Announcements
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| This is not a very candid shot of Barbara and George |
At our first meeting of the new Rotary Year, we saw the initial Presidential pin exchanges between President George and Past President. Last week, George presented the President-Elect pin to Barbara Browning. If you missed both meetings, you're out of luck until next July.
If you have a new 'do or if you've recently had a face lift, you may want to take advantage of the photo shoot at our next meeting. Karen Burgesser is putting together this year's directory, and she encouraged us to take opportunity to "freshen up". You can also e-mail a photo to Karen for inclusion, but don't be slow!
President George took some time last week to talk about Sakuji Tanaka, the Rotary International President for 2012-2013. President Tanaka has been a member of the Yashio Rotary Club for 37 years, and he has served the organization at every level. He has been a Club President, District Governor, Regional Rotary Foundation Coordinator, RI Director, RI Trustee, and a member of the Polio Plus Task Force. In 2009, Mr. Tanaka also chaired the Rotary International Convention in Birmingham, England.
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| RI President Sakuji Tanaka |
President Tanaka is a Paul Harris Fellow, a Benefactor, and a Major Donor to the Rotary Foundation. He shares these honors with his wife of 49 years, Kyoko. The couple has three grown children and seven grandchildren.
President Tanaka continues his involvement in the wholesale industry, as a member of the National Household Papers Distribution Association in Japan. In his spare time, He enjoys karaoke. His personal record is singing 54 consecutive songs without a break.
Many years ago, Mr. Tanaka and a Rotarian friend began a local effort to clean up his home town. The two would pull weeds, pick up litter, and haul away trash. The two-man effort soon evolved into a project involving 59 nearby Rotary Clubs, which set aside one day each month for the clean-up.
For more information, directly from President Tanaka, click on the logo for this year's theme. "Peace Through Service" to your right. This will direct you to his monthly message on the Rotary International website. Once there, you can also access more information about President Tanaka and about Rotary in general.
As President George reminded us last week, "We have fun doing our work, but we're part of a large organization." Take some time over the course of the year to explore all that Rotary is ... and all it can mean to you.
SWOT With Stickies
Usually, when the Sunrise Spirit discusses SWOT, we are referring to "Serving With Our Talents". But 'tain't so this week. President George used SWOT Analysis (specifically, SWOT With Stickies) at the recent Fireside Meetings. In this case, SWOT stands for "Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats".
George pointed out that strengths and weaknesses are internal - things we have control over, while opportunities and threats are external - we can react to them and/or influence them, but we don't directly control them.
For a complete list of the items identified at our Fireside Meetings as Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats, click on the SWOT With Stickies link in the "Pages" box to your right.
Recognitions With Jessica
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| Jessica's excited about the new Rotary year! |
Jessica McKnight is heading up our Recognitions Committee this year, and she is enthusiastic (as you can tell from her photo). She introduced her group last week, saying, "We bring the fun to the meeting!" So if you have a tidbit you want to share with the Club, whether it's about you or a fellow Sunriser, don't hesitate to contact a committee member (Lori Breyer, Laura Montagna, Romi Hitchcock-Tinseth, Bob Johnson, Orrin Plocher, Rob McBeth, or Jessica).
Jessica already had some information about Rina Brodhag, who had a girls' weekend recently. "Get ready for the color raspberry," Rina said. By day, she is a mild-mannered (?) banking whiz, but in her off-time, she has a side business selling clothing. The company she works with - CAbi - does in-home sales, and Rina recently attended CAbi Scoop 2012, which was a showing of the latest styles and colors - in addition to boysenberry, yellow is hot. Be sure to check out what Rina's wearing at our meetings!
Maggie Kraft made the front page of the Times-Standard's Boomer section earlier this month, as the new head of the local Area 1 Agency on Aging. Jessica asked her to "Tell us a little about your job, Miss Maggie." She said that the organization advocates for seniors, administering state and federal funds that benefit that population. She praised her staff, most of whom she knows from her years of service at the Humboldt Senior Resource Center. Maggie said that she learned of the position when she was in Botswana serving with the Peace Corps. She was "walking around in the desert of Africa, and I got Skyped!" She plans to return to Botswana soon for a visit.
Apparently a Coop convention is not the same as a coop conference, and it does not involve chickens. However, it did involve Sunrisers Barbara Browning and Ron Sharp. Both attended the National Coop Grocers Association conference in Minnesota, and Barbara was the closing keynote speaker. She said that someone handed Ron a microphone, so he stepped right up and helped with the presentation on mindmapping. While there (or maybe right before), they celebrated their anniversary, following their tradition of telling each other what they love about each other ... very sweet.
Romi Hitchcock-Tinseth remembered her anniversary on August 16th, but apparently her husband Glenn did not. It was their 24th, so maybe he was thinking too hard about what to do next year. For her part, Romi has next year planned - she's going to wear "something spectacular" and parade all the way through Arcata. We're all invited to join her, so be ready!
Dave and Shawna Neyra celebrated their 10th anniversary by leaving the kids with the grandparents, and heading off to Hawaii, Judging from the photos on Facebook, they had quite the time - swimming and dining, of course, but also hiking and horseback riding!
