New Year, New Rotary Leadership!
It was Kerry Wood Fan Appreciation Day at ye old Rotary Club this week, as we installed our resident Wonder Woman as President for the upcoming term, with Past President Diane Woodruff presiding expertly over the ceremonies as emcee.
The meeting started with a parade of this year’s foundation trustees and board members, this year’s Sergeant-At-Arms, Sarah Hodge, and then the entrance of Kerry to a well-deserved standing-o, and then it was off to the greatest band in all of Rotary, our own Rotary Roadies, for a two-song set.
Past Prez Diane then thanked the meeting crew – Mike Polis and the Osen boys (Dick and Rick) on greeter duty, Kathy Herrfeldt on wine sponsor, and the Johns (Swentowsky and Wood) on photographer and Pulse reporter – and beckoned forth Robyn DeLong for the Thought of the Day.
After an introduction of the day’s guests by Sarah – which included Kerry’s mom and hubby, Sam – a trio of speakers (PP Kevin Smith-Fagan, Shirlee Tully, and John Wood) took turns expressing their admiration for Kerry to the gathered throng.
Taken collectively, here are some facts that were shared about our new President (some of these might not be entirely true)…
* Kerry was recognized by the Sacramento Business Journal with its 2025 “Power 100: recognizing the 100 most powerful people in Sacramento’s business community and economy”
* Kerry was also honored by the Sacramento Business Journal with its 2025 “Women Who Mean Business” award.
* Kerry was voted Outstanding Fundraising Professional of the Year in 2011 by her California peers.
* Kerry plays seven instruments. She can play the flute, and piccolo and sax. She can play the recorder and the tambourine. She can play dental floss. She can play a violin with a piano.
* Kerry is known in the Rotary Roadies as “Kerry Woodwinds”.
* As V.P. of Development for the California Community College Foundation, Kerry spearheaded the raising of $100 million, which funded the largest community college student scholarship endowment in the nation.
* Kerry can say clearly “Massachusetts” with a mouth full of Ritz crackers.
* When Kerry was born, she drove her mama home from the hospital.
* Kerry is CEO of the Sacramento Region Community Foundation, which has raised $117 million for local charities through its Big Day of Giving campaigns.
* Kerry can parallel park a freight train.
* Kerry’s and Shirlee’s careers and lives have followed impressively similar paths – right up to their singing together in the Roadies.
* When 9-1-1 has an emergency, it calls Kerry.
After the speakers, the Roadies were up again – this time with a surprise guest artist in the person of our newest Past President Bobby Reed, who slayed on saxophone to the song “Knock on Wood” in honor of Kerry.
Past Prez Diane Woodruff then shared some of her thoughts about Kerry, before PP Bobby pinned her with the President’s pin, officially concluding the transfer of power.
Kerry then took to the podium to share some of her thoughts on the year ahead, including promoting Rotary to the next generation, raising funds for the club, promoting fellowship with “Rotary After Dark”, and introducing a new meeting segment called “Know Your Fellow Rotarians,” which is the latest iteration of that dynamic duo of Elfrena Foord and Jim Culleton.
With regard to the latter, if you have an interesting story about yourself, your history, your travels or encounters that your fellow Rotarians don’t know about, but would find entertaining, we want to hear from you. Contact Elfrena, Jim, or Robyn DeLong and tell us your tale.
Returning to Kerry, she introduced her musically-inclined giving levels for the year, which range from Melody ($50) to Harmony ($100) to Rhythm ($250), to Virtuoso ($500) to Maestro ($1,000).
A concert of giving followed from there, including hubby Sam donating some Harmony on behalf of his presidential darling bride, and the ever-eloquent PP Brian Van Camp going Virtuoso, advising the gathered that Kerry is the latest Rotary band member to serve as club president (the sax-playing Rotary Rooter PP Brian is among that distinguished group, as is Roadie PP Kevin Smith-Fagan).
After Sarah Hodge announced next week’s meeting and guest speaker (Alison Otto of Otto Construction), President Kerry made her inaugural banging of the bell and the meeting was a wrap.
Kerry is as effective as they come, so get involved this year, donate your time, treasure and talent, and watch Kerry work her magic with it.