October 28, 2021
After a noisy fall backwards on a collapsed chair by AL CATTALINI, which got every attorney in the room excited (fortunately, tough old Admiral Al was just fine), President RICK GORMAN, apparently completely oblivious to the legal liability involved in Al’s fall (as only a banker insulated by the federal government can be!), finally rang his mini bell to open our regular luncheon meeting as our “99th Club President”.
He immediately had LEE REPOSA lead us in the Pledge of Allegiance and then the Prez himself gave us the Thought for the Day (something about Benjamin Franklin catching lightning in a bottle)! Our lone Visiting Rotarian was Dan Powers (from the Petaluma Valley Rotary Club), and MAGGIE RADNAY’s friend was the only guest who joined us for lunch.
Next, the Prez delivered a couple of announcements, to wit a reminder on the monthly SCARC Dinner for October and the upcoming RI Foundation zoom celebration, followed by a classic craft talk by JOHN DADO, who I believe joined the Club shortly after Paul Harris founded Rotary in 1905! Actually, John first joined the Club in 1974, became our Club President in 1988-89, and was our longtime Club Treasurer…John’s a gem, and a true Rotarian in every sense of it!! Thanks for the trip down memory lane, John!!
Coming up with new ways to pick the customers’ pockets as only a banker can, the Prez then called upon LEE REPOSA to explain just why it was that Lee happened to miss his own daughter's excellent program presentation to our Club last week. After sharing with us how proud he is of his daughter (Audrey, a student at Casa Grande High School), Lee confessed that he was away “on business” and couldn’t make the meeting, so he proudly paid a $100 fine for having such a great kid! Thanks, Lee.
Next, the Prez called upon SUZANNE TUCKER to share the details of her recent trip down South to visit her 93-year-old aunt, attend a family wedding, and tour around to see the sights long enough to learn that South Carolina really is “more south than North Carolina” …who knew?! I’m sure Suzanne took a lot of southern comfort in being fined a mere $50.00 for taking such a fun trip!
The Prez then teed-up a $50.00 fine on DAN BERRY for Dan’s recent golf trip to Cabo…according to Dan, he played good golf and had a great time!
Raffle ticket #882964 proved to be a winner for MAGGIE RADNAY and was good for a nice bottle of premium wine…which she will need to celebrate her upcoming retirement after 40 + years of toil! The penurious Prez was so happy for Maggie that he fined her $100 . . . but not before he had her give us a Club Holiday Party report, which she gladly did (it’s December 4 at Seared)! Congrats, Maggie! !
Program Chair DAN BERRY then introduced our speaker, Ms. Brienna Stubbs, a research scientist from the Buck Institute, who gave us a very interesting presentation on the correlation between nutrition and aging, followed by a great question and answer session.
A big round of applause for her for a job well done!
See you next week, and hopefully you play more tricks and eat less treats on Halloween!!
This week's editor: Mike Baddeley
October 21, 2021
President Rick Gorman called our meeting to order amidst a light rain and a light crowd.
Former President, Michael Nistler, was asked to lead the Pledge of Allegiance.
Chris Elzi presented the ‘Thought for the Day’ and the first words he uttered were “Won’t this damn rain ever stop!” Of course he was kidding, as we welcome the rain! However, he dropped some political humor and mentioned that Democracy can be like two wolves having dinner with a sheep and asking “what’s for dinner?”
Audrey Reposa (Lee’s daughter) attended our meeting and mentioned that this is her first year as a member of the United Anglers of Casa Grande High School, which is the only high school in the nation with a fish hatchery. According to the website (www.uacg.org), this student operated program is a non-profit educational organization whose purpose is to “promote environmental awareness and activism through hands-on habitat restoration that supports the survival and recovery of federally threatened salmon fishes.” The award-winning, internationally recognized United Anglers program is funded solely through donations and grants from the community, businesses, and corporate sponsors.
Someone in the crowd (I will not mention any names) mentioned that Lee Reposa was not at the meeting and should be fined heavily for not showing up to support his daughter!
With a heavy heart, Brandon Trammell spoke about the passing of Jake Wade, a recent addition/member of our Rotary club. Jake was married and the father of two daughters and will be missed by all that knew him. “Jake had a giant heart and a profound impact on many people’s lives, including mine. He was a great friend and we had a close connection,” said Trammel.
Joseph James "Jake" Wade IV, 37, died on August 18, 2021 in Santa Rosa, California. He was a loving son, brother, husband, father and friend.
Born April 17, 1984 Jake learned from a very young age the value of family, love of nature and hard work. His first job started in grade school, working in his father’s local Wine Country Pasta shop and continued through his high school years at Justin Sienna. Attending Diablo Valley College, he became interested in finance and went on to be a “master of his craft” in the residential and commercial lending business. Working at Pinnacle Capital Mortgage and most recently at Finance of America where he was a member of the Presidents club for the past several years, Jake was known for his diligent and passionate work ethic. He became a mortgage lender because he loved helping people realize their dream of owning a home and building wealth through real estate.
After being together for two years, he married Nicole Cochran and together they realized their own dreams of family with the birth of their two daughters. Jake was a loving father who took great pride and joy in creating “field trip” adventure experiences for his daughters to the Sonoma botanical gardens, fishing, beach trips, lunch dates, hiking through the redwoods and strolling through the pumpkin patch to name a few. He cherished time with his family and loved big family celebrations, holidays and Sunday dinners where cooking together was an integral part of each gathering.
Born and raised in Sonoma, Jake had a great appreciation for the outdoors and spent time taking memorable fishing and camping trips with his brother and father. Jake was also an avid golfer and automotive enthusiast who enjoyed the thrill of driving fast cars.
Although Jake died far too young, he will be remembered for his candid sense of humor, contagious laughter and his love and devotion to his family and daughters. He will be deeply missed.
President Gorman brought out his “Fine a Member Battering Ram” and called upon two members who have not been at recent meetings together on the same dates. Apparently though, they went camping together a few months ago with their families. Of course, Gorman was referring to me and Brian Breen! The trip went well, but on the way home Brian dropped off his trailer and sold it and stopped drinking alcohol for 30 days after the trip. I must report that this was not my fault and Brian’s decisions are solely his own!
Chris Ranney mentioned that he and Shari are leaving for Sweden for a month to visit family – enjoy your trip and safe travels!
Judi Allewelt won the raffle and a bottle of wine!
Joanne Ferris introduced our guest speaker, Hayley Bly, Boys and Girls Club Sonoma-Marin.
Hayley Bly, Manager,
Special Events - Boys and Girls Club Sonoma-Marin discussed the challenges
during the pandemic. "We typically have 250-300 employees and we're
currently at 160 employees," said Bly. "We have 1,500 kids on our
wait list and we need to hire more staff to accommodate the kids." She
mentioned that part-time employees need to have a high school diploma and be 18
years-old to work (and must be vaccinated). "75% of our staff is college
educated and we have mentor programs to help with new employees." Bly
also mentioned that they hope to get back to serving 10,000 kids, which was the
pre-pandemic number of children served. "We need to hire a lot of people
to help serve the children in our community." However, there has been a
silver lining to the pandemic, "we have created 34 academic programs
with distance learning and our kids have improved their grades by a large
percentage" (14% scores increased into the 80% range). Bly also was
excited to report that the children they serve continue to build good character
and improve their health & wellness.
This week's Editor: Doug Hecker
October 14, 2021
President Rick Gorman rang the bell and started the meeting.
Then Royce Van Bebber led us in the national anthem.
Mike Ambrosio gave us a baseball-themed Thought for the Day, quoting the great Tommy Lasorda ("There are three kinds of players: those who make it happen, those who watch things happen, and those who ask, 'What happened?'") and the immortal Yogi Berra ("Baseball is 90% mental and 50% physical").
The winner of the raffle was birthday celebrant Elias Husary, who won a bottle of wine.
Then Dan Berry introduced our speaker, Adam Shelton, a man with two interesting careers: Coast Guard officer (Culinary Specialist) and co-founder of Two Rock Brewing. Adam's experience in the Coast Guard included acting as chef for a three star admiral and essentially helping to organize the first real culinary system for his branch of the service. The greater part of his talk concerned Two Rock. Beer, which he founded with Cody Hildreth. During the speech, the audience was given samples of at least three of his beers, including German Pilsner. (My notes are a little unclear after this.)
President Rick then awarded Adam (ironically) a bottle of wine, and closed the meeting.
This week's Editor: Chris Elzi