January 26, 2023
Club Field Trip to Lace House Linen
Members of the Rotary Club of Petaluma took a field trip to Lace House Linen, another local institution that has been operting for over 100 years.
President Royce Van Bebber welcomed everyone in the front office.
Past President, Lace House Linen owner Dan "Chief" Libarle demonstrating some original equipment used in the early days.
President Nominee Ricardo Marzo, VP of Marketing & Sales gave an overview of Lace House Linen today. No worries about airing any dirty laundry here. This is state of the art, commercial linen care!
Rodrigo Patron, Director of Operations led the tour of the plant for members. He is seen here with his better half who joined in the tour.
Members enjoyed libations and appetizers in the front offices. Great to see so many guests join in!
Today's Editor: Joanne Ferris; photos by Cindy Thomas
January 19, 2023
President Royce Van Bebber kicked-off the meeting with praise to the sunshine and dry weather. He began his monologue with an update on excessive rain, floods, sinkholes and that his grandma was safe from the floods. Congratulations to our members for a great turn-out (43 members attended today's meeting and 10 guests).
Jim O'Grady of Petaluma Valley Rotary was called upon to lead the Pledge of Allegiance.
Brandon Trammell led the way with God Bless America!
Kristen Myburgh handled the Thought for the Day. She shares her birthday with Martin Luther King (January 15) and shared one of MLK's famous and inspiring quotes: “If you can’t fly then run, if you can’t run then walk, if you can’t walk then crawl, but whatever you do you have to keep moving forward.”
-Martin Luther King
Joanne Ferris introduced the long list of visiting Rotarians and guests:
Jim O'Grady (Petaluma Valley Rotary), Jeff Kim and Ross Lewin of Tri-County Floors and Design, Colleen Mahoney, Chris and Elaine Stevick, Cary White, Chris Moffatt, Christopher Bolt (Director of Public Works and Utilities, City of Petaluma) and Petaluma Mayor Kevin McDonnell.
Brian Breen gave an update on the Super Raffle ticket sales. His sales pitch really works! I had only sold one ticket, then posted his sales pitch on Facebook and I sold 50 tickets! Feel free to use Brian's sales pitch below:
As you know, I've been a Rotarian in the Petaluma Rotary Club for 16 years. Each year we conduct our biggest fundraising event, "The Annual Tom Baker Super Raffle."
The proceeds go towards all the good deeds that Rotary does for our community.
These include supporting other non-profits, maintaining parks and
playgrounds, providing dictionaries to every third-grade student, hosting youth
leadership programs, providing holiday gifts to underprivileged children, and
so much more.
Every year I rely on selling tickets to all the people I see and talk to
(which, thanks to my profession, is a lot), but this year is different.
That leads me back to why I'm emailing you. Would you like to help support the Petaluma Rotary Club and the community by purchasing a raffle ticket? And who knows, you may win.
If you are interested, here's how it works. The tickets are $30 each, which I
understand may sound a bit expensive; however, the grand prize is
significant, $8,000 CASH!!! Plus five additional cash
prizes, as you will see on the raffle tickets.
Just email me back the number of tickets you would like, and I'll mail them to you. Once you receive them, fill out the stubs, include your cash or check (written to the "Rotary Club of Petaluma") and mail them back to me.
If you buy more than one ticket, I'll make a deal with you, send me $25 per
ticket, and I'll cover the other $5 per ticket. For example, if you feel
generous and want 4 tickets, it'll only cost $100, and I'll cover the other
$20. Oh, and if you win, you don't have to share the prize with me, I promise.
Whether you choose to participate or not, thank you for reading!
Sincerely,
(Rotary Member Name)
Raine Howe gave an update on our club's 100th Anniversary party (March 11, 2023 at the Elk's Club in Petaluma).
Registration is now open for Rotary Club of Petaluma's 1000th Anniversary Celebration on March 11, 2023. You can access the registration via our website (www.petalumarotary.org) or here:
A flyer with all the details of the event is attached here; feel free to forward this email or the flyer itself on to your guests.
It's going to be a great event and seating is limited, so register soon!
Shari Ranney gave an update on the Whiffle Ball Tournament on April 1, 2023. Lee Reposa is the captain of our Rotary Club's team.
See details below:
CRAB FEED ALERT:
The St. Vincent Knights of Columbus Council #11431 is hosting a Crab Feed on Saturday, January 28, 2023 at St. Vincent de Paul High School located at 849 Keokuk Street, Petaluma, CA 94952 (benefiting Educational Aide Fund and other worthy causes). The cost is $75 per person. Doors open for no-host cocktails at 6:00pm. Get there early to buy your lucky raffle tickets and check out the auction. The feeding frenzy starts at 7:15 pm and includes salad, pasta, bread, fresh local Dungeness Crab and dessert. Questions: call Ron Beltramo: 510.725.2706 or Dan Berry: 707.484.6857
Chris Ranney gave an update on the Ukraine relief efforts ($21,000 has been raised by our club). Total funds raised in 2022-2023: $109,445!
John Zimmerman won the weekly raffle and took home a bottle of wine.
Suzanne Tucker announced our guest speaker, Petaluma Mayor Kevin McDonnell.
Petaluma Mayor Kevin McDonnell discussed the projects in Petaluma including infrastructure improvements (the downtown Petaluma trestle is the main goal and that $10 million project will begin in 2025 and will hopefully be complete in 2026). He mentioned that the City of Petaluma's budget has increased to $300 million and some other notable projects include: street paving and restoration with a vision zero action plan to eliminate fatalities, a community baseball field, Kenilworth Park revitalization, improve traffic congestion, recycled water for all parks, and three of Petaluma's fire station needs (two need to be remodeled and one needs to be replaced).
REMINDER: We are dark for lunch on Thursday, January 26, 2023. There will be an evening field trip at Lace House Linen from 5:00 pm - 6:15 pm.
Today's Editor: Doug Hecker
January 12, 2023
Rotarians gathered late this afternoon for a private tour of the recently opened Polly Klaas Community Theater. Michael Nistler took these photos of this amazing performing arts center.
After the tour, Rotarians crossed Howard Street to enjoy food and drink at Crooked Goat Brewing.
Next week we’ll be back at the Country Club for a visit by Petaluma Mayor Kevin McDonnell. See you then!
Today's Editor: Al Cattalini; photos by Michael Nistler
January 5, 2023
President Royce began our first meeting of the New Year, and called on Elias Husary to lead us in the Pledge of Alleguance.
Dan Libarle led us in singing "God Bless America."
President Royce gave us some great news about his grandfather. He then gave us a moving Thought for the Day about love of family.
We had a few minutes of fellowship
(A photo of your editor for the week, showing that the Club has no standards for physical appearances.)
Time for the fine schedule. Elias Husary dropped a dime on Chris Ranney for using his cell phone while in his Tundra.
Chris, true gentleman that he is, tried to blame his wife, Shari.
Judi Allewelt won the weekly drawing.
Chris Ranney then introduced the panel discussion: Royce Van bebber (Petaluma, of course), Katherine Wells (Sunrise), and Bonnie Cardoza (former twice president of Petaluma Valley, filling in for their president who was unavailable).
Kathy spoke about her club's projects including the literacy project and Rebuilding Together. Bonnie described her club's environmental work and with Royce talked about increasing fellowship.
Then all spoke of an important decision to try to effect a neeeds assessment to decide the most useful and important ways for all three local Rotary clubs and other nonprofits to use their resources.
With that, our meeting was adjourned.
Today's Editor: Chris Elzi