There was a good opportunity to socialize with other early risers who signed on early and a few of us didn’t turn their camera on.
President Maureen Merrill rang the bell at 7:30 and greeted 28 members… but a few more wound up joining along the way. We also went through a few lessons on how to Zoom.
Inspiration was provided by Pres Maureen, “It is a long day, but we will move past today and into tomorrow.”
Scribe for the day was Tom Boylan and photos were provided by the one with a keen eye and a treasure trove of pictures from the past, Sue Nelson.
Rotarian Guests:
Pres Maureen introduced the other past district governor in the house, Mike Merrill
Pres Maureen also welcomed our online speaker PDG Michael Fish with the Ignacio Rotary Club.
Announcements:
Our newest members, Beth Smith, Katherine Hanron, and Matt Rush were introduced.
Our newest grandchild is Amelia Dolores Corcoran, Bill Conklin‘s first grandchild in Colorado! Daughter Michele and husband are doing great!
Pres Maureen introduced our newest powerhouse of the month, Sue Nelson an independent thinker and someone we all love to work with.
President Elect Bill Bolster took the screen and introduced his upcoming board, including Maureen Merrill as immediate past president, president-elect Pam Moulton, Secretary Leah Hansen, Treasurer Ed Turner, Club Service Chris Landwher, Community Service Glenn Sugden, Youth Service Sandy Krutz, Vocational Service Doug Williams, International Service co-chaired by Ken Moulton & John Hackenburg, Membership Chair Renee Hyde, Foundation Chair John LeCave. At Large members include Alison Huber & Carol Martin.
Pam Moulton enjoyed a virtual birthday. The money she saved on not going out was donated toward the Windsor Rotary Community Foundation.
Bill Arnone got upside down with a pineapple upside down cake provided by his wife Deneene. Bill offered a rounded $66 toward his old age… I mean the Windsor Rotary Community Foundation.
Beth Smith is celebrating a wedding anniversary and her Rotary Daughter Vittoria let us know that her family is doing well in Italy.
Tom Hassur let us know invitations were sent to the high school letting them know we are prepared to provide scholarships. The criteria for our scholarships has changed somewhat this year with a request that students stay in touch with the club and that they allow us to interact over the course of their higher education. Club members are invited to let Tom H. know if they know someone that is a senior in High School and a candidate for a scholarship. We are no longer looking at overall GPA as a qualifier. We are more interested in their improvement
Tom H. Shared some sad news about his daughter Megan’s wedding: My daughter, Megan, was supposed to be married this Saturday, April 11th, to Aaron. With great sadness, they have postponed the marriage until later in the year, due to the COVID-19 virus. Aaron and Megan are very sad at having to postpone the wedding but are looking forward to celebrating their union with family and friends at a future and healthier date. They are currently Sheltered in Place, together with Aaron’s 6-year old son, Grayden, in Santa Rosa.
Reach out to Marie Coakley and help her celebrate her birthday on April 11. Her phone number is (707) 838-2858.
Our dear friend George Johnson has passed away and President Maureen offers the following:
Remembering George Johnston
By Maureen
How rare it is to know a basically reserved, modest person who not only lives large, but can enliven any party through his gregariousness, intelligence, conversation and, well, the glimmer in his eyes. I wept to hear of his recent death.
Visually, I most remember and treasure the kilts and the open-hearted smile of our friend and past Rotary Club member George Johnston. He died in March from age-related causes at 86. George was known for great friendliness, generosity, and his burly Scot accent – if a voice could hug, his did. His admiration for Robert Burns drove him to honor the poet’s birthday week each year by coming to our meetings in full dress kilt. At any black tie occasion, there was George, fit and trim in full Scottish regalia, worldly in his tux-equivalent, dancing away, and certainly considering himself a freer man than most. I loved that! Having been in two other Rotary clubs, one in Massachusetts and one in Santa Barbara, George joined Windsor Rotary after moving his company, Thermal Technology, to the Airport Business Center. Immediately upon joining he donated $1000 to The Rotary Foundation and followed that with countless contributions to community projects over the years.
I was working with the Business Journal when George first came to this area, and interviewed him on the phone as he was packing his bags. Meanwhile, he’d become a client of Mike’s. Turned out we would become good friends with him and his brilliant wife Alicja for almost three decades. Mike and George bonded over flying, Rotary and scotch. Alicja is Polish; they kept an apartment in Warsaw, counting that area among their frequent travel destinations. I enjoyed shopping with Alicja, multilingual and equally at ease in Paris, London, or Healdsburg. Of course I quickly emulated her chic European elegance, to the amazement of my friends . . . if only.
It would not be too much to say that George was beloved by his employees and helped many of them through tough times, with assistance that went unmentioned unless one learned of it from a recipient. The two of us had many a friendly political argument, but I do mean friendly! We had fun disagreeing because of George’s humor, perspective and experience. Having come to the U.S. as a young man with a just a few bucks and a slide rule, he appreciated and took full measure of the opportunity that his new country provided. He thrived as an engineer, businessman and community contributor.
George remained an enthusiastic private pilot well into his later years, also enjoying a good single malt, parties, fine restaurants, and long hikes. Retirement found him volunteering at Sonoma County airport in the Tourism Information Booth. Little did visitors know that they were being cheerily guided to fine cuisine, parks and wineries by one of our most successful and colorful citizens.
George and Alicja lost their beautiful Fountaingrove home in the Tubbs fires, and George’s health declined sharply following that tragedy. Mike and I remained in frequent touch. On Mike’s last visit to George in a small care home, not long ago, they had a lively conversation. George leaves Alicja, two grown sons and several grandchildren, along with a Rotary Club that is forever better for having known him. I will never forget George Johnston.
Pres Maureen let us know that the Board will be meeting every week to stay on top of the crisis we are all working through. Carol Martin let us know there are still opportunities to donate time to the community, either as a volunteer with the Redwood Empire Food Bank, or possibly making phone calls to others in the community that are shuttered in and lonely. If anyone has an idea to offer, please reach out direct to Carol.
Glenn suggested we can buy local business cards to support the future return to normalcy. We will be adding information to the website. What we do in the way of gift cards will be helpful to keeping local businesses around long after the crisis is over.
Alison Huber offered a How To Make a Mask pdf and a suggestion to be sure you have a Merv-13 or higher filter for your home. Disposable mask PDF Here.
Program:
PDG Michael Fish, with Rotary Club of Ignacio, who lives with his wife Gina in Santa Rosa. He is a partner of Mike Merrill in the law firm. He shared that it is a lonely time when it comes to seeing his partners in the law firm.
Michael gave us some insight into what Rotary International is doing in the face of COVID19. We all learned that technology is just as frustrating online as it is in our regular meetings. Sonoma County has a COVID19 statistics page. The link gives an ongoing update for Sonoma County and the World. (https://sonomacounty.maps.arcgis.com/apps/MapSeries/index.html?appid=21a1653b79ba42039ff22bcb85fa5b19)
Rotary International is stepping up to make a difference in the COVID crisis using the infrastructure that RI has been developing for more than 100 years. Many Rotarians are on point for the use of technology to communicate making our organization a leader in understanding how to use this tech to keep communications open.
RI is offering District Grants to provide support to many of those affected by COVID19. Healthcare supplies, disaster response for local and worldwide events. Each District can apply for a grant of more than $100,000 to be used for providing support where it is needed within the District.
The crisis highlights the need for donations to the Rotary Foundation, and designated to help the COVID19 needs. We were informed that COVID19 has supplanted the Polio Plus work for the time being. There are no solutions for polio, no immunizations, no ability to send teams into the communities of the world that are caught in the grips of polio. First and foremost we need to eliminate COVID19.
Rotary International COVID19 link (https://www.rotary.org/en/rotary-clubs-help-fight-covid-19-pandemic)
A special announcement provided by Mike McGovern, Chair of the Rotary International PolioPlus Committee and John Germ, Past Rotary International President and Chair of the Polio Countdown to History Committee.
PolioPlus Responding to the Covid-19 Challenge
A program begun by Rotary is employing thousands of health workers to address the Covid-19 pandemic. The program is the Global Polio Eradication Initiative (GPEI) which includes Rotary’s PolioPlus program. From the earliest days of polio eradication in the Philippines, the generosity and advocacy of Rotarians and our partners has nearly stopped polio, stopped Ebola from becoming an epidemic in Nigeria and now responds to Covid-19.
Over the next four to six months the polio program is offering its tools, workforce and extensive surveillance network to support countries as they respond. Globally, the polio surveillance network is being trained on Covid case detection, contact tracing, laboratory testing and data management. GPEI is deploying its coordination mechanisms such as emergency operations centers and sharing physical assets like vehicles, computers and mobile phones to combat the pandemic. In Nigeria, an extensive network of polio communication assets including 20,000 volunteer community mobilizers are working across the country to promote hand-washing to reduce transmission. In Pakistan, polio staff have sensitized more than 6,000 health workers on Covid-19 and repurposed a helpline originally used for polio related calls to also address Covid questions. The polio surveillance team in Angola is training health care staff on case management of Covid-19. Polio staff in Benin are developing a pandemic preparedness plan for that country. Each day we hear of more deployments of polio staff to address Covid issues in additional countries.
So what about polio itself? The Polio Oversight Board made the hard decision to pause house to house vaccinations knowing that this may lead to an increase in polio cases. Polio surveillance will continue while also supporting Covid surveillance. The GPEI is working to ensure that once it is safe to do so, countries can be supported to rapidly resume polio immunization campaigns. We will have a message in every country that vaccines, including the polio vaccine, stop viruses from attacking children and adults. We must seize the moment to let every village understand that the polio vaccine saves lives.
For over 40 years, Rotarians have never wavered in fulfilling our commitment to the children of the world to end polio. Today, in contributing to PolioPlus we are also addressing this evil Covid-19 pandemic. The goals this year for contributions to PolioPlus have not changed. The opportunity to do good in the world has only increased. If you or your club have not given to PolioPlus lately, today is the day to do so. All funds donated are matched 2 to 1 by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. If your District has underutilized District Designated Funds, any allocation is matched 6 to 1 by the Rotary Foundation World Fund and the Gates Foundation. And if you want to know more about how Rotary and the GPEI are addressing Covid-19 while not losing focus on eradicating polio, see