President Cheri called the meeting to order. She then asked Bob Doerr to lead us in the Pledge of Allegiance. This was then followed by some seasonally appropriate quotes by Cheri.
- “Be thankful for what you have; you’ll end up having more. If you concentrate on what you don’t have, you will never, ever have enough.”– Oprah Winfrey
- “Let us remember that, as much has been given us, much will be expected from us, and that true homage comes from the heart as well as from the lips and shows itself in deeds.”– Theodore Roosevelt
Guests: We had no visiting Rotarians but Cheri introduced her guest, Reed Thompson. Past President John Delaney introduced Guest of the Club James Young who is here for his third visit.
President Cheri gave a shout out to Par3 thanking them for the great service and food for our weekly lunches.
She then invited
Charles Voltz,
Sheryl Young, and
Cheryl Fama to come up to the podium and give us an update on the
Memory Café which serves those with early-stage dementia and Alzheimer's. This project is done with the assistance of the City of Burlingame and a Community Grant from our Rotary district. There have three sessions to date. The first was an introductory meeting. The second one introduced “chair yoga”. The third explored music and memory. Some initial studies show that listening to familiar music leads to positive changes in brain activity. To help the attendees at this session the volunteers used a questionnaire. It asked what songs they may have sung to their children and what favorite movie themes they might have. Every person was given a nano-iPod where they could create their own playlist to take with them. Charles related how he helped one woman build her music library by asking her what she liked and selecting songs to download. Kudos to the volunteers:
Mary Hunt,
Charles Voltz, Lage Andersen and
Sheryl Young.
Announcement: Alex Buljan reminded all new members that the next Fireside Chat, hosted by Joe LaMariana, would be December 5th. Cheri reminded us of the Fun Fairies event tonight at the home of Suzanne Juptner.
Program:
President Cheri introduced our annual visit by the Three Amigos, Father Michael Mahoney, Rabbi Jay Miller and Pastor Paul Watermulder. They took turns with the topic, Why We Give Thanks.
Rabbi Jay led off by offering a blessing to all of us. In addition to looking backward at the past year he talked about beginnings. He used the Judaic calendar of holy days as an example of looking forward. Rosh Hashanah is the Jewish New Year which is followed by Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement. These are followed by three other feasts in the same month. All center on the future as well as the past, a concluding and a beginning simultaneously. The joy of this Thanksgiving season includes both.
Father Michael was next. Everyone has different thoughts around the Thanksgiving season. He had a cautionary view of many of today’s young people. He termed it the Entitlement Society. “I deserve it. I did it on my own.” But on a day devoted to giving thanks, there should be a different perspective. We should be grateful. Father Michael takes young people to visit those in rest homes so they see what it is like for these folks who no longer have all the physical abilities of their youth. But they find those who are still happy and grateful for what they do have. Gratitude is an Attitude. He concluded with a little levity and a joke about Jack and Mike which showed that some of us feel we can never have enough, not really understanding gratitude.
Pastor (retired) Paul then began with a story of three friends who were asked what they would like folks to say as they viewed them in a casket someday. The third one hoped the answer would be, “He’s moving!” He then related a recent dinner party where the guests gathered in a circle before dinner was served and talked about what each was thankful for. One group was thankful for “things” such as a recent vacation. Another group was thankful for “health” and having gone through a medical procedure. Another group focused on “family”. For some, it was the ones that were no longer with us, who had passed away. Or they had a loved one in prison. Or family who were very distant. None were forgotten and all were still loved in spite of the circumstances. Then there were those who were thankful for “friends”, the ones who stand by you in time of trouble and pain. Paul’s wish for us is that our circle be unbroken as we care for each other.
Finale:
Cheri presented each of the clergies with a certificate noting that we have contributed 5 polio vaccinations through Rotary International. The meeting concluded with a Happy Thanksgiving.
