Passing the Baton
Minutes – Windsor Rotary Club Meeting 06/28/22
Scribe – Di Brabetz, RN CPNP PHN
President Pam called to order our Rotary Meeting signifying her last meeting as our intrepid leader and welcomed us to the final meeting of the 2021-2022 Year.
Pledge of Allegiance: Led by Aiedan Wilkeng our outbound short term exchange student to Italy
Song – led by Past President Michael Juric
President Pam shared a photo of Camp Windsor, the internment camp but our sign says “ALL VISITORS WELCOME!”
Introductions:
Guests:
- Aiedan Wilkeng – outbound exchange student
- Erina Krarney – mother of Aiedan
- Renato Moscati – incoming exchange student from Italy for short term program
- Kate Smith – one of our outbound exchange students
- Rebecca Mortinsen – one of our outbound exchange students
Rotarian of the Month: Beth Smith praised for the last time – thanks for all that you have done.
Rotary Moment: President Pam announced that everything today will be a Rotary moment so hold that thought……
Domingo shared with the Club a collage of moments from his year as our Exchange son…… a wonderful short video of his adventures. We will always remember your smile, enthusiasm, and willingness to participate……..what a year!
Announcements:
- Carol Martin shared with us that we made $2765 at our Rotary Bar on the Green last week and this is 2nd only to our best of $2965 in August of 2019! They still could use help at the Bar as we have more weeks to go and more money to make!
- Carol Martin and JB Leep brought a flag back from the International Convention in Houston from Salt Lake City from a participant that no one seemed to be able to keep quiet! She left in a huff, but not before Carol and JB got a flag…. Way to go!
- Catherine and President Pam presented a “make believe” badge to our newest member, David Doht.
- Mike Raasch gave us a report on his trip chaperoning Middle schoolers to DC. 138 middle school students went from June 9-13th and toured DC, Virginia, Philadelphia, New York and New Jersey. Mike had 32 students on his bus and did a lot head counting. He was amazed with how nice and clean Central Park was – was overwhelmed with emotional over the Holocaust Museum – loved the Martin Luther King Monument with its’ quotes and the view from The Lincoln Monument. He proceeded to gift President Pam with a Declaration of Independence he stated he “stole” from the National Archives but somehow it looked too pretty and too new.
Paul Harris Awards and Polio Plus Society: John Hackenburg and Di Brabetz presented pins and certificates to our most recent awardees…..
Polio Plus Society: please congratulate Sandie Krutz, Wally Krutz and Tom Boylan
Paul Harris: please congratulate the following:
Bill Conklin Paul Harris Fellow
Bill Bolster Paul Harris plus 6
Not in attendance but also awarded are Dev Sodagar – Paul Harris Fellow
Glenn Sugden – Paul Harris plus 3
John Lecave – Paul Harris plus 3
To all who have given so generously, we salute you!!!
Rotary Moments: President Pam dedicated the rest of our meeting to thanking members for their contributions, but started first with a huge thank you to all of us for her Party. She reminded us that the theme of this Rotary Year was “Embrace” which she was thankful we all had done for her. An emotional year of loss, she stated we kept her going and so she began to share with us all of the accomplishments of this year……
Speed Dating. Rotary Moment. Theme of the Month
Leslie Lewis “Busted” – our fining queen Rotarian of the Month Speakers in person and on Zoom (thanks JB!)
Environment with our first “what is your carbon footprint?” Monthly Board Meetings Secret Greeter
Passport to Success Weekly Announcements Birthday
Upcoming Events Past Presidents Featured to highlight our history and our accomplishments
Student of the Year Socials A New Website
Wearing/Use of Masks Having Domingo with us this year Hosted our District Governor
Our Community and International Service giving out $95,877 in service awards District Assembly
Dacdb and the “Dragon” Membership – 14 new members!!!!
Establishment of the Ken Moulton Foundation which has $30,000 in donations! 34th Anniversary celebration
Celebrated Holidays (this club does seem to like costumes and dressing up!!!)
SPARK SUCCESS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Ukraine and how our club embraced them Teacher Appreciation Day District Conference – winning the $1000 prize
Scholarships that we were able to award Our Rotary Bar and monies already raised! Polio Plus Recipients
Paul Harris Recipients Project Grad Rotary International Convention in Houston Variety Show AND SO MANY MORE…….
President Pam shared with us some of the highlights from the DeBunking – our own Sheriff, Mike Raasch showed up at Pam’s house in Lakewood Hills to handcuff her and
Put her in his squad car. (What will the neighbors think????) At least she did not have to ride alone in the back, but she was locked in and had to be let out!
We all were waiting in the driveway at Barbara and Dave’s house and here comes a squad car with lights flashing. Quite the entrance Pam! After she was let out of
handcuffs, Pam was treated to appetizers, drinks and a great dinner. (thanks for the dinner Catherine!) And the chair of honor for Pam and a show to entertain all.
Male dancers, singing, dancing, skits and huge thank you’s for Pam for the year she has led us through.
Thank You’s:
President Pam publically acknowledged with thanks and a gift the following “Amazing Rotarians”
Monica McCabe Mike Ragsdale
Heather Cullen Karen Ricketts
Larry McCabe Robin Resendez
Patrick Dunn Jo Timmson
Michael Freedman Scott Bonin
Jason Black Londa Faber
Laura Buhrer Dev Sodagar
Dave Doht Jamie Williams
Steve Klick
And then onto what she named our “Quiet Rotarians” – working quietly to get things done……
Brian Williams – Tech Terry Andreacchi – Teachers, scholarships
Tom Boylan – PR, newsletters, banners Mike Rassch – chaperoning the middle school students
Leah Hanson – sending cards, flowers Daniel Myers – Student of the Month
Kathy Williams – took on the Parade Mitch Grandi – always ready with our set up
And then onto what she calls her “Key Players”…..
Renee Hyde – Membership Sandi Krutz – Grants and Youth Exchange
JB Leep – Website and Programs Wally Krutz – DACdb
Bill Bolster – Past Presidents Bill Conklin – Fund Raiser
Kurt Mitchler – Fund Raiser Leslie Lewis – Fining Meister
Maureen Merrill – Sponsors Beth Smith – Project Grad, Exchange Students
Mike Merrill – Nation’s Finest
And finally to her Board this year…..
- Doug Williams – recognition for bringing back some traditional programs and exploring new ones, despite his own health challenges this year. Always at the forefront with being ready to recognize and help…..
- Bill Bolster – Past President and involved in everything YOUTH – RYLA, Exchange students, etc……
- Catherine Hanron – Secretary and on top of our members, attendance and a great job pulling in donations for our event!
- Carol Martin – for keeping us informed and solvent! While money doesn’t make the Rotary World go ‘round – it helps!
- Ed Turner – for being our long term Treasurer and the history he brings…..
- Joan Mora – for keeping us social!
- Pegi Ball – for keeping the youth at the forefront….
- Susan Cole – for being the cheerleader of all causes!
- Sue Nelson – for keeping the community engaged and informed on what we are doing and ALWAYS providing us with a physical piece of evidence regarding our events – via photos, etc. Both she and Susan Cole were at the ready to respond to both international and community requests.
- Chris Landwehr – encouraging us in his gentle manner to keep the meetings running smoothly from behind the scenes with set-up, song, scribe, etc. weekly!
- Michael Juric – managing both the inside Rotary World and outside Zoom world – touchstone for keeping hybrid alive which invited our physical non-attenders to continue to be part of our weekly meetings.
- Diane Brabetz – Our Rotary nurse who kept us informed even when we did not like what she had to say…. Who has walked the talk of Rotary International Foundation with contributions, bringing forward a project for the Club, and boots on the ground in Windsor Rotary name for the most recent Cleft Lip and Palate project….
- John Hackenburg – thank you for keeping us in the Foundation Loop – introducing us to some options on how to contribute and / or earn our Paul Harris and other options.
- Barbara McChesney – inviting us into the Environmental area of Rotary with hands on, practical solutions and educational opportunities.
- Brian Ling – being the steady voice behind the WR Community Foundation, the air in the whistle – the second of the TRES AMIGOS, a balanced voice and bringing a sense of calm..
President Pam shared she could not just select one Rotarian of the Year but wanted to thank some STAND OUT PLAYERS….
- Catherine Hanron – the keeper of the minutes, the detail person with securing our COVID data, maintaining the ever fluctuating list of members, the first person to greet people as they come through the door – even with her frequent trips to the East Coast. This never interfered with her ongoing enthusiasm for collecting data, wine, or information on those attending the Club. And believe me, if you did not have what she needed, she Was on your tail in a nanosecond!
- Dev Sodager – the calm voice behind the organization of the “new member’s” group, the steady hand behind the technological gyrations of our amazing Fundraiser!
- Susan Cole – cheerleader, advocate, advocate for any players who came forth with a reasonable cause!
She shared through some unshed tears (she was determined to get through our meeting without crying…..) that we have been the MOST AMAZING CLUB! Pam joined our Club when Ken was a member but left us to move to the Healdsburg Club, but she stated she always knew she would be back and thought being President would be such a great thing. Little did she know agreeing to be President would be in a year of the pandemic, having no meetings but doing zoom and being grace under pressure during Ken’s illness and passing. She said we were the wind beneath her wings, kept her grounded and were there for her for so many things. She did not know what she would have done without all of us because this Club and Rotary are family……
Pam – from all of us we salute you for the great, successful year you have had, the grace and professionalism you have shown and the leadership you have demonstrated. We cannot thank you enough for everything you have done in a year of chaos and challenges! We love you….
President Pam then passed the President’s pin to Brian Ling and we are starting this year with a Perpetual Presidential Pin that will be used for all incoming Presidents. Congratulations Pam to a great year and to Brian for what we all know we be very successful!
Pam then rang the bell for once last time as our meeting concluded…..
REMEMBER WE ARE DARK ON TUESDAY, JULY 5TH! SEE YOU TUESDAY, JULY 12TH FOR BRIAN LING’S FIRST PRESIDENTIAL MEETING……
COVID Update from your Rotary Nurse…..
06/28/22
NEWS:
DISCUSSION ON WHETHER TO OFFER NEW COVID-19 BOOSTERS THIS FALL! Debate is being held among US health authorities whether to offer modified COVID-19 booster shots that will better match recent changes of the shifting coronavirus. Our current vaccines target the original coronavirus strain and we are seeing waning immunity and a barrage of variants so protection against infections has dropped markedly. The decision now is whether “tweaking” the boosters would offer a good chance of protection against another surge. Adding to this concern is a possible winter COVID-19 wave – we have about ½ of all Americans who have not gotten even their first booster and winter could bring a surge of another variant in a population not fully vaccinated.
VACCINATIONS FOR CHILDREN 6 MONTHS TO 5 YEARS OF AGE HAVE BEGUN! Both Pfizer and Moderna were cleared by the FDA for use in young children. If you have an infant, toddler or young child or grandchildren in that age group consider protecting them with the vaccination. The American Academy of Pediatrics and the American Medical Association have encouraged doctors and families to get young children vaccinated.
COVID UPDATE: We are continuing to see new COVID infections, outbreaks in those already vaccinated and boosted. The issue is there are many still who have not had even their first booster and those not even vaccinated and the infections continue to cause major illness and death in those populations. We want to be out, about and socializing but caution is still recommended.
Total Cases: 97,116 (last week 95,630) Recovered: 92,376 (last week 90,993) Active Cases: 4244 (last week 4142)
Deaths: 496 (last week 495)
Hospitalized: 32 confirmed cases and 3 in the ICU (last week 37 confirmed and 2 in the ICU)
Vaccination information…. As of June 26th, 2022, 1,108,458 doses of vaccination have been given to residents in Sonoma County. (last week 1,105,814). We remain at 82% of our population 5 years and older who are fully vaccinated and 6% have had at least one (1) dose. Vaccines are still available, still be given and special consideration is being given to some of our minority communities within o9ur county to try and educate, encourage and offer vaccinations.
MASKS:
Masks are still being encouraged to be used in crowded, indoor settings because of the rise in hospitalizations, ICU admits and surges. Masks are now optional on airplanes; however, they are still required in airports and most other forms of public transportation. The CDC is still recommending masks on airplanes so it is a personal decision.
The pandemic is not over and we continue to see fully vaccinated and boosted individuals getting COVID. The one things to remember though, these individuals are not usually becoming really sick, not needing hospitalization nor are they requiring ventilator support. We have an obligation to our fellow man to keep everyone safe who is immunocompromised or has underlying health issues to ensure we are vaccinated and boosted!
TESTING:
Go to socoemergency.org to learn more about free COVID -19 testing in Sonoma County. Look for COVID-19 Testing and Tracing in Sonoma County. In addition my staff at At Home Nursing still are available to provide you COVID testing if you need it (PCR), FIT testing for a N95 mask so that it fits properly or answer any questions you may have. Call our office at 707-546-8773 to schedule an appointment. 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.
I hope this finds you safe, healthy but if you need any questions answered, you know I am always available!
Di