Happy Mother's Day

Posted by Mike O'Doherty on May 09, 2018
 
 
Mother’s Day - May 9, 2018
  1. BELL – Like the good, almost done, President she is, Denise rang us in promptly at 07:00. 
  2. INVOCATION: Sandy Magley – President Denise brought Sandy for the Invocation and she did a charming turn on the phrase “love them anyway.”   (Let’s keep that thought in mind as the newsletter unwinds.)
  3. FLAG: Dan Johnson – Unknown to us all, Master Dan was absent, so on the spur of the moment President Denise volunteered her favorite Rotarian Dr. Jeff Haynes.
  4. SONG:  Singing sensation Billy Black led a fun and rousing “I’m Looking over a Four-leaf Clover” because when he was little and poor, it was something he would take to his Mom.  Sometimes he would tape the fourth leaf on; it was a poor county he grew up in. (That might be fake news, or as they call it in Ireland - Blarney…. just saying.)
  5. GENERAL WELCOME: 
    1. Thanks to Greeters: Michele Cooper disguised as PP Neil Walker & Ken “how do I spell it?” Qcurnberg (that’s not an accident Mrs. Magley) (Editor Magley left this in on purpose.)
    2. A “Thank You” to Greg Desme for filling in at Sgt.-Of-Arms duties for Pete Leveroni. Must be out with the missing greeter (fake news, fake news.)
    3. Thank you for being Scribe: Happy to! Madame President : - ) (Mike O’Doherty)
    4. Introduce Visiting Rotarians:  Bree Goodmon – Sorry, no one today.
    5. Introduction of Guests of Members:
      1. Jan Black – wife of song master Bill Black
      2. Wyatt Ward and Pat “Nana” Ward – son and Mom of Heather Ward
      3. Renay McCracken – friend of Past President Jerry Starr
      4. Shirley O’Donnell – wife of, let’s see: if Jerry is the Original Past President (OPP), Neil is one of the Past Presidents (PP), which makes Ron the President Elect (PE), that leaves Cheryl as the President Elect-Nominee (PE-N), so I guess that makes Ed O’Donnell President Elect, Elect-Nominee (PEE-N).  Sorry Shirley, but this is official Rotary Business (that might be more fake news that I just made up…. but PP Kay helped me.)
      5. Heidi Shubin – friend of Sandra Quigley
      6. Sally Sakowski – Mom of the very adorable Bree Goodmon
      7. Diane Rodriguez – close friend of Teresa Ramos–Alvarez
      8. Beauty Roberson – daughter-in-law of Adoree Roberson
      9. Sharon Patterson – Mom of Madame President Denise; along with Denise’s friend Jackie Alexander and her daughter Jennifer Alexander.
         All were greeted with much applause and fanfare.                                                                                                     
  6. CELEBRATIONS - NO Birthdays & NO Wedding Anniversaries
  7. One Rotary Anniversary:  Sandra Quigley 2- years as of May 11th. Happy Rotary Wishes on your Anniversary!!!
  8. ANNOUNCEMENTS:
    1. Annual Pledges – President Denise explained the process surrounding making your contribution to our Club and to Rotary International (RI). The Club request that you pledge $250 per year.
      $100 of the pledge goes to the RI Foundation. Over time this will accumulate to a total of $1,000 and can count towards you earning a Paul Harris award.  (Yep, only takes 10-years, Sandra only has another 8-years to go…See how fast goes… whoosh!) Not fake news.  The remaining $150 goes to our Club Foundation and helps pay for our Avenues of Service, which is all the projects we help and work on.  Yippee!!!
       
      Next Club Service Project – June 9, Pancake Breakfast, Kathy Anderson – This was a TEST by our President Denise to fake out any monitoring Russians who are tracking our announcements...plus, see if you were still reading all this…. the REAL DAY in AMERICA is Saturday, July 28th – which means it’s actually in the NEXT Rotary Year (Rotary Years go from July 1 to June 30). So, it will be President Ron Nelms’s First Service Project ((Not fake news)).
    2. Thousand Flags Sponsorship & Volunteers.  President Denise has declared this an “All hands-on Deck” operation. Please sign up to help with something. The event goes 3 days, so anything you can do is greatly appreciated. If you can’t be there, go raise some money.
    3. May 17th at Dionysus for brews, food and fellowship. 6:00 p.m. on E. Schirra Court – Since in today’s Rotary Meeting we’re “Mother’s Day” focused, this is a perfect time to explain that Dionysus was the only God whose mom was human. Her name was Semele, Princess of Thebes, and Zeus, the well-known horn-dog, had an affair with her and she got pregnant. Zeus’s wife Hera found out and was mad. To get even she tricked Semele into asking Zeus to show himself in his full glory, which he was forced to do because he promised Semele he would come if she called him. However, in his full glory, his lightning bolts were so hot they killed her; but he rescued the baby and sewed it into his thigh until it was born. (not fake news, I would never make this up)(Editor's note: as a retired English teacher who taught mythology, Mike is right - NOT fake news.) 
    4. VOTE for President: PP Kay Pitts followed up her request for nominations from the floor for anyone who wished to be considered for President. There being no response, and since there had been no other names submitted during the waiting period required in the By-Laws, the nomination period was closed. With the waiting period completed she asked for a vote, via a show of hands, to accept the PP’s selection of Ed O’Donnell as the incoming President in line behind PE-N Cheryl Scott. By a show of hands, it was unanimous that Ed was selected.  When asked for a word about his selection the all choked-up PEE-N Ed could only say “Thank You.”
      Congratulations Sir! 
  9. VOCATIONAL MOMENT – Rylan Rozell in the form of Bobbie Hake, who is now a retired teacher (thank you for all your hard work) spoke about getting involved in “The Science for Kern” project – funded by Chevron. It is designed for kids in the 4th and 5th grade throughout Kern County. They have 5-full packages of science projects to choose from. Essentially the teachers just “Pop the Top” and the self-contained information allows them to experience Science all day.   Very cool and brief : - )
  10. PROGRAM – President Denise asked Karen Bonanno to introduce our very special program for the Mother’s Day Celebration Meeting. Joining us were members of the Bakersfield Chapter of “Sweet Adeline’s International,” a diverse group of volunteers who gather together in celebration of the Art Form known as “Barbershop Harmony,” a uniquely American folk sound with its traditional close, four-part harmonies, ringing chords, a cappella style of singing. Yep it’s really two words Kenny Boy.  (A cappella is an Italian phrase which means 'in the style of the chapel.' It was originally used to refer to music that was sung in a chapel or small worship space without accompanying instruments, as opposed to a large church where vocal music was usually accompanied by an organ.) again not fake news
    Looking radiant in full make up and evening gowns for such an early in the morning meeting were (1) Priscilla Wienke – tenor; (2) Cat David – lead; (3) Terri Gann – bass; (4) Julia Adams – baritone.
  11. Fit for Rotary Moment – Reading an emotional tribute to Moms, our sweet President tugged at everyone’s heart strings. She provided us with a wonderful reminder of all that Mothers everywhere go through in an effort to be the Best Mom they can be. Very Sweet.
  12. Happy Spots & Recognitions – Teresa Ramos–Alvarez was $20 happy to announce her new job at Clinica Sierra Vista; OPP Jerry Starr was happy to be Meteorologist for a Day on TV, which cost him $250, so he was only happy $20; Michelle McClure was $20 happy to be healed and out of the hospital with her very, very bad back spasms; strangely, PP Neil Walker offered $20 to publicly invite PEE-N Ed to play golf Friday; sorry Ed, Neil kind of comes with the territory; Martha Samora was $20 happy to announce that her son has been accepted into Vanderbilt Medical School; $40 from PE-N Cheryl Scott who announced dual recognitions. First, after 30-years she finished her Master’s degree (I think it has been bothering her).  Second, Cheryl disclosed she was recognized by the Toastmasters District 33 with their Communication & Leadership Award, plus asked to speak!
     
    Frank Woolridge paid $10 to announce they are putting together a Business Networking Group at Hodel’s and he offered to buy you breakfast if you want to come over and check it out on Friday; Heather and Wyatt Ward announced they were happy because their husband and father has gotten hired with the Union Pacific Railroad and is in Sacramento right now going through all the paperwork.
    1. Members not yet fined nor ever happy – I didn’t see President Denise fine any, but I did see her “Recognize” two really good Rotarians who were featured in magazines this past week.
    2. Kathy Anderson in Family Magazine – big article about the Broken Yolk, which is Kathy’s company. President Denise sighted no Rotary pin on Kathy in the picture, so a remorseful Kathy fined herself $20.
    3. Looking at our quiet, sweet Madame President you just wouldn’t guess that she would be reading a BeTuff magazine, but that’s where she found Ken Quarnberg, owner of Valley Gun, highlighted in a big article with lots of pictures, but showing his Rotary Pin, so he was happy to fine himself just $10.
       
  13. 50/50 & PHP –  The recent grad PE-N Cheryl Scott won a very nice $67 and Susan Searey drew her own name for the Paul Harris Points. GREAT I’M REALLY HAPPY FOR YOU BOTH…. HONEST (FAKE NEWS)
  14. Foundation Moment was a polio update.  Afghanistan reports only 7 cases of wild polio virus in 2018.  Pakistan reports only 1 case of wild polio virus in 2018.  Nigeria has had NO new cases of wild polio virus in 2017 or 2018 and there were only 4 in 2016.  We are “THIS CLOSE”.
     
  15. Adjourned: Record Setting finish at 07:52 most excellent Job Madame President.