People were congregating earlier than usual at the request of President Bill Bolster. We took the time to share some social connections prior to the official ringing of the bell at 7:30. He shared a slide with us in the past at a physical meeting and another in our Zoom surroundings. As General Macarthur once said, “I shall return.”
Kurt Micheler led us in the flag salute, although according to his name on the screen he is now called “Prairie Chicken.”
Susan Cole shared some of the words of Ralph Waldo Emerson reminding us to look ahead.
Dave Ruprecht led us in another appropriate song for the day. The Beatles HELP sounded a little off key, but right on message for a pandemic.
Your wordsmith for the day was Tom Boylan and the pictures worth a thousand words were provided by Sue Nelson.
Rotarian Guests:
P DG Igor Peniche from Merida, Mexico.
Guests of Rotarians:
Nancy Hernandez, a Windsor Rotary scholarship recipient who will be
Jim Nantell, a past president of the Burlingame Rotary Club, is now unsure about getting up so early
Announcements:
Doing more with less and having fun.
Pres Bill opted to recognize his Board Members as the July Rotarians of the month.
Your 2020-21 Board of Directors:
- Bill Bolster –President
- Maureen Merrill –Past President
- Pam Moulton –President Elect
- Leah Hansen –Secretary
- Ed Turner -Treasurer
- Glenn Sugden –Community; President-elect designate
- Carol Martin –Community
- Sandie Krutz –Youth
- Doug Williams –Vocational
- Ken Moulton (John Hackenburg) –International
- Renee Hyde –Membership
- Alison Huber –Director at large
We are reminded that the food security drive is still ongoing. Thanks to Heather Cullen and Barbara McChesney and all our members that continue to shop for a little extra to share with those who are food challenged in our community. If you or someone you know wants to send a check
Carol Martin let us know we can be hands on for a Redwood Empire Food Bank to participate in their safe social distant volunteer program. We can pack food for those in need. Please let Carol know if you can volunteer.
Senator Mike McGuire holds an annual Chili Feed with 100% of the proceeds going to charity. They need help and you can go to SenatorMikeMcguire.com/chili-feed-2020. Play along and plan for August 14th to participate and get your chili on.
Pres. Bill let us know we have some fun meetings and informative speakers coming up for our future meetings, including Mark Thayer, a former AP reporter on the 1968 Democratic Convention. Trust that there are exciting meetings in the works.
Pres. Bill offered a new feature, “A Corny Story.” He recited how he once bought corn on the cob and brought it home to nuke it for the first time and it was a first. He reminds us there are many firsts to come.
Diane Brabetz is sharing a weekly report on the status of COVID in Sonoma County.
- Total cases – over 3000.
- 39 Deaths. (32 of the 39 in Skilled Nursing Facilities or Residential Care)
- 188 new cases in 14 days
- 38% of our cases co time to be in the 25-44 year olds
- 42 Hospitalized
- Issues: Nowhere to isolate our seniors who test positive in facilities
Be aware that people continue to congregate in groups and spread the virus in picnics, camping, social gatherings where no social distancing occurs or no masks are worn, etc.
Lack of enough tests and issues with rapid results continues to be a problem.
Job Listings:
If you would like to have a say in how we write about our club meetings, become a scribe. The pay is negotiable and the perks are that no one gets to edit your words. Seriously looking for a volunteer or two, or three. Let Tom know if you have a want to become a columnist for Rotary.
The Rotary Club of Windsor needs a Social Media manager. We are looking for someone that can post to a new platform and have our notes appear in several social media. The platform allows you to create posts once a month and set a schedule to appear in Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn. This is a guaranteed fun job and the pay will none. Contact Chris Landwher if you are interested, or just post it online.
Program One:
JB Leep introduced Jim Nantell, member of the North County Healthcare District with a report on the Healdsburg Community Hospital status. Jim let us know there is a ballot measure coming regarding the future of Healdsburg Hospital. The Board initiated a search for a partner for the 115 year old hospital to keep it financially stable. Jim shared that the board wants to avoid the closure that affected Palm Drive Hospital, but with a need to rebuild the hospital to meet earthquake measures is an immense cost.
This need to rebuild a hospital led to an offering from Providence Hospital. The board is looking for support for the upcoming ballot measure to allow the board to negotiate for a sale of the hospital to an affiliate of the St. Josephs Medical team. Jim has offered to come back when he has more time to discuss the measure in greater detail.
Program Two:
“Fun with Mike” was the intro that Pres. Bill gave Michael Juric as he offered a fun opportunity to stay together and Stay Connected. Michael offered that staying connected is difficult in the ZOOM room, but he has an answer. We were sent to various breakout rooms with instructions to share a song and why it has a significant memory for us personally.
A this point I have to report on our room and the song choices included Somewhere over the Rainbow, Love is Blue, Crimson and Clover, and Sounds of Silence, which was offered by Michael Ragsdale, but Sue Nelson was living it because she couldn’t get the audio to work on her computer.
After a pause and the ability to share a few smiles we were asked to venture into another room with a new set of friends where we could share our secret name… the one we always wanted, or somehow acquired. Good stories by Chatty Cathy, Jed, Bill, MeKell, and Boylan (it’s a long story).
This was a good adventure back to being friends and not just participants viewing the program. Nice touch.
President Bill said, “According to Steve Martin perseverance is a substitute for talent and we are all should go out and persevere.”