with Club info is later in this Pinion. I was very honored to have all the Area 3 Presidents at the meeting, along with 5170 Area 3 Assistant Governor Jim Bell.   Early in our year Jim asked that we all attend 1 of each other’s meetings together. It has been really fun, a great way to get to know each other better, and interesting to see the culture of each club. We played the Favorites Game. There is no wrong answer in the Favorite Game. Rotarians were asked to pick 1 – Favorite Rotary Social, moment, or project, tell what and why – We then went table to table with 1 person telling their favorite and what they learned about the others at the table. There was much diversity in the answers from International (life altering) moments, International Conventions, Pizza with Santa, Reverse Raffle, to Feeding the Hungry. As the song says “We are a friendly happy band and the greatest in the Land”; with so many favorites and such a strong Family I hope you had fun – I know I did.

ONE BIG ANNOUNCEMENT – Gary Raver is getting HITCHED! Gary announced he has asked his high school sweetheart Debbie to be his bride. He announced it during Happy Bucks! Congratulations Gary and Debbie – Debbie, we look forward to getting to know you. Gary sure looks smitten just say’n!

One other notation for the day – One of our 1^st women Rotarians was fined for her 30 years as a Niles Rotarian. She was also our FIRST Woman President. I cannot tell you how proud I am to call Sandi Pantages my friend. She is an amazing woman. She and Dick have and continue to give so much of themselves to our club. Sandi is the Pinion Editor, works on the Membership Committee, runs the floor at Feed the Hungry, and is in charge of Youth Protection for the club. They are at everything, District & International Conferences included, and are fun and dedicated. Thank you for everything you do for our club! You both are a blessing!!! [From the Pinion editor – WOW! Thank you!!!].

Social Change – Wow – our third Social Change event was a huge success. We met at Das Brew for a tour of the Brewery, a flight of beers with sandwiches and chips provided by Pranav and a friend of Sophia’s, Earl, who talked about an interesting app he has developed that allows you to send drinks to your friends from your phone. We had lots of questions and lots of fun. Here is a summary of the evening.

• 22 attendees
• 7 Rotarians
• 15 Guests (ages 21-40)
• 3 Repeat guests from previous Social Change Events
• We actually ended up with about $150 profit. So we will use this money for our next events.

Feedback from guests:

• Would like to do community events (clean parks/schools, Feed the Hungry, tutoring, counseling)
• Would like Rotary to help build professional skills/mentoring
• Networking opportunity, sporting events, chef events, board games

It was a great evening and a great turnout – Congrats Sophia and Aziz!

PLEASE NOTE WE HAD MORE MILLENIALS THAN ROTARIANS!

Finally we closed out the month with a beautiful Memorial Service for our dear Steve Barnett. It was held January 28, at Round Hill Country Club. Niles Rotarians turned out in force to support the family and celebrate Steve’s life with a huge group of friends. Thank you to Margo Hood, Sandy Stabile, and Steve Beven for stepping in and supporting, organizing and directing guests in the (because of you) controlled chaos. You did a beautiful job and I know the family appreciated your loving care. We will miss Steve’s bigger than life smile, his gentle kindness, his jokes and his amazing prayers.

HAPPY NEW YEAR NILES ROTARIANS! We made it through the holiday season! I cannot believe I am truly half way done. The first meeting of last month was a special meeting to me because it was at my home church Harbor Light.   Rick King gave Padma Magadala her first Paul Harris as she literally said goodbye to her Red Badge. We did not have the words to the “Day of exchanging your red badge for blue” – BUT we sang it anyway as Padma danced along. Congratulation Padma – As Rick King said, we are very lucky to have you in our club.

December is the month we celebrate 30 years of women in our club as the first women inducted in 1987 included Past President Nancy Farber and Past President/ 1st woman President of Niles Rotary Sandi Pantages; Nancy and Sandi joined on December 17.   Thank you both for paving the way for the rest of us.

On December 7, my presidential team and Don of course were very happy that I finally got some fining done to help catch up. Our program was the amazing Bell Choir from Fremont Christian School. It was a very nice meeting and a great way to begin our holiday season.

December 14^th was a fun day!!! We kicked off the meeting with our Reverse Raffle Players for the 2^nd year in a row entertaining us with a little Elvis and company. Steve Landon, Ray Pederson, Bruce Prescott, Brian Hughes supporting our own Audrey Kearns (as Elvis) had everyone rockin! Kimberly MacFarlane and Brian let everyone know the Theme of the 2018 Reverse Raffle will be ALOHA. Casual aloha shirt attire and lots of surprises are in store. The kick off was a great success and lots of laughs – following the kick off it was my pleasure to exchange Aziz Akbari’s Red Badge for BLUE – Congratulations Aziz we love having you in our club. The program of day was about the History of Pizza with Santa – I described the history and we also had our shoppers in the house to tell a few stories. Judy Zlatnik has done a wonderful job for 15 years and 2017 was her last – BUT Becky and Randi will be taking over. The families they interview are proud, humble, hard working people; Becky and Randi tried to tell a story of two families but were moved to tears. The family interview process is so personal. Historical details and pictures can be found further in the Pinion.   We ended our meeting with the 2018/2019 elections; it’s official that Jeff Schinkel will serve as our Community Services Director and Dana Jones will continue in her role as Club Administration Director. Bruce Prescott was voted in as President Elect Nominee.

December 21 was our annual Richard King Christmas Carol sing along meeting. We were honored to have District Foundation Chair Russ Hobbs, Past District Governor Joe Hamilton, Past District Governor Ron Sekkel and Past President of the Pleasanton Club Richard Flanders join in on the fun. Russ Hobbs was here to award Past President Angus and Paul Iannaccone with the 100% Member Participation award for the 2016/2017 year. Congratulations Angus and Niles Rotarians. Raj Salwan, Daren Young and I were awarded our Paul Harris Society plaques and pins.

December is always a great month for Community Service and Fun – Niles Rotarian continued the tradition of Bell Ringing for the Salvation Army. Two sites were selected: Safeway at the Hub and Dale Hardware. Niles Rotarians worked two hour shifts in pairs from 11:00 to 7:00. Our Ringing Rotarians included Bill Arvoy, Dolores Viano, Mark Crutcher, Margo Hood, Sandi Pantages, Padma Magadala; Steven and Carolyn Springer at Dale and John Dutra, Larry Bowen, Jeff Schinkel, Rich Brunelli at Safeway. We had a couple of empty spaces this year but we will overcome that next year. Thank you to all who participated.

ON THE SAME DAY we had Pizza with Santa. Friday the 15^th Chuck Canada, Steven Landon, Dirk Lorenz and Kathy Laidlaw decked the halls of the Centerville Free Dining Room in preparation for the party. Bright and early the next morning Rotarians and our special families began to arrive. Crafting, jump housing, horseback riding, laughing and getting to know our families began about 9:00 am. The Rotarian involvement is overwhelming – we had over 45 Rotarians, family members, Rotoractors and guests step up to make this a memorable day for our families. Santa arrived at about 11:00 am and the party got REAL! Cries of joy, smiling faces, laughter and parents that could not believe what was happening. It’s the best day!! Finally we settled in to pizza as the families expressed their overwhelming gratitude for blessing them.

All of this occurred in 2 days: 2 community service projects and our annual Christmas party at the Young’s on Friday evening after decorating for Pizza with Santa. Thank you once again to Sandra and Daren for hosting our club in your beautiful home. Thanks to the Social Committee, Lisa Lorenz, Tammi Souza, Angus Cochran and others for organizing a great evening.

I am looking forward to a GREAT 2018. As an avid Facebook follower it was so much fun to see large groups of Niles Rotarians making non Rotarian events look Rotarian. We give together, we work together, we volunteer together, we play together, and in our free time we choose each other a lot of the time. Family by Choice – Makes me smile!!

Happy New Year everyone!

 

It’s December my favorite Month – I love Fall, I love all things Christmas and this month is always a great family month. December is the month that I truly stop and make time to visit with the friends and family that are important to me.

November was a bit of a resting month for me. The first meeting of the month we had Alex Schubek our first City Manager of Emergency Services. Alex is from Germany and was very interesting. He gave us the 3 steps of getting prepared for a disaster. I’m so proud that our City has given so much thought to keeping us safe. Also in this meeting Tim Gavin shared information after participating with others at Stanford University at an event put on by the Institute for Economics & Peace. Building Sustainable Peace: The eight Positive Peace factors that the Global Peace Index (GPI) identifies correlate strongly to other measures of progress, including the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals. This makes the GPI useful to NGO’s like Rotary in assessing the impact of their development projects. The graphic slide shows how Rotary’s principles and its six areas of focus connect to the optimal conditions for s sustainable peace. Thanks to Jeff S for the write up on Face Book; we look forward to hearing more about this in the future Tim.

My next meeting was an Area 3 meeting. Jim Bell our assistant District Governor returned this year with an ever changing yet emotional and fascinating historical Veterans Day program. My favorite part, although all interesting was the video about the Star Spangled Banner. Jim was right I will never sing that song the same way again. To know the way our flag was being held up is an amazing piece of history. Thank you so much Jim for another program very well done.

The third meeting of the month was Brian’s meeting to chair. We had our Reverse Raffle Draft. This year Brian is changing things up and he did an Elimination Draft. He literally pulled names out of a hat and assigned people to teams with the help of Tammi Souza. Every 10^th name won a Bundtlet; thank you Chiral from Nothing Bundt Cakes for the fun prizes. The last name called Geeta Kadambi got to pick between Bourbon or a charger. She picked the Bourbon and Margaret Thornberry went away with the Niles Charger. It was a fun meeting and I am very excited about my team – but we need a name!!! The next Thursday we were dark so I was literally out of the pulpit for 3 weeks in a row, nice little rest but still lots of time with the club.

We ended our November with Jan and Pricilla Schultz from Das Brew. He gave a great talk about our local Das Brew, family owned and growing. He talked about the making of beer and the best part was that Das Brew is coming to Niles. I am looking forward to frequenting their little spot. A highlight of the week for me was I became a Great Grandma of a beautiful baby girl — Isabella Rosalina. Both my granddaughter and her baby did great and are both very happy and healthy. Sorry folks – can’t let that beautiful moment go unmentioned. Sancho and Gina first time grandparents are over the moon in love with this little one.   Another highlight of the day was Padmaja did her very interesting icebreaker; this girl is on a roll to get her Blue Badge in record time.

Community Service this month began the first Saturday of the month with tearing down of the Ghost House, IN THE RAIN. I was not present but if you check out the photos you will see that Ms. Margo Hood looked like she was having a lot of fun. She was joined by Paul Andrus, Jeff Schinkel, Sandi Pantages, Wendy Mills, Steven Springer, Kathy Laidlaw and Paul Iannacconi just to name a few. Rain or shine we get it done and have fun! We ended the month at the Free Dinning Room for Feed the Hungry – Meat Loaf was back on the menu and appreciated by all of our guest diners. Our Feed the Hungry group is growing as we had Chiral, Larry, Sophia and Rav join us for the first time. Thank you to The Jones, Rosemary, Rakesh, Merna, Margo, Chuck, Sandi P, Mary Lynn, Steve Cho, Don, Jeff S., John D. and my guy Randy for all of the support and help. It was a great evening and a great way to end the month.

November was also a very social month with our 2^nd Social Change event at Fremont Flowers. Sophia and Aziz hit this one out of the park with a Chef demonstration of three appetizers and two drinks. The food was amazing and the drinks were incredibly good. The company was the best as we laughed, ate, and drank together in a getting to know you kinda way. We also went bowling. Steve Cho along with Angus put together a bowling event at Cloverleaf Bowl. A big group of Niles Rotarians and family arrived to get their Bowl on. There was very tough competition as usual. Jeff Falk came out the BIG winner with highest score men with a 177 and Audrey Kearns came out the winner for the ladies with a 154. Audrey was also awarded the most memorable moment award for throwing her bowling ball the opposite way of the pins. Pizza, Beer and Soda were on the lunch menu. Be looking for this event next year, I think it may become a Steve Cho Annual event.

Chuck Canada and Geeta Kadambi put together our 2^nd quarter mentoring check-in held at the beautiful home of Geeta. Thank you Geeta for hosting this event once again. We had a great turn out of new Rotarians, membership committee members, mentors and sponsors. Chuck and PE Brian shared great information and of course it was all done as we grazed on light appetizers and wine, thank you PP Lisa. PP

Paul Iannacconi has been hard at it in the Paul Harris Department. This month Gary Basrai gave his daughter her Paul Harris and PP Lisa Lorenz awarded Madhu a Paul Harris to her son. This month the following Rotarians were awarded with their Paul Harris + pins. Tami got her PH + 1, Margo PH +2, Tim Gavin PH + 5. A special honor for Margo and me was when we visited Steve Barnett and awarded him with his PH + 3 pin. It was a great visit and Steve is looking great.

Last but certainly not least – this month Daren announced that our Chili Pepper Challenge has broken all goals by netting over $65,000. Great Job Area 3 Rotarians and it really was fun! At our final meeting of the month Daren also announced that for the second year in a row Dryco, the premier paving company in Fremont, won the Bocce tournament netting $7500.00. Dryco will be donating the money to Niles Rotary who will turn around and donate it to the District 5130 Fire Victim Relief Fund. Thank you for your generosity Daren – We all truly win!

Until next month have a great December, stop and take time for the ones that are special to you. Enjoy all the holiday traditions of the season.

 

Last month ended with a Roll and Stroll in Niles Canyon, and an encounter with Mill’s Mini Museum of amazing collections reflecting Niles History set in the Old Niles Firehouse. It was a PRICELESS Day! We began our day with coffee, donuts, and bicycles. Off we went into Niles Canyon with the goal of biking to Sunol and back (or, as in my case, as far as you could and back) – a 14 mile ride. The Rollers, just to name a few, were Sandi & Dick Pantages, Randy & I, Angus Cochran, Tim Gavin, Mary & Ray Pedersen, and Sandi & Don Cole. The Strollers included Amy & Steve Cho, Gary Raver, Scott Chambers, and Mary Lynn Pelican.

It was a beautiful morning and ride or walk. Lots of families and friendly folks taking advantage of a rare opportunity to really take your time and bask in the beauty of Mother Nature and our Niles Canyon, a very special place. Upon beginning our ride we ran into a few Niles Rotarians that volunteered as greeters and directors of the crowd – thank you to Steve Springer, Maggie Guilbeaux-Chambers, Sherry Higgs, Rich Godfrey, and Paul Andrus. You all looked like you were having as much fun as the Rollers and Strollers. Following the ride all that could joined together at the Old Niles Fire House currently owned and refurbished by Wendy and Gary Mills. They have done an amazing job of collecting, displaying, and sharing the past.   It was a rare treat as we dined on a delicious lunch prepared by Gael Stewart. GREAT SOCIAL, PAST PRESIDENT ANGUS!

Our first meeting of the month was a very special meeting as we inducted our third Rotarian of our year into the club: Chiral Desai. Chiral was joined by her parents and her husband. Her Mentor Geeta was on hand to stand in for her sponsor Tony Boudames. Welcome Chiral; we are so glad you have joined us and look forward to getting to know you and your family better. Chiral then jumped right behind the podium to follow in her mentor’s footsteps and do her Ice Breaker seconds after induction.   Steve Landon was asked to give a big Thank You to all the club members that stepped up and gave of their time and hospitality to host, welcome, and include the Alaskans in our exchange raffle item. Mike & Sunny Morrison from Alaska arrived on Tuesday Sept 26, 2017 to be welcomed into the home of Harry Avila. During the time they were here they were wined and dined by Niles Rotarians. They began their visit with a hosted dinner at Papillon with Tony Boudames and his lovely wife Heather. They came to the club on the 28^th and then were whisked off to beautiful Monterey with Harry Avilla for golfing and shopping, ultimately joined by PP Steve & Terri Landon for a day. They returned to hospitality of the Joan & John Kimber’s home, wine tasting with Bruce Prescott, Fellowship evening at Steven Lloyd’s, lunch with PRIP Richard King and Paella Dinner, prepared by the Landons, at Chuck Canada’s, to cap off their visit. They flew home on the 3^rd of Oct. This effort takes a team. Thank you to all that extended your kindness and friendship at all group events. I think they really understood when leaving why Niles Rotarians are Family by Choice. Our speaker was Robert Garfinkle, he discussed all things MOON! He gave a very interesting presentation on the moon and our evolution of understanding.

Avenues of Service – Our club showed up BIG time as 17 Niles Rotarians attended and we hosted two Rotaractors to the Dinner. It was a great evening of Rotary Fun, great information, good dinner, and a great Keynote speaker, RI Director John Mathews 2017-2019 Zones 25 & 26, “Leaders keep learning”.

The second meeting of the month started out with a big hug, hand shake, and smiling hello as I named the Rotarian of the Month for September: our beloved Greeter, A’s fan extraordinaire, Jeff Falk. Congratulations Jeff you are a real asset and blessing to our Club. Thank you for all you do!   Paul Iannacconi presented Larry Bowen and Kathy Laidlaw with their framed Paul Harris Awards. The spotlight moved to Mary Lynn as she received her pin, necklace, and crystal award for becoming a Major Donor to The Rotary Foundation. Our speakers for the day were Eva-Marie Tisdale and Herbert Chiu talking about 300 years of time travel from Bach to Pop. They gave a background to the upcoming November 18 concert TOCCATA featuring Falk & Sons – this concert is a fundraiser for the Fremont Symphony. Towards the end of the speakers’ presentation, I glanced across the room to see both Manuel and Daren on fire with RED faces after tasting one of the hottttteeeessssstttt Chili peppers on the planet presented to them by Paul Andrus. At the beginning of the meeting it was agreed that this pepper was too hot for consumption. However, Boys will be Boys! Somehow about 1:15, common sense evaded them and they could not resist. Let’s just say it was a VERY HOT ending to a FUN meeting. See FACEBOOK for the video!

October 19^th Diwali! Our club came together in an amazing way this day as we celebrated Diwali with our Rotary Family for the first time – The Festival of Light. Geeta, Padma, Chiral, Savita, Rav, and Manohar put together a beautiful program of celebration, information, dance, food and sweets. The room was decorated with LED candles, beautiful scarves, and gems, and most were in festive brightly colored traditional clothing. Walking into the room made one smile. We opened our meeting with our own Sophia Ahmad doing her Ice Breaker and exchanging her Red Badge for BLUE – her parents were in proud attendance. Geeta then took the stage and got the party started. All told of their Diwali Traditions, and Padma did a beautiful dance. Check our Facebook page for pictures. Because I was worried about time, I began the program early without fining or Happy Cup. Because I had some extra time at the end, I announced the Happy Cup and had the Happiest Cup donations ever. Everyone was happy-happy-happy! Thank you Niles Rotarians Family members for a wonderful meeting and one that I will never forget.

That evening Niles Rotarians gathered at La Pinata for our first Social Change meeting lead by Sophia Ahmad and Aziz Akbari. We invited Rotarians, Rotaractors and young professionals under 40 to an evening of Margaritas, great food, Ice Breaker games, and just a time of getting to know each other. Aziz and Sophia gave the group some basic information about Rotary and why they became Rotarians. It was a great evening; about 30 attended. OH and not to be forgotten, yes, we took time for the HOT HOT Chili Pepper Challenge. The waiter thought Jeff and Colin were crazy. I know the younger participants had a wonderful time; we can expect that they will bring their friends in November. Congratulations on an evening well done to Team Leaders Sophia and Aziz with the team of Maggie Guilbeaux-Chambers, Don Cole, Tammi Souza, Chuck Canada, Lisa Lorenz, Mary Lynn Pelican, and Jeff Schinkel.

Our last official social of the month was the annual bocce party at the Prescott Casa. It was a beautiful day of socializing, vineyards, and bocce. Thank you Bruce for hosting this fun event every year. Thank you to the Social Chair, Angus, for organizing along with Steve Landon, Chuck Canada, Dana Jones, Lisa Lorenz, and Tammi Souza for putting all the details together for a wonderful afternoon. Someone had the influence to get our own Bubba back on the grill. We miss you Bubba. It is always great to see you and EAT your BBQ. THE Bocce Winners ARE — Rose and Randy, Orlando, and Steven Lloyd.

Our last meeting of October (can you believe it?) began especially great as we inducted our 4^th Rotarian of the year Larry Day, sponsored by Nader Ayad. Larry will be mentored by Steve Landon. Larry introduced the club to his wife Kathy and gave a little overview about kids, travel, and sports. Welcome to the Club, Larry and Kathy.

Paul Iannaccone was present once again to honor Rosemary Ashley’s daughter Christine as a Paul Harris Fellow. Rosemary’s daughter flew down from Seattle for the presentation. This is the last child of Rosemary’s to receive their Paul Harris Fellow; she will begin to work on her grandkids next.

TODAY was the DAY Rav and Maggie finally get to say they have exchanged their Red badges for Blue. Congratulations. The HOT HOT Chili Pepper challenge is about at an end. Today the twist was from Padma who brought HOT Indian prepared chilis and challenged everyone to come forward for $10.00. We had a line!! Niles Rotarians are the BEST and step up for any challenge.   John Dutra introduced our Speaker Suzanne Wolf from Fremont Parks and Rec. She gave an interesting presentation about our City – current happenings and plans for the future. Parks are very important to the City and I was very proud as she outlined Niles Rotary’s involvement in assisting the City in maintaining our parks and supporting wonderful programs.

 

 

Rose’s Ruminations

WOW – September began with a BANG! On September 7, we inducted our second member of the year Padma Magadala.  Padma attended the meeting with her mother and daughter – three generations of Magadala women. It was a great induction and very moving for me as Padma thanked her mother for the years and time spent preparing Padma to dance in India for Rotary Project Celebrations; it brought an awareness of Rotary to Padma at a very young age. Welcome Padma – as Padma said, she has come full circle, and we look forward to your Rotary journey. Today is the DAY – The HOT, HOT, HOT Chili Pepper Challenge. Our own Daren Young challenged all in the club to GET to the web site and donate or a Hot Chili could be in your future. That could come in the form of a Hot vodka shot or a chili pepper filled with Tequila following Sophia Ahmad’s Tequila Kick Off.   Following the fining of PP Tony and his beautiful wife PFL Heather Boudames for 25 years of marriage, Harry took over the Podium. Harry prepared an historical look at Niles Rotary by involving several Rotarians asking the question “What does Rotary mean to me?” This will be a 4 part series meant to look at Niles Rotary’s history, purpose, and character.  Thank you Rick King, Sam Forbes, Sandi Pantages, Craig Steckler, and Gary Basrai for sharing not only why they joined Rotary but why they stay. I had to smile, with Family by Choice being my motto this year, most everyone mentioned that Niles Rotary has become their extended family.   Thank you Harry – it was a GREAT program with heartfelt passionate speakers, and we really look forward to part 2.

IT’s that time of year again –My favorite thing about this time of year is it’s time for all things Pumpkin!!! My second favorite thing about this time of year is it’s time to bust out the Ghost House. Niles Rotarians partnered with the Candle Lighters again to begin the 49^th year of the Candle Lighters Ghost house in Fremont. Great Ghost House memories back 49 years ago as I got to be one of the witches riding on the float with a really scary play house that looked haunted and huge papier-mâché vultures that I helped my mom and Joan Massey construct. Thirteen Rotarians added to the energetic group of volunteers from our community to throw open the doors, unpack the big trucks, construct the kitchen, put up fencing and took the beginning props into the house as the Ghost House imaginators shift into high gear. Thank you to our own Jeff Schinkel for inviting us yet again to assist with his project. A BIG shout out to Dana and Rick Jones, Audrey Kearns and grandsons, PP Sandi and Dick Pantages, PP Lisa and Dirk Lorenz, Steven Springer and his son Nick, Margo Hood, PP Chuck Canada, and Gael Stewart. Not only did we get a lot done we had fun doing it! Some needed more Advil than others but the TO DO List was all checked off. See you all on November 4 for tear down!

On to the 2^nd meeting of September – I must admit I was very excited about our speaker. He was Mitty Chang. The meeting began with a couple of recognitions. First the Rotarian of the Month for August was named. Chuck Canada got the pin for his tireless work on the Membership Development Committee, and keeping our Mentoring Committee happy, personal, focused, relational, and so relevant! Chuck – your commitment to the committee is one reason we are growing, and is a HUGE part of club family member retention. It’s all about how you make people feel, and Chuck your leadership exemplifies that! Thank you from the whole club! Next our own Aziz Akbari asked to buy back an article recognizing him for the Alameda County Water District Transparency Certificate of Excellence. Transparency in Government is a passion of Aziz – congratulations on making your passion a reality for the ACWD. We are excited about your accomplishments and what the future holds for you.

Some fining began with anniversaries. Angus and Annie for 19 years of happiness and Paul Parhiala for his Birthday and Anniversary; Paul reported that next year will be a big year for him as he celebrates his 50^th Anniversary and his 75^th Birthday – take notes PE Brian Cha Ching!   Although both men are very happily married, Angus never did remember what he did for his anniversary, and it took Paul about 5 minutes to remember – a sign of the times I am afraid.

Our own RIPP Rick King introduced Mitty Chang. Mitty gave a very passionate talk about the future of Rotary encouraging inclusion, embracing change, and calling everyone to be Dragon Slayers!! Mitty, you are an amazing young man with a very relevant message that should be heard and embraced by all clubs. I am happy to report that Niles Rotary is on the move and investigating some changes that will make our club stronger with millennials as our target.

If you were not at the club meeting, Daren’s Chili Pepper Challenge video with Audrey Kearns is a must see on Facebook.

This year the Area 3 Presidents are attending each other’s meetings together. August 30 we attended the Fremont Club at Spin a Yarn and on the 21^st of Sept we all attended the FUN club at the Crowne Plaza. It is really fun to see other Rotarians and see the personality of each club. I am really enjoying these meetings – great idea Jim Bell.

THE DISTRICT GOVENOR’S Visit – District 5170 Governor Orrin Mahoney attended our club on September 21, 2017. We met for an hour and a half before the club meeting discussing the many successes of Niles Rotary. Our membership is on the rise with active outreach to young professionals, with a solid membership team and mentoring program; our RI giving is up; and we were proud to review the outcome of the 2017 Reverse Raffle. We have a Niles Rotarian sponsored Area 3 Global grant, along with several idea for International Service including reaching out to the Peace Corps. We covered Community Service projects as well as the necessity to keep our social media presence current and relevant, which we do so well. We had 5 Rotarians at the Membership Seminar, and we have a minimum of 20 Rotarians attending the Avenues of Service meeting on October 5.  Our club meeting began with Richard King introducing Orrin to the club. Orrin and Rick King both handed out our Paul Harris pins and certificates. Congratulations Brad Louie, Kathy Laidlaw, Richard Lucero, Larry Bowen, and Raj Salwan (our 12th Paul Harris Society Member, which is a $1000 contribution to the Rotary Foundation every year).

Oh MY, it’s the last meeting of the 1st quarter – time flies! We began by introducing our visiting Rotarians who included Mike and Sunny from the Rotary Club of Anchorage South, Alaska who had bid and won our Rotary Exchange at their fundraiser. Welcome to Sunny California. Paul Iannacconi took the mike and honored Mary Florio as our newest Paul Harris Fellow. Congratulations Mary and thank you for your generosity. Next Raj Salwan was honored for becoming a Grand Donor to the RI Foundation. Thank you Raj! Our program for the day was the PRASAD Project, with board member Thomas Korula and executive director Dr. Cecilia Escarra. They are a nonprofit organization committed to improving the quality of life of economically disadvantaged people around the world. This includes India, several other countries and dental care in New York. It was a fascinating presentation.

This month also began the planning for our Millennial Outreach with Sophia Ahmad leading the charge with Aziz Akbari, Maggie Chambers, Chuck Canada, and assorted Membership Committee members. I cannot wait to attend the first get together. I was also honored to be included in the Bet Paying off of PP Angus as he threw the Haggispalooza Dinner. It was a great evening, and I must say a very special thank you to Annie, Angus, Tobey, and Cosmos for including Randy and me even though we weren’t a part of the bet. ONE of the perks of being President! The Haggis was GREAT – never thought I’d say that but it was! Color me very happy!!!

Roll and Stroll this weekend – detail on that next month.

 

Rose’s Ruminations – August in Review

August 3, 2017 – Month 2 – only 10 left!! But who’s counting? During May and June of this year Paul Andrus and I put together my first Survey Monkey. We had 57 responses from the club – over half the members responded! I took a minute at the club meeting to review the results of the Survey Monkey. (See slides and comments further on in the Pinion). Our program this afternoon was Paul Andrus reviewing our Web Site and informing club members how and what they can do on our site. Paul also had forms available for you to customize your log in information. If you were not at the club, shoot him an email or catch him at a meeting. He can make access to Club Runner through the Web Site really easy.

Following a relaxing Friendship Friday hosted by the Kearns (thank you Audrey and Mike for opening your home and yard), it was off to Angus’s first social of the year. On Saturday night Rotarians attended Star Struck Theater’s play Footloose. About 20-28 club members enjoyed a lovely dinner at Gael Stewart’s Mission Coffee and then met with a few additional Rotarians at the Smith Center for the play. Reports are that the play was great as always but the fellowship at all three events was the highlight.

Monday August 7 was our quarterly mentoring meeting hosted in the lovely home of Geeta Kadambi. Thank you so much for hosting, Geeta. A great group of committee members, mentors and mentees gather for a bonding evening of good wine, good food, good fellowship, and great club information shared with all. The Membership Development Committee is on a roll and starting the year strong. Thank you all especially for making this a priority and for your many hours of work to make membership development happen.

Our Club Assembly was on August 10 – What do you do when MOST of your Board blow off Club Assembly? (Not really – they all had solid reasons they could not attend). You STAY CALM with one of the funniest people I know – PP Angus. Angus and I wore many hats as we sped through everyone’s goals with MY GOAL met – Club Assembly in one meeting. The main goals reviewed were Membership (9 new Rotarians), Rotary Foundation Goals ($18,000), continued strong relationships with our Interactors and Rotaractors, diverse speakers, and hands on with the Sight Now International project. (Editor’s note: I plan to have the PowerPoint slides from the Club Assembly in a future Pinion).

The August 17 meeting was an agenda packed meeting. Chief Rich Lucero gave his highly anticipated icebreaker – thank you Rich for all you bring to our club, and it was so much fun hearing about your beautiful family and meeting your AMAZING wife. Right on the heels of Rich’s icebreaker we exchanged not 1 but 2 Red Badges for Blue. That was Rich’s last to do on his Red Badge list, and Martin Herter’s badge had been waiting for a week or so. Both were given their Blues and the club celebrated them in song.

The BIG announcement was that the 17^th marks the beginning of 11 weeks of animated announcements about the Hot Chili Pepper Challenge by our spirited Daren Young. A new aspect was added to this year’s challenge. Last year we could eat a hot chili pepper or take a shot of hot chili vodka. This year our Hot Vodka connoisseur Margaret Thornberry found??? Are you ready??? Hot Chili Tequila – WHO KNEW that even existed? Well, it was not wasted as Daren and Margo Hood took the first official shots of Hot Tequila, and the Challenge is off and running. Daren’s challenge to the club is that EVERYONE donates – the goal is to raise $40,000.00 that will be split among 8 LOCAL charities. Niles Rotary’s recipient will be Life ElderCare. WE can do this!! We enjoyed a great program about Successful Aging. Our speaker was Penny Vittoria from Acacia Creek. She was very interesting, and gave information we all could use. Primarily – be Positive, seek socialization – MOVE, any exercise – Spiritual – Seek Balance through your church, meditation or quiet time, and last but not least use your Brain – read, brain games. Great information for us all, no matter what age. Thank you Penny!

We swooped into the weekend with a District Membership Conference that was the best I have ever been to with Branding being a main topic. Niles Rotary was very present at this meeting with 5 Rotarians in attendance. Thank you to Chuck Canada, Rick Hood, Sophia Ahmad, and Maggie Guilbeaux-Chambers for giving up your Saturday morning. It should be noted that as they were discussing the value of the Web, three sites were highlighted and our site was one. Very proud that our membership team is so far ahead of most clubs, but we came back with some more great ideas.

On the same day another group of our Niles Rotarians was hard at work building a fence for LEAF. This project was headed by Manuel Franco and Paul Andrus. Ten Rotarians were present to assist in various jobs but most of all to get the fence up. They spent collectively about 55.5 hours in the hot noon day sun. Thank you Manuel, Rich Godfrey, Paul Andrus, Steve Cho, Jeff Schinkel, Almos Adorjan, and Rakesh Sharma. We also had some non-Rotarians join the group – Guillermo Martinez, Bill Magoon and Steve Legraffe; it’s always great working with folks with likeminded hearts.

On August 24, the Family Fun Meeting kicked off on a high note as we inducted our first Niles Rotarian of the year. Linda Anderson and her husband Curtis were called to the podium – we all got to meet Curtis and hear a little about Linda and her family. I am her sponsor and have known her to be a leader and a giver with a special heart for kids. I have told her for years she should join Rotary. I’m so excited for you all to get to know her better. Congratulations Linda – welcome to our club. Linda is the Director of Curriculum and Instruction for Fremont Unified School District – Curtis is a professional photographer. Following Linda’s induction, I named my July Rotarian of the month – Paul Iannaccone – for his amazing work with the Rotary Foundation giving. Paul is one with Evanston and our District, and we are reaping the benefits. He is cleaning up, organizing, and most important, teaching us about the Rotary Foundation and our giving opportunities.

Thank you Paul for your hours of hard work and commitment to our club. Paul awarded a Paul Harris Plus 2 pin to Rich Godfrey, a Plus 3 pin to Rosemary Ashley, and a Plus 4 pin to Sandra Young. The rest of the meeting was dedicated to ice breaker candy fun games and fun fining using random facts. There was a lot of laughing either because people were having fun or everyone was on a sugar high!

To keep the fun going a large group of Rotarians met at the home of Gary & Jean Basrai for Fellowship Friday on August 25. As usual it was a pleasant evening for all that attended.

Welcome Teacher Day on August 22 began with 40 grade school students in line before 9:00 AM. Students came from all the schools in Fremont to receive a flower to give their teacher on the first day of school. The Partners Project launched last year by District 5170’s Governor Jeff Orth was completed. Mission San Jose Rotary Club’s Past President Ruth Wenzel, Linda Anderson from FUSD, Cabrillo School Principal David Thornley, Mayor Lily Mei and I were on hand to formally present the FUSD and 5 schools with book selections made by Jeff Orth’s wife. Each 5^th grader will get a book of their own to take home. The schools include Durham, Cabrillo, Blacow, Brier and Grimmer. A formal presentation was filmed; Rose and Ruth will work with the principals at these schools to formally distribute the books at school assemblies. Of course on hand to facilitate the day were the Niles Rotary shining stars Dirk and Lisa Lorenz, as well as many Niles Rotary volunteers to check in the students and give them their flowers. We saw a consistent flow of about 1,400 children all very excited with their flowers and their first day of school. Teachers also stopped in to pick up donated school supplies for their rooms.

The last meeting of the month was coupled with my favorite Rotary project, Feed the Hungry. We had a great meeting that began with an icebreaker from our new soon-to-be Blue Badger Maggie Guilbeaux-Chambers. Maggie has quite a story and has spent most of her career in healthcare along with her husband at Washington Hospital. Maggie had completed her Food Handlers Certificate, so she joined us at Feed the Hungry and completed her last TO DO on her Red Badge list. Good Job Maggie! PRIP Richard King was on hand as we honored Mary Lynn Pelican and Paul Andrus as Paul Harris Society members, as well as an already Paul Harris Society member Sam Forbes with his first Paul Harris. Our speaker was Dr. Gari Browning President/Superintendent of the Ohlone Community College District. She gave us a very interesting view of where Ohlone has been and its amazing growth and great expectations for the future.

Following the meeting a group of us headed over to the Centerville Free Dining room to prepare and serve dinner to the hungry residents of Fremont. Thank you Orlando Tavares, Mary Contois , and Maggie Guilbeaux-Chambers for your help with pre dinner prep and dinner service. We were joined for dinner service by Stephen Allen, Terri Landon, Sandi Pantages Sophia Ahmad, Martin Herter, Rakesh Sharma, Steve Cho, Kimberly McFarland, Merna Morse, Mary Lynn Pelican; at the door was John Dutra, and taking the census was Margo Hood. Thank you all for your service – we served 134 people over 225 meals.

Well that’s all folks – On we go to our 3rd Rotary Month!

Fondly

Rose