The View – 11/13/14

Prez John Cottle opened the meeting with the Pledge of Allegiance.

Thought for the Day:  “If opportunity doesn’t knock, build a door!” — from Milton Berle, shared by Prez John.

Club anniversary: Erich Schmid joined in 1978!

Happy Dollars:

• Kira: happy to see more rain!
• Gary: good night at the poker table.
• John C.: new chair of the International Committee is Jeffrey, with support from Lindsay and Guenter
• John I.: sad that only two club members met his happy dollar challenge to come to today’s meeting with the auction paddles from the Wine and Mushroom Fest. He encourages more participation in community events!
  

  Lindsay shares her happiness.

• Lindsay: happy about the CA Arts Council challenge grant program, Mendocino Our Town, is coming to an end this weekend. East of Eden on Sunday at the Abalone Room.
• Heather: I didn’t get to say it, but I’m very happy that several people have told me they are enjoying reading The View!  I’ll put a couple of bucks in the pot next week… 🙂

Sunshine Report:
Wilma has moved to Room 115 at MCDH, and will likely need another surgery.  The good news is they think they’ve pinpointed the problem. As always, Wilma is in excellent spirits and is doing well, and appreciates visitors. Donna passed around a card for everyone to sign.

Announcements:
See the article in last week’s Beacon about our Mendocino Rotary Foundation’s interaction with the Community Services District regarding Rotary Park.

Donna reads the budget.

Today’s Program:

• Prez John passed out the proposed budget for our club for this year. The totals are smaller than the previous year, but we will still be able to have a significant impact in our community.
  

  Harold revives the Finemaster game, and teaches us about our bylaws!

• Harold resurrected the Finemaster game, which is a good fundraiser for our club. Whoever brings the speaker for the day serves as the Finemaster. Names are drawn at random, and if you get a question right, the people sitting on either side of you pay $1, and if you get it wrong, you pay $2. Questions may be geared toward the speaker’s topic, per the Finemaster’s discretion. Boy, did we learn a lot about our bylaws today!
• Harold will form a small committee to work on a revision/update of the bylaws.
• Start and end times for our regular weekly meetings were discussed. Bruce did a small survey of our club membership, and with our now-younger club with full-time jobs and young families, perhaps we should consider shorter meeting times, or not having a speaker at every meeting… Several opinions were presented by the membership, including leniency for working folks who may need to leave the meetings early, starting the meeting promptly at noon while people eat, shortening the speaker’s duration, reserving one monthly meeting with no speaker so that club business can be conducted, making the meeting shorter, making the meeting longer, and many other ideas.  Bruce will do an on-line survey for determining people’s preferences.
  

  Bruce will send out a survey regarding our meeting options.

• Discussion ensued around the budget, with various questions answered.  Every person in attendance received a copy of the budget, including club’s annual income, activities expenses and administrative expenses. Contact John C. if you would like a copy.
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  Jerry recommends a chair/committee structure for Rotary Park events.

  A suggestion was made by Jerry to have a chair and committee for Rotary Park events. The Christmas tree lighting in the Park may need to be tabled until Christmas 2015. Contact Jerry or John C to volunteer to get it done this year, if interested.

Raffle drawing: Heather and Travis both had winning tickets, though neither one  drew the joker… the pot ($125 and counting) continues to grow!

Heather’s winning ticket is drawn!