Morro Bay Rotary Meeting
December 5, 2017
 
Prez Pete called meeting to order
Invocation by Ken Stilts
Flag Salute by new member Lou Dubnow
Song:   A monotone version of Jingle Bells
Joke by Pete (I’ve heard it before, but still don’t remember it)
 
Guests of the Club today:
 Lorraine brought her son in law, Max Marple
Judy’s guest was Bonnie Jones
Mike Shaffran’s guest was our speaker, Paul Grafton
Lou Dubnow introduced, Katherine Gillen from the Chamber
 
Doug brought boxes to send to the troops
Matt Franklin announced we still have openings on Dec. 14 and 21 for Salvation Army Bell Ringing at Albertsons. 
 
We signed cards for Nancy whose brother passed away and Dan whose step father passed.   Our thoughts are with them both at this difficult time. 
 
  Lighted Boat Parade:   Our amazing team of Rotary carpenters, painters and decorators put the Santa     House together in two days!!!   Saturday night was wonderful, we were not in our usual location and did not sell as much hot chocolate and cookies as we usually do but it was fun and rewarding to see all the families who very much enjoyed our efforts on the Santa House.   Santa Ken also went on Sunday, and had a good visit with our Rotarian crew but we didn’t see many kids.  Santa (not Ken) will be there every night through the 12th and I think will be busier as the word gets out that we have a Santa House and the pictures are free.
 
The Crab Feed committee met today to make a few decisions about how we want to move forward with our first event effort.
 
Morro Bay Watch sent a letter of thanks for the $500.00 we donated to the Caroling Cops for their purchase of toys.
 
Judy is requesting members step forward to give a short talk on their favorite Christmas traditions. Please let her know if that is something you would like to do as this will be part of our December 19th Rotary program.
 
Melissa is interviewing applicants for RYLA tomorrow at 9:30 at the high school; she invited anyone interested to join her and help out with this.
 
Ken Casida drew the name to receive a PHF from the board; Jan Lewis was the big winner.  Then we drew to see who would get the first PHF from a completed quartet; Lorraine was its lucky winner.  
 
We then sang Happy Birthday to Gary Owens who missed this question:  What color are the berries on the mistletoe tree?  White was the correct answer; Gary was fined $10.00.
Jeff Jones was then asked and fined for his wrong answer to: When does the Orthodox Church celebrate Christmas.  Answer:   January 7th;  Jeff was fined $20.00.
Where did Saint Nickolas come from?  Turkey  No one knew - many were fined for being wrong.
 
Michael Shaffran introduced our speaker, Paul Graffton, who is a Naturalist working at Camp KEEP which stands for Kern
   Environmental Education Program.   Kids come from the Bakersfield area to the camp Mon - Fri. 
   One camp is located at Montana de Oro; the other camp is located in Cambria.   They offer the
   camp during school year with 120 students participating per week.  The camp’s curriculum gets
   the students out on the trails; exploring creeks, tide pools, and sand dunes; hike; find fossils;
   see elephant seals; enjoy camp fires and more.   The kids come down to Morro Rock and look at the peregrine falcons and the otters.   The program has been very beneficial in bringing kids from Kern County over to the ocean to be introduced to this wonderful area full of sea animals etc.  
 
Next week’s program will be the Morro Bay High School Choir under the leadership of Holly Banfield. 
 
Lastly, Prez Pete announced that he has been diagnosed with cancer and will be undergoing surgery at UCLA on Dec. 15th.   He plans to be there just a couple of days and will return to Rotary at the first of next year.    Our thoughts and prayers are with Pete, Kathi and their family at this time.  
 
Meeting adjourned ....E.Casida