


Our March 3 meeting was held via zoom only because of covid concerns.
Turnout was small- 15 stalwart members, no guests.
The meeting was also short because we had no guest speaker.

Co-Prez Kendra was flush with excitement at her joke of the day:
Why were lawyers created?
So that toilet plungers would have something to look down on.
Laura reminded us that International Women's Day is 3/19. Please sign up to carpool to the Rotary International event in San Jose.
Last year there were 120 attendees, about 1/3 were non-Rotarians.

25 members and a few guests attended.

Food was brought in by Rotary Owned Catering business Busy Bee's Cafe & Catering and served buffet via buffet- as was a generous assortment of wine. No corkage fee.
No jokes about changing water into it please.

Busy Bee's Chef Ty pictured with Co Prez Kendra, and the lovely buffet we were served! Feb 23rd's menu was Meat Loaf, Mashed Potatoes, Green Bean Salad and those amazing rolls we have all come to adore!!
Members:
Apologies for the late Hubs- emergency motions filed by opposing counsel in 2 cases and a sick wife and paralegal (2 different women but equal goddesses) have impeded progress. All are well and justice prevailed.
Rep. Jimmy Panetta pictured with Club Co-Presidents Kendra Cleary & Laura Grinder
Our February 16, 2023 lunch meeting was at Seascape. We had 31 members and guests attend. We were in the little room due to Seascape Construction. Our Speaker was our Congressman Jimmy Panetta, who absolutely noticed and commented on the smallness of the room we were in. No luck convincing him that our group size had increased and fill the room better!!


In 2022 our Grant Recipient organizations were:
For Kids Foundation Monterey Bay https://www.forkidsfoundationmontereybay.org/
Grey Bears https://greybears.org/
Monarch Services https://www.monarchscc.org/
Pajaro Valley Loaves and Fishes https://www.pvloavesandfishes.org/
Safe Schools Project https://safeschoolsproject.org/
Santa Cruz Symphony https://santacruzsymphony.org/classical-music-classrooms
Veterans Memorial Building: https://www.veteranshall.org/revised-home-page/
Volunteer Center, Literacy Project: https://scvolunteercenter.org/programs/literacy-program/
Siena House https://www.sienahouse.org/what-we-do
Teen Kitchen Project https://teenkitchenproject.org/about-us/
Walnut Avenue Center http://www.wafwc.org/whoweare
Your Future Is Our Business https://yfiob.org/about-us/
Meals on Wheels of Santa Cruz County https://communitybridges.org/mealsonwheels/




In 2000, John was a recipient of the KSBW distinguished Jefferson Award presented to those who have exhibited outstanding service to their community as a volunteer. He traveled to Washington, D.C. to receive this award in the chambers of the U.S. Supreme Court.
hospitalized for treatment in a CO military facility. Vera was a nurse in that hospital. They fell in love, Vera resigned her commission and after Henry's recovery began their lifelong marriage, which brought them to Sacramento.
Henry's business relationships led him to his first Rotary Club where he thrived in the "Service Above Self" philosophy. After relocating to Aptos, he became a member of The Rotary Club of Soquel in 1965, and remained a member until his death in 1984. His personable soft-spoken manner combined with vision & common sense made him a popular Rotarian and accounted for his long service as Club Secretary where he guided many Club Presidents during the 70's & 80's. Henry's vision of a Club Foundation to extend its capabilities to serve the community came to fruition, and in 1986 Vera established the Piatt Trust, which culminated in the Graduate Fellowship as it exists today. Vera passed on in 2007.
Henry and Vera Piatt Fellowship is for Graduate Studies in the STEM Disciplines. The Piatt Fellowship provides a single award annually of $15,000 to a graduate of a Santa Cruz County Public High School who is pursuing a graduate degree at UC Santa Cruz in one of the science, technology, engineering or mathematics (STEM) disciplines during the academic year following their application. 🧬🔬🧫🧪🔭
The Henry and Vera Piatt Fellows are:












Our 2/2/23 lunch meeting was at the Fairfield Inn on 41st Ave. in Capitola-a few hundred yards West of the Capitola Mall.
Informal poll shows the attendees generally liked the room. Busy Bee's catered the meal. Michele the co-owner is a member of Santa Cruz Rotary and also catered deposed-President Ken’s debunking, informal food reviews were also mostly positive and Michelle came by at the end of our meeting to introduce herself and thank us for the business! The owner of the Fairfield Inn is a fan of Rotary--believes in and supports our mission and seems eager to accommodate us--a marked change from indifference/annoyance.The board is soliciting further input on the location, venue amenities, parking, food, attitude….Nelson sent out a schedule of the next several meetings- make sure to read it and to NOT show up someplace where you are the only attendee.And please RSVP!

Our January 26, 2023 lunch was at Seascape. Remember, our February 2 lunch is at the Fairfield Inn on 41st Ave. in Capitola. Do not go to Seascape at noon unless you want to avoid all of us AND get a $20 fine.
We had 18 attendees in person and 4 on zoom.
Kendra ran the meeting with her usual charisma and organization- impeded only by a new microphone system that randomly disconnected and announced the disconnection in a Lauren Bacall-esque sultry near-whisper that seems more appropriate for pay for view R rated movies than the wholesomeness of our meetings.
Kendra's announcement: PLEASE respond to her emailed RSVPs
Dr Art's thought for the day: Don’t argue with a fool in public because people might confuse the two of you. (Has he been to court lately?)










“At the January Board Meeting club our club has pledged $4000 to go directly to our Emergency Storm Fund, but one thing we have learned from living through the ‘89 quake and the‘95 Levee breach and the ‘98 El Niño, is that cleanup will be a marathon not a sprint.
The only stipulation the board put on the committed funds is that it needs to be spent on or in conjunction with a project where we Rotarians are “boots on the ground” involved, we will not just be cutting a check to another organization and hoping they use the funds for storm response.”


We had about 20 attendees in person plus 4 on zoom.
Dave was there in person- nice to see him again in person especially with his charming granddaughter-guest Ashleigh. Also nice to have Trish back and Jimmy K made it too. Good to have the full contingent of club lawyers.
Al did a very hip welcome song on his keyboard a la Herbie Hancock. Rumor is that Sam is working on a Hendrix-styled rendition of the 4 Way Test song. Think Purple Haze/Rotary.
Co-President Kendra ran the meeting and had a few announcements. Secret one- the reconnaissance team for an alternate venue was very pleased with the Fairfield Inn on 41st Ave.- working on a test run there soon. Watch this space and your e-mail inbox.
Kendra also relayed that we had over- volunteered for storm-related cleanup. The City of Capitola couldn't handle all of us, State Parks said they would only allow Rangers to help. So Kendra gave her contact info to the Volunteer Center and told us to stand by. More on that adventure below.
Thought of the day Dr Art: mask up and join for cleanup.
Dr Art was also the Detective. He asked several of the members to tell us how the storms had changed their lives. Most of us reported nearly no effects, but Co-prez Laura had enough happen to make up for that: long power outages, trees down, road blocked and a tornado (Auntie Em!! Are we in Kansas?)
Trish told about all the damage she saw at the beach.
Our guest speaker was Kent Benedict MD, a friend of Dr. Art's. He gave a talk and power point (slide show of the 21st century) on a 37 day pilgrimage hike that he and his wife Paula took over the Pyrenees in Southern France into Spain and over the Galicios Camino de Santiago and eventually to the Spanish Coast.


15 intrepid members braved wind and rain to attend in person and 13 of them braved the lunch (kidding?)
4 members attended by zoom. The rest of y'all best have notes from PG&E that you were without power or equally convincing excuses for not at least zooming lest 'ye be fined (Assuming a Sgt at Arms attends)...(your reporter had a deposition all day 1/12/23 and you don't want to know).
Konstantin attended in full storm regalia which even matched- a tribute to his European stylishness.
Sam led us in the Welcome Song and 4 Way test song.
Mardi zoomed us a presentation about the Christmas gifts to the Watsonville Nursing Center- it was touching to hear and see how grateful the seniors were and how much small things meant to them.
Mardi also presented a rousing montage of photos of Capitola Aptos Rotary's Greatest Hits of 2022 Video here
None of the Red Badgers, which will not excuse them from fines nor giving their requisite autobiographies.
But as an additional affront, since they all whimped out in their debut we had no program. Co-President Kendra filled the time nicely. We won First Place in the Community Groups Division for our Christmas Lights exhibit at the County Fair!!! Congrats to all who planned, set-up, maintained and took down! Video here.








Pledge Follies. Seascape’s American flag also attended, so we did not have to salute a virtual flag. Co-President Laura Grinder virtually missed seeing the real flag but recovered and did a great job leading the meeting.


CPOM Laura Grinder ran the meeting with pizzaz and efficiency.

Al brought his smaller keyboard, but size doesn't matter as much as performance and Al's piano sounded way better than the Seascape upright, which is still in absentia (with the flag). It is also free.
Guest and Visitors:
Perennial visiting Rotarian Anders Pers is in town for a while to escape the Swedish winters. And it is nice to have Bill Gray back from his yacht club-living in Washington.
Honorary member Yvette Brooks also made it in person, adding to the ambiance.
Sue Lawson’s friend and our RYE alumni Celine Jolly honored us again with her presence, all the way from France; she still likes us enough to spend time here!
Also nice to see Eric Costello in person, setting the fashion trend with his suit and tie.

Our October 6 meeting was at Seascape (that isn't going to be news for awhile).
We had 27 attendees in person and Jimmy K on zoom
CO-Prez Laura hosted
Sue Lawson's former French exchange student Celine returned after 8 years. Celine was a sophomore at AHS in 2014 and is now a landscape engineer, traveling the world before starting work. C'est un femme charmante. Unclear why she is not a Rotarian with all of our positive influence.



Anders was in attendance- great to see him, Konstantin was also with us again
Lori Teller brought Dave, Sam brought his lovely wife, Dagmar's mom graced us with her presence.
Co-President Kendra led the proceedings and festivities.
Sam led us in the Welcome Song with a rousing guitar variation and the 4 way Test song, augmented by Kelly's chorus from Running Bear.
Sam also told a short joke that was both misogynistic and accurate.
Kendra reported that the Chamber Showcase was a great success- we had a booth at the 10th hole and great participation. Kudos to Doug Deaver for all the work he put into it.


We had 22 members in person, Jimmy and Sue on zoom.
Kendra presided and has glided into the role with far more class and ease than her predecessor (says the IPP, not referring to previous CPOM!).
Dr. Art, consensus nominee for Man of the Year (write-in for Man of the Decade) gave the thought for the day: to do well in old age we have to start early. Not sure what that means but your author started drinking at 16 and hopes that counts.
It was also Dr Art's anniversary, so much to celebrate.






















Constantine told the joke of the day- quite funny but not fit for print









