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PETALUMA VALLEY ROTARY

VIEWPOINT

Wednesday, January 9, 2008 convened by President Sally, theme for the year ‘Rotary Shares’. President Sally held a moment of silence

Forrest F. led the pledge.

Thought of the Day: Provided by Mo Francis: “A college education seldom hurts a man if he’s willing to learn a little something after he graduates. I am still learning.” A favorite saying of Michelangelo.

VISITING ROTARIANS: Jeannette Clark (Petaluma Rotary, real estate); Dale Ann Knight (Rohnert Park-Cotati, insurance, and our very own Assistant Governor); Daymon Doss (Petaluma Sunrise, health administration);Jim Becker (Petaluma Rotary, insurance)

VISITORS: Jim Gillday (SRJC, Rotaract member of South Sonoma County); Ray (grandson of Sue and Walt); Joel Baker (Joel Baker Catering); Attila Pentzell; Will Johnson (husband of Sally) and a very nice man who is the cousin of Sally (who’s name went right by this editor); Collette Mushoe (Children’s Museum) and Daniel Oshmoor (Economics Foundation); and Jason (friend of Mo J.).

ANNOUNCEMENTS / EVENTS.

Golf Tournament – tomorrow (Thursday) evening 6 PM Rooster Run organizational meeting for the tournament. New things for this year’s event – reception will be held outside; sit-down dinner with the award of the Harold Alexander scholarships. Goal is $13,000 to be raised.

Day at the Races – January 11^th, bus is sold out except for two tickets (available from Pam and Sam Tuft, call Jim F. if you’re interested).

Dawn gave an update on the Foundation Dinner – Friedman Event Center , confirmed and paid 144 attendees.

Wells Fargo Center – January 16^th speaker on the U2 incident, check with Sally or local listings for the details.

Board meeting changed to January 22^nd; Russell will be in charge for the Club meeting the previous week.

High School Opportunity Night – January 30^th, sign up now to participate in this great, rewarding, fun-filled evening working with high school seniors on interview skills.

Libby gave an update to South County Rotaract progress, seeking new members 18 – 30 years of age. Thursday, January 24^th 6 – 8 PM at Rooster Run is the introductory and informational meeting.

January 31^st – SCARC – hosted by Rohnert Park-Cotati, sign up through Walt now to not miss the great event.

February 16^th – Shadi’s mid-life crisis; performance that everyone should attend, proceeds go to Mentor Me Petaluma. Event will be at the Moose Club so get your tickets early.

March 14^th – March 29^th – tour with Rotary Wheel Foundation to Vietnam . Purpose of trip is to deliver wheelchairs (not sure how to get in on this but I bet the District website has information.

Pedro, our exchange student, needs to spend time with our Rotary families as Matt and Jennifer have been putting in really long hours saving pets and helping out fellow Rotarians in need (this editor is especially grateful for their incredible warmth, understanding, and assistance).

Ellie thanked the Club for the great event this past weekend at Cinnabar Theater; thanked Sue for the most wonderful pastries and sweets and presented a $1340 check for the Lend A Hand to Education program to President Sally.

Business Things: Billing procedures were shared with the members. Jennifer offered to explain if you have any questions.

Walt provided the monthly report for attendance: 76.3% (not too good folks!!).

HAPPY DOLLARS, FINES, ETC.:

Forrest turned 87 yesterday and the Club joined together to sing him Happy Birthday.

SHOWERS: Chuck Hartley passed away peacefully in his sleep last evening; our love and sympathy to Loretta and Chuck’s family.

Raffle: The wrong marble was selected by Jim Furuli.

PROGRAM:

Collette Musho, graphic designer by training, 2 children and wonderful husband Steve who works at Pixar. Early in marriage she realized that we didn’t have a children museum and started efforts to put it into reality.

Incredibly important what happens to a child birth to 5 years! Introduced Daniel, associated with the museum effort from the economic and financing standpoint. Collette shared a great example of the museum moving exhibits (involved a spoon and string, your ears and the edge of the table). Ray got to try it first. Result: a really neat tone and echo reminiscent of a church bell heard from a distance.

Daniel shared information on an event involving scientific presentations with over 50 people attending each event. The new world is changing childhood as we know it, science is becoming a quiet crisis – harder and harder to let a child have a real childhood with encouraging and interactive education about science.

The museum offers children an opportunity to “touch things”. Collette had great slides of kids building things on a magnet table, and interacting with other museum activities. Museums get kids excited about understanding and exploring the world of science.

Accomplishments to date: Research, research, and more research resulted in the development of a museum-on-the-go in the back of a trailer. Average per event: 166 kids. Exhibits are low tech, built by volunteers. This is a Sonoma County cultural resource. They are now fund-raising to buy a site near the Shultz Museum , collaborating with schools and non-profit organizations to help pay for site visits.

Collette shared a conceptual drawing of The Vision identifying all of the components of a Children’s Museum: ultimately 18,000 square feet with four gallery areas, and outside activity area. Interesting note: Sonoma County had a children’s museum which shut down in 1993.

Status quo is not good enough, we need to raise critical thinkers so that we have a future 50 years from now. Collette encouraged participation in the support for creating the Museum.

Your hapless Editor,