World Polio Day is coming up on Thursday, October 24, so let’s all throw a little (or a lot) of cash in the “pass around basket” and see how much we can come up with at Wednesday’s meeting! Plus, did you know that the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation matches every $1 we donate with another $2?
DG Savi is encouraging each club in the District to make an extra effort for this cause. We are THIS close…let’s make it to the finish line and wipe polio off the face of the earth! The disease continues to be endemic in Afghanistan and Pakistan at this point, but we must continue our work in order to KEEP other countries polio-free.
Fun Fact: After a child is immunized, their pinky finger is markedpurple so that other polio volunteer workers know that child has received the vaccine. In honor of World Polio Day, how about we all WEAR PURPLEON WEDNESDAY! Ties, scarves, dresses, sweaters…whatever you’ve got in purple, wear it! I picked up a cool “Give Polio the Finger” shirt (as in “purple pinky finger”) at District Conference (thanks, Mike O’D!)…I’ll be wearing it for sure!
Until Wednesday…Share Rotary With a Friend,
Cheryl
PS—If your closet is devoid of purple…how about red?
Welcome Back Breakfast Rotarians after a lay-out last week! It was really good to see everyone, even though you tried to “ditch” me by moving the location where we meet to the smaller dining room on the south side of the Petro Club. HaHa! In further folly, it’s funny how Past President Denise Haynes, now Songstress, choose a morning song that is very relative to our guest speaker’s topic. Yes, Denise led us in “Row, Row, Row, your Boat”. You know the words…Merrily, Merrily, Merrily, Merrily, life is but a Dream… I will speak on the relativity of the song later to our featured speaker.
We welcome returning guest, Matt Lemon of Mission Bank, guest of Big Mike O’Doherty, and Char Johnson, Dan’s wife to our morning assemblage. And while speaking of Dan “the Gee-tar Man”, President Cheryl Scott recognized Dan in celebration of his 60th birthday. Finally Dan is sexy, oops, or I mean sixty!
Please join us in the celebration of Jeff Bell, Pete Leveroni and Honorary Member Steve Shayer in recognition of their years of Rotary membership. As a note, recognition of our tenured members is so important as these member’s commitment to our club defines the value that Rotary provides to them, conversely, they provide service to our community. They help make Breakfast Rotary look great. Service Above Self!
Our very own Athena Collup, President of Bakersfield Association of Realtors, was our speaker. Man-o-man did she have a lot to say! Athena is passionate about the health of the real estate market in Bakersfield as well as the Central Valley. Her passion could be seen throughout her presentation as she “educated” a full house of attentive Rotarians to the what-if’s and what-for’s when it comes to her industry. Speaking of industry, we learned that like many other industries such as law enforcement, medical, water usage, education, the real estate industry is also affected by a trend in the political machine in Sacramento to modify, let’s say, business as usual. Now I think change is good, but when change occurs that looks good on paper and not well thought out, such changes may not be so practical. Often miscalculated change can have long term ramifications. This is what Athena is concerned with and why she is a staunch “watchdog” of what the politicians may pull out of their hat come next election year.
Athena touts that Kern County enjoys current affordability and availability in the housing market, and it is for that reason that she urges those who are potential investors to move briskly towards home purchase. One glaring upside to this is that while the rest of California stagnates with low home ownership in comparison to renter-occupied dwellings, Kern County remains a viable market to purchase a home. She states that 54% of residents in Kern County own their home compared to 26% in many other areas of the State. I don’t know what you make of this, but if our local industries remain strong, our home values may go up steadily over time. If I can add a little insider information to the article today, I spoke with Athena following the meeting today to ask her what her suggestion would be for the little capitalist in us. She said as the trend toward inability for those in California to buy a home increases, those persons will seek locations like Bakersfield where they can enjoy the dream of homeownership. That will cause our real estate values to increase, so if you happen to own a home or rental property you can expect to reap profits. So there you have it, as the song says…” Life is but a Dream…” in owning real estate. See our Athena for details! Thanks again Athena.
We all know that when Ken Quarnberg takes the podium you never know what you’re going to get. Could you imagine this Rotarian being our President…yeah just for one year. We would have to start paying him for the comical monologue, and what a way to reduce having to pay fines - paying for presidential entertainment. Oh well, until that time, Ken reminds us that he forgot his props (guns from his store) that each of us could have held in fascination during his talk. Man that would be a sight to see! Ken tells us that Valley Gun is a business that has been a part of Bakersfield since 1963. A family run business, Ken states that his service is about helping the common citizen solving their problems with their lack of gun inventory.
Ken then went into a discussion about current legislative action that, to say the least, is frustrating. Wow, didn’t we just hear about this sort of thing from Athena in how the State legislature is impacting her industry? Well, Ken is sharing similar songs of despair. Ken highlighted new laws that restrict the purchase of ammunition, and that rational thinking is seriously needed in the realm of making sound background checks and requirements of proper identification from his consumers. In spite of this, Ken is a wise guy, no, not like the Mafia, like a wise businessman who knows how to work within the law to support responsible firearms ownership and record management.
We were well represented at last weekend’s Rotary 5240 District Conference. President Cheryl and her mighty court made the trip to Santa Ynez to represent Breakfast Rotary and we are darn proud they did! Why, because they came home with yet another award! Yes, our club was recognized for membership growth. In this early juncture of Pres. Cheryl’s reign, we have several new members as you know. So happy to have all the “Red Badgers”. Pres. acknowledged the obvious person who is catalyst for fostering an environment for growth. That person is none other than our Membership Chair, Pat Thompson.
Pat is so good at this and it shows. He is a natural. Modest Pat attributes our good fortune of having new members to those people in the club who are actively bringing guests. He states that he wants to keep the momentum alive and Pat, we will honor your request! Thank You for your leadership Pat, and membership, Bring a Guest Next Week, it’s fun to do.
OK…let’s see what do we have today? Wine, candy, a goofy hat or tee-shirt. What will the victims of the coffer system come up with this morning to “milk the sympathies” of Pres. Cheryl. Hmmm
When I thought I had seen it all, the first victim of the coffer system is Pat Thompson. Why? Because he goes to Hawaii for I don’t know how many days and he comes back with chocolate (good), a tee shirt (ok), then he freaks everybody out with this creepy male hula doll. Just when I think Pat has his act together and he pulls this…FINE!
Greg Desme traveled to Kansas to visit his little grandson. Very nice, hey Greg did you visit with the Wizard of Oz while there? Because you will need some magic to get you out of this FINE!
Stephanie Baker can act cool, but the Bakersfield Lifestyle Magazine does not lie…you were in it for your photo in the breast cancer survivor Wall of Hope. Wednesday morning you achieved the Pres. Cheryl’s “Wall of FINES”! (Publisher's note: We are fortunate to have several breast cancer survivors recognized on the Wall of Hope including MJ Pasek and Bobbie Hake.)
We had a raffle, yes and the winner is … David Perkins! At-a-boy David! At this rate you should be able to have made enough from your winnings this year to buy a new ski boat. Boy, I love coming to meetings to watch other people win money…
Peace and Love through Rotary,
By: Frank Wooldridge, Beacon Reporter
(Publisher's Note: After the meeting Heath Niemeyer presented Pres. Cheryl with tributes. Heath, this is not going to get you out of happy fines!)
could be seen throughout her presentation as she “educated” a full house of attentive Rotarians to the what-if’s and what-for’s when it comes to her industry. Speaking of industry, we learned that like many other industries such as law enforcement, medical, water usage, education, the real estate industry is also affected by a trend in the political machine in Sacramento to modify, let’s say, business as usual. Now I think change is good, but when change occurs that looks good on paper and not well thought out, such changes may not be so practical. Often miscalculated change can have long term ramifications. This is what Athena is concerned with and why she is a staunch “watchdog” of what the politicians may pull out of their hat come next election year.
as you know. So happy to have all the “Red Badgers”. Pres. acknowledged the obvious person who is catalyst for fostering an environment for growth. That person is none other than our Membership Chair, Pat Thompson.
