President David called the meeting to order at 12:15 with Jennifer Donais leading us in the Pledge of Allegiance and Doug Motz giving the invocation. We had many visiting Rotarians from Alberta, British Columbia, and St. Paul MN.
President David made a few announcements:
Dates to remember:
January 11th at 8 am is the next board meeting at Chamber Office
January 29th- LaQuinta Chamber Car show- Rotary will be selling beer
February 11th- Tour de Palm Springs- Rotary volunteering with the parking
Lothar Vasholz spoke about the successful bell ringing campaign. There was about a 15% increase in total contributions over last year. The Rotary Club was an integral part of collecting $6300 over the course of the Saturday ringings at Trader Joe’s. Thank you to all who took the time to ring a ling ling…
Tabs for Tots- Don’t forget to bring your soda/beer tops to the Club meetings. They will be recycled and the monies used for children’s programs.
Tour de Palm Springs- Corry Hunter gave an update, indicating that posters are available. There will be volunteer t-shirts. Corry will need sizes for those who are volunteering. Corry is trying to also get the Interact students involved.
Interact Club- Andy Brakebill gave update that the students went to Pasadena the day after Christmas and helped with the Rotary Inch Worm Float that was part of the Rose Parade. The float won the Princess Award. The Interactors had a great time, and Andy encourages anyone interested in joining them next year to let him know in early December.
Paul Harris Fellows were introduced by Rey Neufeld:
-Dick Anderson- Rotary pin with 3 sapphires signifying donating over $4000 to Rotary Foundation over the years.
-William Cosgrove- Rotary pin with 2 sapphires signifying donating over $3000 to Rotary Foundation over the years.
-Steve Robbins- Rotary pin with sapphires as Steve has contributed over $5000 to Rotary Foundation over the years. He has named his daughters Kristin and Ashley as recipients of a Paul Harris Fellow.
- Joe LaMantia- Joe has named his sister Karen as recipient of a Paul Harris Fellow.
-Bruce Cathcart- Bruce has named his son Joe as recipient of a Paul Harris Fellow.
-Merv Kolb- Merv has named his son David as recipient of a Paul Harris Fellow.
There were a few more to present but recipients weren’t present at this meeting. Dick Anderson also spoke about the annual giving and its importance as contributions come back to the club in the form of community and international grant funds from the District. He gave a couple of options to get this done so that he won’t be stalking you in the future. It can be done with a onetime donation, or with and EFT monthly from your checking account or charged to your credit card. This can be accomplished with a hard paper form or online. See Dick for forms.
Our raffle winner was Doug Motz with winnings of $5 for a white marble.
Our Sergeant at Arms, Alan Levin, was invited to the podium. The fine free badge was up for the bidding and Walter Keating was the winner for $25. Birthdays, anniversaries, and no makeups were collected from December, and Alan was amazed that there were no birthdays or anniversaries in January for all members. There were also a couple of late arrival fines collected along with the collection from the pink flamingos’ recipient. Many happy dollars were contributed including an announcement of a charity event for Old Town Artisans Studio Feb. 22nd , and a number of sports related happiness items. Bruce Cathcart related the heroism displayed by our own Ray Lopez who assisted an officer in need during an arrest event. It was a successful day for Alan.
Walter announced that they will be having their annual gathering during the Humana Challenge. Please RSVP so that he can have a head count for food, drink, etc.
As our speaker was unable to attend, Mayor Don Adolph was kind enough to give us an update on happenings in La Quinta and its impacts on its citizens. The main topic of conversation was focused on the Courts upholding the abolition of the Redevelopment Agency funding in California. Mayor Don Adolph welcomed Lee Osborne to the Council as a replacement for Stan Sniff who passed away in December and stressed the importance of Lee’s background at a time of transition in replacing the City Manager and Finance Director in the coming months. Lee will also bring his expertise as budgets are prepared for the City in the coming months. Mayor Don finished up his talk with information about the Humana Challenge. There was a short question and answer forum.
Ed Casey has been in the hospital and has just returned home. Please keep him in your thoughts.
President David Archer concluded the meeting with the Four Way Test. |
