BBRC Beacon December 8, 2021 (Dec 08, 2021)

If you don’t have the Spirit of Christmas running through every morsel of your soul by now you must not be a Breakfast Rotarian. Yes, Breakfast Rotarians have the Spirit of Christmas with the ideal of service in mind. This is displayed in our festive glee we wear, our closeness to one another and gratitude we have for the blessings we have been given. It certainly helps to have Rotarians like Past President Dave Spalinger who generously, with his wife Melody, who opened their home to Breakfast Rotarians last week for our annual Christmas party. Great food by the Haynes Boys, great song thanks to Carol Smith and libations by Pat Thompson which was enjoyed by one and all! Thank You all for bringing the spirit to all. As a follow-up, with various holiday service opportunities for Rotarians to become involved, we have a number of events that our club is excited to announce. More on that later.

Following our invocation by Darin Blunt and America’s Pledge of Allegiance by Past President Denise Haynes, Carol Smith brought us together in song for a classic, The Twelve Days of Christmas. Did you know that there are some very interesting historical theories about the song, why it was written and to whom? You might want to put that on your Google to research list, but as to our morning song, with Carol as our Songstress I think Breakfast Rotarians are sounding more and more like a real choir! Speaking of choirs, next week’s meeting we will be entertained by The Bakersfield College Chamber Choir. Make sure you don’t miss this special Christmas meeting, as this top-notch choir will bring seasonal joy and love to your heart.

As many of you know our Wine, Place and Show was …well…a hit! Due to all that planned, organized and helped make Wine, Place and Show successful your efforts will bring happiness and security to others for months to come as we enter 2022! Mindy Wilmot spoke on this later in the meeting, but first, President Jeff Haynes asked some special guests to come to the stage to receive their proceeds as this year’s WPS beneficiaries.

The 999 Foun

dation lead by President Sgt. Brian Sandrini of the Bakersfield Police Department, joined by BPD Reserve Officer Billy Owens and retired Shafter Officer Bobby Courtney accepted a Super-Sized check in the amount of $13,100 to be used towards providing support to families of local first responders who have been injured or killed in the line of duty. Brian spoke of the need for his foundation, and the grim prevalence of the reality of daily dangers in being a first responder. Personally, eleven years ago I too engaged in such first responder hazards, and yes there are established services and death benefits for officer’s families. But, what The 999 Foundation’s purpose is to make available assistance to families for costs that are not covered by pre-existing benefit programs. Supporting 999 Foundation is a great way to show tribute and support to our community heroes. By the way, you might be wondering why the name 999 Foundation? The numbers 999 represent a police emergency code that is used all too often in radio communication between police cars when the officer is in dire need of immediate help as they are under serious attack and fighting for their lives. For those efforts Sgt. Brian Sandrini towards the 999 Foundation, we salute you and hope that you will never ever have to use one cent of the donation we gave you this morning.