It’s December my favorite Month – I love Fall, I love all things Christmas and this month is always a great family month. December is the month that I truly stop and make time to visit with the friends and family that are important to me.

November was a bit of a resting month for me. The first meeting of the month we had Alex Schubek our first City Manager of Emergency Services. Alex is from Germany and was very interesting. He gave us the 3 steps of getting prepared for a disaster. I’m so proud that our City has given so much thought to keeping us safe. Also in this meeting Tim Gavin shared information after participating with others at Stanford University at an event put on by the Institute for Economics & Peace. Building Sustainable Peace: The eight Positive Peace factors that the Global Peace Index (GPI) identifies correlate strongly to other measures of progress, including the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals. This makes the GPI useful to NGO’s like Rotary in assessing the impact of their development projects. The graphic slide shows how Rotary’s principles and its six areas of focus connect to the optimal conditions for s sustainable peace. Thanks to Jeff S for the write up on Face Book; we look forward to hearing more about this in the future Tim.

My next meeting was an Area 3 meeting. Jim Bell our assistant District Governor returned this year with an ever changing yet emotional and fascinating historical Veterans Day program. My favorite part, although all interesting was the video about the Star Spangled Banner. Jim was right I will never sing that song the same way again. To know the way our flag was being held up is an amazing piece of history. Thank you so much Jim for another program very well done.

The third meeting of the month was Brian’s meeting to chair. We had our Reverse Raffle Draft. This year Brian is changing things up and he did an Elimination Draft. He literally pulled names out of a hat and assigned people to teams with the help of Tammi Souza. Every 10^th name won a Bundtlet; thank you Chiral from Nothing Bundt Cakes for the fun prizes. The last name called Geeta Kadambi got to pick between Bourbon or a charger. She picked the Bourbon and Margaret Thornberry went away with the Niles Charger. It was a fun meeting and I am very excited about my team – but we need a name!!! The next Thursday we were dark so I was literally out of the pulpit for 3 weeks in a row, nice little rest but still lots of time with the club.

We ended our November with Jan and Pricilla Schultz from Das Brew. He gave a great talk about our local Das Brew, family owned and growing. He talked about the making of beer and the best part was that Das Brew is coming to Niles. I am looking forward to frequenting their little spot. A highlight of the week for me was I became a Great Grandma of a beautiful baby girl — Isabella Rosalina. Both my granddaughter and her baby did great and are both very happy and healthy. Sorry folks – can’t let that beautiful moment go unmentioned. Sancho and Gina first time grandparents are over the moon in love with this little one.   Another highlight of the day was Padmaja did her very interesting icebreaker; this girl is on a roll to get her Blue Badge in record time.

Community Service this month began the first Saturday of the month with tearing down of the Ghost House, IN THE RAIN. I was not present but if you check out the photos you will see that Ms. Margo Hood looked like she was having a lot of fun. She was joined by Paul Andrus, Jeff Schinkel, Sandi Pantages, Wendy Mills, Steven Springer, Kathy Laidlaw and Paul Iannacconi just to name a few. Rain or shine we get it done and have fun! We ended the month at the Free Dinning Room for Feed the Hungry – Meat Loaf was back on the menu and appreciated by all of our guest diners. Our Feed the Hungry group is growing as we had Chiral, Larry, Sophia and Rav join us for the first time. Thank you to The Jones, Rosemary, Rakesh, Merna, Margo, Chuck, Sandi P, Mary Lynn, Steve Cho, Don, Jeff S., John D. and my guy Randy for all of the support and help. It was a great evening and a great way to end the month.

November was also a very social month with our 2^nd Social Change event at Fremont Flowers. Sophia and Aziz hit this one out of the park with a Chef demonstration of three appetizers and two drinks. The food was amazing and the drinks were incredibly good. The company was the best as we laughed, ate, and drank together in a getting to know you kinda way. We also went bowling. Steve Cho along with Angus put together a bowling event at Cloverleaf Bowl. A big group of Niles Rotarians and family arrived to get their Bowl on. There was very tough competition as usual. Jeff Falk came out the BIG winner with highest score men with a 177 and Audrey Kearns came out the winner for the ladies with a 154. Audrey was also awarded the most memorable moment award for throwing her bowling ball the opposite way of the pins. Pizza, Beer and Soda were on the lunch menu. Be looking for this event next year, I think it may become a Steve Cho Annual event.

Chuck Canada and Geeta Kadambi put together our 2^nd quarter mentoring check-in held at the beautiful home of Geeta. Thank you Geeta for hosting this event once again. We had a great turn out of new Rotarians, membership committee members, mentors and sponsors. Chuck and PE Brian shared great information and of course it was all done as we grazed on light appetizers and wine, thank you PP Lisa. PP

Paul Iannacconi has been hard at it in the Paul Harris Department. This month Gary Basrai gave his daughter her Paul Harris and PP Lisa Lorenz awarded Madhu a Paul Harris to her son. This month the following Rotarians were awarded with their Paul Harris + pins. Tami got her PH + 1, Margo PH +2, Tim Gavin PH + 5. A special honor for Margo and me was when we visited Steve Barnett and awarded him with his PH + 3 pin. It was a great visit and Steve is looking great.

Last but certainly not least – this month Daren announced that our Chili Pepper Challenge has broken all goals by netting over $65,000. Great Job Area 3 Rotarians and it really was fun! At our final meeting of the month Daren also announced that for the second year in a row Dryco, the premier paving company in Fremont, won the Bocce tournament netting $7500.00. Dryco will be donating the money to Niles Rotary who will turn around and donate it to the District 5130 Fire Victim Relief Fund. Thank you for your generosity Daren – We all truly win!

Until next month have a great December, stop and take time for the ones that are special to you. Enjoy all the holiday traditions of the season.