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!
25 members who had paid attention to the announcements and emails and Hub made it to lunch at the Fairfield Inn. Nobody showed up on zoom. In the off-chance some folks are just slightly behind their understanding of technology than your author- the zoom link that gets sent out should work no matter where it is sent from and/or where you are- you don’t need the physical address. Just saying…..
speaking(writing) of feedback- the sound system was a great improvement.Laura hosted the meeting with her usual succinct eloquence.Lowry was ticket-taker and bouncer- a true Renaissance Rotarian.Shoutouts to Kendra, Graham and Nelson for all they’ve been doing for us lately.
Huge Thank you from Co-Prez Kendra to Eric and Graham for doing the packing up and car loading after our meeting!
Anissa looking smashing in her red dress brought her friend Jen who is a realtor and a prospective member-hopefully she was inspired to join. Anissa also won the lottery. Champagne fund?Dave Watkins brought his daughter Jessica Pickerell who is as charming and beautiful as his granddaughter. Dave agrees it’s obvious where they get their looks from. Not him…..
Michele B could not attend because she and her son were touring University of Hawaii Manoa. We expect photos. BTW- the locals refer to it as “UH,” not U of H. So saying it that way is mo bettah.Constantine again looked smart in his European Winter garb. Contrast with Bill Gray in his shorts and t-shirt. When you’re that hot…..Also nice to see Joni Stokes.Matt wore a Cal jacket. He didn’t even attend there. If similar affronts occur your author will start wearing his Stanford varsity jacket.
Dr. Art’s thought for the day was that it’s hard to know someone successful not liking what s/he does, except for lawyers.Yeah? Well try putting up with some of our clients- you might be unhappy too….Yes, lawyers are lawyers are miserable people. Nelson and Jimmy K excepted of course. And Lowry’s dad. And Gandhi. And Lincoln. And 25 of the 56 signers of the Declaration of Independence. And those 500 lawyers up to their necks in concrete and the 1000 at the bottom of the ocean.Al rocked the welcome song on his keyboard. And because it was our guest speaker’s birthday he also led us in Happy Birthday. Diplomatically of course we did not ask which anniversary of her 21st it was.Win announced that the scholarship committee is open. Meetings are in person again. Volunteers are welcome. Shoutout to Win for the outstanding job he has done and continues to do.Trish said the RYLA apps have been sent to Aptos and Soquel High Schools. The application period ends 2/17. Interviews will be via zoom in mid-late February and March.We also have the opportunity to hos international exchange students- one condition being that we need to send a student overseas to get an international one to stay with one of us.Co-President Laura reminded us that International Women’s Day is in March and we are being touted as excellent examples of progressive ideology and sought for our input and participation. We were one of the first clubs to admit women- in fact, even before Rotary International allowed it- see Al for details.
Rotary District 5170's International Women's Day Celebration will be on Sunday, March 19th 4-7pm at The Rotary Summit Center in San Jose. Capitola-Aptos will be having a table at this event, what will be on that table is TBD... but there is a 100% chance it will be female Rotary related! Maybe something about the 42% women membership in our club?! Come see!District 5170 will reimburse any Rotarian who brings a guest for that guest's entrance fee. So essentially bring all your friends so we get our money's worth out of the 5170 due's Julie sends in quarterly for our club!!!Rotary International has raised $15 million for Ukraine relief- $225,000 from our local clubs. There is a great need for generators.Co-Prez Kendra showed us Rotary Swag and passed around a sign up sheet to augment the emails. Let’s increase our visibility in the community, especially when we do things like beach cleanups.Second Harvest is still in need of volunteers- see Dr. Art for details.Former Pres. Ken was the detective- To the extent there was any cohesive thought the themes were Black History month and the history (herstory?) of women in Rotary. Being a (miserable) lawyer, he also summarized the 1987 California Court of Appeals case determining that California’s Unruh Act in fact required Rotary to admit women and did not violate Rotary’s rights. The US Supreme Court affirmed. Paul has some very good insight into the 1984 Jaycee’s case which was the precedent for the ruling. BTW, the complete copy of the decision was left untouched on the table. Nobody wanted to read 32 pages of law? Even about Rotary?
Our guest speaker Tracey Weiss from O’Neill Sea Odyssey. She is an excellent speaker for a very worthy cause.
She presented a power point and explained the program which is a free immersive education program for 4th-6th graders. The students are taught a variety of subjects including marine bio, conservation and navigation, then given action projects to employ what they learn and art projects to show what they have learned. The program aims to have the kids understand our connection to the natural world in general and the ocean in particular. There is a ride on Sea Odyssey which is the first boat ride for many kids. That ride is also free for the kids- the $4,000 per-trip costs are supported by donors. The program has had 117,000 students thus far. About half the students are Hispanic so the courses (which were on line during the Covid shut downs) are in Spanish and English. The program is expanding its outreach to other counties via virtual courses.
Tracey said they could use volunteer chaperones for the kids’ field trips. Sounds like a free ride on the bay with trained marine biologists- such a deal.
Later edit on 2/24/23: Thank you to O’Neill Sea Odyssey for their IG post about the visit to our club!
