Pledge: Lead by Forrest

 

Thought of the Day: Read by Jo Thorton, "What do we live for if it is not to make life less difficult for each other?" George Elliot.

 

Today's Guests:

Al Kaplan, Rotarian from the Downtown Club.

Loretta Hartley introduced by hubby Chuck.

Linda P. introduced her guest, from the Bank of Marin, Carol York.

 

Announcements:

1. Rotary Day at The Races - Jim O'Grady - please let Jim know by Dec 1 if you would like to attend this Jan 12 event.

2. Holiday Party - Libby  reminds us that the Holiday Party is Dec 1, 2006 - we are DARK that week, this is a wonderful family event for all in our club.

3. Rickie would like each member to complete the fold out card and state a family holiday memory - bring next week if you have not finished!

4. Rotary International - RI President Bill Boyd will be speaking in Santa Clara on Jan 3rd - all are invited.

5. Petaluma Sunrise Club is presenting a Crab Feed on December 2nd.

6. Dawn is organizing the Sharing Tree activities - see her for volunteer help, date and times.

Rotary Minutes:  "I'll Be Jiggered!"

Jerrie Patterson shared one of her first Rotary memories. She attended a Christmas Party nearly 22 years ago when husband Jerry was a member of our club. She was greatly inspired by our own past president Libby! Jerrie has kept Rotary in her family by becoming a member right after Jerry needed to leave the club.

Debbie Chapman, one of our newer members, remembers the tremendous support she recieved from colleagues and others when she first opened her catering business - she sees Rotary as a way to give back and is proud that Rotary gives so much to help others.

 

A Bit of Petaluma History:

Jo Ann Pozzi shared a few minutes of Petaluma's History today. Petaluma has always been a community concerned with a high standard of medical care for its citizens. Jo Ann remembers the days of Polio and some of her relatives and community members that suffered with the disease. The oldest hospital established in Petaluma was the Cherry hills Sanitarium and the 2nd hospital established in town was on Kentucky, the Parkside Hospital. Petaluma General Hospital was orignally housed in an old Victorian - Jo Ann recalls her mother's stay for 9 days which amounted to a bill of $103! In 1957 Hillcrest Hospital was established overlooking the valley on El Rose; and finally Petaluma Valley Hospital.

 

A fond memory of Jo Ann's was leaving the doctor's offices downtown and heading for a 5 cent frosty - so the other day, in a fit of nostalgia, she went up and ordered a 5 cent frosty; it cost her 80 cents but, "Ill be jiggered!" it was just the same as the 5 cent ones back in the day!

 

Jo Ann continues her concern for health care through her work with Rotary having recently returned from a Rotaplast mission in India.

 

Fine Fine Fine:

Jo Ann Pozzi Club Anniversary - 12 years - cost her $15

Linda Postenrieder announces her cat's 3rd birthday and the move of her gallery (grand opening next week!) - paid $3 and $35 to Paul Harris - completed fine schedule to ring the bell!

Maureen Francis had a bunch of finable events: a birthday in October, several trips, a brother in both the movie and book of Flags of Our Father - so she paid the big bucks $95 and rang the bell!

                                   

 

Forrest Frey Recognized: Kevin Downey made a very special announcement to the club: Forrest Frey has been honored with a scholarship named after him - which will now be part of our Rotary Club of Petaluma Valley's Scholarship Foundation - the first Forrest Frey Scholarship winner will be selected this coming Spring. Congratulations, Forrest!

 

Sunshine, Showers, and Happy Dollars:

 

Libby announced that she was able to participate in a wine crush of Cabernet Sauignon!

Dave Johnson let us know that his oldest Son, Chris has completed his Masters and retained a 3rd place prize for his work  - presentation will be in Washington DC.

Forrest's wife is doing better but coming along slowly.

Chuck wished to thank everyone for their concern during the time of the loss of his mother.

Sheila let us all know that Harvey Freetly is not doing real well and our thoughts go out to him and his family.

Jennifer told us of Matt's brother who is suffering with pneumonia - please keep him in your thoughts and prayers.

 

Today's Guest Speaker: Russell Rice, President of Petaluma Valley Rotary

Today President Russell gave us an overview and update of Polio Plus

Despite tremendous progress in reducing the incidence of polio, it still exists. Polio will continue to threaten children everywhere as long as it exists somewhere. In this age of global travel, a new outbreak of polio might only be a plane ride away. Did you know that . . . Polio is a highly infectious disease that primarily affects children under the age of three and can cause paralysis within hours.   Before eradication efforts began in 1988, polio paralyzed more than 1,000 children a day, which totaled about 350,000 children annually. The incidence of polio has since declined by more than 99 percent.   Vaccinations easily can stave off polio. Vaccinations have prevented an estimated 500,000 children per year from contracting polio. A child can be protected against polio for as little as 60 cents (US) worth of vaccine.   Only four countries are still polio endemic — an all-time low: Nigeria, India, Pakistan, and Afghanistan.   Rotary International is the spearheading member of the Global Polio Eradication Initiative and is the largest private sector donor. It has contributed more than US$600 million to the polio eradication activities in 122 countries. In addition, tens of thousands of Rotarians have partnered with their national ministries of health, UNICEF, the World Health Organization, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and with health providers at the grassroots level in thousands of communities. Eradication Status There are significant reasons to be optimistic about achieving our goal of global polio eradication. 1. The number of polio cases has been reduced by a projected 99 percent since Rotary and partner agencies formed the global polio eradication initiative — from 350,000 in 1988 to fewer than 1300 in 2004. 2. Three of six regions of the world are free of the wild poliovirus. 3. Despite intensive surveillance efforts, one of the three types of viruses (Type II) that cause polio has not been seen since 1999. Could it be that it has already been eradicated? The World Health Organization will continue to promote active surveillance to determine this possibility. Nevertheless, significant challenges lie ahead, including immunizing all children — even those in remote, conflict areas — maintaining political commitment to polio eradication. Given the tremendous progress so far achieved, the prospects of achieving global polio eradication are high. Rotary looks forward to providing all children with a permanent gift — a world free of polio. Find more reports here: http://www.rotary.org/foundation/polioplus/news/eradication.html For more information please follow one of the following links: http://www.rotary.org/foundation/polioplus/information/history.html http://www.rotary.org/foundation/polioplus/information/faq.html http://www.rotary.org/foundation/polioplus/information/rotarians.html

Raffle: Bob Hill picked but lost; Kevin got the $10.

Meeting Adjourned