Next Week’s Program: TBA.

President John Cottle opened the meeting, and after the Pledge of Allegiance, he shared this Thought for the Day:

“A pessimist is one who makes difficulties of his opportunities and an optimist is one who makes opportunities of his difficulties.”  — Harry S. Truman.  May we all be optimists…

Our guests today were:

  • Kari Hutchens
  • Clay Brennan

Recognitions:  Sean Leland has an anniversary to celebrate, and John Porter is celebrating turning 83!  Happy birthday, John!

Happy Dollars:

  • Pam’s happy about her youngest daughter’s graduation from 8th grade, and her middle daughter’s graduation from high school!
  • Gary’s stepdaughter received the Educator of the Year award — what an honor!

Sunshine Report:

  • Julie M. is recovering well from her broken arm. Yay!
  • Lin Scott is doing great in Massachusetts, and sends her regards. Hi, Lin! We miss you!

Announcements:

  • The Mendocino Rotary Foundation shared an update regarding Rotary Park.  The fundraiser two weeks ago was very successful, and a couple more are being planned.  Don’t forget — more funds will be needed after closing costs, to cover expenses for maintenance and the like.
  • LaDonna’s debunking will be on Friday, 6/27/14 at St. Anthony’s.  Happy hour at 6:00 p.m., dinner starts at 7:00 p.m.  A sign-up sheet was passed around.  If you did not get a chance to sign it, please RSVP to Pres John Cottle!
  • Our Club will be dark on Thursday, 6/26/14, and again on Thursday, 7/3/14.
  • Jody passed around a sheet for speaker sign-ups.  Please claim a date, and bring a speaker!  Bruce has prepared Speaker Guidelines, and will email them to all as well as post them to our website.
  • Bruce shared a short presentation of photos from other Rotary Parks that he has visited.  The Rotary Park in Olympia, WA, gave us lots of ideas for paving stone recognitions.  The Ojai Rotary Community Park also was a source of inspiration for our own Rotary Park.

Who Am I?

Heather Paulsen shared a bit about her professional and personal background during her Who Am I talk.  Since it’s too weird to talk about myself in the third person, I’ll just say that I also talked about my current career transition, and my growing interest in the career transition process itself.  Almost 100% of the Club members in the room raised their hands when asked whether they’ve gone through a career transition!  As a result, I will host a social event to gather some of this profound collective wisdom — what career transition advice would you give to someone considering a career change?  Stay tuned for event details….

Rotary Moment

Dean Watson showed a moving video about Rotary’s response to the fire victims in San Diego.  This video reinforced the values of Rotary and the great impact we can have in our communities.  Dean also sent out an email to each member with his/her status in Rotary Foundation giving.  We are nearing our goal for Every Rotarian, Every Year!

Our Program

Prez John Cottle gave us a State of the Club address. Some of the highlights include:

  • He now has a full Board for the coming year!  Thank you to everyone who stepped into a Committee Chair role. A sign-up sheet was sent around, with a request that every member join at least one Committee.
  • The Art Auction used to be our biggest fundraiser, though we have largely turned that over to the Mendocino Art Center.  We may still do the Raffle part of the event… to be determined.
  • Our July 4th fundraiser is a growing event!  We will have 3 venues this year: Rotary Park, the Firehouse, and a float in the parade!
  • The Annual Golf Tournament is a strong event and will keep going.
  • Casino Night has been very successful in the two years we’ve done it — we need to sell more tickets to make it even better!
  • A new Fundraising Committee has been established, with Bruce as the Chair.
  • The Who Am I program will start again, so that we can get to know our new members.
  • Rotarian of the Month is a new program that Prez John has implemented.
  • Business of the Month is an idea under consideration as well, to promote a local business each month.  More details are forthcoming…
  • Prez John would like to experiment with holding one morning meeting per quarter, instead of at our usual noon-time.  We may also experiment with occasional evening meetings.
  • Club member dues will increase to $240/year starting July 1 (up from $200/year).  If you pay your 2014-15 dues in full prior to July 1, you can get a discount and pay only $225 for the year.
  • The next Board meeting is Monday, June 16, at 12:00 noon at the Mendocino Hotel.

Raffle winners: Gary Hopper and Yours Truly.  Unfortunately, neither of us drew the winning card, so the jackpot continues to grow!