Our Greeter today was Mike Whipple, who knows how to work a room. President Joe offered the Inspiration, Robie Robeson did double duty by leading the pledge and leading us in song. Humor was provided by our newer member Alan Kaplan. Bob Brown be on notice as Alan has a great style.

Guests today were John Bulman, Bill Leber's guest, and David Croughan, M.D., Carlos Saenz' guest, as well as Miles Sterling's guest, his wife Esther.

  
David Croughan, MD & Carlos Saenz ... Bill Leber & John Bulman       

 
Miles & Esther Sterling                       Ellen Fine

Announcements: President Joe informed us that Ken Montgomery is home from the hospital and doing well. Feel free to email him with your best wishes. RYLA volunteers are needed - see President Joe. Ellen Fine is seeking volunteers to assist with awarding scholarships for this Spring. Carlos Saenz announced that there will be a Fireside Chat at his home on Thursday, May 14. Red badgers are encouraged to attend for a very informative evening. Update on the Spring Golf Gala reveals that Anu Rettig and David Weiss will be in charge of auction items for the event. Please put forth your best efforts to acquire silent and live auction items. Cash Bash Raffle tickets are being sold by Verne Potter and Carlos Saenz - see either for your tickets. Lastly, treasurer Ed Gowen encouraged all of us to get your payments for any aspect of the Gala to him well ahead of the event.

Sgt-at-Arms for April, David Weiss, took charge of extracting funds from the following: Ellen Fine for her birthday and Doris Zwack for her birthday (no numbers were mentioned under the don't ask, don't tell policy). Bill Leber was noted for his 2nd Rotary Anniversary and Jeanette Krembas was noted for a birthday on April 15. Elaine Gennawey celebrated her 15th Rotary Anniversary and proudly announced her passing the Charter Planning Counselor designation. Joe Brown coughed up a few bucks for having his picture in the local paper and Peggy Pendleton was recognized for being a member of the Prudential Honor Society. That's quite a deal in these tough real estate times. Gary Capata just returned from a post tax season trip to Mammoth. Ron Sinclair took a quick trip to Las Vegas to see Elton John. Also visiting Las Vegas was Alan Kaplan. Lastly, Betsy Sater gave thanks for the Breeze Reporters and also paid for her entry in the OC Register cat contest.

Program: Today's program was our own Denise Jacques providing a Craft Talk complete with family pictures. Denise grew up in the Torrance/Hawthorne area of So. California attending Torrance High School and later graduated from Cal Poly Pomona with a degree in business. She later received her MBA in Human Resources. Denise married at 19. She has one son who is a 6th grader. Denise has her own business providing accounting and payroll services. She has provided her expertise in bookkeeping to our club while assisting Ed Gowen with treasurer duties. Thanks Denise. In her extra time she is a soccer referee, she is active in her church and tells us that Halloween is her favorite holiday and to prove this we saw many pictures. Thanks Denise for a very informative Craft Talk.