Volume XXI
Number 8

Tuesday
April 19, 2005

Coming Programs Every Tuesday April 19 Dick Osborn Pacific Union College April 26 Jill Pahl Recycling at Napa County May 3 Stu Smith Boy Scouts May 10 John Alioto Nuclear Terrorism & American Ports May 17 Frank Sottile St. Helena Boys and Girls Club Annual Awards May 24 Chuck Bailey Rotary Essay Contest May 31 Robert Wedell St. Helena Police Dept. Annual Report Coming Events May 19-22 District Conference Centennial Celebration Doubletree Hotel Rohnert Park, CA June 18-22 Rotary Int'l Convention Centennial Celebration McCormick Place Chicago, IL Birthdays April 10 Ron McGowan April 14 Joice Beatty April 17 Jeff Epps April 18 Alan Fowler April 23 Robert Gregory Wedding Anniversaries April 1 Mark Terrell (Marsha) April 14 Donn Black (Antonia Allegra) April 19 Jeff Whitehead (Julie) Club Anniversaries April 1, 1981 Alston Hayne April 1, 1985 Tim Doran April 3, 2001 Nick Bermudez April 6, 2004 Donn Black April 6, 2004 Beverly Davies-Mes April 6, 2004 Servaas Mes April 6, 2004 David Moreland April 8, 2003 Tony Albright April 8, 2003 Diane Bylund April 8, 2003 Jeff Whitehead April 11, 1995 Robert Hoffman April 23, 1996 Suzan Rada April 23, 2002 Albert Albright April 23, 2002 Lisa Marie Andersen April 23, 2002 Frank Sottile April 27, 1999 John Sales

Rotary News
By Kathy Zelazny

April 12, 2005 - Linda Alioto opened the meeting by leading us in the pledge, followed by a short invocation by Steve Yost in which he shared with us a beautiful prayer from his childhood.
 

ANNOUNCEMENTS

KATHLEEN PATTERSON Club President 2004-2005

Wow! I don't think I've heard so many announcements at a meeting. It was hard to keep up, but here goes.

President Patterson reminded everyone that April is volunteer month and that everyone should be getting out there and fulfilling the club pledge of 10 hours of volunteer activities per member. She sent around a sign up sheet in which everyone may record the hours that they have spent thus far toward volunteer activities.

Gene Armstead announced the get together of the Napa County Rotary Clubs that will take place on May 1, 2005, from 4:00 - 8:00 p.m. at Connelly Ranch in Napa. Members and their guests are welcome. Tickets are $25.00/person. There will also be a raffle and a wine tasting. They are looking for someone to donate wine and/or raffle prizes. Contact Gene if you are interested.

Rich Oxley from St. Helena High School got up and thanked those members who helped out last year with the St. Helena High School Senior Projects. This is a year long project that the seniors do based on topics that they have never experienced. A panel reviews and judges each project. They will be doing this again this year and are looking for volunteers to serve on the panels. Projects will be presented May 16, 2005 - June 1, 2005.
 

STEVE YOST

Steve Yost announced that the next Texas Hold 'Em game is scheduled for the evening of May 5, 2005. He also announced that the District Conference will be May 17-20. It will be a celebration of all of the presidents of the District and will include a golf outing. Contact Steve for more information. Diane Bylund will be running a marathon for AIDS research. Please contact Diane if you wish to make a pledge.

Rotary News ... Continued

Our exchange student, Moe, announced that $5 raffle tickets are being sold by the seniors to fund the Graduation Night party (a safe and sober location for the seniors to celebrate). The prize is $500 and you do not need to be present to win. Also Moe wants to raise some money for his trips and is available for casual labor at $10/hour; call him at 963-9107 or, better yet, email him at murilobra@hotmail.com.

ALBERT ALBRIGHT

Al Albright announced that interviews for the high school scholarship program will take place next week, and also that the job shadowing program will take place this month. Students should be contacting those club members who volunteered to have a student visit them at work.

An announcement was made (sorry, I forgot to put down the name of who announced this) that the auction for Anahi Fregoso, the 7-year-old St. Helena Primary student who is suffering from leukemia, raised close to $100,000.00 to cover her medical bills.

SUZAN RADA

Suzan Rada announced that the fitness committee is making plans for warmer weather and have a kayak lesson in the works for the last weekend in April. If you are interested, please contact Suzan.
 

RAFFLE

Coreen Pinney tried for the black marble, but it managed to elude her. Gene Armstead (who has been particularly lucky lately) and Suzan Rada also walked away with prizes.
 

FINE MASTER -- FATHER MAC

FATHER MAC

Father Mac began with an amusing story about Buddy Sunday that had the club laughing so hard that we almost forgot about the bell ringers.
 

Bell Ringers:

Don Scully told us of the loss of "one of the great mothers of all time." Don's mother passed away on April 11, 2005. He pledged $100 in her honor.

Jim Wright, who missed doing the invocation last week, pledged $20 for his oversight.

Charlotte Williamson pledged $50 in honor of the $5,000 that the yellow team raised in the multiple myloma run on April 9th.

DAVE BROTEMARKLE

Loren Gardner pledged $20 in honor of the extra incentive he was given to race to the finish line in the multiple myloma run.

I, Kathy Zelazny, pledged $20 in gratitude of the understanding of a St. Helena police officer for letting me off with a warning for actions taken in my haste to get to church.

Gary Jaffe thanked Dave Brotemarkle for agreeing to donate his time to the accounting for the St. Helena Farmer's Market again this year. He also thanked Jake Scheideman for taking the time to outfit Gary's daughters with new bikes. He pledged $25 for each.
 

DONN BLACK

Fine Master:

Father Mac then proceeded to provide the club with a history lesson by quizzing fellow members on our knowledge of Catholicism. Donn Black, Kelly Crane, Bob Herrick, Paul Krsek, Elaine John, Jake Scheideman, and Charlotte Williamson were subjected to a pop quiz on their knowledge of Catholicism and fined accordingly.

AMY BARBIERI SPEAKS ABOUT THE IMPORTANCE OF ORGAN DONATION

Amy Barbieri is a coordinator with the California Transplant Donor Network. She informed us that over 87,000 people in the United States are currently waiting for life-saving organ transplants. About 8,500 of those people live in Northern California. Sadly, an average of 17 people die each day due to lack of available organs. It is easy to register for organ donation: you can fill out a donor card at the DMV and place the pink "donor dot" on your driver's license, or you can register online at www.donateLIFEcalifornia.org.

Amy was joined by Charlotte Williamson and Craig Anderson, who have each had experiences involving organ donation. Charlotte told the club of her painful experience in dealing with multiple myloma and her need for a kidney transplant. Charlotte's brother selflessly volunteered his kidney and Charlotte was then lucky enough to receive an organ from a live donor. She spoke of the amazing process that she and her brother went through and how her life has been so enriched as a result of the transplant. Craig spoke of his daughter who was born with a congenital disease that attacked both of her kidneys. She has already been through two failed transplants. Craig spoke of the amazing journey that his daughter and his family have been through. Craig stressed to the club the importance of making your wishes known, and getting documents drafted and signed, as to medical treatment so that loved ones do not have to go through the pain of uncertainty as to what to do.

Father Brinkle and Farm-worker Issues
By Steven Ebersole
 

April 5, 2005 - The sun managed to sneak in a beautiful day of its rays between the lingering storms of a California winter that does not understand winter is supposed to be over already. This is the kind of sunshine that goes way beyond warming the skin a little or casting brilliant light on the grasses and wildflowers drunk with the steady rains of a so called "Minor El Nino." This sun goes deep down below the surface of the skin and warms the soul. It throws each and every person into deep psychological, if not spiritual, introspection challenging all sorts of unintelligible reasons why anyone should remain inside a building longer than 60 seconds today.

Then again there are those who are inspired by spring's gift of warmth and sunshine and desire to share their inspiration with others. Who are these brave souls, these individuals characterized by their forward thinking, kindhearted service and positive attitude? Who are these people that dare a willingness to endure 90 minutes inside a building on the most stunningly beautiful day God has created in the universe to date? You guessed it … Rotarians!

The meeting started with the pledge and a prayer by Father Brinkle of the St. Helena Catholic Church who was on deck to deliver to the club the ins and outs of Napa Counties' farm workers.

JIM HASLIP

Introduced by fellow Rotarian Jim Haslip, Father Brinkle explained the beginnings of a vision that culminated in a committee being formed in 1989 to address the needs of farm workers who were sleeping in cars and park benches and all over the place. The desire was to create housing appropriate for those men working in the fields of local vineyards so that they would have a choice between camping out somewhere and renting expensive houses in Napa.

Much has been accomplished between wine growers and vineyard workers and today there are four permanent camps that house 196 workers that stay up to 11 months. 54 are at the Mondavi facility and 60 stay at the Phelps facility. The cost to the worker is $11.50 per day, which is enough to keep some of them away but for those willing to pay the price it provides sleeping quarters, bathrooms, and a kitchen for their use.

Local Napa County wine growers desired to give money for the creation of these facilities but had a difficult time coming up with a mechanism by which dollars could regularly be funneled into it. Eventually what was produced was a self assessed per acre property tax for Napa County growers only and excludes the rest of California farmers. But the vision is to show the rest of the State how it's done in Napa…that what is done here will become a model for the future for the entire State.
 

A change in attitude

Over 25 years Father Brinkle has seen a change in attitude over farm worker issues. Measure "L" is a good example because it passed voter scrutiny by 71% blowing away speculation by experts that it would be a tough sell to the voting public. Churches partnered with environmentalists creating slogans such as, "Vote for measure "L" because it's the right thing to do", and, "Vote for "L" or go to Hell". So the multiple-choice question is who promoted which slogan?

Becky Peterson shared the spot light with the Monsignor and talked about issues relating to health care, emergency room visits, Social Security taxes paid by workers but no benefits derived by workers, effects of prop 187, and anguished labor relations processes endured in employer vs. worker disputes for those who are undocumented. If you can believe the numbers, 7 billion dollars with a capital "B" are received by the Social Security Admin. per year from unidentified ISSN's.
 

How can I help?

If you want to be involved in helping with the farm workers issues here are a couple of avenues you can take.

1. Play golf.  There is a golf tournament on Cinch De Mayo at Silverado Country Club with live auction items in the affordable range to be sold.
2. Donate.  Buy a bed for $218 a piece with 120 beds needed for housing units.
3. Play Soccer.  A soccer field will be built at the Phelps facility for 12k, 5k of which have already been raised.

Contact Lorain, Rosa or Becky Peterson for more information.

Father Brinkle and Farm-worker Issues ... Continued

DICK OSBORN

ANNOUNCEMENTS

Dick Osborn - a music program at Paulin Hall next week's Rotary Meeting

Al Albright - update on essay applicants from high school

Alston Hayne - volunteer month projects

• Each Rotarian to give 10 hours in April
• Virginia's burned house counts toward April
• Saturday night auction for leukemia research
• Senior Center needs power washer - contact Jay Green
• Multiple Myeloma walk in San Francisco
• Christmas in April last day of the month
• Alston will give more info next meeting

Steve Yost announced Texas Hold'Em for the 1^st Thursday in May.

GENE ARMSTEAD   ALAN FOWLER

RAFFLE

Gene Armstead won the raffle and since there was only one marble left inside the box you can guess what color it was.

Joice Beatty won second price.
 

BELL RINGERS

Alan Fowler rang the bell to the tune of $500 toward his Paul Harris in honor of the Episcopal church's decision to move ahead with expansion and renovation projects.

Phil Toohey was voted Assistant District Governor for District 5130 and rung the bell for $25.

Dick Osborn rang the bell for $20 for a chilling but inspirational trip to an orphanage in Russia with 60 students along for the ride.
 

KATHY ZELAZNY

FINE MASTER

Kathy Zelazny was the fine master choosing recent stats of NCAA basketball games to challenge die hard sports fans as well as those who don't know the right side of a back stop. She mercilessly picked on Dave Brotemarkle, Tracy, Paul Krsek, and Mike Smith, but really dished it out to Jeff Epps who was fined before he even had a chance to stand up and hazard a guess.

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