The Wheel – December 9, 2020

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Due to the recent concerns about the COVID-19 virus and a desire to follow the suggestions of health care professionals, the club will be having virtual meetings until further notice.

“The Rotary Club of Stockton Begins the 2nd Century of Service to the Stockton Community”
(59)

Activities

• Call to Order and Welcome! President Gary welcomed members and guests to the Virtual Rotary Club of Stockton meeting!
• Pledge of Allegiance & Four Way Test – Kevin Hicks who lead us in the pledge and celebrated his birthday by reciting the 4-Way test both forwards and backwards – Googly 2020.
• Club Officers Election – President Gary started the meeting with the voting for the club officers.  See below for the results.
• Thought for the Day – Lynndee Riley shared an uplifting video with cheerful song and dance. She made a point that we can do things that make us happy and cheerful during these challenging times.
• Concern Reports –
  • CP Riddle by Jerry Smith –Long time member of the club CP Riddle who is a retired Brigadier General from the US Army while on vacation at Mexico, fell but thankfully did not get any major injuries. Jerry wanted to let members know that they could call CP on his cell phone.
  • Bob Blower reported that both Pat and Cheryl Patmon came back from a one month safari in Africa two weeks ago. Soon after that, Cheryl suffered from a heart attack. She got stents implanted. She has also been diagnosed with pancreatic cancer. They are going through rough times and Cheryl’s health is concerning so, please keep their family in your prayers.
  • Renee Robbins, spouse of Reed Robbins November 26. Her obituary was in Sunday’s and this morning’s Record.
  • The obituary of Harley Smith in Sundays Record, died November 18 —a long time Rotarian— 1993. Sponsored by Reed Robbins
  • Kathie Diohep wife of Joe Diohep Long term member passed away November 14th

• Special Thanks Today to – Matt Grizzle for orchestrating these meetings and running the voting process, Dudley Drake for his work on speaker recruitment, newest member Leena Mittal for taking notes (NEED NOTE TAKER FOR JANUARY!), and Eric Duran’s role of keeping The Wheel rolling.
• Visiting Rotarians – Madison’s daughter and Past-President Nick Curtin.
• Rotary News: Rotary Direct – Cathy Wooton signed up which now brings the total members registered in Rotary Direct for Foundation giving are 14! Please consider signing up; it’s easy to do! Please call me (209-601-3631) or Linda Guinn (209-639-1482) to sign up.
• November was Foundation Month – Now EXTENDED through December! – Club is offering matching points $1/1 point – We have budgeted 10,000 points and have already used about 7,600 with about 2,400 remaining. Great way to get your first or next level PH award. One point 1 dollar match. $7,560+ raised for the Rotary Foundation and those would receive matching points as well! For more information, contact Linda Guinn, Foundation Chair.
• Club Service & District Calendar for 2020-2021 – Click HERE for the latest list! Don’t miss out on some great activities that may or may not happen in the near future (due to the COVID-19 virus.)

Directions for members on how to make a payment to Rotary Club of Stockton: Click on “Current Members” in the index at the top Under “Current Members”, Select “Online Payments”. Follow directions from there.

Club Announcements

ELECTION RESULTS

President Gary Frush would started the meeting with the election. Matt confirmed that there was a quorum. Matt provided online surveys with the name of the candidates on the screen for each member to vote.

**Election of 2021/2022 Board – There were 60 plus members that participated in the elections of Rotary Club of Stockton. This was the first virtual election via Zoom. All the candidates received 100% vote from the members.

Secretary Matt Grizzle	Treasurer Louis Lemos	Club Grants Ken Steele Marcela Gracewski	Club Service Bill Brown	Community Service Kathy Hart
Youth Service Dan Wright	Foundation Chair Linda Guinn	Vocational service Walt Wager Monie Kuy	Public Image Melanie Vieux	Membership Liz Hull
President 2021-2022 Kevin Kauffman	Immediate Past President Gary Frush	President 2022-23 Colleen Stewart	Assistant District Governor 2021-2022 Waqar Rizvi
	SRE Board of Directors 2021-2023
	Liz Hull	Colleen Stewart	Fred Weibel

Assistant District Governor Waqar Rizvi congratulated President Gary Frush and the members of the Rotary Club of Stockton for a successful election process and electing a new leadership team for the upcoming year.

• Salvation Army Bell Ringing – This year the Salvation Army Bell ringing will be on Saturday December 19, 2020 at the Weberstown Mall at Dillard’s location. The bell ringing will be from 10:00 am to 6pm. Social Distancing protocols will be followed. Please contact Assistant District Governor Waqar Rizvi to Sign up.

When (if) we (ever) resume regular meetings..

• Use That Credit Card at The Meeting – You may now pay for lunch, raffle tickets (minimum Credit Card Purchase of $5.00) and other purchase at the Club meetings with a credit Card.
• Potential Members – To encourage Club members to bring a potential member to the Wednesday meetings the Rotary Club of Stockton will pay for the 1st meal of a potential member brought by a Club member. For the proper procedure when proposing a new member, read this document.

Meeting Note takers needed for the New Year! Thank you Leena Mittal for volunteering to take notes for the month of November and December! Your help is much appreciated! PLEASE Consider volunteering next year (Like Leena) for a once a month (or more) opportunity to keep the Wheel roll along. Our Wheel editor will appreciate you stepping up to assist! What’s a better way to know what’s going on in your club? -editor. Contact Corie Stewart at corie@gemcorp.com

Guest Speaker

Speaker: Lonny Davis, owner and operator of Davis Guest Home
Introduced by: Past-President Nick Curtin

Past-President Nick Curtin

Introduction of Speaker
Past-President Nick Curtin said he has taken 8-9 trips with Lonny Davis to Latin America and the Caribbean. His bio is impressive. The things that stand out about him is his compassion and fun-loving spirit. His organization servers the disabled poor. On their last trip to Ecuador, they distributed 200 wheel chairs to children. There was an uprising going on at that time in Ecuador and they were stranded at the airport for 36-40 hours. Lonny made sure that they did not have a dull moment during their time at the airport by calling the American Embassy and making sure that they could return home safely.

Lonny Davis
Firstly Lonny congratulated the club for having a swift election that took under 3 minutes. He joked and said maybe the leadership team of Rotary Club of Stockton needs lend advice at the National level on how to conduct elections along with counting and certification of the votes.

Lonny talked about the Hope Haven West endeavor. Nick Curtin and Lonny Davis have traveled together to some very exotic locations while supplying wheel chairs to poor needy people in developing countries. Usually they try to avoid uprisings or armed insurrections. But some-times they have found themselves in the midst of a catastrophe. He shared and encouraged people to visit their website: HopeHavenWest.com.

Rotary has been a great resource for Hope Haven West. Rotary has not only provided financial help but a number of volunteers who were or are Rotarians. Monterey Sunrise Club has been really instrumental in helping Hope Haven West. Their club president requested permission to share the Hope Haven West website and he said that he was concerned for the Hope Haven West website. The president helped redo the website. The president was from Silicon valley’s top IT industry.

Lonny shared that they attempted to do a project in Mexico during Covid-19 and even got some volunteers from America but the partners in Mexico pulled the plug. Currently, 3 containers are sitting in different parts of Mexico for the last 8 months with wheel chairs. The hotel that they had reserved in Escondido has been taken over by the crocodiles. They plan to be there in the 3rd week of May.

He explained the model of Hope Haven West and how they collect wheel chairs from all over North America. They pickup chairs and if they need to be refurbished, there are 18 prisons, where prisoner rebuild these wheel chairs. There is a warehouse in Modesto, where they store these chairs. They receive applications for wheel chairs with the information on the child’s disability. Then the specific chair for the child’s use is loaded in the shipping container which is shipped to the location. Lonny and others go to these locations and deliver the chairs and do the fitting/adjustments.

There are a few more distributions in the planning stages. One of them maybe in Pakistan, provided all the logistics work out. Lonny said the preference for these distribution is to team up with the local Rotary Clubs in these foreign countries. The local Rotarians are an asset and makes the distribution process smooth.

Next Meeting: December 16, 2020
Rebecca Glissman, Stockton Homeless Shelter

Rebecca started her career in fundraising over 25 years ago at the San Diego Humane Society. She has raised money over the years for abandoned pets, injured wildlife, Delta Blood Bank, Catholic Charities and the Diocese of Stockton before finding herself raising funds and awareness of homelessness. Rebecca is currently the Director of Operations and Development at Stockton Shelter for the Homeless.

Upcoming Speakers

(Virtual unless otherwise noted)

December 2020

• 23 – DARK
• 30 – DARK

January 2021

• 06 – TBA
• 13 – Tom Patti, “Hero’s Presentation”
• 20 – TBA
• 27 – TBA

Birthday Celebration Challenge!!!

July finals 14/15 or 93.3%
August Wrap up – 10/11 or 90.1%
September Birthday Celebrations: 15/15 for 100% participation!
October Finals 14 of 14 = 100%
Both September and October were 100 percent participation.
November birthday challenge was 87.5%.

Birthday challenge – December Week 2:

Birthday Recognitions

• $57 – Steve Reid for his 57th birthday (12/8) – to SRE
• $57 – Kevin Hicks for his birthday (12/12) – to SRE.

December Birthdays…

Photos…