Rotary House
President Dan started off the meeting in the usual way and then he asked Truman Rich to come up and make a short speech about his Rotary passion. Truman was both humorous and serious about the way he values the friendships at Rotary and the connections that we all make together and he pointed out how important those are. He also highlighted how the great amount of service Lincoln Rotary has performed for our Community. Great job, Truman !!
We had two guests, Veronica Griffiths from Wildlife Heritage and Marie Saler from the Community Garden.
Kris announced with mixed feelings that our RYE student Mateo from Argentina made the decision to return to his home. Despite a lot of effort from Lincoln Rotary, especially Kris, Melanie and Keith, he simply did not adjust to life in Lincoln. Kris also reminded us that Book Buddies was on after the meeting.
Club Poet Alan Lowe read a poem about Rotary Pins (Click Here for Poem). Dan gave out Rotary pins to all who did not have their pins on today. Warning, those without pins may have to pay next time. Dan announced a Texas Holdem fundraiser will be held by Placer Valley Sunrise club on Jan 27th. Check with Dan for details.
Our speaker was the very accomplished Lynette Andersen, a family law attorney and Rotarian, who spoke about a topic that is not well known but very impressive-- Oak Park Rotary House. This lovely small home was built by our own 5180 Rotarians and is maintained by 7 Clubs. The purpose is to provide long-term housing for families whose children are going through long term treatments at UC Davis Children's Hospital. It is a unique and very moving gift to the families who stay there rent-free. Lynette has been involved from Day One including construction. The 7 clubs rotate a weekend of maintenance each month and they clean the house when families move out. Lynetee showed many photos of the families and their children. Some of the kids have not made it, others, happily, have returned home much improved. It's a wonderful story and one not publicized as it could be. Lynette did ask for a small donation from our Club to help defray expenses and to share the burden from the 7 Clubs. Our Club's Board will be considering do just that. Thank you, Lynette for a heartfelt presentation. Isn't it wonderful the way Rotary does such terrific things for people?
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