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

Charter Night tradition is to recognize and honor past presidents of the club.   Prior to dinner, Past presidents Barry and Jack were recognized, followed by past presidents still active in the club.  Honorary club members, the Board of Directors, and then leaders of the successful Art Auction were also recognized.

After dinner, Rich Brandes presented some Rotary history and then showed a video of Bill Gates announcing the $2 million matching challenge to Rotary for Polio Plus.  Rich and Dean then commented on the recent announcement that the challenge had been met in early January.  Good work Rotary!  And that the Gates Foundation had voted an additional $50 million to the polio eradication effort.  In addition, a new success was announced in India; no new cases of polio were reported during the past year.  As a result, only 3 countries remain with endemic polio – Pakistan, Nigeria and Afghanistan.

Since Rotary launched the polio campaign in 1985, Rotarians worldwide have contributed over $1 billion and two billion children have received oral vaccine.  It is estimated that 5 million children have been spared disability and 250,000 lives saved during this period.  It’s good to be part of something important.

Past Presidents Erich and Joe then shared the podium and talked about our clubs 45 anniversary.  Many stories and laughs from the days of old were shared.  President Tom then thanked the club for their good work during the year and awarded Rotarian of the Month pins.  Awards went to Erich, Vivian, Ron, Tom B, John P, Lin Scott and Jennifer.  Tim Bosma conducted a lively wine auction, achieving far more revenue than one would guess from the wine being auctioned.  And with a lot of laughter, Charter Night 2012 was brought to a close.

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…)