CELEBRATING THE FOURTH ESTATE AND AN UPDATE ON THE INDESPENSIBLE LOCAL NEWSPAPER

PRESIDENT BOB MILLER (Vice President Business Services at First US Community Credit Union) welcomed us with a timely request regarding Care grams for two of our own fellow Rotarians. Former Sergeant-at-Arms ALLISON CAGLEY (Executive Director of Friends of Sacramento Arts) broke a bone in her shoulder and we send her all our best. NORM MARSHALL (President of Headwaters Construction Inc.) is in the hospital after open-heart surgery. We wish NORM a speedy and full recovery. President BOB asked for a moment of silence for Rotarian DICK RYDER, who recently passed away.

President BOB thanked our Chair of the Day NANCY TEICHERT (Our own Pulitzer Prize winning author).

The always ambitious and overachieving ALLISON CAGLEY provided our Thought for the Day while recovering at home from a broken shoulder. Once again, ALLISON provided further evidence of her willingness to go the extra mile for Rotary! Please click below for the recital of Change Sings by Amanda Gorman and Loren Long.

CLICK HERE to follow the read aloud for this week’s Thought for the Day.

GIULIANO KORNBERG (Sergeant-At-Arms) (Executive Director of Sacramento Philharmonic & Opera) introduced our meeting guests:  and Visiting Rotarians.

NANCY SMITH-FAGAN (Director of Philanthropy at International Bird Rescue) described the Scholarships Committee, which awards scholarships to graduating seniors at several local high schools. Last year our Club made 9 awards to some very motivated and inspiring students. The Committee is in need of help reviewing this year’s applications after their submission deadline of April 15. If interested, please contact NANCY.

President BOB donated $100 in honor of the Rams’ Super Bowl victory.

ERIC SOLIS (Managing Director – Investments Officer at Solis Financial Strategies Group of Wells Fargo Advisors) donated to celebrate this year’s Youth Incentive Program (YIP) applicants. We have three new students participating this year, and all Rotarians are invited to attend their orientation on March 4 from 4:30-6:30.

BOB ROSENBERG (Inve$tnet Inc.) donated in honor of SHIRLEY ROSENBERG.

Past President WALTER DAHL (Partner at Dahl Law, Attorneys At Law), STEVE HUFFMAN and FRED TEICHERT (Executive Director of Teichert Foundation) donated $100 in honor of Dick Ryder.

Chair of the Day NANCY TEICHERT shared that in recent years, over 2,000 newspapers have gone out of business. NANCY  reminded us how lucky we are to still have the Sacramento Bee serving our community and to have recruited COLLEEN MCCAIN NELSON last year as the paper’s Executive Editor. COLLEEN received the 2010 Pulitzer Prize for her reporting with The Dallas Morning News. COLLEEN most recently served as Opinion Editor for the Kansas City Star and National Opinion Editor for the McClatchy company.

During the last 12 months, COLLEEN has overseen an expansion of the newsroom and a reimagining of the Bee’s print and digital offerings. Her priorities are holding the powerful to account, exposing injustices, focusing on in-depth local news reporting and ensuring that journalism provides a service to readers.

The paper is hiring more journalists, upgrading technology and expanding its coverage of local news. The Equity Lab was created last January and is dedicated to expanding coverage of underrepresented communities in our region. The Equity Lab resulted in hiring seven new journalists, all supported by a Sacramento Region Community Foundation Fund.

The Bee’s new Utility Team is focused on providing news you can use and answering topical questions about breaking news and will soon offer an opportunity for readers to submit questions for them to address.

COLLEEN encouraged anyone to contact her with ideas, questions – even complaints – at cnelson@sacbee.com. Thank you COLLEEN for this timely and important presentation!

Hearty thanks to the Rotarians who served as Greeters: BOB REDIGER (Redinger Labor Law) and BOBBY REED (CEO of Capitol Tech Solutions); Wine reception hosts Past President KEVIN SMITH-FAGAN (Executive Director of FairyTale Town) and NANCY SMITH-FAGAN; and Photographer JOHN SWENTOWSKY (Owner of Swentowsky Photography) the visual record of our meeting!

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We look forward to seeing everyone’s faces for another week of engaging topics and conversations. We will be honored to share the stage next week with MARIAN JOHNSTON, celebrating JEAN RUNYON DAY. JEAN RUNYON founded the first women-run agency in Sacramento more than 60 years ago. She was perhaps best described as a force of nature. JEAN had a contagious spirit, strong personality, and a true Rotarian’s passion for giving back to the community. MARIAN JOHNSTON’s presentation should not be missed!

CLICK HERE for more information about our own JEAN RUNYON.