The View – 11/6/14

Next week: Our Club’s budget will be presented to the membership.  Be sure to attend this one to understand where we are, financially speaking, and the funds we will have to support our various projects this year.

Kira Poehlman, President of the Mendocino Interact Club, led the meeting, and began with the Pledge of Allegiance.

Thought of the Day: “It is not because things are difficult that we do not dare, it is because we do not dare that things are difficult.” (Seneca, mid-1st century A.D. Roman philosopher)

Each Interact visitor (there were 13) was introduced by a sponsoring Rotarian. Not all Interact members could be here today, but it is interesting to note that about 10% of the student body is in Interact Club!

Rotarians introduce their Interact guests.

 Interact Announcements:

• The volleyball team’s playoffs will be next  Wednesday or Saturday at the high school gym — come and support the team!
• There will be a Mendocino High School Choir concert coming up in December.
  

  Donna invites Interact members to announce their upcoming events.

• Rotarian and Interact Advisor Donna S. encouraged students to post on the Interact facebook page any events coming up, so that Rotarians can show up and support the events. It would be great to see them more than twice a year, and at activities they do outside of school.

Happy Dollars:

• Donna: happy that Interactors supported the hospital’s wellness festival and race. Also, Donna’s Aunt Teresa, age 90, is living independently in New York, and Donna got to visit!
• Dean: happy to have visited family in Nevada. They had a great time!
• John C.: went to Seattle and passed his family practice boards, but even more exciting, he visited the Jimi Hendrix museum!
• Lindsay: happy for many things. 1) the students here today; 2) Interact member Hannah volunteered at Art Center; 3) the Mendocino Art Center’s 3rd annual Zaccha dinner last week raised about $20K for scholarships and apartment building renovation; and 4) the “Mendocino Our Town” project is going well — there are more events the next two Sundays, and all are encouraged to attend!
• John P.: happy because he sold another Rotary Park paving stone.
  

  Lindsay shares the many reasons she is happy!

• John I.: reiterated his happy dollar challenge — come to Wine and Mushroom Fest at St. Anthony’s this Saturday, keep your auction paddles, bring them to the next Rotary meeting, and he’ll give $5 each to the Happy Dollar fund.
• Matt: happy for the students, the food, and Father Lou’s visit with us today.
• Father Lou: acknowledged the anniversary of 45 years  since participating in Vietnam war; last year he went to Vietnam with a group of doctors to provide free surgeries.
• Brandt: happy that his house is being painted, and it’s almost done! (Great work, Matt!)
• Sean: happy about his recent deer hunting trip with family, where he saw 4 grizzly bears in one day!

Father Lou shares happy dollars.

Joe (Interact founder in Mendocino) and his wife, Ruth.

Sunshine Report:

Dean visited Wilma last week, and while she is getting better day by day, she is still too weak to come to the club. Wilma appreciated LaDonna’s visit from Hawaii last week, and she would love to have more visitors!

Announcements:

• Our Rotary Foundation update was sent in a recent email — please read it, and watch for an announcement of the next Foundation Board meeting soon.
• The Club’s next regular Board meeting will be Monday, 11/10/14, at noon, at the Mendocino Hotel. $10 for lunch.  Budget development is on the agenda this time.
• The Rotary Foundation District 5130 Dinner – South will be this next Saturday evening, 11/8/14, at the Hilton in Santa Rosa.  John C. and his wife Betty will attend — anyone else?
• There is a new vacancy on our Club’s Board: Liliana tendered her resignation, so if you’d like to chair the International Committee, contact John C.
• 

  John I. thanks Interactors for their volunteer service.

  John I. announced that last year, the Interactors served crab for the St. Anthony’s fundraiser dinner — and did such an outstanding job, they earned $900 in tips! John shared his appreciation for their contributions, and the event will have them back again this year. Of note, our very own Joe Sparks started Interact in Mendocino.

Today’s Program:

• Last year, Interactors distributed about 40 patient care baskets to the Cancer Resource Center of Mendocino County, with personal notes from Interactors. Prez Kira showed off the contents of one of these much-appreciated gift packages.
• The school sign that the Interact Club is working on should be done shortly.
• The $3000 raised from Interact’s Brazilian dinner is being sent to build a hospital in Brazil.
• Then, we played the Interact Game: personal statements were written on slips of paper by the students, and put into a hat.  As the statements were pulled out and read by Prez Kira, Rotarians had to guess which student wrote each statement. The statements were about what they did last summer, or what they want to do in the future.  Rotarians paid fines for wrong guesses, and the Interact Club got to take all proceeds from today’s meeting to apply to their projects.  Fun!
  

  Interact Prez Kira explains the raffle drawing.

Raffle drawing: raffle tickets were drawn for, coincidentally, President Kira, and President John — neither of whom drew the joker. The pot thickens!

The Interact Club.