Meeting Recap 04/15/2010
by lou on 22/04/10 at 11:47 pm
BULLETIN FOR MEETING OF 4/15/10
A good turnout for both the 11:30 Club and also for the Regular Meeting. A considerable number of our CPA’s were also in attendance. Kinda-strange considering that this was also the last day for filing income tax forms.
THE MEETING
Prez. Lou rang the bell and brought everyone to their feet almost promptly at 12:30. Father Jim Snell offered a thoughtful, “all inclusive”; invocation and Pat Bradley did a job of leading the group in the allegiance to our nations flag. Dick Ellsworth also did a good job of introducing the two visiting Rotarians and of orchestrating the introduction of the two guests of Rotarians.
Prez. Lou introduced those joining him at the head table comprised of Roger Anderson, Katie Siemens, Doyle Daniel, Program Chair, and Ed Kaczmarek the speaker (actually co-speaker) and NF Rotarian. Gabe Hernandez, the other co-speaker was only briefly introduced at this point.
SICK REPORT
Gordon Knott reported that Terry Huntsman had his brain tumor surgery on Sunday rather than Monday as was originally scheduled. The surgeon said that the surgery had gone very well. Terry is now out of the Intensive Care Unit of Fresno Community Hospital and Gordon had the opportunity to visit him in the last day or two. He found Terry to be doing very well, alert, talkative and joking. When Gordon ask Terry how he was doing, he answered “not too well, I just had brain surgery you know”. Gordon said that Terry had his head shaved for the surgery but had three or four days of facial hair. He told Terry that he looked good with a mustache and beard and that he should keep it. He answered that he didn’t want to look like Steve Bezzerides. Gordon said that Terry had just received a letter from Dave Reuland that informed him that the Club had approved a Leave of Absence for him. Terry was upset because his health problem had ruined a 30-plus perfect attendance record in Rotary.
Deborah McHenry suggested that everyone in the NF Rotary Club do a makeup within the next two weeks at another club or “on-line” in Terry’s name. The on-line make up can be found by typing in “Rotary Make-up” on Google.
TRAVELING NF ROTARIANS
It turns out that our co-guest speaker was also the only recent NF Rotarian traveler. Ed Kaczmarek recently made a trip to Seattle. He brought Prez. Lou (or the Club) a map of Seattle, some brochures, info on ski resorts, information on renting a motorcycle and a bag of Starbucks coffee purchased at the original Starbucks. The travel offerings pleased the Club and a fine was not imposed.
SPCA NEXT THURSDAY
Patti O’Neill reminded the Club that the field trip to the SPCA facility (Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals) would be next Thursday (April 22nd.) The time is 12:00 noon and the location is 103 S. Hughes Avenue. The reserve a box lunch, you need to let Patti know that you are coming and if you are bringing a guest.
ROGER ROCKA’S
April 24th is the date and Oklahoma is the performance. The cost is $55 and includes the show, dinner and dessert. Contact Lou Smaldino or Paul Dyer for additional information or a reservation.
WINE TASTING TRIP
June 5th is the Date. Contact Nick Smaldino for additional information and reservations.
PANCAKE BREAKFAST
The date is July 10th and the location is the Elbow Room at Fig Garden Village. Assignments and more details will be forthcoming.
STORYLAND & JAZZ
August 28th is the date and Storyland at Roeding Park is the place. Assignments and more details will be forthcoming.
AIRPORT ROTARY LOBSTER FEED
April 17th is the date. Contact Lou Smaldino for additional details.
EAST FRESNO ROTARY CIOPPINO FEED
April 30th is the date. Contact Lou Smaldino for additional details.
DISTRICT CONFERENCE
The Date is May 14 and 15. The location is Visalia. Contact Lou Smaldino for additional details.
FRESNO PHILHARMONIC TICKETS
Rick Quan auctioned two tickets to the Sunday April 18th performance of the philharmonic that he and Nancy wouldn’t be able to use. Each ticker has a value of $30 and the winner was Peter Scheer for a total cost of $40. Rick gave the auction proceeds to Youth For Christ.
THE RAFFLE
The lucky ticket was 5077823. The owner of the lucky ticket was Peter Scheer. The black marble would have allowed Peter to win $21.00, but Peter was not lucky enough to find the black marble in the bag of other colored marbles. I think he did win a bottle of wine.
GROUP STUDY EXCHANGE
Kevin Oflazian announced that the Brazilian Group Study Exchange would be visiting the week of May 16th through the 21st. The group is comprised of five people ranging in age from the late 30’s to the early 40’s. They will visit North Fresno Rotary on May 20th. Volunteer NF Rotarians are needed to host one or more members of the team. Deborah McHenry and Nick Smaldino volunteered to help. Others willing to host the members of this study group should contact Kevin Oflazian.
BIRTHDAY TABLE
There was a birthday table, but the two occupants were not recognized until after the guest speakers completed their presentation. Father Jim Snell and Paul Gibson looked rather lonely sitting at this eight-place table. Prez. Lou admitted that he messed-up by forgetting to recognize the birthday table. Prez. Lou did not mentioned if any other NF Rotarians had birthdays in April, but were not at the table.
THE PROGRAM
Prior to introducing Ed Kaczmarek, Program Chair Doyle Daniel reminded the Club that North Fresno Rotary has a long and good relationship with Fresno-Madera Youth For Christ. Several of the past leaders of the Fresno-Madera Youth For Christ organization have been North Fresno Rotarians. Also both past and present members of the Board of Directors of Fresno-Madera Youth For Christ are or have been North Fresno Rotarians. Presently Doyle Daniel and Chris Wong are members of Board.
Ed Kaczmarek is the leader of the Fresno-Madera Youth For Christ. Ed began his presentation by thanking the North Fresno Rotary for recently providing a large part of the funding that was used to produce a professional video that shows what Youth For Christ does and how they do it.
In the next approximate one-half hour Ed and his co-speaker Gabe Hernandez covered a lot of ground with their prepared speeches and the previously mentioned video. This report will only cover some of the highlights. To fully appreciate the entire presentation, you needed to be there. Youth For Christ is a faith-based organization dedicated to helping the youth of our community. Their motto is: Geared to the times but anchored to the rock. Kids need the same love and care today as they did in the past. Ed said that 90% of the incarcerated youth do not have a father figure in their life. 30% of the middle school kids and 50% of the 9th graders have already experimented with alcohol. JIM is a club designed to help incarcerated teens. City Life is a club is designed to work with urban children and teens. Teen Parents is a club designed to work with teen moms. Fresno-Madera Youth For Christ has 35 sites in the Fresno, Clovis and Madera County areas.
Gabe Hernandez is a volunteer for Youth For Christ and was recently recognized for the Volunteer of the Year award. Gabe is presently a student in a local bible college and is well on his way to becoming an accredited minister. Gabe is an impressing figure. He is about 33 years old, probably a little over six feet tall, and probably weights close to 350 pounds. When Gabe talks, people listen. Gabe did talk and NF Rotarians listened. Gabe was only 8 years old when his life started to change and his mother and father divorced. Gabe and his siblings remained with, and were raised by, his mother. The mother worked many jobs to support the family. Gabe lost all of the faith he had in his father. His mother remained single and there was no male role model in his life. Gabe was always a big kid and partly due to his size, he had a tough timer as a kid fitting in with other kids. As a teenager he joined a gang (Bulldogs) and became part of a “family”. He started using alcohol and then meth. Several times he tried to change his life but didn’t have much success. While on drugs, he severely beat a woman in a car in front of her two kids. The woman’s husband came out of the store and tried to help his wife, but he was much smaller than Gabe was. A group of people did finally stop Gabe from beating the woman. A few weeks later he was caught and arrested then went to jail for five years. He has been in and out of prison several times. In 2006 he changed his life and dropped out of the gang. God has changed his life and as mentioned previously, he is now attending a bible college. He currently ministers to areas that he previously worked as a gang member.
It was a good program. You should have been there!!!
-Cliff Speight-
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