Mendocino Rotary Club
“Helping People in Our Community and Throughout the World”

November 17 Meeting Highlights

Thought for the Day:
Dr. John COTTLE provided an excellent poem, well received, thought-provoking, and far too long to be remembered by your scribe.

Visiting Rotarian:
Kevin WILLIAMS introduced Roger COOKE from the South Ukiah club.

Speaker of the Day:
Doug HAMMERSTROM, President elect and International Chair of the Fort Bragg club, discussing District 5130′s Festival of Brotherhood.

Doug Hammerstrom attended last month’s Festival of Brotherhood in Puerto Vallarta and Guadalajara. This was Doug’s 6th year at the Festival. Mendocino did not have a representative this year, and International Chair Harold HAUCK asked Doug to accept our proxy and identify up to $3000 in projects.

As Harold requested, Doug allocated our funds to 1) a clean water project; 2) an elderly assistance project; and 3) two children school projects. With slides from the project locations, Doug reviewed the projects and answered questions. The International Committee will vote on these projects to formally approve Doug’s recommendations. Through the leveraging of funds, our donations are matched by District, and then again by RI, so our $500 contribution may result in a $15,000 or more project fund. This is the 16th year of the Festival of Brotherhood.
Rotarians with Guests
No guests were introduced

A warm welcome for Bruce Fornier, Justin Calvino, Kevin Williams, Gary Hopper and Jennifer Bosma. They already are bringing new energy and enthusiasm to the club. There are now more than 40 members in the Mendocino Rotary Club.

For four decades, Mendocino Rotarians have organized the E. John Robinson Art Auction and Raffle to raise money for community service organizations, international projects and local scholarships.

This year’s event will begin at 2 pm, Saturday Oct. 1 at the Mendocino Art Center.

The previous week, from September 27 to 30, artwork and raffle prizes will be on display.

To learn more.

The GSE visit at the end of April was quite fun and educational. See video highlights.

GSE team members included Tetsuro Ohtake, Yuko Togawa, the GSE Leader Makoto Sone, Makiko Yoda, and Masaki Ishido.

• Tetsuro “Tex” specializes in International Communication at the Atami Korakuen Hotel.
• Yuko “Yukes” is an Associate in Liberal Arts and an English-Japanese translator.
• Makoko “Mako” is a chemist and was Director of the General Institute of Technology.
• Makiko “Yodie” specializes in gardening and develops new varieties of grass plants at the Yamanashi Farming Experiment Station.
• Masaki “Mas” studied material precision chemistry, and is now policeman at the Ito Police Station.

Well, we have finally turned the corner and are christening the launch of our new Website.  This is exciting and long awaited.   The website will simplify information dissemination for our club. This will include;  club, board and committee meetings.  We will have an online  living calendar of events and meetings. Our Newsletter will now be available on the website and we will have password protected member contact information. The website will also provide links to additional Rotary resources, District and International as well as current topics and efforts from our organization.  And, this is only the beginning!  There will also be internal page links that will detail our major community events, i.e. Art Auction, Golf Tournament and 4th of July Community Celebration. (more…)