A U G U S T 2 6 , 2 0 0 8 CAMPBELL Rotary W W W. R O T A R Y C S J W. O R G z If you ordered a new Rotary Club of Campbell shirt, be sure to pick it up before or after today’s meeting. Club Shirts Are Here! z JUST IN TIME FOR BACK-TO-SCHOOL 1) Sent 36 kids and staff from EMQ to Rotary Day at the A’s 2) Purchased and packed 150 back packs for EMQ back-toschool 3) Served dinner to over 100 people at the Emergency Housing consortium. 4) Began work to fund our Digital Villages Project in India. So, What Have We Done Lately? Back packs to the left of me, back packs to the right! What a great team effort on the part of our club members to put together 150 Back-toSchool back packs for the children served by East?eld-Ming Quong Family Services Center. Not only did several members stick around after last week’s meeting, but we were able to stuff the packs with pencils, pens, calculators, notebooks, binders, and various other school supplies in less than half an hour! Last year’s Board approved the expenditure of funds for EMQ’s “Cottage Project.” EMQ was able to fund that project through a different organization. Bettina Kohlbrenner, of EMQ and our club asked that the Board consider using the approved funds for this project instead. It was an easy choice. Thanks go to the EMQ staff for doing the shopping and organizing the work crews. Shown in this photo are Felicia and Dakota, handing over a ?lled back pack to John Shannon. nnn Aug. 28: District Governor’s Roast & Toast @ Saratoga Springs Sept. 2: Board Meeting, 5:30 @ Marv’s Of?ce Sept. 8: Dinner Service @ EHC, 4:30 Coming Events Sept. 12: Blood Drive @ EMQ Sept. 21: Area 8 Family Picnic Oct. 1: Town Hall Meeting w/ State Senator Joe Simitian @ Campbell Library. Many Hands Make the Work Light The War against Polio continues…but the Victory is now in Sight! Only four countries are left with a trace of polio, a crippling disease…India is one of them. After 20 years of hard work, Rotary and its partners are on the brink of eradicating this tenacious disease, but a strong push is needed now to root it out once and for all. This is a window of opportunity of historic proportions: Rotary’s US $100 million Challenge. To ensure that we are doing our part, The Rotary Club of Cupertino, is hosting a charity fundraiser event… Ehsaas Hai, “Do You Feel”? also, presenting the World-renowned Flautist Pandit Hari Prasad Chaurasia and the famous Bay Area Sitarist, Pandit Habib Khan. This concert date is Saturday the 11th of October at the Flint Center, Cupertino. Your gracious sponsorship dollars will be essential to the success of this unique event to help Rotary achieve a Polio Free India. It costs just about one dollar for a two-drop vaccine to save one life. How many lives are you going to save? Visit www.CupertinoRotary.org or contact me directly tferguson@empirebroadcasting.com for more information.
Usually best know for stuffing our faces with outstanding luncheon food provided by EMQ’s kitchen staff, Campbell Rotarians turned the tables this week, stuffing backpacks for kids in EMQ’s residential treatment program.
We even had some help from a few actual students — and some preschoolers. School starts next week. Good Luck!
EMQ also prepared a Press Release on the event:Read more
A U G U S T 1 9 , 2 0 0 8 CAMPBELL Rotary W W W. R O T A R Y C S J W. O R G z Next Tuesday, 8/26/08, our guest speaker will be Randy Hahn, TV Play-by-Play announcer for the SJ Sharks. Let’s all wear a Sharks jersey, cap or shirt to welcome Randy. Go Sharks! z POETRY FROM THE HEART In Support of our efforts to help Rotary International match the $100,000,000 grant from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, we will auction off the Governor’s recent gift to our club. It’s heavy and it came from Tiffany’s. Bidding starts at $100. Bring your check book!! Governor’s Gift to be Auctioned Off Next Tuesday! nnn Former member Bob Culp treated our club to readings of several of his not-yet published poems and writings. Bob’s poems ranged from the poignant to the whimsical, but always struck a chord with the audience. Bob has the uncanny ability of writing about the human condition in a way that enlightens and entertains. His confession of a crush on a younger woman all fell into place with the ?nal line of “Grandpa, I turned four today.” Bob’s ?nal piece about two long time friends who walked together everyday brought many smiles and chuckles as the two “old fools” relished in the foibles of their advancing years. Aug. 20: Red Badge Breakfast, 7:30 AM @ Mimi’s Aug. 20: Campbell Chamber of Commerce Luncheon @ Villa Ragusa Coming Events Aug. 28: District Governor’s Roast & Toast @ Saratoga Springs Sept. 8: Dinner Service @ EHC, 4:30 Sept. 12: Blood Drive @ EMQ Sept. 21: Area 8 Family Picnic Red Badger James Martinez James Martinez, a native of San Jose, who attended William C. Overfelt High School and San Jose State University was sponsored into the Rotary Club of Campbell by Carl Middione. James is a loan of?cer at The Bank of the West, Winchester/Hamilton Branch. In high school, James discovered a talent for ceramics and a love for art. His pieces have won him awards at the County Fair and other competitions. James is currently assigned to the Fundraising Committee and will be a valuable member to our club. Jamaican Visitors Jeneva Spencer and Kimberly Yapp visited our club on Tuesday, August 12. The two elementary school teachers are in the area as part of the Visiting International Faculty Program. Spencer and Yapp will be teaching 2nd and 3rd grades in the Alum Rock Union School District. They are shown here with Paul Bacosa, Neil Jacobson and visiting Rotarian Paul Uenaka. Vicki Curzon, from Dunedin, New Zealand along with her husband, Derek, sat with Bill Highley and Janine Payton at last week’s regular meeting. The Curzons are here as part of the VIF Program which brings teachers from around the world to the U.S. for a three-year cultural experience. Vicki brings her 8 years of teaching experience to the ?rst grade students at San Antonio School in the Alum Rock School District. Also with the traveling teachers, but not pictured here were Fiona Dew from Australia and Katherine Easson from Scotland. From New Zealand
Campbell Rotary is hosting our annual “Remember 911″ Blood Drive on Friday, September 12, 2008.
Blood is always needed in our community, plus, it’s a positive way to Remember 911. Appointment times are from 11:00 am to 5:00 pm, on our regular meeting room at EMQ’s Campbell Campus.
For an appointment, you can call Sue or Maggie at 257-2222 or sign-up online, using the sponsor code: “SJRotary” … Please solicit your friends and neighbors to donate.
The Rotary Club of Campbell continues it’s speaker recognition program this year, having recently replenished our supply of books for donation to Rosemary School.
Every week, we donate a book to Rosemary School. The donation is made in honor of each weekly luncheon speaker, with the speaker signing the book after their presentation.
If you are curious to see which books we have donated — and which are in the queue for donation — visit our online list. You can also buy more books from the automatic Amazon store hosted in our website.
A U G U S T 1 2 , 2 0 0 8 CAMPBELL Rotary W W W. R O T A R Y C S J W. O R G z Next Tuesday, 8/19/08, plan to stay after the meeting, if you can to help pack 150 Back to School Back Packs for the children of EMQ. A great service event for Red badgers and all members! Back Packs for EMQ ROTARY COMPUTERS @ WORK z 1) Approved our Club Budget for 2008-2009 2) Authorized printing 100 new Club Banners 3) Committed to create and support the George Miskulin Scholarship 4) Announced that Judy Armstrong will be the Club Service Chairperson. nnn Board Highlights “ Students at Campbell’s Rosemary School have already begun using the computers that our club, along with Rotary Clubs in India and Turkey provided to our long time school partner. Students are busy learning new skills as well as brushing up on things previously learned. The computers have been distributed throughout the school and are used by students in their own classrooms. Volunteer Bill Highley is also discussing with school of?cials the possible purchase of new software to enhance the student learning in the areas of math and reading. Aug. 14: International Service Seminar @ SJ DoubleTree Aug. 16: Rotary Day at the A’s Aug. 20: Red Badge Breakfast, 7:30 AM @ Mimi’s Coming Events Aug. 20: Campbell C of C Luncheon @ Villa Ragusa Aug. 28: District Governor’s Roast & Toast @ Saratoga Springs Sept. 12: Blood Drive @ EMQ
The Rotary Club of Campbell is funding the purchase of school supplies for the kids of EMQ Children & Family Services. But paying for the supplies is the boring part of how we plan to help.
The real fun comes when we spend about 1 hour after our meeting on August 19, loading up about 150 backpacks with these supplies to get the EMQ kids off to a great start to the school year!
So, please make arrangements now to stay about hour later on August 19.
A U G U S T 5 , 2 0 0 8 CAMPBELL Rotary W W W. R O T A R Y C S J W. O R G z Tonight at 5:30 our Board will meet at Marv Bamburg’s of?ce on Lincoln Ave to discuss a variety of topics of interest to the club. All members are welcome. A great event for Red badgers. Board Meets Tonight z Tom Rice gave a fascinating presentation to our club on the life and times of honey bees at last week’s meeting. Tom talked about his avocation and taught us about the various duties of the Queen bee, the drones and the worker bees. “The individual bee is not very smart,” according to Tom, “but the collective intelligence of the hive is astounding.” Tom Rice is the Bee’s Knees “ FALL FUN EVENTS IN DISTRICT 5170 District 5170 and it’s many clubs have several fun events planned for the Fall of the year. Mark your calendars now so you don’t miss out on any of the good times. families and friends and can be donated to EMQ for their youngsters to enjoy a day at the ballpark. 2008 Rotary Family Day With the A’s. Saturday, August 16 is the date. A’s vx. Chicago White Sox is the game. Game starts at 12:55 PM, Parking lot opens at 10:30 AM for tailgate parties. Tickets can be purchased for members and their District Governors’ Roast & Toast. Thursday, August 28th at 5:30 PM W Saratoga Springs Resort. RSVP to mbarbatti@aol.com by August 19. Area 8 Family Fun Social. Sunday, September 21, 11 AM to 4 PM @ Oak Meadow Park, Los Gatos. Free Hot Dogs, hamburgers, sodas, water, beer, wine and lots of fun. nnn Aug. 5: Youth Service Seminar @ Double Tree Aug. 6: District Cabinet Meeting @ SJ DoubleTree Coming Events Aug. 7: Community Service Seminar @ SJ DoubleTree Aug. 11: Serving @ EHC, 4:30 PM Aug. 14: International Service Seminar @ SJ DoubleTree Aug. 16: Rotary Day at the A’s
J U L Y 2 9 , 2 0 0 8 CAMPBELL Rotary W W W. R O T A R Y C S J W. O R G z For those of you who may have missed the debunking celebration or would simply like to have a copy of Jerry Cummings’ speech at his debunking, it is on pages 2 and 3 this week. Nobody could have said it any better. Presidential “Farewell” GOVERNOR VISITS CAMPBELL z Repeat Paul Harris Donors: Paul Harris Awardees Recognized “ Warren Gilbert, Bill Highley, Neil Reid, David Keller, Bob Yager, Marv Bamburg, Marc Wagner, Jim Morelan, Alan Tanenbaum, Jerry Cummings, First time Paul Harris Donor: John Shannon Governor Gary Citti, of District 5170 visited our club on Tuesday, August 22 and addressed our members on the direction of Rotary and of our District for the coming year. Governor Citti encouraged us to continue to support The Rotary Foundation and distributed “Double Sustainer” pins to just about every member. He also challenged us to reach out to new members and to increase our clubs membership by 10% over the coming Aug. 7: Community Service Seminar @ SJ DoubleTree Aug. 11: Serving @ EHC, 4:30 PM Aug. 14: International Service Seminar @ SJ DoubleTree Aug. 16: Rotary Day at the A’s year. He inspired us to become active Rotarians, sharing a story from his own personal history about the value and power of personal involvement. And, he invited us to learn more about Rotary through many local workshops and also by visiting the RI and District Websites, www.Rotary5170.org. Finally, Governor Citti accepted a gift from our club to take to his next meeting and presented us with a beautiful gift in a Tiffany’s box which will be raf?ed off in the near future. July 29: Club Service Seminar @ Double Tree Aug. 5: Board Meeting, 5:30 @ TBA Aug. 5: Youth Service Seminar @ Double Tree Coming Events DEBUNKING Traditionally, the outgoing president recognizes various members for outstanding service to the club by giving a certificate or some type of gift. When I reflected on this year, I thought that this was a real team effort by the whole club—how can I pick whom to recognize? So I went back to one of my old philosophers, Georgie Jessel, for those of you who are too young to recognize that name, he was one of the great old comedians—like—–, oh well, you wouldn’t recognize those names either, but anyway I once heard him say, “My father was a practical man; he always gave a practical gift—-like a haircut”—so, I thought this is good advice so I got a practical gift for the whole club—–24 of these beautiful aprons that we can wear when we work in our food booth or serve at the EHC or any other projects we might get involved with. Let’s remember some of our accomplishments: -Well, we stared out as the Rotary Club of Campbell/San Jose West and ended the year as the Rotary Club of Campbell—-I know not everyone looks at this as progress, but I think it will help us in identifying with the Campbell community and growing the club to be the premier service club in the City of Campbell——time will tell. -We had our visioning meeting— 25 members (the maximum allowed) spent 4 hours one evening to help define where our club was and where we want to be. —I doubt that any other club of our size that went through this process had that high a percentage of their membership participate. If we gained nothing else from the meeting, we came out with people committed to the ongoing success of our club—not only John, who has already started and we can see what a great leader he is going to be, but Rick Davis, Ravi Chari and Dr Sue have said they are willing to make the commitment of being president in following years. We can’t have a great club without consistent, committed, good leaders. I could have done a better job of keeping everyone apprised of our progress on our goals, but we’ll do a better job this year. We wanted to grow our membership and it is growing, —special thanks to our membership chair, Carl Middione & Bob Yager, our orientation specialist. -We had great representation at the District Conference, Avenues of Service and other special district training seminars plus consistent way better than average attendance at our meetings (which always makes the District Governor happy). -I’d put our weekly programs up against any club our size (and probably some bigger ones) and, again, this is a team effort where each member has a chance to bring a speaker of their choice and thanks to the good job of keeping everyone on schedule by our Programs Chair, Dr. Sue. Just to mention 3 outstanding programs: Dr. Cadwallader, a past Rotary International Director, brought by Bettina and the Ex Chairman of Novellus, brought by Delbar, these are two relatively new members who got great speakers, just by asking—and of course Ravi’s brother, Krishnan—Ravi’s just lucky to have such a great brother! -The new 65 inch LCD TV we presented to EMQ, thanks to the donations by many of our members and the leadership efforts of Marv Bamburg & Rick Davis. -We made the final payment of $6,000 of our $18,000 commitment to the Friends of the Heritage Theater. -We completed the project started in Derek’s year of buying $19,000 worth of computers for the Rosemary School and received special recognition of our club from the Campbell Union School District. This was a unique project (maybe the only one of it’s kind) where we had a matching grant from Rotary International and, what made it so unique, we had money donated by clubs in Turkey & India, probably the first time money has ever come from those countries to help school kids in this country. -We furnished video equipment for Rosemary School thanks to a joint effort by our club & the local Porsche club, thanks to Bill Highley. -We participated in the EMQ Garden Project -Donated gift cards for some of the families served by EMQ -Sent some EMQ kids to the Day at the A’s -Donated books for female prisoners at Elmwood. -Donated a book to Rosemary School every week, in honor of our guest speaker. -Donated turkeys to Sacred Heart Community Center at Thanksgiving -Helped sponsor Scouts and Cub Scouts -Furnished transportation to a middle school to go to science camp -Helped sponsor Neil Jacobson’s charity bike ride, in which he participated. -Provided the lunch for the Child Advocates picnic for the umteenth year—thanks to Marc Wagner for his leadership on this project through out the many years. -We served some of the homeless at the EHC Center one Monday of every month and bought them some much needed serving trays. -We had our 6th Annual “Remember 9-11” Blood Drive—remember, this year’s is coming up soon. -Thanks to Janine’s leadership, we sent two students to Camp RYLA, are getting close to having an Interact Club at Westmont High, plus not only having our own club high school speech contest, we hosted the Area 8 contest at our Club. —And the winner at our club level went on to win the whole thing at the District contest! I -We couldn’t have done any of these projects with out the income from our food booths in downtown Campbell and we wouldn’t be nearly as successful at it without the business knowledge, equipment, leadership and hard work of Bill Ellington. Also, when it comes to fund raising we have to give thanks to Bill Highley for all his efforts in getting everyone to support The Rotary Foundation. -Thanks to John Shannon for volunteering to do our weekly Newsletter—and then actually doing it week after week! We were without a newsletter for several years and it’s sure nice to have one again. -Thanks to Dave Keller for representing us at the District level, with his “Yellow Pages for Rotary” project and for developing and maintaining our club web page. -Thanks to Dave Crowley for also, representing us at the District level on the Public Relations committee and for the fine publicity he has gotten for our club this year. -And then there’s our Treasurer, Phil Nielsen, who has been doing that job for so long and so well that I just don’t know what we would do without him. -I bet some of you thought I was going to forget the We Care committee, headed by Kit Whitney—well, no chance. What a job she does— and like Phil has done it for so long. She and Bill and Emilie Highley did so much for George and Ginny Miskulin, during George’s illness and then his death that we can’t thank them enough. And she kept in touch with Mary Arenas during her operation and recovery—hopefully we’ll see her back at our meetings, soon. And now, we’ve had to do “we care” for Kit, who we all know has just been through a serious operation herself and I’m so happy to see her here today. —Welcome back Kit! -One last thing, speaking of George Miskulin, who was a member of this club for 53 years, this club is committed to starting a George Miskulin Memorial Scholarship at Del Mar High School, where George was the first principal of the school. -Oh, by the way, I think we had a little fun along the way, too—-I know I sure did. -And, of course, thanks to Derek and his committee for organizing this party today. -So, I thank you all for the honor and privilege of being you president this past year. I’ve certainly enjoyed it and will, hopefully, be around a long time to enjoy the good memories. -George Miskulin was famous for his “George-Isms”, so I think it would be appropriate to close with a couple of them: -“If you are going to be in the rowboat, you need to row”. -And, “we do not have to love each other, but we do need to respect one another”. —-Isn’t that what Rotary is all about, — “we are not out to change everyone, just to understand each other and understanding leads to respecting one another which leads to peace. Thank You. –Jerry Cummings .
Moving on from his eloquent speeches presented as part of our Club’s High School Speech Contest, Michael Carter was recently featured in an article in the San Jose Mercury News, detailing his efforts to create the Strive for College organization:
Michael Carter, a chipper 20-year-old, was sipping hot chocolate at the Almaden Roasting Company last year with former United Way chief Mark Walker, yearning for some constructive feedback on his big idea.
A San Jose native, Carter wanted to help high school kids get into college. “What do you think?” Carter asked during the November conversation.
Walker responded, “I like it. I like it a lot.”
That epiphanous moment between a young man and his mentor has blossomed into Strive For College, a non-profit that aims to connect low-income high school students with undergraduate mentors.
In less than a year’s time, Carter, a history major at Washington University in St. Louis who will be a junior in the fall, has linked 44 students in the St. Louis area with mentors. On Sunday, Strive announced a partnership with San Jose State University and the East Side Union High School District.
The non-profit expects to open chapters at Yale, Georgetown and a handful of other universities later this year. Eventually, Carter hopes to start 250 chapters across the country.
Carter competed in the RotaryCSJw Speech Contest in 2005 and placed first in 2006. Coincidentally, former UWSV CEO Mark Walker is also a past speaker to our club.
News from Rotary International