Marin Evening Rotary Club Bulletin

October 26, 2010

A new venue for this evening - the restaurant at Inn Marin in Ignacio. How many of you remember that our Club met here many years ago ? Though not that many times. As an alumnus of the Ignacio Rotary, John Tanko has been here many times, as this is their regular meeting place - Thursdays at noon. The Ignacio Rotary is a fun Club, and this is an easy place for a make-up. (Editor's disclosure - I'm also an Ignacio alum.) 

Things got off with a bang, as Pres. Elect and Past President Al Shirley stroked the bell to quiet things down and get our attention. Al mentioned that he was in charge tonight, as son Mark was still mopping up from moving to his new house in Corte Madera on Saturday. Any of you remember Saturday ? The rain ? Not the best of days to be moving.

So, back to the meeting. Frank led us in the pledge to the (imaginary) flag. For his thought for the day, Frank encouraged us to believe in ourselves - and in those Giants ! We had two guests this evening, Sarah White from the Novato Rotaract Club and Lea Schwarz, who is on the cusp of becoming a member. A Club member not present was Miss Jayne, who had reported via her cell that she'd have to miss tonight's meeting, as her car had died somewhere on the Golden Gate Bridge. A BMW broke down ? Nooo. 

Next on the agenda was Announcements, and, filling in for Elsia, Al Shirley again covered some of the details for Thanksgiving for Seniors. He added that we still needed another 8-9 drivers. Sarah from Rotaract offered that some members of her Club might be able to help with that. Al then continued that there was to be a Holiday Food Drive on November 20 put on the Food Bank and Safeway and that Rotarians would be needed to assist with that. Filling in for Jayne, Patty reminded us about the District Foundation Event, Puttin' On the Ritz to be held at the Crown Plaza in Foster City on November 7.

Inamongst all of these Rotary announcements, Malcolm slipped in a personal one to the effect that Barbara is in the hospital having surgery. We all certainly wish her well.

And then back to Rotary, or at least Rotaract, as Sarah White told us more about their Halloween fundraiser, taking place on Saturday, October 30. Sarah explained that the purpose of the fundraiser was to begin the creation of a scholarship fund for the Club. She offered to sell both tickets for the event itself and for their raffle.

Keith then concluded the announcements portion of the program, as he made a pitch for sponsors of children in Colima, Mexico.

It was time for the Good Times section of the agenda, though the first Good Time reported turned out to be not a particularly good time at all. Our reporter was Patty, and she had taken part in the World Polio Day event in San Francisco. Patty told us that the turnout was small, it was pouring rain, the highly promoted lighting of the Ferry Bldg. was a dud, etc., etc., etc. Jayne and Gene had also participated, and from the one anecdote we learned about their experience, they weren't all that happy either. Which is too bad. Al Shirley had intended to participate but attended his grandson's 7th birthday instead, which was apparently a pretty smart choice.

And for our final Good Time of the evening we had Keith Axtell, UC Berkeley Class of 1964 attending his very first Cal Football game as an alum. I don't recall Keith telling us which game he went to, but Cal has won all of its home games this year (by an average score of about 50 to 5), so whichever game he went to, he was on the winning side (so long as he rooted for his alma mater). Keith reported that he had a great time, and with a victory like that , he should have.

Next on to our raffle, and brother Frank did himself proud. He produced not one raffle item, not two but seven individual raffle items, and they were all Halloween themed. He had a 6 pack of pumpkin ale, a Halloween wreath for your door, etc., etc. Most everyone won something or other. And then to our speaker. So to speak.

Actually our scheduled speaker never showed, and Malcolm was drafted to give us a little biography and a few jokes. Never at a loss for words, Malcolm performed his task admirably and with aplomb.

Now next week our scheduled speaker is Russ Ketron, PDG of our district, speaking to us on the Rotary Foundation He may have a tough time keeping his audience's attention, as election returns should begin rolling in just about as he begins.