the Grapevine P.O. Box 493 Napa, CA 94559 Exclusively for Rotarians and their families Rotary Club of North Napa www.clubrunner.ca/northnapa January 31, 2012 2011-2012 OFFICERS Bill Bennett,Pres.-253 1595 Tracy Tinsley-VP-2010-2012 Tony Giaccio, Sec.- 257 1047 Carl Mianecke,Treas.-260 5952 Tom Webber,IPP- 254 0462 Board Members: Chris Burns-2011-2013 Rich Yamanaka-2011-2013 Steve Simich-2010-2012 Mike Riddle-2011-2012 Editor-Al Verstuyft e-mail: alchemistawv@gmail.com Meets on Tuesday at 6:30PM at Culinary Arts Center, Wine Train, 801 Eight Street Napa, CA 94559 February 7 UPCOMING PROGRAMS: Surprise Speaker Kelly Macdonald? February 14 Valentine s Day Dinner February 21 Robyn Kesnow/Animal RN February 28 John Stallcup/APREMAT NVRA blog: www.nvra1.blogspot.com NVRA Facebook http://www.facebook.com/pages/rotary-club-of-north- Napa/210059842359129?sk=wall District 5130 District Governor 2011-2012 Maureen Merrill (Mike) Rotary Club of Windsor 9482 Vinecrest Road Windsor, CA 95492 email:maureen@harrismerrill. com www.rotary5130.org Rotary International President 2011-2012 Kalyan Banerjee (Binota) Rotary Club of Vapi,Gujarat,India www.rotary.org 100112 Welcome Anila Chaudhary! 1
Greetings and Introductions: Ambassadorial Scholar Michael Parker with Chris Burns Special Guest Anila Chaudhary Friend of Rotary Wendy Bennett with Tracy and Anila Speaker Jane Albert Happy and Sad Dollars After missing a meeting or two due to illness, George Lundberg celebrated a significant birthday. Jack Monroe led the celebration. Steve Simich is glad to be back and enjoyed his daughter s game. Rich Yamanaka had a great trip to Singapore and Vietnam. Bill Bennett is (glad to be?) back from Hawaii. Anila Chaudhary was glad to be here. Tracy Tinsley celebrated a tonsorial donation. Paul Menzel s grandfather passed away. Michele McClure and Michael Redman paid late dollars. Ted Witten thanked the club for supporting his matching grant proposal. 2
Club Notes: Carl Mianecke reported that $400 came in from club members over the last month to support the Dictionary Fund. President Bill Bennett noted that a $240 donation to End Polio Now rolled in from the last Oxbow event. The next District Governor will indeed be decided by club voting. President Bill circulated the supporting documents by email. Candidates need to be ranked 1/2/3. Michael Parker, our Ambassadorial Scholar for 2012-2013 spoke a few words to us. He is going to Zaragoza, Spain to study Spanish language, culture, and human rights. Michael and Chris Burns are going to the West Coast regional Ambassadorial Scholar meeting next week where former scholars will speak about their time abroad. Michael will be visiting a number of other local Rotary clubs before his departure. He thanked Chris and John Duser for all their help and the club for its nomination of him. Anila Chaudhary was initiated as the newest member of the Rotary Club of North Napa. John Kempkey gave a gracious welcome speech and Michele McClure pinned Anila. Steve Simich gave her a princely porcine gift (for her future Dictionary Fund donations). President Bill noted Anila s passion and personal experience in helping women in developing countries. Napa Food Bank thanked the club for its $500 donation. The NVRA meeting is on February 8. Valentines dinner is on the 14 th. Highway and Bike Path cleanups are scheduled for 2/18. There will be a NEWS project on 3/10. The District Assembly is on 3/31. Thanks to hard work by Ted Witten with literary support from President Bill, our letter to the Grant Committee for International Projects has been submitted. John Duser circulated a sign-up roster for CPR training (sometime in April). The District Governor election will be held next week. Evening Speaker Jane Albert Napa Humane Society The Napa Humane Society has been serving our community since 1973. All their funding comes from donations and fees for service. Services include: Child education on pet ownership (1000 s/year) 3
Spaying/neutering (4831 in 2011) Vaccinations Microchipping Mobile Adoption Unit Napa County runs the animal shelter and the Napa Humane Society partners with them rather than duplicating services. They decided that if they built more cages they would fill them up, which is not the goal. You can donate dollars or time. There are volunteer opportunities (see napahumane.com). Opportunities include working with the vet team, helping to put on the educational puppet show (will be viewed by 1200 children this year), handling dogs for the mobile adoption unit, etc. Michele McClure asked whether old pet microchips can be re-scanned and re-utilized. Jane said yes, that the signal they give off includes the chip manufacturer s info as well as the owner s. The organization includes 3 vets and 3 vet assistants who see approximately 20 animals a day. The organization is not related to the ASPCA, and dollars donated to them do not come back to Napa. Napa has more of a stray cat problem than a feral cat problem, but the agency s Whiskers, Tails, and Feral s Program uses the county s spay and neuter funding to trap, neuter, and return animals into the wild. On a trapping day, 35-40 cats might be brought in. You can bring in individual animals as well. Euthenasia is down from 70% to 15%. It is better to fix and release the animals because if they are eliminated, other animals will just come in and take their places. 4
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