North Fresno Rotary

Meeting Recap 02/18/2010

by lou on 24/02/10 at 3:21 pm

 

BULLETIN FOR MEETING OF 2/18/10

The pre-meeting began with President Elect Janet Powell greeting all members and guests with a hug at the door. She is going to make a great president.

 

LET THE MEETING BEGIN:

Our distinguished Prez Lou called the meeting to order. Terry Huntsman invoked for us, and Larry Granados led us in the Pledge of Allegiance. At the head table were Paul Gibson, and Eric Mayu, Jr. Chair of Community Service, along with our speakers Shall and Pramilla Sinha. Shall is a Rotary International Peace Fellow, about which more later. New member Eve Liu welcomed visiting Rotarians and guests, and it was noted that she was the first to get visiting Rotarian George Zangle’s (Zingle, Zengle, Single?) name right. She is going to make a great Rotarian.

 

TRAVELERS:

Dr. Pad was the sole traveler this week. Claiming that he was really at a conference working, he admitted that he got the Prez a quick gift in the airport or hotel shop (couldn’t remember which), but the club liked it anyway and allowed him to get away without ringing the bell. Soft, it seems to me, but I am just the recorder.

 

IT WAS BIRTHDAY WEEK:

Only three of us showed up at the birthday table so we invited three visiting Rotarians to join us and enjoy the cake. Mark Smith, born in Fresno, claimed that the Olympic sport he most identified with was hockey—tough guy. Hagop Bedoyan, turning 50, and born also in Fresno, chose downhill skiing—fast guy. Steve Varvis, yours truly, was born in LA, and felt like a mogul skier—bounced around a lot, and neither as fast or as tough as the other two (but enjoyed the cake).

 

ANNOUNCEMENTS: a whole raft of them

• Arc Bowling is on For March 6 at Cedar Lanes, about 8:30-11:30, and 12:30-3:30. Cliff Speight (welcome back on crutches!) will have sign ups next week. Check your calendars.

• We will host a Pizza Party at Lowell School on March 9 honor improvements in scores, and a dinner for academic achievement on state tests at 5:00 PM on March 11. More information coming.

• Nick Smaldino outlined the wine trail and tasting trip to Paso Robles on May 15 at which we will have either 40 some or 80 some attending, cost $80-100 including lunch. Sign up with Nick.

• Bob Green from the Chowchilla club thanked NFR for our past contribution to the North-South Football game, supporting Fresno High students, and hit us up for another year. A worthy cause. He noted that they have given away $114,000 in scholarships and one of the first recipients as returned to the Valley as a Physician and is a President of a Rotary Club. Seems like a good investment.

• Katie Siemens asked for the floor, which was politely offered to her, and she rang the bell for Rob Norcross who died recently at the age of 88, and was past President of the Fresno Club. Heads nodded all around for Katie and Rob.

 

A SPECIAL PRESENTATION:

Ann Castro counselor at Cooper Middle School introduced Justin Hardison, student at Cooper, who won the NFR supported essay contest. Students wrote about “My Dream for the Future.” For Justin that is being an automotive customizer. He knows what he has to do to achieve that goal—what he needs to learn, and how to go about it. Well done Justin!

 

RAFFLE:

With a full six marbles left, Dr. Pad (who got off easy on his travels) walked off with somewhere around $160. What a day for Dr. Pad. We start over building the pot next week.

 

Guest Speaker, Shall Sinha, Rotary International Peace Fellow, and winner of the
RI Donald McCray Peace Award.

Dr. Shall, an inspirational speaker, is the author of four books, on Gandhi and others. He spoke to us on “Herbert J. Taylor’s Gift.” Who? And What? We see it each week above the head table. Herbert Taylor wrote “The Four-Way Test of the things we think say or do: Is it the Truth? Is it fair to all concerned? Will it build good will and better friendships? Will it be beneficial to all concerned?” Dr. Shall told the story of Taylor’s life, not indicating what the gift was until well into the story. Taylor wrote the test as a tool for saving his company during the great depression in 1932 (much worse than the current recession), and it was both effective and profitable. He even gained a copyright on it and received royalties from it. In 1954, the year of his presidency of RI, Taylor gave the test to RI. It has been with every Rotarian since then. Shall noted that you can’t just practice the test some times. It gets into you, and you become a better human being. One question of particular interest was asked. How can we get universities to use the test in their business programs and why don’t they do so? Pramilla Sinha described her experiences trying to make this happen and the resistance she met. Being oh so polite, and not wanting to contradict our speaker I did not say anything at the time, but I do know of one university in Fresno that does have business ethics courses, and one professor, who was the bulletin recorder for this meeting, who uses the test in his business ethics course. I am not naming names, but I can say that the test is alive and well on some university campuses, one of which has the initials “FPU”–just setting the record straight. Dr. Shall tells a good story, a reminder of one of the ways Rotarians make the world a better place.

 

New Reporter STEVE VARVIS. Awesome!