From President Angus:

Well, my term as president of Niles Rotary is wrapping up. It’s a bittersweet moment. Looking back over the past Rotary year, I am proud of everything we accomplished together. Thanks to Sandra Young and Manuel Franco, we are wrapping up our international project to bring fresh drinking water to Segera Mission in rural Kenya. Thanks to Audrey Kearns and Geeta Kadambi, we have a great new international project taking flight with SightNow. Thanks to Paul Andrus and the Community Service leads, we held several successful service projects in conjunction with Fremont Unified and LEAF. Thanks to our sergeant-at-arms, Dana Jones, and board secretary, Tammi Souza, club operations have run like clockwork all year long under the leadership of Sandy Stabile. Thanks to President Elect Rose and the Reverse Raffle Committee, we had one of the most enjoyable and successful Reverse Raffle evenings in memory. Thanks to Past President Lisa, we kept busy socially all year long. Thanks to the Membership Committee and the mentoring team, we have added five new members this year, and have a strong mentoring program in place to support new members going through the red-badge process. Thanks to club and foundation treasurers, Don Cole and Larry Bowen, we know exactly where the money is and where it is going. Thanks to Paul Iannaccone, we have a solid grasp of contributions to the Rotary Foundation. And thanks to Dirk Lorenz and the Youth Services Team, we continue to enjoy a strong connection with the three Interact clubs we sponsor, as well as the Rotaract Club of Greater Fremont.

Despite the pain of relinquishing the gavel to the incoming president, I am extremely excited about President Elect Rose’s presidential year. For many years, Rose’s commitment to Rotary service at our club has breathed the life into vital community programs such as Feed the Hungry and Pizza with Santa.   And we all know how important her work is to the Reverse Raffle event. So it is only fitting that she will now be the formal leader of Niles Rotary, since she has for a long time been one of its informal leaders. I am keenly anticipating what your year will bring, Rose.

The bottom line is that change is good for organizations. New people step into leadership roles, and they bring new ideas and new perspectives to the work that needs to be accomplished. At every level in the club, we have strong leadership. This is especially true for the Board of Directors. With their terms coming to an end, we owe a debt of gratitude to Dirk Lorenz and Audrey Kearns for serving so ably on the Board for the last two years. Dirk managed our Youth Services portfolio of activities with aplomb and skill. It’s not easy cajoling high-school students into showing up for the speech contest or registering to attend RYLA. But Dirk transformed himself into a champion communicator with the Interact leaders, and is now a text-message ninja. Audrey has successfully seen the Segera Mission Water Project to its conclusion and has helped launch SightNow as an Area Three international project. As our club representative on the World Community Service Committee, Audrey skillfully advocated for Niles Rotary projects and priorities as the clubs of Area Three chose which projects to support. I am looking forward to seeing how incoming board members, Adam Moura (Youth Services) and Rich Godfrey (International Service) will shape their areas of responsibility as they settle into the board. Thank you, Adam and Rich, for stepping up.

As I gaze out from the podium before gaveling the meeting to order and as I watch club members having lunch together, I am often struck by the fellowship and camaraderie in the room. When a group of talented, committed people gathers weekly to break bread and plan service projects and social events, it’s amazing how much we can get done together. It’s been a pleasure and a privilege to serve as president of Niles Rotary this year. All I can say is thank you for the opportunity. As I have declared all year long, Niles Rotary is undoubtedly the best Rotary Club in the world!

April was a busy Niles month for service in the community. The month began at Cabrillo Elementary School in the rain, where a group of intrepid Niles Rotarians braved the elements to beautify a student garden and install a work bench. At this event, I discovered two talents in the club. The first came as no surprise: Steve Landon can build a work bench out of wood. I have no idea how he did it. I helped get the roughed-out piece off his truck, and then Steve set up a makeshift outdoor workshop in which he finished the piece off.   Before you knew it, people were sanding the work bench and it was nailed to the side of a building at the school, ready for duty. Not being a handy person, I have never built anything larger than a chicken pot pie. So this work bench was truly a wonder to me. I take my hat off to Steve and the handymen and handywomen of Niles Rotary

The second talent I discovered was the love of tan bark that resides in the club. Niles Rotarians love to shovel tan bark, transport it a wheel barrow, spread it around, make patterns in it, and argue about whether it is distributed perfectly in all areas. Again, I had no idea. By the end of the day, tan bark was exactly two-a-half inches deep throughout the school garden, and the sense of satisfaction was palpable. It was a great morning of work and cheerfulness, sustained by breakfast sandwiches from the Depot Café. Thank you everyone who joined the work party, and especially Paul Andrus, the Service Chair of the club, for coordinating everything and keeping us fed.

At the end of April, on Arbor Day, our second service outing of the month, again organized by Paul Andrus, took place at Rancho Arroyo Park in Niles and at the Stone Garden, a community garden owned by Local Ecology and Agriculture in Fremont (LEAF). After lashings of breakfast sandwiches, this time from Joe’s Corner (thank you, Melissa!), one group took off to the Stone Garden to build planter boxes, maintain the community garden and erect a fence. At the Rancho Arroyo Park . . . yup, you guessed it . . . we spread tan bark. Given all the practice we had earlier this month, it turned out we got pretty fast at distributing tan bark around the base of the mature trees in the park. But the main thrust of our project at the park was the planting of several trees, which occurred under the watchful eye of a couple of employees from the City of Fremont Parks and Recreation Department. Again, I want to express my appreciation to everyone in the club who spent a glorious spring morning improving a local park for our friends and neighbors. And thank you, Rich Godfrey, for involving LEAF in the project too.

Even though it rained on the Cabrillo School project and the sun shone brightly at the Arbor Day project, the two events shared one special feature – a ton of laughter. As I looked up from my little pile of tan bark, all I could see was Rotarians having fun, working together and enjoying each other’s company. As much as I like to think my shenanigans at the podium each Thursday define our club this year, it is really the generous spirit and camaraderie of community service that makes the Niles Rotary Club so unique. With the contributions of time, talent and treasure offered by the hundred members of Niles Rotary, there is nothing we can’t do together. Especially when it comes to tan bark.

President’s Column for April Pinion

First, I would like to begin with a word of thanks to Niles Rotary. Last fall, Barbara Orth, the First Lady of Rotary District 5170, announced that the Governor’s Partner’s Project would be a fundraiser called “Read Me a Picture,” which aimed to buy books promoting visual literacy for elementary-school students throughout the District. With the help of all our generous club members and the cooperation of Fremont Unified School District, the members of Niles Rotary Club contributed $4,100 to buy books for second-grade students in FUSD. From the bottom of my heart, I want to thank you all for your generosity. I am particularly grateful to Sam Forbes, the champion of this project, who steered the ship safely into the fund-raising harbor after I dithered and procrastinated for several months. Thank you, Sam!

While I am on the subject of thanking people, I would like to take my hat off to President Elect Rose and the entire Reverse Raffle Committee for pulling off a fabulous event in March. What an evening to remember. The banquet room looked beautiful; I felt right at home in all that tartan and heather. The dinner was delicious. The wait staff was attentive and friendly.

Best of all, the auctions generated tremendous activity to support non-profits in our community. The fund-a-need auction resulted in more than $10,000 for SAVE’s Community Oriented Prevention Services program, which trains advocates to help domestic-violence victims at the Fremont Police Department and establish longer-term relationships with clients. Conservatively, I am going to say that from ticket sales and auction income we will provide the Gifting Committee more than $90,000 to distribute among the charities that submit grant applications this spring. This contribution is really at the heart of all the hard work that club members contribute to the event. Rotarians get the ball rolling by serving on the committee. Rotarians drive attendance by selling tickets. Rotarians make the silent and live auctions attractive by donating unique items and experiences. And Rotarians generate income for the event by bidding on those items throughout the evening. I couldn’t be prouder of all that Niles Rotary contributes to the community than I was on the evening of the Reverse Raffle.

Did you notice, by the way, that everyone had a great evening? There was so much laughter in the audience, that I could barely hear the auctioneer at times. As Past President Chuck always points out, the first rule of Rotary is “Have Fun.” And who has more fun than Bruce Prescott, the winner of the Elimination Raffle $5,000 prize? In true Karmic fashion, Bruce’s boat finally came in. All he had to do was lead the charge with ticket sales for more than five years and dress up as Cher. Bruce, you earned every penny of that prize money. Thank you for all your hard work and for your generous donation of a portion of the winnings. Keep it up.

Now we are into the final quarter of my presidency. Soon President Elect Rose will be ringing the bell and helping the club thrive. Before then, though, we have two service projects, a District Assembly and Conference, a Day at the A’s, and the event whose name must not be spoken. I look forward to seeing you at the club each Thursday and at many of these co-curricular events. Thank you, everyone, for making our club such a success.

In Rotary,

President Angus