Volume XX
Number 25

Tuesday
Dec. 21, 2004

2004 Rotary Christmas Party
By Polly Keegan

Craig Bond's young singers, as angelic as ever, treated us to a wondrous half hour of beautiful Christmas songs, and our super St. Helena Rotarians gave them a long and heartfelt standing ovation. What would the holidays be like without Craig's skills and his talented singers providing so much joy during the season!
 

The Christmas dinner party this year was held once again at Markham Winery, and again the Knickerbocker group prepared a luscious food feast. President-elect
Bill Word was a perfect master of ceremonies, and what can I say, we live in a bounteous place, among wonderful people, and a great time was had by all!
 

Kathleen, Joice and Natalie
attend the
Festival of Brotherhood in Guadalajara
By Jeff Whitehead
 

VISITORS

Visitors at the Nov. 30th meeting included Dr. Vaughn Knight, Carol Collison, John Hasselberg, Lupe Leon and District Governor, Bruce Campbell.
 

GUESTS

Rex Stults introduced Bob Graham, the CFO of the Culinary Institute; Linda Alioto was introduced by Diane Bylund; and Gene Armstead, former Rotarian was also present.
 

ANNOUNCEMENTS

JAKE SCHEIDEMAN

PAUL KRSEK

BRUCE CAMPBELL District Governor 2004-05

Jake Scheideman asked for the Club's help in assisting a St. Helena family whose second grade child is suffering from leukemia. A signup sheet was passed around giving members the opportunity to contribute to help this local family. The Executive Committee had agreed to match any funds collected.

Paul Krsek, Chair of the Live Auction for the 2005 Winter Ball, asked for volunteers for the live auction committee. He also welcomed any ideas for live auction items. Lisa Marie Andersen mentioned that members should see her for donor applications.

District Governor, Bruce Campbell, announced that the St Helena Club is the recipient of a District grant in the amount of $1,450. The check was presented to Club President, Kathleen Patterson, and Jake Scheideman. This grant will be used to fund the purchase of eco-friendly stoves for the housing project Jake has been overseeing in Nicaragua.

Gene Armstead announced that the St. Helena Chamber Singers will be performing on December 18th and 19th at the St. Helena Catholic Church. Tickets are $15.00 and are extremely limited.

Bill Word reminded everyone of the Club Christmas party that will be held on December 14^th at 6:30 PM at Markham Vineyards. He also mentioned that the Rotary International Convention will take place June 18–22, 2005 in Chicago. The Rotary International website provides all the necessary information. Apparently, 10,000 rooms have already been reserved for this annual event.
 

RAFFLE

Rex Stults failed to draw the black marble.
 

BELLRINGERS

ALAN FOWLER

KATHLEEN PATTERSON Club President 2004-05

POLLY KEEGAN

Finemaster Alan Fowler opened the floor to bellringers. These included:

Ron Sculatti, who announced his candidacy for City Council.

Kathleen Patterson, who showed off her cap that she received while visiting the Fox Sports NFL set. (She had purchased this opportunity at last year's Winter Ball). The hat was signed by the Fox Sports personalities.

Wendell Laidley announced that he is moving his business to Napa and that his time with the St. Helena Club may be curtailed.

Polly Keegan announced that she has not had a cigarette in over a year!

Alan called on a number of members to choose three teammates, who then had to listen to a quote and, as a group, choose the answer from a list of three famous personalities. The famous quotes belonged to Charles Schultz, Albert Einstein, Vincent van Gough, Mahatma Gandhi and George Bernard Shaw. Correct answers resulted in a $10 fine for each team member; incorrect answers earned a $20 fine.

Festival of Brotherhood ... Continued

PROGRAM: FESTIVAL OF BROTHERHOOD
 

JOICE BEATTY

NATALIE KLUG

KATHLEEN PATTERSON Club President 2004-05

Rotarians Joice Beatty and Natalie Klug presented a PowerPoint presentation relating their recent experiences attending the Festival of Brotherhood in and around Guadalajara, Mexico. Joice, Natalie and President, Kathleen Patterson, attended this ninth annual cooperative effort between Rotary Districts 4150 and 5130. The event, held November 5-15, gives the 27 Rotary clubs in the Guadalajara area and 15 members of District 5130 an opportunity to visit a number of care facilities and evaluate those that will most benefit from Rotary's financial assistance.

Facilities visited included a rehabilitation clinic in Arandas, which needed washing machines; a clinic for the indigent that requested a birthing bed and an incubator. A nursing home in need of several hospital beds and a shelter in Zapopan that hopes to add lockers so that its people can safely secure their belongings. The group also visited a cancer clinic and Kathleen spent an afternoon visiting an orphanage. 

Ultimately, the group determined that funding assistance would be extended to a special education school in Arandas for play equipment; the shelter in Zapopan will receive funding for lockers, and the fire department in Poncitlan will receive donations to help purchase jaws of life equipment.

The ten days in Mexico was not all work however, as the group from our district spent considerable time getting to know their counterparts in the host country. Sightseeing, communal meals and the occasional tequila tasting helped to bring the group together and forge lasting friendships.

District Governor, Bruce Campbell, acting as auctioneer, gave the Club an opportunity to bid on three special bottles of tequila, emblazoned with the Rotary logo, brought back from the trip. The funds collected from this mini-auction will help fund the selected projects described above. Successful bidders were Alan Fowler, Dave Brotemarkle and Bob Trinchero.

Coming Programs Every Tuesday Dec 21 Pete Lagarias Almost Perfect - Rotaplast & Vietnam Dec 28 TBD Coming Events May 19, 2005 Centennial Celebration Doubletree Hotel Rohnert Park, CA Feb 26, 2005 St. Helena Rotary Club Winter Ball St. Helena, CA Birthdays Dec 5 Hendrik Smeding Dec 9 Loren Gardner Dec 13 Dale Smith Dec 20 Frank Toller Dec 21 Roger Adams Wedding Anniversaries Dec 13 Mike Thomas (Ann) Dec 16 Rex Stults (Gillian) Dec 21 Charles Bell (Peggy) Dec 27 Jim Haslip (Alexandra) Dec 30 Dale Smith (Lillian) Club Anniversaries Dec 1, 1990 Dick Rogers Dec 12, 1995 Kathleen Patterson

The Magic of Rotary
By Jim Meehan
 

Following our customary opening ceremonies on December 7th, there were introductions of visitors and guests. Four new members were introduced to the membership as new Rotarians. The four are: Doug Ernst, Linda Alioto, Gene Armsted and Coreen Pinney.

Following the Welcome Singers, there were announcements. Don Scully stated that the Fitness and Recreation group would be meeting in two weeks at this office an E-Mail will be sent around to the members of this group. Red Envelopes were on the tables, and Joice Beatty said that for the past twelve years that instead of sharing annual Christmas presents among club members we each are asked to make a donation for a Christmas Party for Napa State Hospital Christmas Fund. We will be "dark" next Tuesday for the annual Christmas party at Markham Wine Cellars.

Mike Thomas did not draw the black marble. And, Diane Bylund was this week's fine master and her topic was "famous wine quotations." There were several bellringers including Paul Krsek who donated $100 to the start of a Paul Harris donation membership in honor of passing all the FBI, Dept. of Immigration, etc. hurdles for he and his wife in adopting a new child (he said he may be the only certified parent in the room). He later said to this reporter that he could use some help from the membership in naming the new baby girl that they will adopt within the next five months from China.

In the continuing celebration for our 100^th years of Rotary, President Kathleen went to the world map and today we moved from the GMT line to Kosovo as we continue to learn of others in Rotary Clubs throughout the world. Kathleen, read to us about a Rotarian – a Californian who is attempting to provide leadership skills by using the Rotary model to peoples of this former war torn region. "It is a good day to be a Rotarian" said Kathleen she went on to tell us about last week's outpouring of $2,500 in donations for the daughter of a friend of Jake Scheideman that has recently received a diagnoses of leukemia. The club submitted another $1,000 and will forward the total to the parents to help offset the many costs.

PROGRAM: THE MAGIC OF ROTARY

Speaker: Greg Molloy, Rotary Governor 2002-2003
District 5150

Greg is a member of the Terra Linda Rotary Club. He uses his good humor and magic tricks to make his important points about reaching out as a member of the greater Rotary family to those that are in need. Greg joined Rotary in 1989 as way to meet and network and to help out in his community. He encouraged each of our clubs members to get involved with your hands and your heart not just your checkbook.

Greg was a member on a Rotaplast team in 2001 that went to Caracas, Venezuela, it was a trip that changed his life forever. With the aid of his PowerPoint presentation we saw first hand the changes provided to young children's lives with the surgery that was provided. They performed 185 procedures on 115 children on that trip, and as Greg said, the procedures not only changed the children's lives but those of 115 families. Greg also told about a trip to Nicaragua to help deliver wheelchairs with Ken Berhing and the amazing commitment of the entire Rotary organization to make the world 100% Polio free.

Greg at the end of his talk was most helpful to next year's incoming president Bill Word by letting him know of the upcoming theme "shake-a-leg" (get it, the prior year's theme was "lend-a-hand").

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