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

Opening The Meeting:

First, thank you to Matthew Henry for writing the bulletin for the last two weeks. He is so much more entertaining to read than me!

President Julia had a song for us today on…. science! Doug Landan led us in the Pledge, Five-Way Test and Reflection.  He had some good words for a former Rotarian.

Visitors:

Only one, our guest speaker Mike Roa

Sunshine Report:

Nada

50/50 Drawing:

$146 in the pot with 6 marbles.  Patty Kolin had her number drawn, but she did not draw the blue marble.  More money for someone next week!

Joke of the Day:

A man goes to see his priest and says, “Father my dog just died. He was like family to me. Could you give him a proper funeral service?”

The priest looks at him, shocked. “Son, we don’t do funerals for animals in the Catholic Church. But there is a Baptist church down the road…maybe they’d be willing to help.”

The man nods and says, “Thank you, Father. I’ll go ask them. Do you think a $5000 donation would be enough for the service?”

The priest’s eyes widen. “Wait, wait, my son! Why didn’t you tell me your dog was Catholic?”

Secret Greeter:

Today it was Patty Kolin, and she felt none of us did a good job in greeting. Wakeup call! Let’s all be a bit more conscientious with our greetings when we get to the meeting.

Giro Bello Recap:

This year’s ride went well. Our ridership was down 12% from last year, but we have heard that all the recent bike rides have been down too.  We did raise $40,000, so that is nothing to sneeze at, but we got $60,000 last year. We also had more trouble getting all the volunteers that we needed. Sponsorships were down significantly. However, those that did ride loved the ride and 91.3% said they would likely or very likely ride next year. Pre-ride communication was excellent, and the registration process was a breeze for most. Rich Rossi singled out Nicole Le and her team for doing an excellent job marking the roads for the riders. Our course amenities, food, and after ride meal got high marks.  What did our riders not like?  Crossing River Road was number one.  They would also like a bit more pomp and circumstances at the start and the end of the ride.
(Click here for Rich’s presentation slides)

 

Announcements:

1. Ann Gospe gave us a recap of the Rotary Youth Exchange social. (see some fun pictures here)  It was goodbye to Trent as he is now in Taiwan (see “Additional Picture below) and hello to Lucia who is here from Spain.  Will you be doing something fun in the area?  Can you take Lucia with you? Keven Brown found out she plays the cello and is getting her SR symphony tickets.
2. Ray Giampaoli said the tickets are now available to purchase for our Salute to Our Veterans on November 14, 2025. $20.00 each and the team is encouraging you to buy an extra ticket to be donated to a veteran. This year’s guest speaker in Colonel (retired) Misty Zelk who was an Air National Guard Physician who did combat duty in Iraq and is now practicing locally at Spring Lake Village. (click here for flyer)
3. Mark Burchill is selling Rotary memorabilia for deeply discounted prices. He has Denim and Diamonds CDs, pins, aprons and more.

Today’s Guest Speaker, Mike Roa, on the North Bay Science Discovery Day coming up on March 7, 2026, at the Sonoma County Fairgrounds.

Mike is a retired schoolteacher and now spends some of his free time as a docent at Armstrong Woods, but he is here to talk about the North Bay Science Discovery Day next March. This will be the 14^th annual science fair. It is a one day, free, community science festival sparking curiosity and wonder for science, technology, engineering and math. The festival brings together over 100 organizations, 10,000+ attendees, supported by 150+ volunteers and funded by 70 sponsors, for youth to talk with scientists and engineers while exploring 150+ interactive exhibits including rockets and beehives, robots and sharks, catapults and sharks, animation, animals, art and more. They are looking for volunteers, exhibitors, sponsors and attendees.  Could we do something? It was also suggested that we could do a social at Armstrong Woods.

 

Additional Picture – Taiwan Welcomes Trent

 

CREDITS