For those Breakfast Rotarians who joined us via Zoom, Good Morning to you! Our members are becoming adept at a BBRC meeting with Zoom. It seems to be the new normal…at least for the time being. President Cheryl Scott is up early Wednesdays to make sure the meeting is fun and welcoming - and doing a fabulous job at it! So, if you are not joining in yet, please do. Those Breakfast Rotarians who have not jumped on the Zoom meetings can reach out to Prez Cheryl or any of the board members to learn how to participate using the Zoom link Prez Cheryl sends to you via email. We are using the same link for every meeting.
Dennis Scott and his positive outlook led us in an encouraging morning blessing. Dennis spoke of optimism and prayers for those medical staffs and first responders on the front line as they diligently work to keep us healthy and safe.
Michele McClure drew our attention to our Nation’s flag as she had attendees recite the Pledge of Allegiance. Past President Denise Haynes graced us with a solo of BJ Thomas’ song “Raindrops Keep 
Fallin’ on my Head”. It seems the lag with our singing between our computers is too painful for some. Brave Denise mentioned that the heavenly raindrops we received Wednesday morning are raining down hope in a very crucial time in our world. We all sincerely hope that this pandemic curve is “flattened” throughout the world while the numbers of ill and those who fall to the disease are less than projected.
Fallin’ on my Head”. It seems the lag with our singing between our computers is too painful for some. Brave Denise mentioned that the heavenly raindrops we received Wednesday morning are raining down hope in a very crucial time in our world. We all sincerely hope that this pandemic curve is “flattened” throughout the world while the numbers of ill and those who fall to the disease are less than projected.With the magic of technology, visiting Rotarians are not just from to Bakersfield, California anymore. Again, through the magic of Zoom we welcomed Rotarians from afar. Canadian visitors included Wally Ganner from the Rotary Club of High River, Alberta, Canada and our speaker, PDG Doug Vincent from the Rotary Club of Woodstock Ontario, Canada. New Hampshire/Vermont was ably represented by District 7870 Governor Nancy Russell who checked-in to say good morning and hear our speaker!
Honorary Breakfast Rotarian
Yuki Kobayashi-Takeuchi made a special guest appearance on this soggy, rainy day. Come visit more often Yuki! Yuki came into our club’s lives several years ago as a Rotary International Ambassador from Japan. She had received a scholarship from Rotary to attend CSUB. JoAnne and Dale Bender volunteered to be her host parents. Yuki decided to finish schooling at CSUB, fell in love with a Bakersfield resident, married and had children. Jo Anne and Dale share the joy of being honorary grandparents.
Yuki Kobayashi-Takeuchi made a special guest appearance on this soggy, rainy day. Come visit more often Yuki! Yuki came into our club’s lives several years ago as a Rotary International Ambassador from Japan. She had received a scholarship from Rotary to attend CSUB. JoAnne and Dale Bender volunteered to be her host parents. Yuki decided to finish schooling at CSUB, fell in love with a Bakersfield resident, married and had children. Jo Anne and Dale share the joy of being honorary grandparents.Marlene Heise introduced visitor and guest Cheryl Rydia of Epiphany Foundation. Cheryl visited us at Breakfast Rotary just a couple of weeks ago and returned via Zoom to learn more about what our club is all about. Welcome back Cheryl!
We were able to celebrate the birthdays of Dale Bender and Mary Breckenridge. Happy Birthday Rotarians! We hadn’t seen Mary for quite a while as she is running the family farm in Corcoran. It was great to see you Mary! You are a mythical person to the new members given their assignment of meeting all members and getting signatures on their rosters. Jason Williamson is getting some recognition these days too as he celebrates his 17th Breakfast Rotary club anniversary.
**Featured Speaker**
We were honored to have PDG Doug Vincent of Ontario, Canada as our featured speaker. Doug has served Rotary locally and globally. He served on six years on the Rotary Council on Legislation. (Editor’s note: This is the group that reviews and votes on proposed changes to the legislation that governs Rotary. Wade Nomura from the Rotary Club of Carpinteria Morning is our district’s delegate to COL.)
Among his other activities with Rotary, Doug serves as a Zone 24 Rotary United Nations Representative. Little did we know that there are eleven Rotary Representatives to the United Nations. Rotary holds the highest consultative status offered to a nongovernmental organization by the UN’s Economic and Social Council, which oversees many specialized UN agencies. Rotary is making its presence known before the broad delegation of leaders representing countries throughout the world with Rotarians such as Doug.
Through the ideal of “The Power of One”, Rotarians can rest assure that one person can make a difference in the world through Rotary. Doug emphasized that the backbone of Rotary is not the top administrative leadership as it is with many worldwide organizations, it is the members and local clubs, like Breakfast Rotary. Members provide and advocate ideas that blossom “from seeds” to further the mission of Rotary. For instance, the Rotary polio eradication campaign started with one member in the Philippines. Even Rotary’s involvement with the United Nations originated from a club in Nashville.
You may ask, why is Rotary involved with the United Nations? Well, in 1945 when the UN charter was being developed, it was noted that what the United Nations wanted to accomplish in the world was already happening with Rotary. Involving Rotary in the development of the UN charter was inevitable. For coordination, organization, public awareness, accountability of the political nature of the United Nations, even to strengthen and scale-up existing programs, Rotary involvement just made sense.
On a slightly different, but related topic, Doug shared the importance of clubs paying attention to the power of matching grants. Doug told us that fundraising and your contributions to The Rotary Foundation is where “the rubber meets the road”. This year the United Nations celebrates its 75th anniversary while Rotary celebrates 75 years of shared history of working toward peace and addressing humanitarian issues around the world. There is no better time to focus on those efforts that support Rotary projects worldwide. Through a video Doug shared, there is mutual benefit to Rotary International as well as our Breakfast Rotary when we remain spirited in our financial gifts.
It was very nice to have Doug visit us to educate us upon Rotary’s connection to the United Nations. If you would like to learn more, you can reach out to Doug at DougV@DougVincent.com or www.DougVincent.com
**Announcements Announcements**
Mindy Wilmot is given out Superhero awards and Denise Haynes is getting one. Her heroics were prompted by Teresa Ramos-Alvarez asking our club to make face masks for the “back of the house” staff at Porterville’s Sierra View Medical Center. Denise stepped in and used her incredible sewing skills for mask production. As we all know hospitals want to make sure their medical staff working with patients have N-95 and surgical masks. The mask Teresa requested help the remaining staff at the hospital minimize their exposure to COVID-19 while not depleting the medical-grade masks. The first batch Denise made have made their way to Sierra Medical Center where they were immediately put to good use. Teresa reported that the delivered masks received copious praise from the hospital staff. Denise is continuing to make more masks and has requested our assistance in procuring elastic for the mask straps. The pattern Teresa supplied uses elastic to keep the masks on.
Who else out there is a Superhero?
Mindy added that she challenges Breakfast Rotarians to post their activities on social media so we can virtually share in our daily activities. We need to whatever we can to maintain a sense of normalcy, comradery, and positive spirits.
Next week’s meeting will feature our own Karen Bonanno who will discuss current application of rules and regulations pertaining to employees in the workplace due to COVID-19.
Click the image for "locations"