NEXT MEETING: October 20, 2017

Honey Bees: The Current State of Affairs

Acutely aware of the decline of bees, the world’s all-important pollinators, the Alameda County Beekeepers’ Association is helping support their population and purpose in today’s fragile world. Come learn about the current status of their health, as well as what can we, as citizens, can or cannot do to guarantee their survival.

ANNOUNCEMENTS

• Next week we’re back at the Richmond Country Club. Hurray!
• Our tree-Planting event will take place this Saturday, October 21st. (Overaa is building it!) It’s at Unity Park in Richmond, 16^th and Ohio.
• El Sobrante Rotary’s Oktoberfest is on October 21.
• Our tree planting project will get under way on October 21 at 8:00 a.m. at the now-under-construction (Overaa is building it!) Unity Park at 16^th and Ohio.
• Our Holiday auction is December 8.
• The following Friday, October 27, Mayor Tom will give us a State of the City report.
• San Ramon Rotary’s Scotch, Cigar and Wine event is on October 21, 6-10pm at their Country Club (whichever one that is).

MEETING OF October 13, 2017

Welcome

President Connie called the meeting to order.

The Pledge of Allegiance was led by Jan. Erle gave our invocation. Syd thinks: “I do not trip over things, I do random tests of gravity.”

We welcomed 3 visiting Rotaracters from UC Berkeley:Taylor Lee, District Governor; Kylee Nebust, District Lt. Governor; and Vani Topkar

Recognitions and Happy and Sad Dollars

Oscar Garcia did the honors of Recognitions and Happy and Sad Dollars.

Tom Butt was recognized for his 37th club anniversary. Congratulations!

• Hank was happy that he was to attend his granddaughter’s engagement party. Yes, he approves of the fiancé.
• David gave a sad $500 for victims of the fires, matched immediately by Josh 1.0, Mark and Jon.
• Jan opened a bottle of 2000 Mondavi Cabernet that was gift from Mark when Mark was President, and it was the best wine she’d ever tasted.
• Alan Blavins delivered the drawing of Bill Koziol’s family that Bill purchased at last year’s auction.
• Tom pitched contributions to the Mayor’s Community Fund, which supports local youth sports. For contributing you get a private tour of the East Brothers Light house on October 21.

PROGRAM

A Double-header: Berkeley Rotoract and In Defense of Animals

At this meeting we had two presentations.

Berkeley Rotoract

• The Berkeley Rotaract Club has 150 members and is the largest service organization on campus.
• The Club has four committees, including local and international proejcts, but it went by too fast for me to pick up the other two.
• The Club sponsors an event to rauise money as part of its End Polio initiative: a 5K fun run, November 4 at 9:00 a.m., starting at the Campanile. $15 to register before October 21, $20 after.
• Last year they raised about $51,000.
• You can give to Rotary International and get credit for your Paul Harris and give credit to the Berkeley Rotaract Club if you tell RI that you’re doing that.

Defense of Animals: Fighting for Animals, People and Environment

Connie introduced our speaker, Fleur Dawes, of In Defense of Animals. IDA has a number of initiatives to help animals all over the world:

IDA operates three sanctuaries:

• For chimpanzees in Cameroon, who are victims of hunting for “bush meat”.
• In Mississippi, where the animal welfare laws are very week.
• In Mumbai, India, which takes care of 400 cats and dogs per month. This one also has a garden for blind dogs.
• IDA published a list of the 10 worst whale tanks.
• The organization also rescued 9 dogs from being butchered for meat in Korea.
• It also fought against sterilization of wild horses in Oregon

Wildfires raging to the north of us provided the opportunity for an on-the-spot demonstration of what Defense of Animals is ready to do. Ms Dawes told Jan Brown that her organization could provide a volunteer to feed or evacuate Jan’s brother’s cat, located in Calistoga. (As it turned out, a local fireman was able to rescue the cat so the service was not necessary. But In Defense of Animals has been providing this service for other residents in areas affected by the fires.)

For more information, visit idausa,org.You may also want to download a a short article about the organizations mission and campaigns.

 

Josh Genser, Rotating Scribe