SECRETARY
Jack Rosano
P.O.Box323
Berkeley, CA 94701
www.berkeleykiwanis.org May 1, 2007 Printer/ Mailer, Duane Leonard
KIWANIS CLUB u A Service Club on the Move u BERKELEY, CA
‘Twas a good crowd today. Almost all of the regulars and a plethora of Circle K. To those of us who were at Gualala it was a great surprise to see so many of them were able to make it to lunch. We “elders” were nursing blisters and sore muscles, but the “younguns” were nimble and ready to go. And they did ALL the heavy lifting and most of the work (not to detract from the efforts of Kiwanian painters). They also did most of the partying, giving rise to complaints from the Camp Staff who thought it would have been nice to get some sleep on Friday night. Reportedly, things were a little calmer on Saturday night, but I wouldn’t know - asleep by 9 both nights!!
Yes Gualala is the highpoint of our year if you don’t include presidential demotions, and this was a Gualala to remember. We did a lot and it “looked good”. President Retread tried to postpone discussion of Gualala to the program part of the meeting, but was only marginally successful. At first, not very successful in anything since he couldn’t get the PA system to work and the Carps were back, contributing (in female voice) to the hullabaloo. But, we did get going.
Debra was exercising her new “full member” badge by holding down the ticket table again, even though no one had bothered to give her the normal support in the form of some change. Most of the
“wheels” were up in the “lounge” meeting as part of the scholarship committee – a meeting which threatened to extend well into the official club meeting. Chair Tammy finally cut off the extraneous discussions, and the $40,000 will be distributed to 7 very deserving graduating seniors. The winners will (hopefully) join us for lunch (with family and advisors) on May 15, so be sure to attend.
When Retread finally got the PA system working, the meeting proceeded. To try and redeem himself, he called on our musical virtuoso (Frank) to lead is in a patriotic song and to stir the waters a bit Frank opted for “My Country ‘Tis” and, SURPRISE, it seemed that everyone knew it AND found the right key. It was greaaat! His better half, Roberta, was called upon for a May Day Invocation, and concentrated on “Freedom”.
We had an interclub from Albany/El Cerrito in the form of Bill K’Berg and Ted Ono who are participants in the scholarship committee. Since A/EC is slightly short of active members these days, I do believe that 2 makes a full interclub for them. And if you wonder why that club gets a say in “our” scholarships, it’s because Gordon Whitehead directed that the income from his trust be used to support scholarship aims of graduates from high schools in the 3
communities (Albany, Berkeley and El Cerrito). Gordon was a dual member back in the days when that was not a fully recognized facet of Kiwanis. And, he had been instrumental in establishing the A/EC club.
So, we also had a real, live guest from Union Bank. I should know her name and probably could find it in a past Kollegiate but you know how hard it is to remember or to walk downstairs to my Kollegiate library at my advanced age! Hopefully, she will be back and I can offer my apologies.
Boy did we have the Circle Kers today. Joe was late but Cheriz did the introductions. I would have missed all their names, but Phuoc leaned over my shoulder and wrote “Ashley, Cheriz, Virginia, Jean, Maggie, Alex, and Jenny on my note pad. I can read his writing better than my own!! He didn’t include Joe due to Joe’s lateness. I guess Joe does occasionally have to stick it out in class! Their last meeting of the year is this week and their end-of-year dinner is this Friday, May 5, but that’s not the end of their service year since they will be out at MLK School to help us. To be hones, they do ALL the work!
That brought on Don to talk about our service project at MLK (on Hopkins below the Alameda) Sunday, 7 May. It develops that this summer the track will be refurbished so it is fitting that Kiwanis and Circle K will gather at 9 AM to clean up the weeds and other mess that has gathered since our last work party there. Don mentioned that the Club’s credit card will be used to provide pizza, etc., for the workers. Hope you realize that the card has a $500 limit, Don; I’m sure you know how much pizza a Circle K member can eat!!
That caused Sandy to announce that after hearing about Oakland’s Emerson school last week, she has found that the library there is due for refurbishing and there’s lots of work to do moving stuff out to make room for the workers. So, a Kiwanis work party is in the planning stage for Saturday, June 2. Mark your calendar – details later.
And Roberta wanted to recognize Debra, our newest and (reportedly) youngest Kiwanian who stepped up and led the Circle K contingent to Cazadero to assist in the annual set-up for summer. This year, the team was “assisted” by some rain, but at least it wasn’t has hot as it was at Gualala (83 degrees!).
It’s a ways off, but the first annual Berkeley Kiwanis OKTOBERFEST (German spelling) is now firmly scheduled (the Oompah Band is signed up) for Saturday, October 13. Chair Duane is now working tirelessly developing the menu. He mentioned “wurst” and we hope he knows that Saags makes the best “wurst” in the East Bay.
Retread also wanted to recognize Bob S. (actually, he wanted to extract some $$$) for his receipt of the Frank Zamboni Ice Skating Award (or something like that). Bob then got to tell us all about operating the first Zamboni Ice Machine and later selling them all over. (And, he paid!)
So, was Gualala a great project or not?? It seems that all the participants, including Circle K, thought so. Jack summarized the weekend as great food, great camaraderie, and great service. Of course, he is biased, but for once we all agree with him. What did we do (besides sleep)?
1. Developed a beautiful set of steps down what was an informal, steep, dangerous, dirt
path. The 9 steps that resulted (after placing and removing probably 14 as plans changed) were designed by Ed (! ‘nuff said), and executed by Debra (who almost executed Ed). Debra’s able assistant was George who created the best blockage of the old path ever seen. He also managed to come up with a supervisor’s chair (and sat in it until Jack came along and took over that position).
2. Nearby (and always fighting with the path folks for tools) was the Egeberg/Piercy engineering team installing THE DITCH around the latrine (toilet) to drain away the water which is known to lap around the feet of utility users)
3. In the dining hall the Kiwanis amalgamated painters were sprucing up the walls and floor under the watchful eyes of Sandy, Denise, and Elizabeth who also showed they could wield a mean brush.
4. Phuoc led a team sealing the Hearn memorial picnic benches.
5. Duane and a bunch (3) of Hendersons replaced the deck on the Staff House (not to be confused with the Manager’s House).
6. Thom (of Gualala Staff) and helpers were replacing stringers on the swinging bridge.
7. An unrecognized group worked on the pediatric trauma dolls in lieu of arm labor. I didn’t get to see them at work, so not sure just who the folks were – just saw the results since I carried the stuff back in my car.
Jane was our safety officer and did a great job as evidenced by only passing out two band aids. Fortunately, she was not at the right place to see JP fall into his own ditch, but that was not a serious incident; a bit embarrassing, though!
It’s impossible to give credit to all the Circle Kers who did the heavy work on all the above projects; Joe Lee had them all on his computer and kept reassigning folks to keep
them “fresh”. There was a team detailed to help the cook clean up and Lauren Leonard found her calling as an assistant cook.
So, farewell to Gualala although there is some talk of tackling a special project to replace that worn out toilet now that the rain water has hopefully been controlled. Even with Circle K help, we couldn’t do that in a weekend!!
This is a bit long, but I’ve still left out a bunch of stuff that I wanted to get in. Next week, a new home address and phone number for Denise, and is she ever excited.
“We tease those we love”. George Maxe, 2007 jp
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