A New Year for our Rotary Club! We were led into the New Year by the Ukelele Club of Healdsburg and our own President, Pam Moulton.
Our meeting was called to order by President Pam who let us know that in Rotary “they say the 3 most important meetings of the year are: The first meeting, the second meeting (because everyone expects the 1st meeting to be good) and the First Meeting of the Year….. so here goes!”
Pledge of Allegiance – Mitch Grandi
Guests: Ukelele Group of Healdsburg – Dave, Tina, Gail, Steve, Taddeus, Karen and Pam Moulton
John Nelson, husband of Past President Sue Nelson
Sally Spangler, sister of Carol Martin
Song: “Oh, What a beautiful Rotary Morning” – great job everyone
Rotary Moment: Several of our members shared with us what their Rotary Moment was, commitment and goals for 2022 – seems we may have an Interact Club if all goes well……
Rotarian of the Month – drum roll please….. Chris Landwehr. Congratulations Chris for all that you do and have done
Announcements:
Sue Nelson and Susan Cole – Next week’s meeting will be held at the Windsor High School in the Welding Facility. If you want to see why our committee selected them to be our major beneficiary, just email Sue Nelson or Susan Cole to read their beautifully written application with letters of support. There will be no breakfast and no charge for the meeting. Coffee and rolls will be supplied. Park in the North Parking Lot at the end near the Gym. Hoping to have someone directing us.
Wally Krutz – he will provide us DACdb classes – they will start on the 18th after our meeting
Di Brabetz, RN CPNP PHN – shared with the Club that the CDC and Public Health are discouraging use of cloth masks and instead recommend surgical masks, KN95 or N95 masks as the droplets of the Omnicron variant will penetrate through a cloth mask. If you need to use a cloth mask, double them up. Di brought surgical masks for anyone who needs them (purple, of course!) and they will be on the table with Ed and Carol.
Joan Mora – next Social will be on the 20th at Mengler Tasting Room – details to follow.
President Pam shared with us that our Laura Buhrer lost her mother on New Year’s Eve.
Word from our President:
President Pam took us on a Sentimental Rotary Journey as she shared with us some of our accomplishments for our Club in this Rotary year to date:
- We established monthly themes for our meeting
- She established a “policy” that any of us who travel should bring her back something – she will be auctioning off some of her items and donate the money to Polio Plus
- Our new website is up and running
- We gave toys to kids for Christmas
- Our Club participated in the Salvation Army Bell Ringing in honor of Dick Bishop
- We began sharing our “Rotary Moments”
- “Passport Program” (brain child of our Past President) has begun and we are up to our goal of 62 members
- Socials began again
Recognitions: Doug Williams
Fire Service – still pending
Law Enforcement
Scholarships – Tom Hassur has had to step out – will need a Chair
Friends of Rotary – need to plan a breakfast
Student of the Year – Pegi Ball
Student of the Month – Daniel Myers has done a great job!
Vet Recognition – thanks Mike Merrill
Teacher of the Year – Doug shared he had the privilege of meeting with Ken Moulton and we will probably do this in May
Treasurer: Carol Martin and Ed Turner
Quite the Vaudeville Act, they entertained us with their “Choose the Money Bucket”! Three Enhancements made……
#1 “Skippy” – we have named our terminal processor (for credit card transactions) and Skippy seems happier….
#2 WRCF now we have website giving – handouts made available with info
#3 Blue bucket – a new updated option that we can pay online for our breakfasts as well as donations.
FundRaiser: Kurt Mitchler and Bill Conklin
Our Major beneficiary is the Windsor High School Welding Facility
- Need sponsors – Call Maureen Merrill at 484-0320 if you have ideas and she will facilitate contact with them. Already have some $1000 level sponsors in Maureen, Kurt, Bill, Leah – thank you. And Survivor CPR is donating $500.
- Live Auction – Barbara McChesney. Mike McGuire will be our Auctioneer again. Have Di’s Casa Morada in Mexico for a week. Bagpipes and Brews. Italian Villa. Food events so far…………. Thanks to everyone
- “Virtual Tables” – Past President Renee Hyde discussed the idea of inviting small groups into your home to do a social/dinner party and participate together in the event and auction. Talk it up, have your group like we were still doing this live.
Club Operations: Chris Landwehr
Chris thrilled us with his magic act of a blank piece of paper in the hat and ‘poof’, we have our Weekly Assignments for the next months… This includes, Room Set up, Greeter, Inspiration, Song Leader, Scribe, A-V Set up and Zoom Team. Meeting assignments – we were reminded that IF you cannot keep your commitment, it is your responsibility to find someone to take it for you.
Environmental: Barbara McChesney
She needs other members to join her – passionate about elimination of single use plastics. Showed us a short video of “Plastic Soup info”. Will be having a speaker later this month from the Netherlands
Training: Michael Juric (MJ)
Discussed training for Presidents and Governors. Has 4 Strategic Priorities:
- Increase our impact
- Enhance participant engagement
- Expand our reach
- Increase our ability to adapt
Rotary’s Vision Statement: “Together we see a world where people unite and take action to create lasting change across the globe in our communities and in ourselves”!
Youth Services: Pegi Ball
She discussed some of our activities such as WHS Student of the Month (now of the Year as we choose a student from each core ongoing).
Cool Kids Camp, Girls’ State and Youth Exchange:
Youth Exchange – we have 2 students that will be outgoing and had 3 students apply for our short-term exchange program
International and Club Service: Susan Cole and Sue Nelson
Celebrate some of our victories……..
Wasteless Windsor – District Matching Grant
Truckers Against Human Trafficking
Greenville, CA Fire Relief
Windsor Girls Softball Equipment Bags
Windsor High School Girls Athletic Program
Santa Tim
North Bay Met Academy Water Catchment
Windsor Community Holiday Food and Toy Drive
Peruvian Water Project (Engineers without Borders)
Haiti Earthquake Relief
Give a huge round of applause for all that our small club has accomplished and will continue to accomplish. Thanks to everyone!!!!
Next Meeting: Tuesday, January 11th at 7:15 am at Windsor High School Welding Facility
President Pam ended with sharing the definition of Commitment: “A Noun – the little choices everyday that we make which lead to the final results that we are striving for!”
The meeting was adjourned………………….
COVID UPDATE from Diane Brabetz:
FDA AUTHORIZES BOOSTERS FOR YOUTHS, AGES 12-15! FDA also shortened to 5 months the time required between 2nd dose and ability to be given the Booster.
OMICRON cases are here in Sonoma County! Epidemiologists continue to warn us against an increase in COVID and continued spread if we do not get people vaccinated and boosted. If you have not gotten your booster, please find an appointment and get one now to protect yourself. Also consider getting your flu shot and encourage those you know who have not been vaccinated, to get theirs now. Let me know if you have issues with finding appointments. I can and will help!
Our State is now requiring masks to be worn indoors. This mask mandate was put back into place because the per capita rate of new coronavirus cases jumped. This means that anyone, regardless of vaccination status must be wearing a mask in all public indoor venues. California has also mandated testing requirements for 1000 or more people attending indoor events to have a negative test within 1-2 days before the event. The State is also recommending travelers who visit or return to California to get tested within 5 days of their arrival and the Federal government is imposing stricter regulations for testing when flying. Testing can be difficult to find, but check for pop-up clinics daily and I do offer testing at my office with an appointment.
We do remain vulnerable to the coronavirus with more travel happening, large gatherings occurring and people letting down their guard. If you want to schedule either a booster or the vaccine, appointments can be found by visiting: https://socoemergency.org/events/category/pop-up-vaccine or call 707-565-4667.
Total Cases: 46,745* (2 weeks ago 44,091), Recovered: 43,136 (2 weeks ago 42,253), Active Cases: 3,191* (2 weeks ago 1,422) ***Please note this huge increase!!!! We continue to climb***
Deaths: 418 (2 weeks ago 416) Please continue to honor those we have lost by encouraging those you know who have not become vaccinated, to get their COVID shot, get a booster and their flu shot. Help us stop the surge and keep our residents safe…. Fortunately, this Omicron does not seem to be as deadly as Delta but more contagious.
New Cases: 1,994 cases this past week (2 weeks ago 520) – this is a huge increase and demonstrates how infectious Omicron can and is.
Hospitalized: 29 confirmed and 3 suspected (2 weeks ago 30 confirmed and 5 suspected)
Vaccination information…. As of January 2nd, 2022, 917,953 doses of vaccination have been given to residents in Sonoma County. (2 weeks ago 885,527). 77% of our population 5 years and older (5-11 year olds have now been approved and are counted in the population vaccinated or not) are fully vaccinated and approximately 8% have received at least 1 dose. Providers in Sonoma County are giving shots to our 5-11 year olds and are also providing Boosters for anyone over 18, but we are not seeing large numbers seeking vaccinations yet.
MASKS: It is now recommended to not use cloth masks as the droplets of the virus can penetrate them. Omicron is highly contagious and will get through. It is recommended that you use a surgical mask, KN95 or the N95. If you continue to use your cloth masks, then please use two and double up. This will help with the spread of this fast spreading variant. Fortunately it does not seem to attack the lungs like the Delta variant but instead causes more of a respiratory illness.
There are now new requirements on testing before flying – our government has mandated within 24 hrs of a flight and more countries are requiring testing to travel in or out. If you are traveling, please ensure you check with your airlines to see what the requirements are before you leave. We continue to see breakthrough cases of COVID, but most people who have been diagnosed with a breakthrough are either asymptomatic (which means they are infectious and can spread it without knowing) or are mildly sick. This is an indication of how well the vaccines are working. The State is also suggesting that anyone traveling when you return to test 3-5 days after your return. Isolation requirements for those positive but asymptomatic, fully vaccinated and boosted have been decreased to 5 days (from the previous 10 days) People who are symptomatic should isolate until asymptomatic and check with Public Health or their Physician as to their safe return to work.
If you have not gotten a booster and are in a group that can, it is highly recommended to give your immune system a boost. Also get your Flu vaccine as we do not want citizens coming down with the flu. This not only compromises their immune systems, but can also weaken their lungs. We need to keep our hospital beds free for those really sick and help our limited medical staff ready to help those with COVID and not have our county residents admitted with the flu.
So, I hope your Holidays were all that you wanted, that you were cautious and that if you were around groups of others, you will test. Mask up, get your booster, your flu shot and just be careful as we learn to live with this virus. Please remember, if you are in a meeting indoors, remove your mask only to eat and drink and then replace it immediately! Help protect the ones you love!
Please know that I am always available to answer questions, help with scheduling appointments, providing a test or even FIT testing you for a N95 mask so that it fits properly.
Thanks, Di