After President Bobby Reed gaveled us in, the Thought for the Day was presented by PP Todd Koolakian. Todd had been asked on short notice to comment at the recent district conference on the Magic of Rotary. He plugged in a few details into chatGPT and lo and behold: a brilliant speech appeared for Todd. Despite the fact that Todd delivered the speech in his usual oratory excellence, we were most amazed by the AI generation.
We inducted a new member! Matthew Romsa leads fundraising efforts for CASA, Court Appointed Special Advocates. Megan Laurie and Justino Santana nominated Matthew.
Our affiliated Interact club members gave a short presentation. There are 14 members who achieved 15 service projects encompassing 273 hours!
Bryan Murray gave a quick thank you/recap on our recent Golf for Kids golf tournament, noting the bevy of club members whose hard work powered a great success.
Jamie Furlong reported on the recent club mulching project at Killdeer Farms. She encouraged all to attend a community event at Killdeer Farms on Saturday, June 14 from 9am to noon. Our own Rotary Roadies will provide live music!
PP Jim Leet was our meeting sponsor. He dedicated his time to exposing the horrors of human trafficking in Vietnam. Rotary International has partnered with World Vision to attack this human tragedy, and our club is serving as the lead club in the United States on the project. A horde of Rotarians responded with donations of support, among them PP Jim Leet, PP Walter Dahl, PP Jon Snyder, PP Wes Yee, John Phair, Barbara Arnold PP Brian Van Camp, Clayton Lee, Buddy Hubbert and Ed Melia.
Announcements included:
Fireside – next one is May 28 at PP Todd Koolakian’s home.Theatre Night – group trip to enjoy Million Dollar Quartet on June 5.Compassion Committee – Steve Huffman reported that Jim Phillips recently moved to a care home, and Steve encouraged club members to write Jim notes of support.District Awards assembly – Jamie Furlong reported District 5180 will have this annual gathering June 9 from 6 to 8 PM at Safetyville.Loaves & Fishes – we need volunteers for both the morning and midday shifts on May 29.Sacramento Food Bank & Family Services – Nancy Smith Fagan is organizing a volunteer push to pack food supplies on May 30 from 1 to 4 PM.
Chelsea Carbahal from Raley’s was our guest speaker. She presented an overview of the company’s history and current operations.
Thanking the meeting organizers, President Bobby Reed made sure to salute greeters Jim Mattesich, Matt Page and PP Bob Miller. The meeting’s Pulse reporter was Jim Culleton, with photography duties handled by John Swentowsky. The wine reception was hosted by Hadley Wilson.
It’s off to the Aerospace Museum next week for our annual Armed Forces Day meeting. Write yourself a reminder that on May 20, we are not meeting at the Greek church!
Photos courtesy of John Swentowsky, Owner of Swentowsky Photography
