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COMING EVENTS

PRESIDENT MICHAEL CARUANA called the meeting to order.

Lee blows pitch pipe to start song.

LEE REPOSA served as song master with God Bless America.

DON RAMATICI’s absence for the Thought for the Day was well covered by PAUL LOUNIBOS speaking on the subject of Hope brought to the world through Rotary.

Bano is late arriving, escapes fine.

Everyone was delighted to see visiting Rotarian LOU STEINBERG and his lovely wife Julie in from Greeley Colorado.

LEE REPOSA introduced his guests Scott Stroud and Daniel Haywood.

PRESIDENT MICHAEL reported the crab feed ticket sales are up to 300. Our goal is to exceed 400 so get crabby folks!

MICHAEL BADDELEY announced Friendship Feasts will return the 2nd, 3rd and 4th weekends in April. This is a direct result of the club survey in August. He asked the members who replied that they would host when they completed the survey to please contact him or PRESIDENT MICHAEL with the date, the number of guests they can accommodate and the type of event they’d like to host. Friendship feasts are a great way for club members to get to know one another and raise $$$ at the same time. Members each pay the club $50 for themselves and a guest and bring a bottle of wine to the host home.

Club foundation chair ONITA PELLEGRINI awarded a very surprised LEE REPOSA with his Paul Harris Fellow award. Lee’s friends collaborated to fund his Paul Harris. Well Done!!!

PRESIDENT MICHAEL read a few thank you letters and passed more around from 3rd grade students who had received dictionaries. GEOFF ELLIS, club dictionary chair is sharing these letters with the other two clubs. The members gave Geoff a well-deserved round of applause for all his hard work organizing all the dictionaries for Petaluma 3rd graders between three clubs.

AL KAPLAN won the raffle at the Petaluma Valley Club this week, but he donated the prize $ back to their club. He did contribute $100 towards his fine schedule after a great trip on his new boat with his daughters.

JOANNE invited members to help with the crab feed set up on Thursday, February 19 from 3:15 to 4:45 at the Vet’s hall. Sign up forms were on all the tables.

LEE REPOSA reminded members to sell their Super Raffle tickets. Every member should sell at least 10 tickets. It’s for our club’s projects!

GAIL CARDAROPOLI won a nice bottle of wine from the raffle.

Bulletin editor Joanne introduces speaker.

Our program speaker was Annie Davis, Marketing Director for World Centric.

This week’s Rota-Teller editor: Joanne Ferris

COMING EVENTS

It was a pleasant day, when PRESIDENT MICHAEL CARUANA called to order the Rotary Club of Petaluma at the scenic (and now green) Petaluma Golf and Country Club on this next to last Thursday of the month. PRESIDENT MICHAEL greeted us and immediately led us in the Pledge of Allegiance to kick off the meeting.

PRESIDENT MICHAEL invited LEE REPOSA to lead us in song. LEE started us off with our traditional I’m a Rambler and finished off with God Bless America.

PRESIDENT MICHAEL then called on RICK VAN BEBBER for a rare Thought for the Day from our loyal Man Behind The Briefcase. Except RICK wasn’t there (when ya gotta go, ya gotta go). So club members whiled away the time by greeting smiling, but late, KATHY O’CONNOR and just as THE PREZ was about to move on, here came RICK. Good thing too...RICK’s thought was a reflection on member attendance over all the years he’s been taking payments for the club (since the mid 80’s for you newcomers). It’s RICK’s observation that the number of members has shrunk and the proportion of non-attendees keeps going up. His very timely thought was we should all reach out to another member and say “Let’s go to Rotary!” Nicely done, RICK...your thoughts were worth the wait!

Visiting Rotarians included Lena Humber from Santa Rosa Main. Rotarians with Guests included LEE REPOSA hosting CPA Scott Stroud, and PRESIDENT MICHAEL hosting Sally Cervetto.

Just before club ‘hugs and smooches,’ PRESIDENT MICHAEL decided to prove he can dress up with the best of us and ‘exposed’ himself only to reveal an ‘old tuxedo’ he just had lying around the house!

PRESIDENT MICHAEL announced the SCARC dinner in Santa Rosa and noted Diane, and not he, would be attending. He also announced the April 24th District meeting in Yosemite. Being the ‘tree hugger’ we know him to be he encouraged attendees to carpool to both events.

GEOFF ELLIS gave us a brief and gracious run-down of the Dictionary project. Volunteers are out amongst the third graders in the area. GEOFF thanked everyone for their help. Seems we will give away 1,000 in Petaluma alone this year. GEOFF described the project as “super rewarding” for the volunteers. The kids get so excited to have their very own dictionary and their teachers are so appreciative of the chance to build lessons around these wonderful resource books. GEOFF ended by giving us a lesson of his own about this project and how it started with HARVEY FREETLY and our club is now a nationwide Rotary effort. TAWNY TESCONI ordered 50,000 dictionaries this year and shipped them all over the state and the nation. It’s amazing what one club can accomplish with one man’s idea!

PRESIDENT MICHAEL stood in for JAMES BURLESON and noted the Crab Feed tickets were on the way and members would hear by email next week about how to get them.

PAST PRESIDENT RICK MOSSI gave us an update on the Walnut Park project and the commemorative bricks to be placed around the gazebo. See PRESIDENT MICHAEL for details. RICK told us about a conversation with a woman he met who uses the park often and how appreciative she was of the work because it would make it easier for her get around in a place she loves.

PRESIDENT MICHAEL led us in a birthday song for those at the Birthday Table. $5 to them and $10 for those who shy away from cake!

LEE REPOSA gave us the rah-rah about the Super Raffle. He notes it must be ‘Sandbag Season’ given the number of tickets sold. He reminded us this is our biggest fundraiser of the year and shared TOM BAKER’s top secret tip for selling the most tickets each year...“just ask.”

BANO CUMMINGS gave a Sunshine Report on JIM BECKER who is under treatment and told us he would love to hear from members. PRESIDENT MICHAEL shared that LOU STEINBERG was recovering nicely from his heart attack and subsequent stent/angioplasty surgery and would be visiting the club next meeting.

PAST PRESIDENT RICK MOSSI did the honors during a New Member Induction for RENEE HAYES and her sponsors SHARI and CHRIS RANNEY. Welcome, RENEE, to the best Rotary Club in the country!

During the fine portion of the meeting, PRESIDENT MICHAEL picked up $25 from recovering ED FULLERTON, who got fined for surviving a bad cold he got from his lovely wife Carol and then giving it back to her.

Mr. DANNY FISH-man got fined $50 for all of the Facebooking and Tweeting, and emailing he had to do during the December “Storm-ageddon”.

WALLY BRAGDON won the raffle and got ANBW (a nice bottle of wine).

JOANNE FERRIS introduced guest speaker (and Rotarian since 1972), . . .

Ted Gaebler, author, consultant and lecturer, who gave a fascinating talk on “Running Local Governments for Fun and Profit.” Government is BIG (90,100 governments in the US, 666,000 elected officials, a $2 trillion business, employing 23 million Americans)...wow! He noted in the US that government was “costly, slow, inefficient...by design” and “we have the power to change government.” Great presentation!

Thankfully, PRESIDENT MICHAEL’s parting comment was only to remind us of next week’s program...Annie Davis, Director of Marketing, World Centric, a Petaluma-based company.

See you then!

This week’s Rota-Teller editor: Jane Saldaña-Talley

COMING EVENTS

Continuing a tradition that spans many decades, Rotarians and their guests traveled west to Two Rock Valley for their annual luncheon at the Coast Guard Training Center. A pre-lunch social hour afforded opportunities for members and guests to visit with each other and with members of the Coast Guard. For more photos from the social hour, click here.

While not available at lunch, beer is definitely available at the club!

After a short walk to the dining hall everyone dined in fine style. The menu featured lobster bisque, grilled ahi steaks, prime rib, risotto, twice-baked potatoes, zesty vegetables, a salad bar, and a dessert selection that was positively decadent.

After lunch PRESIDENT MICHAEL CARUANA opened the meeting with the Pledge of Allegiance.

BARNEY FAUSS warmed us up with “I’m a Rambler, . . . ” and then flowed into “God Bless America”. OUR PRESIDENT gave the thought for the day, reflecting on public service and particularly the service performed day in and day out by the members of our Armed Forces.

Sunshine Report. PRESIDENT MICHAEL welcomed back DAVID BARBIERI who is recovering nicely from back surgery. He also advised that JIM BECKER’s treatments are not going well and that Jim would welcome phone calls from members.

Commander Eric King, Chief of the Training Division, gave an informative talk on the mission of the Training Center and the various courses that train thousands of Coast Guard men and women each year. He explained how the Training Center impacts positively on the Petaluma community as well as Coast Guard activities around the world.

This week’s Rota-Teller editor: Al Cattalini

COMING EVENTS

PRESIDENT MICHAEL CARUANA kicked off the first meeting of 2015 with song and cheer. After the long Holiday season, it was nice to return to the familiarity and camaraderie of Rotary.

Lee Reposa introduces visiting Rotarians.

There were several visiting Rotarians and all were welcomed with a round of applause.

Ricardo Marzo delivers his Thought for the Day.

WHIT HALL thanked all the volunteers who helped out at the McKinley School Science Olympiad, particularly CARLI THOMAS who made a great effort to help out the school children. PRESIDENT MICHAEL CARUANA reminded the membership that our next meeting is our annual lunch at the Coast Guard Station. This is always a great event and the food is fantastic.

CRAB FEED is Friday, February 20th. Tickets are being printed and will be available shortly for those members who like to have a physical ticket. Please reserve your spot now (payment is due at the same time). The tables will fill up and you want to secure your group ASAP.

TAWNY TESCONI paid a $50 fine for her new role as head of the Sonoma County General Services Department, which oversees county-owned real estate, buildings, infrastructure and vehicles, as well as the county’s energy retrofit program.

PRESIDENT MICHAEL CARUANA then introduced PAST PRESIDENT LEE BEAN, who gave a fantastic Craft Talk about his life and career. He is a descendant of the Mayflower and served in the Navy, aboard the USS Lewis. His work took him to South Dakota, where he helped establish a thriving architect practice and he returned to California to continue his career. He has served on the American Institute of Architects and was Campus Architect in the UC system. He joined Rotary in 1969, then joined our Club in 1983 and served as Club President from 2005-2006.

Fred Wulff is all smiles after winning $150 in the raffle.

Our speakers were Barbara Barney and club member SHARI RANNEY, who presented a program on the Rotary Project Fair and Galapagos Expedition. Along with other Rotarians from several districts, they traveled to Quito, Ecuador to participate in the Project Fair, organized by local clubs to help foster meaningful projects for under-served populations. They highlighted not only the beautiful surroundings and cultural icons of Ecuador, but also the Micro-credit program in Esmeraldas, Ecuador that our club supports. It was a terrific presentation that shows how much fun Rotarians have when they travel together and explore a Rotary Adventure.

This week’s Rota-Teller editor: Ricardo Marzo