Next week: We are DARK on 6/25/15, due to Debunking on Friday, 6/26/15.
(Note: you can click on any of the photos to see the full image in a larger format!)
Prez John Cottle opened today’s meeting with the Pledge of Allegiance.
Thought for the Day: “Tenderness and kindness are not signs of weakness and despair, but manifestations of strength and resolution.” – Kahlil Gibran (Thank you, Wilma!)
Visiting Rotarians: Gina and Tom Snyder from the Solano Sunset Rotary Club – this is a relatively new club, only 3 years old, and they meet at a hotel and have pizza with meetings lasting 45 minutes…. They support dental students in a unique international project.
Visiting Rotarian Gina Snyder.
Visiting Rotarian Tom Snyder.
Guests: Maggie Watson, today’s speaker; and Eula Lenihan, owner/manager of Dick’s Place in Mendocino.
Jody intro’s guest Eula Lenihan.
Wilma intro’s guest speaker Maggie Watson.
John P. is celebrating 14th club anniversary this week!
Happy Dollars:
Visiting Rotarian Gina shares happy dollars.
– John C is happy to celebrate Betty’s birthday today, and his own on Saturday.
– Or visitors Gina and Tom are happy to be here, with family from Mozambique.
– Cornelia is happy because so many Rotarians came to the Art Competition reception Saturday night — she’s collected 100+ questionnaires detailing people’s preferences for what goes into Rotary Park!
John C. pretends to be sad about giving up his presidential duties!
– Dean is happy that Joe Sparks is back today! And happy to acknowledge Prez John’s successful year, as this is his last regular meeting at the podium.
– Gary is happy it’s his last day as club Secretary…
– Joe S. is happy for two great grandchildren who were born within two weeks of each other, and they recently visited when they were 8 weeks old. Ruth and he now have 3 great grandchildren.
– Donna is happy that today is husband Chris’s last day of radiation. Hooray!
Lindsay is very happy today!
– John C. happy to not have Prez duties anymore after today…
– Lindsay’s happy because the sun is shining, and because the Mendocino Art Center’s garden tour is this weekend.
– Heather is happy to announce that North Coast Brewing Co. will be our county’s next certified B Corp!
Announcements:
Debunking is next Friday night, 6/26, please let Dean know if you can go. Pay today and it costs $40/each, while at the door, it’ll cost $45/each. The Debunking starts next Friday, 6/26, at 6:00 p.m. See you there!!
Dean presented a rather unusual Membership Moment – he showed a humorous video of Jerry’s debunking in 2008, featuring Kathleen and Susan C. singing — Dean says this is an example of what we might see next week… so come and enjoy the friendships we have in our club.
Our club’s year-end End Polio Now contribution will be $1000, which Dean will send in this week. The last recorded case in Nigeria was recorded in July 2014 — Nigeria can almost be declared polio-free. The only two countries left with endemic polio are Pakistan and Afghanistan. The Gates Foundation is still doing a 2-to-1 match for all Rotary donations, so please share what you can. He passed around the collection jar, and contributions were generous!
Jody announced that he has information to share on where our Rotary dues go, since there were questions brought up last week. He passed around a printout from the Rotary International website.
John P auctions a Jim Bertram original!
Today’s auction (a new fundraising idea for our club): John P. brought three items, including an original Jim Bertram artwork ($100); an Italian jug ($10); and a set of placemats from Kronheim… the latter of which will come back next week. (See photo – if you’d like to score this rare matched set, bring your wallet next week and be ready to bid!)
Prez John announced that last week we began a discussion to have a vote to increase our lunch price from $20 to $25. Harold made a motion, and Wilma seconded. Discussion included acknowledging that a raise to $22 may sufficiently cover our costs. Members asked whether we can decrease our costs (the answer was that this would not work). Our average attendance has been 22-24 people for each meeting — if we could increase attendance to 28-30 people, we could cover our costs at our current fee. If we raise our prices and then there’s a surplus, we could decrease our costs
Matt weighs in on the discussion.
for debunking and/or charter night. The idea was floated to increase our missed meeting fines to $10, rather than burdening those who do attend with the extra cost (which would present a hardship for some of our members, who would likely attend less as a result). The group felt that we need more discussion on this before it’s brought to a vote, so the discussion was tabled until July.
Maggie Watson, owner of Mendocino Fiduciary.
Today’s Program:
Wilma had 5 great questions for us as Finemaster, but opted to skip them and have us all pay $1 instead. Wilma then introduced today’s speaker, Maggie Watson.
Maggie owns Mendocino Fiduciary, and is a licensed fiduciary. Her background as a professional organizer, helping elders stay in their homes and helping people organize their businesses, prepared her well for this line of work. Maggie is also co-owner of Mendocino Solar Services, and author of the book, A Graceful Farewell.
Maggie explained that a fiduciary is a family’s best friend. A fiduciary can keep a family’s trust intact and can administer the trust for a family as a successor trustee. The fiduciary can manage investments, pay bills, maintain property, arrange in-home care, settle the estate, and more, which often helps family members avoid conflict.
You might need a fiduciary when you want a neutral person to handle your estate and your care. A fiduciary can serve as a trustee, executor, power of attorney for finances and/or health care, and can be a guardian or conservator. A fiduciary can do care management, helping a person maintain autonomy and best meet a person’s individual needs.
Maggie earned her Professional Fiduciary license in February, and is really excited about this new career path. Obtaining the license required specific education, and passing national and state exams.
Her advice to families: before becoming incapacitated by age or illness, sit down with your loved ones and explain who is appointed as successor trustee and why; if you need a neutral person involved, a fiduciary can act as a partner trustee with a family member.
There are 850 licensed professional fiduciaries in California. Their average age is 62 years. The license requirement is new, as of 2008; only two states require licenses. Maggie is a member of the Professional Fiduciary Association of CA (a professional association), and she attends educational events regularly.
Maggie illustrated with stories several good examples of a fiduciary’s role, and the advantages of engaging one. Getting organized prior to incapacity and death will save a family money and time. A fiduciary is a trusted, caring, neutral person who can be a family’s best friend.
Q&A
A fiduciary is paid either an hourly wage, or a percentage of assets, or a combination of both — the terms are established when the trust is set up. Families often name a secondary or successor fiduciary in case anything happens to the primary fiduciary.
Today’s Raffle Winners: Roger and Harold.
Jerry looks happy, even though he didn’t win the raffle…
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