Friday Program:
A Magical Morning: The BBRC Holiday Breakfast
A magical moment in time – how better to describe the annual BBRC Holiday Breakfast, where the children and grandchildren are all dressed in their holiday finest, with their mothers looking calm, cool and beautiful. The heavy frost on the golf course looked a lot like snow. The attentive Glendale CC staff had the room ready, and a breakfast buffet table set in the adjoining room was a feast for the eyes as well as the pallet. The room was filled with piano music provided by our guest, Eric Ode. It was magic.
Greeters Chuck Barnes and Madeline Gauthier met us at the door with warm smiles after we traversed the frost, and sometimes ice, covered roads and streets of the Eastside. Charlie’s role ended after the handshaking, but Madeline surprised many of us by singing the invocation in a voice that has been hidden from the membership lo these many years.
President Phil Salvatori put in a cameo appearance to greet the true Family of Rotary. He welcomed all to the meeting and gave heartfelt thanks to the parents and grandparents who arose so early in the morning to insure that we would all experience the magic of the moment.
Phil then introduced Wendi Fischer as our Hostess Emcee to invite the real stars to the magnificent Christmas tree and have them share their thoughts on life and the holiday.
Not all were captured but a few that stand out were:
Rojay, age 6, Godson of Cyril, “Part of being wise is the art of knowing what to overlook.”
Kate, age 6, “Trying and failing is not the worst thing. The worst thing is not to try.”
Wendi Fischer, age undetermined, “At the end of the game the King and the Pawn end up in the same box.”
Wendi invited Curtis Cummings to the podium, who introduced Jason Rolsma and presented him with a check for fifteen hundred dollars.
In Curtis’s own words:
This is one of those “Sometimes bad things happen to good people” stories.
Jason Rolsma and his fiancé were expecting a baby in December, but her body could not handle the pregnancy due to a problem with her lungs. The baby came two months premature and the strain of the birth further damaged her lungs, killing her within two weeks of the birth.
This left Jason, a hard working personal trainer, a new father to a baby girl who spent the next 6 weeks stabilizing in the hospital before he could even take her home (imagine what that cost, even with a co-pay). We all know how difficult it is being a new parent, and some of us can even understand what it means to be a single parent. Even more difficult when its a brand new baby, but to unexpectedly lose your child's mother during the birth and have the burden of a very sick premature baby would be a terrible hardship on anyone.
Personal trainers are paid hourly by their clients. When he works he gets paid, when he doesn’t he goes hungry. The time away to take care of a premature baby is extensive and this puts a lot of financial hardship on him and his new baby. The gift from the club will be a tremendous help to them and it will allow him to provide many of the necessary elements to raise a new baby.
I see the BBRC gift as one of the great ones we have given, since they really need a temporary boost and are not a long standing “charity” case.
President Phil and Club Administrator Sayoko called forth the Glendale CC staff for recognition and presentation of checks to thank them for the excellent service provided over the past year. Receiving recognition were MaryAnn, Nancy, Jaqualar, Mario, Francisco, Robert, Josh, Jose, and Frank “in the kitchen.”
These are the true early risers who come prior to our weekly meetings to ensure the room is properly set and that our breakfast is prepared and ready to be served fresh and hot at the proper time.
It did not take much effort to move the children to the base of the tree and join in a festive round of songs led by Eric Ode’. Eric’s gift is the ability to play the guitar, sing and get the younger folk thoroughly engaged in a series of very animated songs. His song list included: "Jingle Bells," "A Christmas Shopping List," “Wad Do Ya Want Fer Christmas?”, “Rudolph the Red Nose Reindeer” (Did you know that reindeer games included Monopoly?) , “All I Want for Christmas Is My Two Front Teeth,” and a rousing rendition of “Santa Clause is Coming to Town.”
Even as the last chords of the final song were being sung, a spirit appeared at the window dressed all in red and sporting a long white beard. The attention of the assembled was immediately transferred to this jolly person who entered the hall and proclaimed, “Ho, Ho, Ho! Visiting a Rotary Club is one of my favorite things because Rotarians are into giving and keep the spirit of Christmas alive all year round.”
He then asked a question: “Have you all been good boys and girls?” Without hesitation the resounding response was positive. With that assurance the jolly spirit settled his somewhat slimmed down frame into an awaiting chair, and with the assistance of his two elf assistants, Sara Lingenbrink and Lauren Leahy, opened an enormous bag of gifts.
Each and every child was invited to sit on Santa’s lap and again respond to the naughty and nice question, identify themselves and ask for a specific gift. It appears that this will be a technology based holiday with ipods and Wii’s heading up the list. Among the lower tech items were a bunch of “Don’t knows” and one request for a dog. Six week old Jackson Ballard jumped on the technology side of the ledger with a request for an X-Box 360 (said request being delivered by proud papa Sergeant Chris Ballard).
Santa’s gift bag may have held all the requested items, but they must have been near the bottom of the sack. All the items delivered by the Elf Assistants appeared to be Beanie Babies, which the children gathered up with much enthusiasm and love.
At the conclusion of the interviews, Santa addressed the assembled multitude of 170 Rotarians, guests and children and left us with the thought that the BBRC was “The best darn Rotary Club in the World!” And with a clattering of hoof beats he disappeared into the frosty morning.
President Phil jumped into this void and again wished us all a merry Christmas and reminded Rotarians that the next regular meeting would be on January 5th at Newport High School. The following meeting on January 12th would be at the Newport Yacht Club.
Be sure to view this week's slideshow to see all the photos from this wonderful event.
Holiday Movie Quiz
Do you watch a lot of movies? Do you especially love holiday movies? Do any of these look familiar to you? If so, then click here to take the BBRC Holiday Movie Quiz! Quiz results will be published in the next Reveille.
JANUARY 4 MEETING IS OFF SITE AT NEWPORT HIGH SCHOOL!
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Jeff Mason, department head and teacher of the Cisco Systems Networking Academy, will give us a tour of the technology department that is one of the best in the country, and the students will demonstrate their capabilities. Jeff is also co-leader of our (Rotary) computer projects assisted by the Cisco students. (Martinka)
JANUARY 4 MEETING INSTRUCTIONS FOR NEWPORT HIGH SCHOOL
This is a good meeting to arrive by 7:00 am or so, to get to the school before most of the students (so you can easily find a parking spot).
Enter from Factoria Blvd or from 124th SE (to the west of the school). Find a parking spot. The school prefers that we park in the lot(s) closest to Factoria Blvd, on the east side of the campus.
Enter either of the two main entrances. Look for signs directing you to the eating area, which will be at the south end of the commons (or open area) on the main level. After eating we will move to the theater for a short meeting.
IMPORTANT: NO FOOD OR BEVERAGES ARE ALLOWED IN THE THEATER. You must finish your food and coffee before entering the theater. This means you must be done eating before we start the meeting portion.
Phil has a very short meeting planned, and at 7:45 we will break into two groups that will alternate taking tours of the:
Technology Department (one of the best in the country); and the
Culinary Arts Department (see where your breakfast was made under the supervision of a former Four Seasons chef)
These tours will be 15 minutes each and at about 8:15 those wishing to stay will go to the video production room to see what they do.
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“If you think you can, you can. If you think you can’t, you’re right.” — Henry Ford
NOTE: If you have a birthday or anniversary this month and it isn't listed below, it means you need to update your directory page to include that information.
Chuck Kimbrough, 01/04
Dick Brown, 01/07
Ted Ederer, 01/08
Lynne Gauthier, 01/09
Peter Stadelman, 01/18
Susan Amini, 01/19
Mark Hough, 01/21
John Martinka, 01/21
Phil Salvatori, 01/23
Earl Falk, 01/30
Chuck Barnes, 21 yrs
Chuck Kimbrough, 20 yrs
Steve Lingenbrink, 16 yrs
Dean Pollock, 16 yrs
Tim Moriarty, 10 yrs
John Martinka, 9 yrs
Jim Carney, 2 yrs
Paul Chapman, 2 yrs
JAN 4-Off-site meeting at Newport High School
JAN 8 -New Member Meeting (note adjusted date)
JAN 11-Off-site meeting at Newport Yacht Club
JAN 15-Board Meeting (note adjusted date)
