The Flywheel
Archive issue

NEXT MEETING: April 4, 2014

A visit from the Consul General of Botswana

The Consul General of Botswana, Honorable Charles Frankel will introduce us to  Botswana. More than four decades of uninterrupted civilian leadership, progressive social policies, and significant capital investment have created one of the most stable economies in Africa. Mineral extraction, principally diamond mining, dominates economic activity, though tourism is a growing sector due to the country’s conservation practices and extensive nature preserves.

ANNOUNCEMENTS

• The club thanked Heather Kulp for an interesting trip to the local refinery.
• John Hermanson from El Sobrante Rotary asked if anyone could be a judge for the upcoming Roteract like the ones we had several weeks ago.

MEETING OF

Welcome

Alan Baer presided over our meeting today, since president Liliane was away on some other Rotary business.  Alan led the pledge, and Herb Cole recited Stoney’s now famous invocation.

Visiting Rotarians and Guests

• Joe Kelman visited the club today from Redding.  He came down to play poker with the Hank, Herb and the boys.
• Alan’s brother, Sam Baer (with hair—maybe half brother?) and Alan’s nephew, David Baer, visited the club today. All those Baers in one room made the meeting almost unbaerable. [With apologies from the webmaster.]

Recognitions and Happy/Sad Dollars

• Heather celebrated her 24^th birthday today by working 15 hours.
• E.J. Shalaby, a recent past president contributed some dollars because he did not have to cut his children’s food at lunch today.
• Hank was happy that Joe Kelman came down from Redding to loose some money playing poker with the boys.
• Bill Koziol contributed $10 and said he was happy to be going to Hawaii.
• Josh had happy dollars because he and Jim Becker went fishing. Josh also offered dollars because Richmond Rotary is buying fishing equipment which the happy angler will use to take PAL kids fishing at his cabin later this year.
• Sid was happy that his daughter was out of the hospital.
• Hank was happy to be attending his granddaughter graduation at U of A.  He also noted that she  finished in 4 years.

 

Norm’s Nonsense

Yogi Berra spent most of his adult life in baseball, both as a player and as manager. Even though this Hall of Famer never got past the 8th grade, he is known for his philosophical observations and remarks, most of which are understood only by him. We recently printed some of his quotes and following are some more…

– “It ain’t over til it’s over.”
– “90% of the putts that are short don’t go in.”
– When Yogi was told by a woman admirer that he looked cool, he replied to her “You don’t look so hot yourself.”

Program

Leah Mcintosh, the accomplished sister of our very own Lesa Mcintosh, was introduced today by her sister.  Leah has served the community through her work on the library commission, the Richmond Neighborhood Coordinating Council, and in many other capacities.

Today she serves as the Outreach & Volunteer Coordinator of HICAP (Health Insurance Counseling & Advocacy Program, Contra Costa County). HICAP  provides free and objective information and counseling about Medicare. Their volunteer counselors help understand clients’ specific rights and health care options.

HICAP is funded by the federal government.  Its volunteers are required to commit 30 hours per week after 10 hours of training.  Is not easy and most volunteers are cut from the program.

Rigorous training is necessary to competently understand a complicated program like medicare.  The program helps eligible people 65 with the basic medicare questions: where is the local office that I enroll at, who do I talk to, how old do I have to be to qualify and other basic rules of the program.

Because HICAP is government-funded, no one tries to sell a participants anything. All services are provided free of charge. Its mission is to offer counseling, advocacy, information, and community education.

Mark Howe, Rotating Editor