UPCOMING SOCIALS & PROJECTS & EVENTS  

More socials, projects, & events coming soon!

Rotaract Fund Raiser
If anyone would like to donate money to GRA (Global Rotaract Alumni Club) they can donate the money on the GOSC site and include a note that it is for GRA. This would help us tremendously to continue growing as a club and be able to conduct larger scale projects. Here is the donation link: Donate Now – Global Offsite Care

Rotary Club of Santa Rosa
April 8, 2026

Opening The Meeting:

It is Past President’s Day! The day when the past presidents share why being a club president is so special and why you should be a president too.

President/Past President Julia, “Welcome to the Rotary Club of Santa Rosa where we are united to do good in our world…especially for the kids!”

Steve Olson, past president 1994-1995, led us in the reciting of the Pledge of Allegiance and the Four/Five Way Test. He has now been a member of our club for 50 years and has a lot of fond memories/reflections.  His favorite International Convention was Sydney, Australian 2014.  His favorite Hands-On project was interviewing the survivors of the 2017 fires and then donating $5000 to each of them.  He says each past president was unique in style. Funny, good leadership skills and dedication to the club…each was different, except Julia! (LOL!). He talked about Tom Konicek, who was president when he joined the club in 1976. He was gregarious and dressed to the nines at every meeting. He came from a farming family in Illinois. He was a pharmacist by trade. He was great at public relations…could have gone to Hollywood.

Visiting Rotarians:

Catherine Ristola from Holland Michigan and Edgar Najar Flores from SRJC Rotaract

Guests:

Freddy Zarro Nunez, Simone (last name unknown) and Barbara Leger

Sunshine:

A moment of silence for Zachary Campos (Nate’s brother and Debi’s grandson) and Corrick Brown

The Dictionary Project Does Change Lives:

Freddy Zarro Nunez was here today to thank us for his dictionary that he received about 15 years ago at Schaeffer Elementary School. It has been with him for his schoolwork all these years. Freddy will be back for our May 6^th program because he is getting one of our scholarships!

50/50 Drawing:

Peter Holewinski ran the drawing today.  We started over with 12 marbles and $38 in the pot….no winner today.

Joke of the Week with Michael Moore:

A lonely woman bought a parrot for companionship. After a week the parrot hadn’t uttered a word, so the woman went back to the pet store and bought a mirror. Nothing. The next week she brought home a little ladder. Polly was still uncommunicative, so the week after that she gave it a swing, which elicited not a peep. A week later she found the parrot on the floor of its cage, dying. Summoning its last breath, the bird whispered, “Don’t they have any food at that pet store?”

Rotarian of the Month:

I guess Andrea did not get the hint at the last board meeting! She was chosen as Rotarian of the month, and why not! She is the club treasurer and the Giro Bello treasurer.  Congratulations, Andrea!

Ukraine Update with Jeff Gospe and Curt Groninga:

Much to Jeff and Curt’s surprise, the Harris Family sent a check for $150,000 for the Ukraine! There is about $47,000 in the fund to be sent. Craig Meltzner, Jim Green, Julia Parranto/Rose Frances, and Ann/Jeff Gospe all agreed to add $1000 each.  That brings the total giving to the Ukraine since the start of the war to just over $1,000,000!

Announcements:

1. Debi Zaft says that there are nine Rotary Squares left on the board.  Each one costs $10.00. The grand prize will be an instant Paul Harris Award ($1000 value) and there will be a few other prizes…cookies, wine…
2. Susan Nowacki read us a thank you note from one of the kids who got “The Book of Why?” this The note was priceless, “More people are injured by toilets each year than sharks.” Good observation!
3. Arundo Donax Removal will be on May 9 at Badger Park, 750 Heron Drive, Healdsburg. It is suggested that you arrive at 8:30/8:45 and have a cup of coffee (bring your own cup) and have a snack.  Work starts at 9:00 and is usually done about 11:30. Arundo Donax removal along the Russian River is one of three top priorities of Russian Riverkeepers as it turns our river from a natural fire break to a bridge for fires to intensify and spread. Arundo is incredibly flammable and burns intensely and, in wind events it can cast embers to rapidly spread a fire. Arundo is also a water hog that takes millions of gallons per acre from the river every year and displaces native vegetation that supports fish and wildlife. The benefits to its removal are many. Rotarians from the Healdsburg noon club and the Windsor club are hosting another Arundo Donax removal project working directly with https://russianriverkeeper.org on May 9, 2026  from 9am to 11:30.  We hope you will join us.  We can have up to 40 volunteers.  You may sign up and get details for this great project here: https://givingtime.org/club/?club=7
4. Ann Gospe is still selling mugs from her year for $25.00 a piece. The money goes to the club.
5. We had 21 people at this year’s district assembly meeting on April 4^th. We learned a lot of great stuff about Rotary! We learned about a man from Silicon Valley, Ramesh, who has brought over 100 members into Rotary by having set up satellite clubs!  Craig was impressed by Michael Fish who talked about Rotary Foundations and how they can collaborate with their clubs for the benefit of all. Dan Landin liked another thing that Michael Fish said about Rotary.  When people ask, “Why Rotary?” the answer is very simple, “Rotary Changes Lives.”  Sam McMillan as Sargent at Arms said, “We were all very well behaved.”
6. Mary wants us to know that The Global Rotaract Alum club is now sponsored by two Clubs in district 5130. Originally Rotary Club of Santa Rosa, now adding Rotary Club of Rancho Cotati. GRA has traditionally been a one project club focusing on Telemedicine around the world to remote areas last year they added a clean water project around the world and upcoming is a Mental Health project. See them at the suicide prevention walk at srjc April 11

Past President’s Day, “Leadership is a Team Sport.”

Past President Casey D’ Angelo was our emcee this year.  He/we all know that being a president means working together with your board and your club.  He asked us, “Who helped you have a successful year as president?”

Jim Green 1975-1976 Antioch, CA

When he was a young man joining the Antioch Club, the older members may have been born before there was Rotary.  They had relatives that fought in the Civil War (as an aside, our own Nick Knickerbocker’s father fought in the Civil War).

Doug Landin 1987-1988

Dan was president of the Rotary Club of Orinda. His father-in-law got him started in Rotary and interested in the Rotary Foundation

Steve Olson 1994-1995

Lou Robb was a great organizer and devoted countless hours to our club. Lou would assign people to go out and recruit new members.

Jeanne Levin 1989-1990

Queen Jeanne was our first woman president, thought she will tell you she was not the first to be asked. Bob Higgs and Pete Magrini were her go to guys for her year as president. They had a good time.

Steve Marburger 1991-2000

Steve was president of his club in New Mexico. He was going through a divorce, and it was the year of Y2K. He had a great board of directors and a great fundraiser his year as president.

Michael Moore 2002-2003

Michael was a member of the Rotary Club of Santa Rosa West. Some did not appreciate his humor and thought he was not appropriate to be president. The Rotary convention was in Japan, and he was in the process of selling his business.  He was supposedly “not allowed” to go to Japan because of the sale.

Debi Zaft 2006-2007

Ted Wilmsen was her sponsor when she joined the club in 1995. During her year she asked that all Rotarians send her a postcard when we went on vacation…then she fined us when we got back!  In her year, the international budget doubled from $2000 to $4000.

Dan Balfe 2009-2010

Dan was president of the Rotary Club of Cambria. He said his year succeeded because he had a strong board of directors, committee chairs and a good mix of projects. He later became an assistant governor and district grants chair.

Susan Nowacki 2009-2010

Another past president from the Rotary Club of West Santa Rosa. What she fondly remembers is going to Birmingham, England for the International Convention and did a slide show for her club.

Mary Graves 2009-2010

Mary went to help the Rotary Club of Rohnert Park Cotati start. She ended up being their first president.  She credits Norm Owen for helping her with the club by-laws and strategic plan. Her first meeting had someone talk about Viet Nam and another about Brazil. Viet Nam may not have been the best idea….She had Bill Adams for the next week to balance out the subject of Viet Nam!

Fred Levin 2009-2010

(Casey almost missed Fred. Fred fined him $10.00.) Fred joined our club in 2001. Since Jeanne joined in 1990, he was somewhat familiar with our club as a “Rotary Andy.” However, it was Will Haymaker who suggested he join our club. He says he became president to spite Jeanne. He credits Jack Abramson and Cecil Humes for keeping him on track.

Mark Burchill 2014-2015

“We’ve always done it that way.” “Don’t be afraid to try.” “Don’t be afraid to fail.”

Wayne Rowlands brought the Pillow Fights as a new fundraiser for our club. Unfortunately, it did not have a cache of the old Kenwood Pillow Fights, and it did not succeed. Lesson learned! However, Jock McNeill brought Rotary Means Business to Mark, and that has become a worldwide success!

Doug Johnson 2015-2026

In an unusual swap, Doug and Tavo swapped presidential years due to some major construction projects at the Sonoma County Courthouse that demanded Tavo’s attention. Doug went to the International Convention in Brazil and met Patricia Schafer and introduced our club to Next Gen Peace Builders. He called Diane Moresi from Brazil and she was in! This was a very successful program that ended with Covid and changes in the program.  It sure was fun and rewarding while it lasted.

Tavo Guillen 2016-2017

Tavo went to Seoul South Korea for his convention.  He felt very cared for by his board.  Jackie McMillan was Rotarian of the year. Cecil Humes had not yet retired as treasurer, and we ended the year with a surplus! Fining was quite robust!

Julia Parranto 2017-2018

What can we say about 2017 other than OMG! The Tubbs fire. 15% of our club members lost their homes. We put on a big fundraiser to help our fire survivors. Doug and Tavo really made her feel cared for. Cecil Humes was officially retired, and Karen Ball took over as treasurer. Jack Geary retired too.

Ray Giampaoli 2021-2022

Another unusual year. Covid was still an issue when he started his year as president.  He had to do his President Elect Training School (PETS) online. The Taipei Convention was canceled and done on Zoom. We finally got to meet in person and started meeting at the Epicenter, as the Flamingo Hotel no longer wanted us.

Kris Anderson 2022-2023

Covid was over! Life was good again!  The biggest thing that happened her year was moving from the Epicenter to Bennett Valley Golf Course. She thanked Casey D’Angelo and Karen Ball for leading on the move. The President Line meetings “P Line” was one of the best parts.  To be able to have three other people to guide her was irreplaceable. Thank you, Ann, Ray, and Kim. Thank you to Julia for the donation we gave to the cycling club in 2017….They gave it back to us and I ended my year without a deficit. And her board of directors.  You made her feel like she knew what she was doing, even when she did not. And thank you to our amazing club for making her year a success.

Ann Gospe 2023-2024

Julia and Doug trained her. Sam McMillan guided her. Jim Green greeted her, “Hey kid. How are you doing?”

Casey D’Angelo 2024- 2025

Robert, with his constant fining, was so helpful with the meeting. Fred was always there for him.

A Few Fun Extra Pictures

Foundation Report:

The Rotary Club of Santa Rosa Foundation recently approved a contribution to the Redwood Gospel Mission in support of The Rose Women’s Shelter. “The Rose” provides emergency housing and support for women and children. The $4,300 grant is sufficient to cover over 300 nights of service including shelter, meals and needed supplies. The grant was made possible by the foundation’s Druquer Fund, which was established over 30 years ago.

The Drucquer Endowment Fund for the benefit of “Battered and Abused People” was established by the Rotary Club of Santa Rosa Foundation in 1995 with the passing of Catherine Druquer and the designation in her estate plan to help battered and abused people. Catherine was not a member of Rotary but was friends with Rotarian George Thebolt. George informed Catherine about the Rotary Foundation and its mission of

supporting local non-profits with special projects. The Drucquer endowed Fund started with the initial contribution of $53,000 and which has grown to over $115,000. Each year the proceeds from the fund is awarded to a local non-profit serving the needs of battered and abused people.

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