February Ends at WVRC — and STEVE done good!
February 23, 2006
This is not a topic that draws – but we almost made our minimum, and that says a lot for the fact that we care about this information. But before that – STEW GILMAN led the Pledge. RICK and LENNY gave us God Bless America – but there was some question as to WHO was leading. Anyway, we enjoyed it. MICHAEL GINTZ gave the Invocation.
“Lord, we ask you to bless this time together, to expand our vision, to open our hearts to serve one another, to hear the word today on our Foundation, and to lead us in the direction so that we can better one another.” MIKE said it would be short and it was – but well done, and we thank you.
Next up was a letter, written by PP JIM DOWNIE, sort of thanking us for the winning gift he received at the Valentines Brunch. This was a Zinger, and of course all of us who are in the know are aware of what a Zinger is. For the rest of you, good luck! Anyway, the essential problem with this prize is that it needed to be battery operated, and there apparently was no easy way to find the proper connection. But I just spoke to JIM, and he is, even now, charging it and will bring it next week. After all, saving fifty bucks is always worthwhile. This may not be good news for SEAN McMILLAN, who apparently will be on the hook for the missing fifty big ones. Anyway, stay tuned.
RUDY ALVAREZ claims to be the source for the following joke, as related by President DON. A lady was coming out of Starbucks, and saw an unusual funeral procession passing by. There was a long black hearse, followed by a second long black hearse. Behind these two hearses was a lone woman, walking a pit bulldog, and behind her was a single-file line of two hundred women. Unable to contain her curiosity, our Starbucks friend approached the lone woman walking the bulldog, and asked, “I’m sorry to bother you, but I’ve never seen a funeral like this”. The woman replied, “Well, the first hearse is for my husband” “What happened to him?” “My dog attacked him and killed him.” “Who was in the second hearse?” “His girl friend – she tried to help my husband and the dog turned on her.” After a few moments of thoughtful silence, the Starbucks woman asked, “Could I borrow the dog?” “Get in line”.
MIKE NEWMAN brought his wife, Angel, as his guest. ED GAULD reminded us that the Japanese Student Exchange was coming up, with only six students to be selected. He urged all who might be interested to apply – and again, I must editorialize by saying that it is a great program, and anyone who goes will have a wonderful experience. President DON reported that your Board of Directors, at their last meeting, have put into effect the following rule: Anyone who is ninety days or more in arrears (that means they ain’t paid up) will be assessed a penalty of 10% on the outstanding balance. ‘Nuff said.
Paul Harris Fellows Honored
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The Newmans
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Kevin Komatsu
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It was time for naming some Paul Harris Fellows. First up was PP MIKE NEWMAN, who had provided his wife, Angel, with that designation sometime ago – but she wasn’t able to attend the meeting to be acknowledged as the recipient until now. We’re glad it is now official! FLOYD DEWHIRST sponsored KEVIN KOMATSU, who paid for his designation, so he now belongs to the group. And ED GAULD was the sponsor for MARK ROGO, who provided his own membership. As you may know, our annual donation for raffle tickets to the Paul Harris Dinner/Celebration is credited toward a Paul Harris designation, so you can check with PP STEVE DAY to see what your particular status may be.
President DON introduced our Speaker, PP STEVE DAY. STEVE was President of WVRC in 1997-98, having joined in 1991. He is a Paul Harris Fellow, a John Sandman Fellow, and is a Rotary Foundation Benefactor. Last year he was our Rotarian of the Year, and of course he is the current Chair of our Rotary Foundation. STEVE is a partner in the CPA firm of Good, Swartz, Brown & Berns, and is a tax specialist. His wife, Marsha, is also a CPA, and they have two sons, Jeffrey and Kevin. RAY ZICKFELD is his Father-in-Law.
STEVE began by pointing out that there are three Foundations in Rotary. The original is the Rotary Foundation located at Headquarters in Evanston, IL. Next is the Westwood Village Foundation, and there is also a District 5280 Foundation, but it is for smaller clubs and we aren’t involved with that one. His report was well illustrated by a Power Point Presentation.
One of the most important programs we have sponsored is toward the Eradication of Polio. When we started in 1985, over 100 countries had polio patients, and today there are only six countries so affected. Another way of looking at this wonderful activity is that there were 300,000 people (mostly children) who were being infected with polio in 1985 – today there are less than 1,000 cases worldwide. We have inoculated over two BILLION children is these twenty years, and our costs so far are over $600 million.
WVRC has contributed over $125,000 to the Eradication of Polio. Truly, this program alone should be a great source of pride to all Rotarians.
There are three Rotary Centers for International Study, located ad Duke, North Carolina, and UC Berkeley, plus five other Universities worldwide. You are probably familiar with our Group Study Exchange. This allows four young, non-Rotarian people to spend a month living with Rotarians worldwide, often on an exchange basis – that is, if our District sends a group to Brazil, for example, our District will host a group from Brazil.
This is of course directly connected to our goal of getting to know those from other countries, promoting world peace and understanding. Ambassadorial Scholars also go from here and come here from aboard – there are nine hundred Scholarships each year, worth more than $25,000 each – which is better than a Fullbright, for example. Since the program began, we have funded 37,000 scholarships, and studies have taken place in 110 countries.
Matching Grants is an active program. A sponsoring Rotary District can attract a matching grant from R.I., which of course doubles the funds available. Since its inception in 1965, R.I. has financed over 20,000 Grants totaling $198 million. WVRC has been quite active in this endeavor. Rotary International has two kinds of Funds – the Annual Fund, which supports ongoing programs, and the Permanent Fund, which is the Rotary Endowment. The Annual Fund relies on support from Rotary members each year, and $100 per member is the expected donation. As noted above, our purchase of raffle tickets for the Paul Harris Celebration is one source of such funds. As an example of Rotary fiscal prudence, money raised in 2005 will not be spent until 2008, when interest earned can be accurately determined. Rotary charity has one of the lowest expense ratios anywhere – for every $1.00 raised, we provide $1.12 in services. Examples of how the money is spent - $100, a hearing aid for a child in Pakistan - $500, 12 prosthetic devices for Operation Walk in Cambodia - $1,000, staffing an orphanage in Peru - $5,000, a Van for transporting mentally retarded children in Seoul, Korea - $11,000, provides prosthetic team training, and $25,000 covers an Ambassadorial Scholarship.
The Permanent Fund income is not touched – only the interest can be used. This fund supports the three main goals of the Foundation – humanitarian, cultural and education projects. It now has a balance of $158 million dollars Of this total, WVRC has provided $651,000 to fund 484 Paul Harris Fellows. There are a total of 960,246 PH Fellows worldwide. The Benefactor designation means you have committed $1,000, either now or upon your death, to the R.I. Foundation. WVRC has thirty benefactors, and we should have more.
Our own WVRC Foundation has total assets of $634,243, of which $217,021 is restricted, making our net assets 417,221. This breaks down to our Endowment of $250K, Howard Phillips Fund $39K, PLLUS Fund $78 and Virginia Gandy Fund of $238K – and I know these totals don’t add up – sorry!. There is a John Sandman Fellow category – John was a charter member of WVRC and he is the father of Virginia Gandy. This membership is achieved by giving or designating a gift of $1,000 to our WVRC Foundation. This list is currently at 38 members.
STEVE, an excellent report, and I trust I haven’t screwed it up too badly in my reporting.
And to Ponder...
Two can live as cheaply as one – for half as long!
