The Splinter - Archive  Jul 14, 2009

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 CLUB 470 * DISTRICT 5160  *  ORGANIZED APRIL 29, 1926                   MEETING DATE:  Please highlight this/type in date

www.rotary5160.org                                                                                    ww.woodlandrotary.org

check the pictures

Today's Meeting 

Already one meeting ahead of Chuck at this time last year, President Bob Nakken called the meeting to order at 12:15.  Bob Dorris led the club in the pledge and Steve Venables followed with Rotary Grace.

Visiting Rotarians 

Ron Maraviov introduced Bill Hollingshead from the Davis Noon Club.

Guests of Rotarians

None.

Announcements

Bob announced that the meeting times for our club will continue as is, with food being ready at 11:45AM.  The meetings will end at 1:15PM.  The Board of Directors approved the new budget and will post it and the minutes of the last meeting on the website in the very near future.  Ben Pate announced that he was able to get a lead on bathroom fixtures for the Gibson House that will save the project $1,200.  The Sunrise Club will be covering the cost of the roof.  Gerry Quinlan passed out the beer booth schedule and asked for volunteers to sign up for shifts.  We will have fewer shifts this year so please sign up to help Gerry and the club out.

Birthdays

Don Smith celebrated his 79^th birthday on July 8^th. (Cambridge, Nebraska).  Don said that the population today is roughly what it was 79 years ago.  According to the 2000 census there are 1,041 people living in Cambridge.

Anniversaries 

Tony Delevati celebrated his 28^th anniversary (Woodland) on July 18^th.  Dan Stroski celebrated his 33^rd anniversary (Fort Walton, Florida) also on the 18^th.  Chuck Maltese, with bird in hand, announced that he celebrated his 47^th wedding anniversary (Detroit).

Recognition

Gary Bunch started out recognition by picking on Jessie Perez for getting a refund for not eating lunch today.   He immediately took half of the refund back. Jessie did not know Delevandra was actually Dona.  Pam Vargas did, so it cost David Contto a few dollars.  The eight Rotarians going on the overseas golf trip got off today but were warned to come with their pockets full when they return from 14 days of golf.  Tim Bernard was reminded about his hair comment last week.  Duane Ewing paid $5 for being all alone on July 4^th.  Even his dog had left town.  Les Engelmann dropped his car off at the repair shop after getting into an accident the night of the demotion dinner.  Mark Werum wondered why a guy with a little hair (that would be Gary Bunch) was determined to defend a guy with a lot of hair (no name needed hair).  Sorry, had to do it.  Gary jumped to those with personalized license plates and Don Huff II, Dan Stroski, George Burger and Roger Dorris all paid up.  Don Huff II had the greatest explanation for his 5 TAHOE plate. 4 TAHOE was already taken.  Thankful Time ended with Kris Kristensen (golf trip), Tony Delevati (learning to swim - great job Tony), and Clancy (robbers didn’t get into his house on the 4^th).

Rags to Riches

Don Huff II picked the joker out of the deck and won $132.  1 out of 51.  Sorry Clyde, looks like you get to start over. Don ended up donating all of the proceeds to today’s programs peaker, Big Brothers/Big Sisters.  Nice gesture Don.

Today’s Program

Dona Mast introduced Rhonda Staley Brooks, President & CEO, of Big Brothers Big Sisters (BBBS) of Greater Sacramento.  She started with BBBS 17 years ago and has been in the leadership role for the past seven years.  She got involved in the organization because she needed a job during high school.  It didn’t take long for her to become hooked with the organization.  The goal of the program is match a big brother (volunteer/mentor) with a little brother who happens to have the same interests.  If the match works out the goal is to have the relationship last through high school.  Rhonda currently has a 15 year old “little sister.”  They spend just a few hours together, every other week, but Rhonda knows that she has already had a positive impact on her life.  Volunteers range in age from 16 to 82.  93% of the children are boys whose fathers are not in their lives for a number of reasons.  The Sacramento office has 13 employees.  Three devote all of their time trying to raise money for the organization.  BBBS can always use donations.  They even take tickets to sporting events that they can pass along to their participants.  There are 125 boys currently waiting for big brothers and 325 children already matched up. The organization gets about 40 inquires a week from people interested in the program.  The average age of the children is between 12-14 years old.  When a parent calls to enter a child into the program they are screened along with the child to see if they are committed to joining.  The volunteers are also ran through a number of screenings to see if they would make a good big brother or sister.  37% of their financing comes from special fundraising events, 28% from grants and 15% from individual donors or donations from groups like the United Way.  The national organization was started in 1904 and it is the oldest mentoring program in the US.  There are 470 separate BBBS agencies in the US.  Please see the link below for additional information.

http://www.bbbs.org/site/c.ffIIKWOEJsG/b.4517759/k.C9BB/About_Us.htm

Upcoming Programs

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