Rotagram - Meeting Notes and Club News

Volume 81 Issue 49

Wed, June 15, 2022

Rota-Scribe: Gerardo Chagolla

Meeting was called to order by President Zoot Velasco for the penultimate time (his 2nd to last meeting.). He welcomed everyone at today’s meeting. Sharp as a knife, he says, “usually in a TV drama, the next to last episode is filled with twist and turns and sets up a great ending. But due to the age of some of our members, we will not twist or turn, just a brisk walk to my last meeting next week.” Making sure that his ending is great.

Dan Oulweleen and Ken Kaisch were called up front for our commencement ceremonies. Dan gave us our invocation with a poem entitled, “Change is inevitable and unexpected,” asking for us to be thankful for the little things in life. As he stands at the podium he says, “I am thankful for the community I am standing with now.” Mr. Oulweleen also conducted our Patriotic Moment. He used digital assistance from television’s “The Voice” past winner to lead us with our National Anthem. Mr. Kaisch gave us our Moment of Peace, reminding us of two of the Pillars of Rotary, peace and friendship. He quoted Ralph Waldo Emerson, “it is one of the blessings of old friends that you can afford to be stupid with them.” Friendship is a very important part of Rotary, “if you have friends who are as weird as you, then you have everything!” Spoken like a true Rotarian. President Velasco had the extreme pleasure of introducing our 5 guests who have implied interest in joining our club. He introduced Bill Edman, and Sonnal Lauvva, guests of Dan Ouweleen. Other guests in attendance were Wendy Gobar, guest of Ken Kaisch. Bill Christensen, brother to long-time member John Christensen, and returning guest Rebecca Forester from Monkey Business Café.

Our Rotary Minute was given to us by the elegant and charismatic, Bailey Kline. She spoke about why she joined Fullerton Rotary Club in hopes of meeting folks in Fullerton. She stays in Rotary because the concept of service above self is awesome. “It allows me to give back to Fullerton and not think about it.” Lastly, and all jokes aside, because of her young age, she is thankful for all the members over the age of 20 and is lucky to call them friends. She received a great ovation for her speech. Our Songmaster, Bud Lang, tried something different at today’s meeting. He led us with the game, “Name That Tune,” where he gave each table an opportunity to answer the names of the movies by playing the movie’s theme song. Some of the theme songs played were to the movies, “Blue Hawaii,” “Breakfast at Tiffany’s,” “Titanic,” and “Despicable Me.” It was a fun and riveting game where all the tables were winners today. Great job Mr. Lang!

Today’s announcements were given to us by the Master of the Mic, Ken Kaisch, and Scott Dowds. Mr. Kaisch announced Demotion Night and set the stage perfectly with member Bill Hite wearing a duck mask walking around the room quacking and yelling fraud, to everyone in attendance’s delight. “A friend of mine told me about a wonderful elixir, duck sauce! It taste great! I will execute ducks and eat them for Demotion Night!” Referring to President Velasco’s alleged rigging of past Duck Race’s. It was a truly masterful performance! Scott Dowds announced Junior High Outstanding Student Awards. There were a total of 26 plaques delivered to students who excel in all areas of education. He praised Bailey Kline, Christian Esteban, and Cathy Gach, who took 4 hours out of their day to present these awards.

Wednesday’s Duck Race was an exciting back and forth between duck number 26, 2, and 18. They traded the lead back and forth throughout the race but at the last leg of the race, duck number 18 wins by a bill/beak. There was no winner since duck number 18 was not chosen. Next week the race prize will be $50.

In a hilarious segment, Recognition Master, Bill Mathy took the stage and asked a seated crowd to please take a seat. Bill is the Rodney Dangerfield of Fullerton Rotary Club, except he is well respected. Our Fine master was the lovely and talented Miko who was Joined by the sensational Ernie Delfin on stage. All fines were presented by Miko in Japanese, then translated by Mr. Delfin in Tagalog. And finally, Mr. Mathy comically gave it his best to translate it for us in English. Fathers in attendance were recognized, as Father’s Day weekend is upon us, and fined $1. Beverly was recognized for “a lot of years of marriage,” she said. To which Miko responded, “please put a dollar for every year of marriage in the net.” Scott Dawds was recognized for his 27th Rotary anniversary. He was fined a $1. The segment ended when Bill did his best at translating it all but was well equipped with a list of recognitions of his own.

Humble Brags was given to us by Robert Jahncke. He bragged that he became a great grandfather on Wednesday. President Velasco reminded him that he is “great’ so technically, he became a great great grandfather. President Velasco took the time to present a Changemaker Chip to Miko for all the great things she does for the club.

Wednesday’s program at hand, presented by President Velasco. Dan and Susan Ouweleen, Terri Grassi, and President Elect Joe Lins attended Rotary’s 113th annual international convention in Houston, Texas. The event ran from June 4th-8th at the George R. Brown Convention Center, aka, “The House of Friendship.” They represented Fullerton Rotary Club, alongside more than 20,000 service minded people and represented 1.2 million Rotarians around the world. Each of our esteemed members shared their stories from the convention. Rotary International comes to the U.S. every fourth year, as the previous 3 years are out of the U.S. They spoke on the influence that Rotary has had on the U.N. and worked on international projects alongside the U.N. “It was pretty empowering to see Ukraine Rotary. Their commitment to Rotary is amazing,” said President Elect Joe Lins. “Programs of Scale- Rotarians Against Malaria,” was presented at RI convention. Rotary International’s ultimate goal is to end malaria. This is the first ever “Program of Scales,” and their mission is to take malaria to zero and keep it at zero. Jennifer Jones, first woman President of Rotary International said that Rotary International has been focusing on Girl Power and has a goal to be 50 percent women by the year 2030. President Elect Joe Lins took the very last minute of the program to say this, “last thing, President Zoot Velasco does a heck of a Job!” Before their time ended, all 4 members presented President Velasco with 3 Rotary Club flags from Calgary, Port Au Prince, and Downtown of Houston Clubs. President Velasco said, “One day, we’re going to make a quilt with all the flags we have.” President Velasco thanked them for their presentation, and offered Dan and Susan Ouweleen stock in Rotary.