Posted by Sandy Magley on Jun 06, 2018
 
Our jam-packed meeting was called to order by Prez Denise promptly at 7.  Athena Collup gave a moving invocation reminding us about Who is in charge when it comes to the outcome of elections.  Hmmmm…  Jeff Haynes filled in for Harry Bryant in leading us in the flag salute and Bill Black had us sing, “You’re a Grand Ole Flag,” which had Ed O’Donnell and Gerry Starr shoulder-to-shoulder and singing their hearts out!
           
 
WELCOMES:
Our vivacious greeters were Marlene Heise (who even got Past Prez Kay to buy raffle tickets) and Joe Nunez.  Yours truly is both scribe and editor this week.  Sister Judy introduced visiting Rotarian, Dave Plivelich, from Downtown Rotary.  Neil Walker introduced his guests:  Molly Fagundes and Catherine Anspach.
                                                             
 
APOLOGY:
Dave Plivelich is the President of the Petroleum Club, who issued us an apology for the fire drill two weeks ago and the unnecessary evacuation.  He explained that there was a miscommunication (DUH!) and let us know that he cancelled the one scheduled for today and had it reset for Friday.  I personally heard from a few members that they were sore after that 12-flight descent.  Maybe a refund for the bill for that day, Dave?  From one Rotary Club to another?
 
RECOGNITIONS:
Past Presidents Jackie Maxwell and Neil Walker had the pleasure of presenting BBRC’s annual Above and Beyond Award.  This award goes to someone in our community – not a BBRC member – who stands out in his/her job/vocation.  There were 7 nominees and the panel consisted of 7 BBRC members.  This year, the Award went to Neil’s guest, Catherine Anspach,   the Director from Make a Wish.  Because of this occasion, her son even surprised her by attending.  She thought he was in LA!  Neil has helped Catherine on several room renovations for deserving Make a Wish children.  Catherine explained that not all recipients have to have terminal illnesses; it could also be a life-threatening situation.  She told us that she has been with Make a Wish for 9 years and has never received any award!  Not only did she receive our heartfelt thanks and recognition for her work, but she also received an honorary Paul Harris Fellow.   Congrats to Catherine.
                                                                      
 
Denise thanked BBRC members for assisting in our 5th annual Thousand Flags event over Memorial Day weekend.  Due to Cheryl Scott’s “in” with local media, we had a lot of positive coverage in both the newspaper and on local TV stations.  She also thanked BBRC members Jeff Bell, Queen Jackie, Karen Bonanno, and Pete Leveroni for their companies’ sponsorships. 
 
PROGRAM:
Neil was very busy today as he was able to introduce today’s guest speaker, Molly Fagundes, a Major Gifts Officer at Valley Children’s Healthcare Foundation in Madera.  She has a Bachelor’s Degree in Agriculture Education and an Executive MBA both from Fresno State.  Her presentation was a great introduction to the newest medical facility in Bakersfield – Eagle Oaks Specialty Care Center – which is scheduled to open in October.  This will enable many deserving children in Bakersfield to get medical care locally instead of travelling all the way to Madera.  Valley Children’s already has the 34th Street Specialty Care Center and the Lauren Small Children’s Center at Memorial Hospital.  Their mascot, George the Giraffe, is incorporated into many areas of the new facility.  FYI:  the giraffe was chosen because it has the largest heart of any land animal.  The new facility will be about 52,000 sq. ft. and will offer 16 different specialties for its patients.  This will be very helpful for the over 25,000 children who currently have to travel to Madera from Kern County.  Since 78% of their patient population uses MediCal, this will make a huge difference.
 
The doctors at the new facility will come from the Madera location.  A lot of doctors come from the Valley anyway since Valley Children’s has a residence program at Stanford.  This new location in Bakersfield was chosen due to the growth in the area, and it’s the opposite side of town from the 34th Street and Memorial Hospital locations.  Unfortunately, some children will still have to go to Madera for their care, but this new facility will drastically cut down on that number.
 
An interesting tidbit:  the reason the Carr brothers, David and Derek, have become involved with this hospital goes back to when Derek’s first-born son had emergency surgery at Valley Children’s while Derek was only a freshman at Fresno State.  He has never forgotten the care they received and is still very actively involved with events associated with the hospital.  It will be wonderful to have this facility locally.
 
On to other events of the morning!
Two young men from Golden Valley came to report on their RYLA visit.  Greg thanked us for allowing him to attend and said he learned about vulnerability, diversity, and that it’s okay to fail.  David realized, “We’re all connected.  Similarities outweigh the differences.”  He mentioned that he met students from not only different states but different countries as well.  “In the end, I ended up crying.”  I think that says it all.
 
CELEBRATIONS:
Two club members – Jeff Haynes and Joe Nunez- have the EXACT same wedding date:  June 2, and for 28 years.  Denise said that’s a long time, “especially with Jeff,” for his lovely wife, Cheryl.  No such comment for Joe’s wife, Wendy. 
Rotary anniversaries:  John Guerard, 30 yrs.; Stephanie Baker, 22 yrs.; Dan Johnson, 13 yrs.;
Birthdays:  Jason Williamson, who was absent, so no singing.
 
HAPPY SPOTS & RECOGNITIONS:
  1.  Denise called out Frank Wooldridge for being on a jumbotron at the Beautiful Bakersfield Awards ceremony – with no Rotary pin!  He accepted his $25 fine.
  2. Dave Spalinger was $25 happy that his daughter’s wedding was successful.  Way to hit a guy when he’s already broke!
  3.  Martha Zamora shared that her son received a 75% scholarship from Vanderbilt University Med School, so she was $25 happy.  It was also pointed out that Martha is on a local TV ad for her employer, HealthSouth, and Marlene Heise will pay that fine ($25?) for her.
  4. Ed O’Donnell was happy for his granddaughter’s engagement, but I neglected to record how happy he was.
  5. Marlene Heise was $25 happy for being in the monthly Bakersfield Magazine.
  6. Will Duerksen was $25 since he’s going to Nashville for the Country Music Fest.  (Lucky guy!)
  7. Gerry Starr will be travelling for a while, but I don’t think he incurred a fine for that.
  8. Craig Holland was happy the Sister Judy was with us this morning.  Again, no fine.
ANNOUNCEMENTS:
  1.  Kay reminded people to let her know of attendance to Denise’s Step Down on June 23.  Her committee will meet right after this meeting.
  2. Susan Searey reported on the joint effort by 3 Rotary clubs, 5 Interact clubs (including our own Golden Valley), and Rotaract to pack school supplies into backpacks for children in the Philippines.  It was the same timing as Thousand Flags, but still very well attended.
  3. Twilight Rotary’s fundraiser is this weekend at Bakersfield Museum of Art.  Tickets are $75 and Denise had 2 available.
  4. Denise mentioned that there is a video on YouTube www.WeAreRotary.TV that covers Thousand Flags.  For that, she was $25 happy.
  5. Unfortunately, we are losing Brenda Nakanishi due to a job reassignment.
FIT FOR ROTARY MOMENT:
Jeff Haynes said it was our evacuation at the last meeting, so he was fined $25 since Prez Denise actually had an emotional quote for today’s moment.  I don’t know who to cite as the author, but it had to do with aging.
50/50 & PHP:
For the week of the fire drill, Cheryl Scott received $63.  Today’s winner was Kathleen Anderson.  Last, but not least, this scribe received 100 Paul Harris points!  Yay, me.
Next week’s meeting will be about the CSUB Veterans’ Memorial Tree Grove.  WHEW!! DONE!!