UPCOMING SOCIALS & PROJECTS & EVENTS  

Socials, Meetings, & Events:

January/February – Book of Why? Distribution to 3rd Graders

Giro Bello – June 27, 2026

March 12, 2026 – 7:00 pm – Rotary International’s Club Meeting  @ Jim Green’s house (Mtgs are 2nd Thursday of the month)
March 23, 2026 – 3:15 pm – Foundation Board Meeting @ Andersen, Zeigler (Mtgs are 4th Monday the month)
April 7, 2026 – 4:00 pm – 5:30 pm – Rotary Board Meeting @YMCA (Mtgs are 1st Tuesday the month)
June 27, 2026 – Giro Bello – Register or Volunteer now (See Flyer)

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:

Rotary Club of Santa Rosa – Meeting Recap
March 4, 2026

President Julia returns

After a one-week hiatus that had the club wondering if we were about to start a “Where in the World is President Julia?” search party, President Julia triumphantly returned to the helm this week. Not only was she back — she looked suspiciously healthy. Which leads this bulletin writer to suspect that perhaps she wasn’t sick last week… perhaps she was just sick of us. Hard to say.

Either way, Julia kicked things off in proper presidential fashion with the return of our unofficial Rotary anthem, “I Gotta Feeling” by the Black Eyed Peas. The room filled with the kind of energy usually reserved for weddings, middle school dances, and when Ray Giamaoli speaks about Giro Bello.

Welcome back, Julia. The club survived your absence, but just barely.

Opening Thought, Pledge & 4-Way Test

Sam, helping get the meeting started

Sam McMillan stepped up to lead us in the Pledge of Allegiance and the Four-Way Test. Everything was going smoothly until Sam briefly lost track of what comes after the number two. It turns out the Four-Way Test becomes surprisingly challenging when you momentarily forget how numbers work.

After regrouping, Sam shared a couple of quotes:

• Helen Keller: “Alone we can do little; together we can do much.”
• Walt Disney: “The way to get started is to quit talking and begin doing.”

Wise words from two people who clearly never had to sit through Rotary announcements.

Visiting Rotarians

Larry McHaven from the Windsor Rotary Club joined us. Larry, welcome! You arrived on a week when Julia returned from illness, Patty Kolin was about to dominate the meeting, and Ted was about to win something again. You picked a good one.

Guests

Patty Kolin introduced her guest Melia, who has applied to become a member of the club.

At this point the bulletin writer should note that Patty Kolin would become the main character of this meeting. If this were an 80s movie, the title would be something like “Patty Kolin’s Day Off or Patty Kolin and the Temple of Doom.”

Stay tuned.

Sunshine Report

Ginny – her smile is always a ray of sunshine

Ginny reported that the sun is out — which is exactly the kind of hard-hitting meteorological reporting we rely on her for.

She also shared that Jim Greene had his second cataract surgery. Is he having fun? We don’t know. But we assume everything now looks incredibly HD.

Opportunity Drawing

Pete Lescure looked mildly confused when several people began calling his name to start the Opportunity Drawing, but he eventually realized he was on and asked Melia (Patty Kolin’s guest — remember that name?!) pulled the ticket.

And guess who won again?

Ted has the winning ticket, but not the winning marble

Ted.

Ted wins so often that Vegas has started monitoring Rotary meetings. Ted wins so often that the rest of us now refer to the drawing as “Ted’s weekly allowance.” Ted wins so often that they should just name it the Ted Wilmsen Opportunity Drawing. I mean, really. How’s a humble bulletin writer supposed to pay for his kids’ college tuition if Ted keeps winning every week?!

Sadly for Ted — and joyfully for the rest of us — he only pulled a yellow marble. The pot lives on!

Joke of the Week

Michael Moore returned to entertain us with the Joke of the Week.

The punchline involved “The Meaning of Dreams.”

For those of you in the room, you groaned. You might have chuckled. Some were even delightfully amused. Those of you who weren’t there have no idea what we’re talking about and that’s punishment enough.

Rotarian of the Month

President Julia celebrates Patty as Rotarian of the Month

This month’s honoree is someone heavily involved in Giro Bello sponsorships, supports Caritas Village, and — not coincidentally — brought a new prospective member to the meeting.

Yes, it was inevitable.

Patty Kolin is our Rotarian of the Month!

At this point Patty had already:

• Brought a guest
• Helped wrangle Giro Bello sponsors
• Appeared in multiple sections of the meeting
• And was about to show up again later

Frankly, Patty appeared so often during the meeting that it started to feel less like a Rotary meeting and more like “The Patty Kolin Hour.”

Announcements

Julia had a full slate of announcements now that she was back in the saddle:

• A Rotary Membership Zoom Seminar will take place March 24 from 5–7pm. I think it should be titled, “How to get more members like Patty Kolin” but maybe that’s not realistic.
• Julia read a thank-you letter from a teacher about our Book of Why project. Student favorites included:
  • “Taste buds are amazing.”
  • “There’s a brain in a jar.”
  • “People in Ancient Egypt only lived to 40.”

If you’ve ever wanted insight into a third grader, this is it.

More stuff shared:

• The District Learning Assembly will take place April 3–4 in Ukiah. Saturday registration is $60. Friday is $40 that includes dinner. There are car pools. Ask around.
• Craig Meltzner shared that our outgoing Youth Exchange student will be heading to Turkey next year.
• Our Foundation agreed to contribute $9,000 toward the club’s $13,000 commitment to the Dolly Parton Imagination Library. If only a multi-million dollar foundation could afford a few extra thousand to ensure kids in our community develop a love of reading. *sigh*
• Julia also requested photos of the Book of Why distribution, so if you took pictures please send them to her. Especially any that you look really funny in so it can be shared over and over again on the screen while we eat.

Giro Bello Updates (Also Featuring Patty Kolin)

Ray Giampaoli reported that 134 riders have registered for Giro Bello, which is 20% higher than last year. Nice work! I’m thinking we might actually have to staff those rest stops.

Ray is still looking for volunteers and informed everyone that riders staying at the Hampton Inn & Suites on Airway Drive generate additional funds for the event.

Then Patty Kolin jumped back into the action to thank Nicole Le for helping recruit dentists to sponsor Giro Bello. She also recognized sponsors including Sonoma Clean Power, Bill Hatcher, President Julia, and Jeff Gospe.

See what I mean? Patty Kolin everywhere.

Also announced:

• Windsor Rotary is hosting a fundraiser called “An Evening in Seville” on March 28 from 5–10pm.
• Incoming President Peter needs help filling Membership positions for next year’s board.
• Robert Pierce asked us to distribute Giro Bello flyers.

Recognitions

Nicole, our resident half marathon runner

Nicole Le ran a half marathon with zero training, which sounds like a terrible idea but apparently worked out fine. She donated $50 to her daughter’s Paul Harris.

Peter proudly announced that his daughter passed her veterinary board exams and accepted a new job. Congratulations! He celebrated with a donation as well.

Dancing (Yes, Really)

Just when everyone thought the meeting might end with dignity, Julia made the entire club stand up and dance to “Nothing’s Gonna Stop Us Now” by Starship.

For the record, that’s post-Jefferson Airplane and pre-Jefferson Starship confusion.

About 45 Rotarians then swayed awkwardly for 30 seconds like it was the slow dance portion of a 1987 (1967?) prom.

It was beautiful.

And also mildly concerning.

Program

Ashleigh – Director of Education and Community Engagement at the Luther Burbank Center for the Arts

Our speaker was Ashley Morley, Director of Education and Community Engagement at the Luther Burbank Center for the Arts.

Ashley shared the history of the center:

• 1981: The Christian Life Center building was purchased and converted into a performing arts center.
• 2005: It became the Wells Fargo Center for the Arts.
• 2016: The Lytton Rancheria became naming sponsor and restored the historic name Luther Burbank Center for the Arts.
• 2017: The Tubbs Fire destroyed a 30,000-square-foot classroom building and a 400-seat auditorium.

Despite those setbacks, the organization continues to thrive.

Last year’s impact included:

• 373,318 people served
• 125 live performances attended by 189,488 patrons
• 51,670 students served through education programs
• 130,000 attendees at community events

They operate across three main areas:

• Programming
• Community rentals
• Education

Ashley also highlighted their impressive education programs, including:

• Lending 1,062 musical instruments to 36 schools in four counties
• Providing 140+ hours of teacher training
• Offering free music and dance instruction to 170 students
• Hosting 30+ live performance experiences for local school kids each year.

In other words, the Luther Burbank Center isn’t just entertaining us — they’re shaping the next generation of musicians, performers, and hopefully future Rotarians.

Final Thoughts

Matthew crafting his next bulletin

All in all, it was a memorable meeting:

• President Julia returned from illness like a Rotary superhero
• Patty Kolin dominated the meeting in approximately six different ways
• Ted almost won again
• Half the club slow-danced to Starship

And honestly, if that doesn’t sum up Rotary, I don’t know what does.

See you next Wednesday. And Patty — maybe let someone else have a turn in the spotlight. Just once.

New Member

Malia, our newest member. Say hi!

The board of directors of the Rotary Club of Santa Rosa has approved the application for membership from Malia Nichols. Please introduce yourself to Malia and make her feel at home.

Special Election

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