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Announcement   ROTARY DONATIONS & CONTRIBUTIONS   Use your credit card to make donations, contributions and other Rotary payments.   CLUB UGLY  SWEATER  CONTEST   TUESDAY DECEMBER 17 MEETING 12:15pm     BUFFET LUNCH -  ESTIMATED $25  PER PERSON   MUSIC BY RICK ABBOTT ASSISTED BY DAN  STROSKI   SPOUSES & GUESTS  ENCOURAGED WE WILL BE DARK   DECEMBER 24  FOR  CHRISTMAS     AND    DECEMBER 31 FOR  NEW YEARS     SEE YOU  AGAIN JANUARY 7, 2025   NEW TO ROTARY?  WANT TO LEARN ABOUT ROTARY  IN NORTHERN  CALIFORNIA?   CHECK THIS OUT!   NorCal Rotary    Help us make this the 'go to place' for all your Rotary information.  Text, email or call Kris Kristensen at 530 304-5641 with comments and suggestions.

Rotary Theme 2024-25

Stephanie Urchick, 2024-25 Rotary International President 

https://www.rotary.org/en/stephanie-urchick-celebrates-magic-rotary

Daniel Geraldi, 2024-25 Governor, 

Rotary District 5160 

VIEW VIDEO HERE DG Welcome letter

Community Recommendations Sought!

 APPLICATION FORM

 More information available at https://www.woodlandicerink.com/about-us

December 3rd Meeting

President Bob Nakken welcomed another good size crowd to today's meeting. Guess who came by to pick up a check for the $541 raffle winnings she won at the Nov 19 meeting. Wonder what she will do with the loot? Maybe the 'Beauty of Private Money' will be involved??? Make a contribution to the catering staff tip jar by next Tuesday's meeting! 

Brian Dwyer introduced his guest, and prospective new member, Gregg Kowes, Manager, Woodland Davis Termite Control. Visiting Davis Noon Rotarian and Club President Tim Ainsworth (top left) joined us today, as did Ithaca New York Rotarian and President-elect Mike Katz (top right). We also had a visit from Woodland Sunrise Rotarian Byron MacConnell. Mark Ullrich introduced his guest, Joe Cadelago (lower right), local area Public Sector Contract Manager with Waste Management.

Today Immediate Past President Karl Diekman conducted the Club's annual election of Club officers for the year beginning July 1, 2025. The nominations announced at last week's meeting were unanimously approved (with the exception of a 'no' vote from George Berrettoni, RIP!), and they will assume these positions next year: 

(One-year terms; the President-elect will also serve as the Club President

July 1, 2026-June 30, 2027)

President-elect - NICK RONCORONI

Secretary - GARY BUNCH

Treasurer - TOM SCHWARZGRUBER

(Two-year terms - July 1, 2025-June 30, 2027)

 Board of Directors - ANGELA LYNN, REGGIE POWELL, DAN STROSKI

Last year Aniek Pflager was elected as President-elect for the current year and she will serve as Club President beginning July 1, 2025. Similarly, Dick Hoppin (or Derrek Kaff when he returns from a leave of absence), Gena Bravo and Ann Taylor will serve the last year of their two year terms starting July 1, 2025. 

 Don Huff III was in charge of today's Recognition, asking for stories about what we did on Thanksgiving, or a special memory of a former Thanksgivings. Ernie Hodges was happy his former exchange student from Germany came up for a visit with her family (they now live in Los Angeles) last Friday. Ann Taylor 'rang the bell' about her Thanksgiving, highlighted by the kids playing with her hens. Blair Voelz 'rang the bell' as he got all finished with his harvest recently, setting up a Happy Thanksgiving.

Eugene 'Gene' Borghello, Criminal Investigator from Fairfield, was our guest speaker today, giving us a look at his work at investigating crimes, and the reasons why some people end up getting wrongly convicted or are incarcerated for a long time before they are released. Thanks to Program Coordinator Wendy Casas-Raviotta for arranging for and introducing Gene today. 

November 26th Meeting

 President Bob Nakken greeted a good size crowd to our meeting today, and wished everyone a Happy Thanksgiving. Woodland Sunrise Rotarians Byron MacConnell and Don Sharp were back visiting us today. Rob Beggs introduced his guest, and brother-in-law, Steve Tomory, who is an automotive expert. Mark Ullrich introduced his guest, Joe Cadelago, local area Public Sector Contract Manager with Waste Management.

 Immediate Past President Karl Diekman, along with Kris Kristensen, reported the Club's Nominating Committee was placing in nomination the names of the following members for Club Officer and Director positions starting July 1, 2025:

(One-year terms; the President-elect will also serve as the Club President

July 1, 2026-June 30, 2027)

President-elect - NICK RONCORONI

Secretary - GARY BUNCH

Treasurer - TOM SCHWARZGRUBER

(Two-year terms - July 1, 2025-June 30, 2027)

Board of Directors - ANGELA LYNN, REGGIE POWELL, DAN STROSKI

The nominations period will remain open until the Club's next meeting, Tuesday, December 3, when the election of Club Officers and Directors will take place. Last year Aniek Pflager was elected as President-elect for the current year and she will serve as Club President beginning July 1, 2025. Similarly, Dick Hoppin (or Derrek Kaff when he returns from a leave of absence), Gena Bravo and Ann Taylor will serve the last year of their two year terms starting July 1, 2025. 

Tabb Randolph celebrated his 67^th birthday on Nov 17 (Woodland). Kevin Haarberg ‘rang the bell’ for his 70^th birthday on Nov 24 (Yankton SD), and for managing to survive 3 months after his heart attack. Kevin reminded us he was delivered by Tom Brokaw’s father-in-law. He also demonstrated his new curmudgeon status by complaining about the length of the guest editorial in Sunday’s Daily Democrat written by our speaker last week (Jesse Salinas) who explained why it takes so long to count election ballots in California.

Mark Ullrich took charge of today’s Recognition which included asking various trivia questions around Thanksgiving. Mark asked how Roger enjoyed last Sunday. Roger said he doesn’t even want to talk about the 49ers game, saying it reminded him of Don Meridith’s version of ‘Turn out the lights; the party’s over!’. Rob Beggs is happy for his granddaughter who competed in state gymnastics meet recently in San Mateo and placed 5^th in overall points and 3^rd in beam for her age group. President Bob said his daughter Alyssa Nakken is leaving the SF Giants organization to serve as the Assistant Director of Player Development for the Cleveland Guardians ball club. The SF Giants did not have an equivalent job available, and Cleveland sought Alyssa out for their opening. She will be based in Arizona but will retain her home here locally as well. Bob said Alyssa is happy and he is also happy for her.

Dan Stroski was our speaker today, giving us a look at the Rotary Youth Exchange program. Dan is District 5160's Inbound Youth Exchange Coordinator and responsible for working with the five youth exchange students currently in various District 5160 areas in Northern California. Dan explained the basic elements of the exchange program and described his own experience as a host family as they hosted student Jasmina from Germany from November 2014-July 2015. If you, or someone you know, is interested in learning more about being a Rotary Youth Exchange host family, Dan Stroski would like to hear from you. More information about Rotary Youth Exchange is available at https://www.rotary.org/en/our-programs/youth-exchanges

Welcome Our New Member -

Linda Walsh

 Linda Walsh, sponsored by Ann Taylor, was installed as a new member of the Club on October 8, 2024 by President Bob Nakken. At our request, Linda provided the following bio. If you haven't already done so, please take a moment to introduce yourself to Linda when you meet and welcome her to the Club.

My family and I have been Yolo County residents since the late 1960s. Our first home in Yolo County was located in the almond orchards of Esparto, then in Davis, and we finally settled in Woodland. We enjoy our life in Woodland, particularly seeing and taking part in changes in the city and surrounding area over the years near Main Street where we live.

I spent my younger years traveling the globe with my parents as my dad was in the Army. We were stationed in Europe, Panama, Japan and several army bases in the States. We had the good fortune to see and learn about other cultures, history, art and language. In 1988 I received a Bachelor of Sciences degree, and in 1990 a Master of Public Administration degree. Both were from the College of Professional Studies at the University of San Francisco.

I was employed in the 80s by health insurance providers, health data processors in the vastly changing scene of pricing, health service delivery, health insurance, and mergers of health plans in Northern California. I served as health services Contracts Manager on a consulting basis for Sutter Health, whose offices were in Rancho Cordova at the time.  I worked for Computer Sciences Corporation (CSC). CSC was under contract with the California Department of Health Services (DHS) to manage the billing, customer and provider services, printing and distribution of policies and procedures according to the Medicaid contract.

Initially, as Manager of Provider Relations, I managed a very large group of employees who communicated with Medicaid health care providers to resolve problems and explain policies. Later I managed the printing and distribution department which produced and shipped many printed policies and procedures documents. This was a delightful assignment where I learned about printing presses and, more importantly, the interesting people who staffed that department.

Later in my employment as Proposal Developer, I was responsible for writing the Human Resources, Member and Provider Relations portions of Requests for Proposals (RFPs) with the goal of winning both the Medical and Dental RFPs from the CA Department of Health Services. These opportunities required analysis of complex rules and procedures in the RFPs, late hours, and weekend work during initial proposal development. Just before the proposal submission, we worked all night and went home at 7am.

All of my positions gave me the opportunity to interact and negotiate with healthcare professionals, DHS staff, and customers throughout Northern California. My interests have always been on the human side of studies and motivational learning.

Since 2008 I have been a self-employed artist. I paint portraits of people, animals, landscapes and still Life in oil. I show my work and accept commissions.

WHS Interact Helps 

Trick or Treat on Main Street

Jayne Williams reports members of the Woodland High School Interact Club, which our Club sponsors, were on hand last Saturday to help as thousands of costumed tricksters filled Main Street sidewalks to get some treats. 

News From Club Polio Warrior Mark Ullrich:  

Your donations at work:

Rotary has contributed $500,000 toward the purchase of the polio vaccine for the Gaza vaccination initiative.  This could not happen with our contribution and that of the Gates Foundation!

More information about Rotary's End Polio Now can be found at its website: https://www.endpolio.org/

Here you can sign up to receive the End Polio Now newsletter.