The Santa Claus Rotary Club
Founded 1905 1,200,000+ Members 34,000+ Clubs 200+ Countries
“Service above Self”
President K.R. Ravindran (Sri Lanka) Trustee Chair Ray Klinginsmith (USA) General Secretary John Hewko (Ukraine)
t7
District Governor Sherry F. Mischel DG-Elect Tonya L. Watson DG Nominee James A. Erickson District Secretary Peg Glink District Treasurer Charles Holland District Foundation Audit Chair Terrill L. Cowan Polio Plus Rodney K. Daniels District Foundation Treasurer Joanne Kline District Grants Chair Donald A. LaBarge Micro Lending Coordinator Terrence M. Lubsen World Peace Fellows Chair Honora A. Norton Area 1 ~ John S. Thornton Jr. Area 2 ~ Anthony D. Finocchio Area 3 ~ Michael V. Maurer Area 4 ~ Nigel Brooks Area 5 ~ James N. Kame Area 7 ~ Rich Guin Area 8 ~ Debra L. Daniels Area 9 ~ Kara Schroeder Area 10 ~ LaVelle McCoy Area 11 ~ Dena Oppenheim
Geoff Pashkowski ~ President Karen Ingersoll ~ Secretary Larry Horton ~ Treasurer PDG Ben C. Eubank Guiding Rotarian
Our Christmas projects start in just four months, so start thinking about where we can get toys!
Stacey Avent Stephanie Babb Ronjon Bhattacharya Corey Bruggeman Jack Buckles Karen Buckles
Patrick de Haan Ben C. Eubank, PDG Dona Mae Eubank Freeman, Ronald J. Corey Harris, Kent Hendricks,
Silvia Herrera Larry Horton ~ IPP Karen Ingersoll BK Knappenberger James Lemmon Tim Lidster,
Geoffrey Pashkowski Christina Ratto Dave Ratto Lynsie Rigby-Scharpf Linda Searfoss Michael Sherron Sue E. Strebe Ralph Williamson
Rotary Club of Southern Districts ~ Western Australia, District 9465 Rotary Club of Bentley Curtin ~ Western Australia, District 9465 Rotary Club of Islamabad ~ Pakistan, District 3272 Rotary Club Roma Sud Est ~ Italy, District 2080
Justin Randall ~ Spain 2009 - 2010 Laura Kalb ~ Jordan 2010 - 2011 Beth Anne Martin ~ Chile 2011 - 2012 For Information on TRS Rotary: 623-326-7951
Michael Sherron ~ Japan 2007 Caitlin King ~ Scotland 2009 Larry Horton ~ Australia 2011 Stephanie Babb, Holly Brauer ~ Bangladesh 2013
Tempe Rio Salado CONTENTS
Meeting Minutes ~ July 16, 2015
2 Credits & Bulletin Board 3 Minutes
Ben Eubank, Geoff Pashkowski, Corey Bruggeman, Karen Ingersoll, Patrick de Haan, and the return of Kent Hendricks.
5 Pictures of the Week
Jim Hall from Tempe South Rotary Club.
6 Corey’s Excellent Vacation 7 Cover Story – Charter Night 11-16 World News
Meeting called to order by President Larry.
Ben Eubank : Kent Hendricks : Kent Hendricks
11 Shree in Nepal 13 Misbah in Bangladesh 13 Briana in New Hampshire 14 Rajkumar in India 14 Phil Down Under 15 Los Altos Rotary Fights AIDS 17 Chuckle of the Week 19 District 5510 Word Search
1) Attendance and other administrative matters… Karen to get everything up to date with the District. 2) Dona Eubank is doing much better, and as of today, will no longer need the oxygen tank. 3) Pat announced that our Sister Club in Australia, Southern Districts Rotary, has made a banner as a gift that PDG Phil Cordery will present to us when he visits us in October. They posted a picture of their Club Members holding the banner and giving us “Thumbs Up!” 4) Corey shared his summer vacation with us… seeing the sights in Texas and then on to a cruise which ended in Roatan. 5) Pat shared changes in our newsletter after we were directed to follow RI’s branding and logo guidelines. The “new and improved” newsletter is going to be spectacular! We discussed adding an editorial column to the newsletter. 6) Charter night will officially be held at , Sunday – July 19th, 3:00PM – 6:00PM. Hope to see EVERYONE there!!! https://www.macayo.com/location/tempe-depot-cantina
Corey had a great trip. They went to Texas and then on a cruise to Roatan, Honduras. Saw the spitting image of Ben while he was on the ship! Tried to find out if they were related somehow… but that wasn’t the case. Kent is glad that Dona is getting better. Checked out the construction site for Laird… the ground is packed and ready to build. Brian is feeling well with no side effects to his treatments. Karen has moved to a new real estate agency… hanging her license with Keller Williams Biltmore Partners. Just some major dentistry cleaning done on Tuesday which required nine (9) Novocain injections just on one side. Fun times!
Pat has a sad $ for Bobbi… she’s not doing well and may have diverticulitis again. While checking for that, they’ve also found some other issues that will require further tests this week. Happy Dollar because the new format for the newsletter is pretty dang cool! And, he has just been named the official Santa for the Phoenix Children’s Museum. Congrats Pat! Geoff is glad Dona is doing better, and hopes that Bobbi will be alright. After 1 month of hassling with a local improvement store, they’ve managed to make changes to their national contract (the benefit of having a wife who is an attorney), they will finally be able to make their flooring purchase. Ben is happy that Dona is getting better… and is hoping Bobbi will get well soon. Jim is attending a Non-profit Business Alliance tomorrow night. And he is looking forward to his family reunion in Chicago at the end of the month.
Members of the Rotary Club of Southern Districts in Western Australia (District 9465) display the friendship banner they made for the Tempe Rio Salado/Camelback Crossroads Rotary Club in Tempe, Arizona USA (District 5510). PDG Phil Cordery will be personally delivering the banner when he visits us in October.
PICTURES FROM TODAY’S MEETING – (clockwise from top) – 1) President Geoff calls the meeting to order. 2) Jim Hall, guest from Tempe South Rotary. 3) Ben reads a text message from dirtyjokeoftheday.com. 4) Karen, Kent, and Corey in official Rotary Azure with an official Rotary Gold logo.
COREY’S MOST EXCELLENT VACATION
“Went on a cruise to get away from Ben, look who was on the cruise, Ben's twin brother.” That’s not his twin. Many decades ago, Ben founded the Eubank Fertility Research Center in Austin. Although the CDC declared it a “Biological Hazard” and permanently shut it down in 1999, unfortunately there are still thousands of Ben clones scampering all over Texas and occasionally escaping into neighboring states.
This is a picture of Ben’s real twin brother, Benny Hill Eubank.
Tempe Rio Salado ~ Camelback Crossroads Sunday, July 19, 2015, 3:00 PM As his last official act as President, Larry opens the meeting and TRYS to maintain order. Ben Eubank, Dona Eubank, Karen Ingersoll, Steve Gould, Corey Bruggeman, Patty Bruggeman, Corey Harris, Stephany Babb, Geoff Pashkowski, Barbara Pashkowski, David Ratto, Christina Ratto, Larry Horton, Jen Huot, Kent Hendricks, Michael Sherron, Bobbi de Haan, and Patrick de Haan AG Nigel Brooks
Paul Harris Fellowship Awards were presented to Christina Ratto, David Ratto, Corey Harris, Stephany Babb, Michael Sherron, and Karen Ingersoll.
New officers TRS: President – The Reclusive Geoff Pashkowski, Secretary – The Talented Karen Ingersoll (who will be assisted by Linda and Sybil), Treasurer – Larry (Scrooge) Horton
New Officers CXR: President – The Dynamic Christina Ratto, Vice President – The Omniscient Corey Harris, Secretary – The Amazing Stephany Babb, Treasurer – The Prudent Larry Horton (who will be assisted by Bernie Madoff), and The Incredible Andrea Mahnke will oversee and develop Club service opportunities.
Immediate Past President Larry was presented with a beautiful clock as a Thank You for his two years of leadership guiding both TRS and CXR.
Patrick de Haan was presented with The Special Santa Award “For Service to the Children of the World”, promoting World Understanding and Peace through Rotary.
SERVICE ABOVE SELF Christina reports on yesterday’s CXR service project volunteering to help Esperanca to organize generous donations from Arizona Surgical (Ben Eubank) for medical centers in Nicaragua
Larry hands the gavel off to Christina and Geoff and receives a clock plaque commemorating his two years as our President. Thank you Larry! Your leadership and contributions are sincerely appreciated. Congratulations Christina and Geoff!
Paul Harris Fellow Awards
SHREE IN NEPAL
There has been much sadness in Nepal lately, so let’s take a few minutes for joy and happiness with Shree and Angella as they celebrate the birth of their beautiful daughter, Sanskriti. The picture with Shree is her first selfie!
Family photo after naming ceremony
Daddy and Daughter ~ Shree and Sanskriti “Though we could not take good care of the vegetables grown in our garden this year due to earthquake, it grew well. The rainwater harvesting is collecting water. Our house is unusable though we planned to demolish it only after the rainy season. The advantages are: we can collect the rainwater and we can clear the rubble on our own way. Nature is amazing. — Feeling refreshed.”
MISBAH IN BANGLADESH
Our old friend, Misbah Misbahuddaza, meeting friends at the Narayanganj Midtown Rotary Club in Bangladesh.
BRIANA IN NEW HAMPSHIRE
Our very own Briana Carrigg (Marshall) left us to relocate back East. She is now the President of the Seacoast Rotary Club in Portsmouth, NH.
RAJKUMAR IN INDIA
Rajkumar Rajgaria sent us these pictures of their continuing efforts in Calcutta, India to eradicate polio. Good job!
PHIL DOWN UNDER
PDG Angus Buchanan presenting award from Rotary International for the 50th Anniversary of the Rotary Club of Wongan Hills to President Paul Follett with Secretary Alan Sewell in the center.
This story is for Dona Eubank, who just spent two weeks in South Africa as a volunteer working with children orphaned by AIDS.
By Robin Young, Here & Now (NPR) Los Altos, CA - After the Supreme Court decision legalizing same-sex marriage, much was made of how quickly the gay rights movement gained recognition. But maybe not quickly enough for some. I thought back to just 25 years ago, when the response to the AIDS epidemic was so slow – largely because it primarily affected gay men – and how a Rotary Club stepped up to fill the vacuum. It’s a story that unfolded in the town of Los Altos, California, in the documentary “The Los Altos Story.” “The town of Los Altos is a suburb of San Jose,” said Mary Prochnow, a real estate agent in Los Altos, in the 1990 documentary. “It’s a community of Silicon Valley executives, about 27,000 people.” Prochnow in 1989 became one of the first female Rotarians. Walter Singer, a local businessman, was another beloved member of Rotary. “What kind of town is Los Altos? I think you’ve asked the right person. I’ve lived around here for almost 50 years and maybe that’s why they call me Mr. Los Altos,” said Singer, a Holocaust survivor who also played Santa Claus every year in the town Christmas parade. And then there was Dushan “Dude” Angius, a former school principal and the president of the Los Altos Rotary Club. His son Steve, a graphic designer, had contracted AIDS. As the family rallied around this favorite son, they learned how many others were dying. In 1989, Dude formed a task force in the Rotary Club – 10 brave souls. He thought a film might help educate other Rotarians about AIDS. My friend Greg Hoblit’s father was in the club, and I thought, “That’s interesting, no one is even talking about AIDS today.” And Rotary is a pretty conservative business organization – they’d just begun allowing women in after a Supreme Court ruling. Plus my dad had been a Rotarian, so I volunteered to make a film. On our very first day of shooting, Dude faced sharp resistance from Steve’s protective brothers, who doubted – given the hostile climate – that a film could make a difference. Dude and Steve’s sister Tony recounted how she struggled in a support group to explain that Steve was more than a statistic. Minutes later, Steve, upstairs in his bedroom, began to fail. He would die the next day. Now the resistance to a film came from other Rotarians, who didn’t think it was their issue. Then one day, Walter Singer stood up at lunch and stunned them all with the announcement that he’d contracted AIDS from a blood transfusion, and was also dying. “So I thought you’d like to know I’ve been walking around with this, maybe you’d like to be my support group,” Singer told the group.
Robin Young (wearing headphones) poses for a picture with Los Altos Rotary Club members at the 25th anniversary celebration of the Los Altos Rotary AIDS Project.
The Los Altos Rotary AIDS task force took flight that sad day. The film was distributed around the world. The task force members became global ambassadors for AIDS education. Dude was appointed to President Bill Clinton’s first task force on AIDS, and his wife Barbara became the inspiration for actress Joanne Woodward’s role as the mother of an AIDS victim played by Tom Hanks in Jonathan Demme’s film “Philadelphia.”
If you could walk down Main Street in Los Altos, California, you would find a typical small town like many others scattered across the United States or throughout the world. A family oriented community with quiet, tree-shaded streets, Los Altos is located in the heart of Silicon Valley. Many of the professionals and business executives who live here belong to the local Rotary Club. In 1989 when the word AIDS was rarely spoken out loud, the members of the Rotary Club of Los Altos received a wake up call that became a catalyst to change people's lives forever. In June 1989, then Rotary President Dude Angius shared his family's devastating experience when his son contracted AIDS. He asked club members to help him "do something about AIDS." Several months later, Walter Singer, who was often called Mr. Los Altos for his extraordinary volunteer work in the community, announced to fellow Rotarians that he had tested HIV positive after receiving a tainted blood transfusion during heart surgery. Members of the Los Altos Rotary Club were stunned. AIDS was no longer a remote statistic but a stark reality. These tragic events spurred club members to form the Los Altos Rotary AIDS Project (LARAP). Inspired by the call to action from former Los Altos Rotary Club President Dushan "Dude" Angius, the Los Altos Rotary AIDS Project accepted the challenge to promote awareness of AIDS through education and information by sharing the dramatic story of how AIDS changed the opinions, outlook and lives of three Rotarians, their families and an entire community. A 30-minute video called "The Los Altos Story" was produced in association with award-wining producer Gregory Hoblit. The sensitive film, written and directed by former NBC news correspondent Robin Young, captures the emotional trauma of the disease in a compelling and dynamic way. With the belief that Rotarians should take a leading role in the global fight against the lethal disease, the Los Altos Rotary AIDS Project decided to distribute "The Los Altos Story" within the Rotary network to address the world-wide problem of AIDS. The goal was to alert and educate every single Rotarian in the world about the AIDS epidemic – all 1.1 million Rotarians in 25,000 Rotary Clubs worldwide.
The Los Altos Story was distributed free of charge to more than 7,500 Rotary Clubs in the United States and Canada in 1990. Today more than 20,000 copies of the tape are in circulation throughout the world to Rotary Clubs, individuals, major corporations, educational and medial associations, public agencies, public school systems, churches and non-profit organizations such as the American Red Cross.
International distribution to Rotary Club presidents and district governors began at the 1992 International Rotary Convention in Orlando, Florida. Today the film is available in English, French, German, Italian, Japanese, Portuguese, and Spanish in both VCR and DVD formats. It is currently being distributed, along with copies of the book HIV, Health and Your Community: A Guide To Action, to Rotary clubs in developing nations. This past December, the Los Altos Rotary AIDS Project celebrated its 25th year. The conservative Silicon Valley club would seem an unlikely candidate to be at the forefront of AIDS education. Back in 1990, Here & Now’s Robin Young made a film about the club’s transformation from doubters to leaders in the fight against AIDS. The film, “The Los Altos Story,” went on to win a Peabody Award, and has now been distributed around the world in multiple languages. Robin attended the anniversary event and brought us this story.
Go to the Phil’s Phun page to see more of the zany world of Australia’s PDG Phil Cordery. http://philcoiinetnetau.blogspot.com.au/2015/07/658-western-australia-gorge-people-are.html
Tempe Rio Salado/Camelback Crossroads Rotary Club