Latest News Blog

President-Elect Patrick called our meeting to order at 12:00N. He led the members in the Pledge of Allegiance & the 4-way test, followed by a moment of silence and retrospection.

Guests:           Gloria & Michael Povolny, guests of Patrick

April is “Magazine Month”

Just one pin / name tag fine was collected today.

Announcements/Sad-Happy-Brag bucks:

Pat parted with a buck to celebrate her entry into the 70’s. Also, to have seen Book of Mormon.

Judy put one up for Pat’s joining the 70’s club.

Mary B was happy, too. But, she didn’t have a buck.

Libby related a “Book of Mormon” story… She discovered two young, well dressed young men who were sharing a joint in an arroyo!

Mollie has a leak which cannot be found! Does someone have the name of a good plumber?

Sgt-at-Arms Allan’s questions for today: Rotary Magazine, re: Shelter Box.  As we all remember, we have sent one to Nepal in the recent past. Shelter Box people are trained and they have a final exam. Where does this take place? No one guessed that it’s in the U.K.

The Las Vegas Rotary Club wants to change the image of their city. How are they attempting this? Expecting Moms receive a “Future Rotarian” pin!

Club, District & R.I. News and Business:   

NO REGULAR MEETING on 24 April!!!!

Our ad in the Peace Choir’s programs did turn out nicely

We received a note of thanks for our donation to The Rock at Noonday.

The “All-Club” Luncheon is held every year during the District Conference. On Friday, April 27th. all clubs are asked to make that luncheon their weekly club meeting and to encourage all members to attend.

Rick King, Past R.I. President will be the featured speaker at the event.

The annual CLNKids support breakfast will take place on 4 May, at the Hotel Albuquerque, 7:30 AM. We are to have 9 to 10 who’ll attend. Thanks to Pat for volunteering to be our table host / manager. Sign up today if you plan to attend. We must register by 27 April. Club donation will be $200.00.

Rotary Leadership Institute classes will be held on Saturday, May 5th ~ 7:30 AM - 1:30 PM 10500 Lomas Blvd, NE (French Funerals, Lomas Office)

All three sessions offered simultaneously. Breakfast included!

Today’s Program:     New Mexico Junior Achievement

Karen introduced Mr. Mark Schmit, program manager.

Junior Achievement of New Mexico, Inc. is the state's largest economic education organization. Junior Achievement uses free hands-on experiences to help young people understand the economics of life. In partnership with business and educators, JA brings the real world to students, opening their minds to their potential.

JA is a 501(c)(3) organization which was begun in 1919. They believe that every child deserves an education in economics and finances in order to inspire and prepare them for success in a global economy.

Their goal is to build young people's capacity to spur economic development and contribute to America's global competitiveness. Junior Achievement helps prepare young people for the real world by showing them how to generate and effectively manage wealth, how to create jobs which make their communities more robust, and how to apply entrepreneurial thinking to the workplace.

In learning these lessons, and putting them into quantifiable action, students become intimately familiar with economics and finances. They become better prepared to assume their role in the practical world of work and responsible citizenship.

JA empowers young people to own their economic success. Their volunteer-based K-12 programs foster work-readiness, entrepreneurship, and financial literacy skills, and use experiential learning to inspire kids to dream big and reach their potential.

Junior Achievement is New Mexico's organization dedicated to educating students about workforce readiness, entrepreneurship and financial literacy through real-world, hands-on programs.

Programs help prepare young people for the real world by showing them how to generate wealth and effectively manage it, how to create jobs which make their communities more robust, and how to apply entrepreneurial thinking to the workplace. Students put these lessons into action and learn the value of contributing to their communities.

JA's unique approach (less lectures and more hands-on) allows volunteers from the community to deliver their curriculum while sharing their experiences with students. Embodying the heart of JA, 202,000 classroom volunteers transform the key concepts of their lessons into a message that inspires and empowers students to believe in themselves, showing them they can make a difference in the world.

JA does need volunteers/mentors and donations. $36 allows JA to serve one student and $1000 permits them to offer a program to one class at a partner school. We’re looking into starting up JA at Manzano HS

JA Statewide Headquarters: 4700 Lincoln Rd. NE   Albuquerque, NM 87109

Erin Hagenow, President  president@newmexicoja.org  Direct Line: (505) 342-6354

For more information, go to https://www.juniorachievement.org/web/ja-newmexico

Or call 505-342-6350

Our Thought For the Day was presented by Allan: “Happiness lies in the joy of achievement and the thrill of creative effort.” – anon.

There being no further Rotary business, President-Elect Patrick concluded today’s meeting at 1:00 PM.

Programs, Happenings and Stuff & Such:

21-22 Apr       Our Club will have a presence (a booth) at the H&G show! See Allan to help out!

24 Apr             NO REGULAR MEETING

26-29 Apr       District 5520 2018 Conference in Santa Fe – Eldorado Hotel.

27 Apr             All Club Luncheon  - Past Rotary International President, Rick King, Main Speaker!

1 May              Board Meeting

1 May              Regular Meeting -

4 May              CLNKids support breakfast @ Hotel Albuquerque, 7:30AM

5 May              Women2Be Fundraiser- “Wine for Womanhood” www.Women2Be.org for tickets

8 May              Regular Meeting -

13 May            Mother’s Day

15 May            Regular Meeting -

15 May            Ramadan begins

22 May            Regular Meeting -

28 May            Memorial Day

29 May            Regular Meeting –

5 June              Board Meeting

5 June              Regular Meeting –

12 June            Regular Meeting -

17 June            Father’s Day

19 June            Regular Meeting -

21 June            Summer Solstice

23-27 June      Rotary Convention in Toronto, Canada.

26 June            Regular Meeting -

Please continue to help with setting up and striking the necessary equipment that we use during our meetings!

No regular meeting today… Instead, we had ourselves a Field Trip to Casa Rondena Winery

at 11:00 AM, MDT. The tour was informative and the surroundings were very pleasant.
Cas Rondena Winery, 733 Chavez Road NW, Los Ranchos de Albuquerque

Following our tour, members and guests met for lunch at Sadie’s. Don’t ask about Allan’s lunch.

April is “Magazine Month” 

Club, District & R.I. News and Business:   

James Morrison found and delivered Pat’s Paul Harris fellowship certificate. Better late than never!

Gail will be away to CT and visiting grandkids for a couple of weeks.

NO REGULAR MEETING on 24 April!!!!

The “All-Club” Luncheon is held every year during our District Conference. On Friday, April 27^th, all clubs are asked to make that luncheon their weekly club meeting and to encourage all members to attend.

IF a member has registered for the full conference, there is nothing more that needs to be done. 

IF a member has already registered to attend a part of the conference and has paid for the Friday luncheon, nothing needs to be done. 

IF there are members who will ONLY attend the luncheon and haven’t registered as yet, go to the District 5520 website ( www.Rotary5520.org ) by April 16^th and register. Cost is $30 per person. Rick King, Past R.I. President will be the featured speaker for the lunch.

“Roots to Wings” fundraiser project: The Rio Rancho Club has asked us to provide 8 volunteers (& we have!) on 14 April (Saturday evening) at the Marriott Pyramid Hotel. We’ll be working booths and games and we’ll earn $400. This’ll be a book signing fundraiser event.

The annual CLNKids support breakfast will take place on 4 May, at the Hotel Albuquerque, 7:30 AM. We have 9 to 10 who’ll attend. Pat has volunteered to be our table host/manager. Get your name to her if you plan to attend. We have to register by 27 April. Our Club will donate $200.00.

Programs, Happenings and Stuff & Such:

16 Apr             DaVinci Exhibit- NM Museum of Natural History- 5:30P-7:30P

17 Apr             Regular Meeting – New Mexico Junior Achievement- Erin Hagenow, President

21 Apr             Queen Elizabeth II Birthday

21-22 Apr       Our Club will have a presence (a booth) at the H&G show! See Allan to help out!

24 Apr             NO REGULAR MEETING

26-29 Apr       District 5520 2018 Conference in Santa Fe – Eldorado Hotel.

27 Apr             All Club Luncheon  - Past Rotary International President, Rick King, Main Speaker!

1 May              Board Meeting

1 May              Regular Meeting-

4 May              CLNKids support breakfast @ Hotel Albuquerque, 7:30AM

5 May              Women2Be Fundraiser- “Wine for Womanhood” www.Women2Be.org for tickets

8 May              Regular Meeting-

13 May            Mother’s Day

15 May            Regular Meeting-

15 May            Ramadan begins

22 May            Regular Meeting-

28 May            Memorial Day

29 May            Regular Meeting-

5 June              Board Meeting

5 June              Regular Meeting-

12 June            Regular Meeting-

17 June            Father’s Day

19 June            Regular Meeting-

21 June            Summer Solstice

23-27 June      Rotary Convention in Toronto, Canada.

26 June            Regular Meeting-

1 July              A new Rotary Year begins!!!!

Please continue to help with setting up and striking the necessary equipment that we use during our meetings!

Following this morning’s board of directors meeting, President Gail called our meeting to order at 12:00N and led the membership in the Pledge of Allegiance & the 4-way test, followed by a moment of silence and retrospection.

There were no visiting Rotarians and just one guest (Penny) at today’s meeting.  

April is “Magazine Month”

Just one pin / name tag fine was collected today.

Announcements/Sad-Happy-Brag bucks:

Judy’s youngest grandson graduates this year- will attend film school- was accepted into a choice of three schools!

Dave: When his wife left, she took the car… his pin was in the car! (She’ll be back soon)

Vivien for Penny and for son #1- He actually sent flowers for Easter! He also visited a Rotary Club.

Mary J. parted with a fiver for: Penny; +1 prospective member; great weather; the weekend is over and one for our group happiness!

Penny coughed up a buck for being our newest member.

Gail will be away to CT and visiting grandkids for a couple of weeks.

Sgt-at-Arms Allan’s questions for today: After showing off all of his prizes, the questions began…

What was another (original) name for the Nob Hill shopping center? Following several strange answers, the truth was revealed to us: the name was “Wiggleman’s Folly” (1947). Attesting to our city’s changing boundaries, members Mary J, Pat, Dave & Judy had some Interesting comments to add.

#2… Re: April’s Rotarian magazine interviews what person regarding what 50^th anniversary? Mary B. picked up a package of toothpicks (new?): Yup, it’s the 50^th year following the assassination of MLK Jr. Bernice King is his youngest daughter. 

Club, District & R.I. News and Business:   

April Birthdays: Allan, Pat, Vivien and Penny. They all had to share one song! 

We are happy to have Mary J induct our newest Club member today! Penny McElhaney has joined the ranks of dedicated Rotarians. Her sponsor is Mary Johnson. Welcome Penny!

President Gail read several letters of thanks to us. They were from our Interact Club members.

Our Pancake Breakfast fundraiser: Everyone put in so much work! Net amount to our coffers= $1898. We’d still like any comments about the event & about the venue.

NO REGULAR MEETING on 24 April!!!!

The “All-Club” Luncheon is held every year during the District Conference. On Friday, April 27th. all clubs are asked to make that luncheon their weekly club meeting and to encourage all members to attend.

IF a member has registered for the full conference, there is nothing more that needs to be done. 

IF a member has already registered to attend a part of the conference and has paid for the Friday luncheon, nothing needs to be done. 

IF there are members who will ONLY attend the luncheon and haven’t registered as yet, go to the District 5520 website ( www.Rotary5520.org ) by April 16^th and register. Cost is $30 per person. Rick King, Past R.I. President will be the featured speaker for the lunch.

Today was the final call from Dave for District Cruise raffle tickets. Any that you buy will add to your EREY and Paul Harris Fellowship. Make out checks to “Rotary Club of Albuquerque Sandia”.

“Roots to Wings” fundraiser project: The Rio Rancho Club has asked us to provide 8 volunteers (& we have!) on 14 April (Saturday evening) at the Marriott Pyramid Hotel. We’ll be working booths and games and we’ll earn $400. We should be doing this just in case the Bernalillo Beer festival doesn’t happen! This’ll be a book signing event.

The annual CLNKids support breakfast will take place on 4 May, at the Hotel Albuquerque, 7:30 AM. We have 9 to 10 who’ll attend. Pat has volunteered to be our table host/manager. Get your name to her if you plan to attend. We have to register by 27 April. Club donation will be $200.00.

Every year, each Rotary Club receives voting documentation from R.I. to be used by a delegate at the Yearly Convention. No one will be attending from our Club this year. So, we will forward our voting proxy to a District Rotarian who plans to make the trip to Canada.

Silver Horizons will be opening up a thrift store! We’ll plan to help out somehow, soon.

Pat has donated $500 to the Club in lieu of a quilt.

Emily is working on a $1000.00 matching grant for us, from PNM.

Following the winery tour on 10 April, we’ll get together for lunch at Sadie’s. How to get to the winery & to Sadie’s? Karen will send out an instructional email to all.

Today’s Program:     If we had one, it would have been about Wellness and Rotary.

Karen was to have introduced fellow Rotarian and past president of the Rio Grande Club, Andrew Garrison. He forgot all about today’s talk!

There being no further Rotary business, President Gail concluded today’s meeting at 1:00 PM.

Programs, Happenings and Stuff & Such:

10 Apr             Regular Meeting – 11AM Field Trip & tour of Casa Rondena Winery with John Calvin

16 Apr             DaVinci Exhibit- NM Museum of Natural History- 5:30P-7:30P

17 Apr             Regular Meeting – New Mexico Junior Achievement- Erin Hagenow, President

21 Apr             Queen Elizabeth II Birthday

21-22 Apr       Our Club will have a presence (a booth) at the H&G show! See Allan to help out!

24 Apr             NO REGULAR MEETING

26-29 Apr       District 5520 2018 Conference in Santa Fe – Eldorado Hotel.

27 Apr             All Club Luncheon  - Past Rotary International President, Rick King, Main Speaker!

4 May              CLNKids support breakfast @ Hotel Albuquerque, 7:30AM

5 May              Women2Be Fundraiser- “Wine for Womanhood” www.Women2Be.org for tickets

13 May            Mother’s Day

15 May            Ramadan begins

28 May            Memorial Day

17 June            Father’s Day

21 June            Summer Solstice

23-27 June      Rotary Convention in Toronto, Canada.

Please continue to help with setting up and striking the necessary equipment that we use during our meetings!

No meeting today, just a day of rest from our pancake breakfast labors.

March is still “Literacy Month” 

Club, District & R.I. News and Business:   

Well, we made it through a pancake breakfast at a new location and everyone worked so hard to make it a success. Well done team...Now is the time to reflect on the good the bad and the evil...

Please send President Gail your comments and she will compile them so we can make changes as needed and plan for next year.

Some of the comments that she has received so far: Great Light venue. Good to see what the Rock Does.

Must serve something besides pancakes, especially for people who are health conscious or diabetic. Suggest at least scrambled eggs. Pancakes were cold, rubbery, butter would not spread - need to be right off the grill if we do pancakes again.

Must have “A Frame” sign out on the road to help people find the venue. 

Parking was too crowded (Rotarians must park on the road in the future). 

Need to advertise better, maybe work with another club, maybe have silent auction tables. 

Maybe work more closely with the Rock so that they will advertise through their ministry. 

So, those are examples - while it’s still fresh in your mind, please send comments to all or to President Gail or to Gail and Mollie. 

We served around 111 people this year opposed to 154 last year. Not sure if it was the venue or the march or to whom we sold tickets. It looks like we’ve made $1898.00. Not too shabby.  Great job everyone.

FIVE is the number of wild polio virus cases in 2018.  ZERO is the number of wild polio virus cases in Nigeria this year and last year. ZERO is the number of wild polio virus cases in Pakistan this year. ONE is the number of countries reporting wild polio virus cases in 2018 - only Afghanistan.

Rotary has led this effort since 1979, and the vision to eradicate this disease from the world began at the club level! Pretty much everything happens at the club level, which is the reason for District Assemblies. 

The “All-Club” Luncheon is held every year during the District Conference and is scheduled for Friday, April 27th. All clubs are asked to make that luncheon your weekly club meeting and to encourage your members to attend.

IF a member has registered for the full conference, there is nothing more that needs to be done. 

IF a member has already registered to attend a part of the conference and has paid for the Friday luncheon, nothing needs to be done. 

BUT, if you have members who will be attending ONLY the luncheon, collect their names and return them NO LATER than April 16th. Then, your club should cut a check for that list of members @ $30 per person and send it to Donna Pedace at: 3730 Linda Vista Ave. NE, Rio Rancho, NM  87124.

Rick King, Past R.I. President will be the featured speaker for the lunch.

District 5520 is seeking a District Bookkeeper to assist the District Treasurer and Secretary in maintaining the District’s financial processes and records. This position will be filled by an independent contract between the Bookkeeper and District 5520, effective July 1, 2018. The selection process will be co-chaired by Dick Jones and Lonnie Leslie. Interested parties should submit a resume including education and work experience by mail or e-mail to Dick Jones no later than April 20, 2018. 

Interact: On Thursday, 22 March we held a combined meeting of both Interact & Rotary Clubs - We brought lunch and some awards and prizes. We met in the parking lot, checked in at the school front desk and the meeting took place from 12:05PM to 12:25PM. We met these great, loving kids who relate so well with each other and who all love pizza (they even ate the broccoli)!

Pick up District Cruise raffle tickets from Dave and buy or sell what you can. Any that you buy will add to your EREY and Paul Harris Fellowship. Make out checks to “Rotary Club of Albuquerque Sandia”.

“Roots to Wings” Project: The Rio Rancho Club has asked us to provide 6 to 7 volunteers to “man” their fundraising booth on 14 April (evening?) at the Marriott Pyramid Hotel. We can earn $400-$500. We’d better do this just in case the Bernalillo Beer festival doesn’t happen! This’ll be a book signing event.

The annual CLNKids support breakfast will take place on 4 May, at the Hotel Albuquerque, 7:30 AM. We have 9 to 10 who’ll attend. All we need is a table host/manager. We have to register by 27 April.

Programs, Happenings and Stuff & Such:

30 Mar            Good Friday AND Passover begins.

1 Apr               Easter

3 Apr               Board Meeting

3 Apr               Regular Meeting –"Wellness and Rotary"- presented by Andrew Garrison

10 Apr             Regular Meeting – 11AM Field Trip & tour of Casa Rondena Winery with John Calvin

16 Apr             DaVinci Exhibit- NM Museum of Natural History- 5:30P-7:30P

17 Apr             Regular Meeting –

21-22 Apr       Our Club will have a presence (a booth) at the H&G show! See Allan to help out!

24 Apr             MAYBE Regular Meeting – (Maybe NOT)

26-29 Apr       District 5520 2018 Conference in Santa Fe – Eldorado Hotel.

27 Apr             All Club Luncheon  - Past Rotary International President, Rick King, Main Speaker

4 May              CLNKids support breakfast @ Hotel Albuquerque, 7:30AM

5 May              Women2Be Fundraiser- “Wine for Womanhood” www.Women2Be.org for tickets

13 May            Mother’s Day

28 May            Memorial Day

17 June            Father’s Day

21 June            Summer Solstice

23-27 June      Rotary Convention in Toronto, Canada.

President-Elect Patrick called our meeting to order at 12:00N and led the membership in the Pledge of Allegiance & the 4-way test, followed by a moment of silence and retrospection.

Guests:           Penny McElhaney

March is “Literacy Month”

Just one pin / name tag fine collected today.

Announcements/Sad-Happy-Brag bucks:

Mary B has to be happy ‘cause it’s the international day of happiness!

Maggie wound up being happy… She didn’t know why she received a call from South Korea! Her navy Seal son is stationed there (until June) and she didn’t know it.

Dave’s residually happy, since his three grandchildren visited last Tuesday.

Mary J agrees with Mary B – Let’s be happy… Also happy to have las Golondrinas here today.

Mollie touted an art show at Hoffmantown.

Vivien’s happy for Penny’s presence, today.

Sgt-at-Arms Allan’s questions for today: What 4 things are happening this week? Judy almost took what looked like a slightly used dream catcher for her answers! Spring is here, Interact luncheon on Thursday, Our pancake breakfast on Saturday & I didn’t catch the fourth one.

Then, what’s on our latest Rotarian magazine cover (if you received yours)? Dave read his; It’s the year of the tree, i.e.: Rotary plants for the future.

Club, District & R.I. News and Business:   

Pancake breakfast: WE setup on Friday night at 6:30PM. On Saturday, WE show up at 7:30AM to prep for  8A to 10A service.

District 5520 is seeking a District Bookkeeper to assist the District Treasurer and Secretary in maintaining the District’s financial processes and records. This position will be filled by issuing an independent contract between the Bookkeeper and District 5520, effective July 1, 2018. The selection process will be co-chaired by Dick Jones and Lonnie Leslie. Interested parties should submit a resume including education and work experience by mail or e-mail to Dick Jones no later than April 20, 2018. 

Interact:Thursday, 22 March,  A combined meeting of both Interact & Rotary -The kids are excited about meeting all of us. We’ll buy and bring them lunch and some awards and prizes. So, we’ll meet in the parking lot to check in at the school front desk at around 11:40AM… The meeting will take place from 12:05PM to 12:25PM.

District assembly – 24 March @ Crowne Plaza- 10A-3P- $25. To attend, you must register at the District 5520 website. Foundation Dinner- same evening @ Crowne Plaza- $50

Pick up District Cruise raffle tickets from Dave and buy or sell what you can. Ten would be nice. Any that you buy will add to your EREY and Paul Harris Fellowship. Make out checks to “Rotary Club of Albuquerque Sandia”.

“Roots to Wings” Project: The Rio Rancho Club has asked us to provide 6 to 7 volunteers to “man” their fundraising booth on 14 April (evening?) at the Marriott Pyramid Hotel. We can earn $400-$500. We’d better do this just in case the Bernalillo Beer festival doesn’t happen! This’ll be a book signing event. No, you don’t get to sign any books.

The annual CLNKids support breakfast will take place on 4 May, at the Hotel Albuquerque, 7:30 AM. We have 9 to 10 who’ll attend. All we need is a table host/manager. We have to register by 27 April.

Today’s Program:     Rancho de las Golondrinas (The Ranch of the Swallows)

Karen introduced Ms. Laura Gonzales-Meredith, Education and Volunteer Manager and Mr. Michael King, deputy administrator.

Along with a PowerPoint presentation, we learned that the mission of El Rancho de las Golondrinas is to inspire learning and preserve the legacy of the land through encounters with the traditions and culture of New Mexico’s Hispano past.

This is a historic rancho and is now a living history museum. It was strategically located on the Camino Real, the Royal Road that extended from Mexico City to Santa Fe. The ranch provided goods for trade and was a place where the caravans would stop on their journey. It was a paraje, an official rest stop for travelers, and was even mentioned by the great military leader and governor, Don Juan Bautista de Anza, when he stopped here with his expeditionary force in 1780.

The rancho is located on 200 acres in a valley just south of Santa Fe. They strive to maintain examples of life during the period when Spain ruled in the southwestern portion of the North and most of the Central American continent. The museum opened in 1972 and is dedicated to the history, heritage and culture of 18th and 19th century New Mexico. Original buildings on the site date from the early 1700s.

In 1932, Leonora Curtin and her mother purchased the ranch property. Leonora is known for the founding of Santa Fe’s Native Market in an effort to save and reestablish traditional craft forms and techniques, and to provide local artisans with a source of income during the Great Depression. In 1946, Leonora and her Finnish husband, Yrjö Alfred (Y.A.) Paloheimo, saw the potential in the old ranch as a site for an outdoor living history museum.

Both Leonora and Y.A. devoted themselves to transforming the property into a place where visitors could physically engage with the rich culture of the region and become immersed in the history of New Mexico. Existing historic buildings were restored, period structures were erected and historic buildings were brought in from other sites around New Mexico. The museum officially opened its doors in the spring of 1972 and has grown into New Mexico’s premier living history museum. Today, the 501c3 museum promotes and preserves the Hispano heritage of Northern New Mexico, while at the same time building a better understanding of the lasting influence of Hispanos in the Southwest and the rest of the country. They’ve a $1.6 million yearly budget to run the place and there are 30 structures on the property. There are guided tours (free for our tour!) and bread baking classes. This is a working farm/ranch and they’ve got a working mill, too. For more information, go to https://golondrinas.org/

334 Los Pinos Road, Santa Fe, NM 87507    Phone: (505) 471-2261

President-Elect Patrick then presented our speakers with gift cards in appreciation for their time spent with us today.

There being no further Rotary business, President-Elect Patrick concluded today’s meeting at 1:00 PM.

Programs, Happenings and Stuff & Such:

20 Mar            IT’S THE FIRST DAY OF SPRING !!!!

22 Mar            We ALL meet at Manzano H.S. Interact Club for lunch & awards.

24 Mar            10 AM District Assembly & 6 PM Foundation Dinner @ Crowne Plaza hotel.

24 Mar            OUR Pancake Breakfast fundraiser @ The Rock At Noonday. WE show up at 7:30AM

27 Mar            NO MEETING – Maybe there’ll be a field trip today! Maybe to the PBS studios.

30 Mar            Good Friday AND Passover begins.

1 Apr               Easter

3 Apr               Board Meeting

3 Apr               Regular Meeting –

10 Apr             Regular Meeting –

15 Apr             It’s the IDES !!

16 Apr             DaVinci Exhibit- NM Museum of Natural History- 5:30P-7:30P

17 Apr             Regular Meeting –

21-22 Apr       Our Club will have a presence ( & a booth) at the H&G show! See Allan to help out!

24 Apr             MAYBE Regular Meeting – (Maybe NOT)

26-29 Apr       District 5520 2018 Conference in Santa Fe – Eldorado Hotel.

27 Apr             All Club Luncheon  - Past Rotary International President, Rick King, Main Speaker

4 May              CLNKids support breakfast @ Hotel Albuquerque, 7:30AM

5 May              Women2Be Fundraiser- “Wine for Womanhood” www.Women2Be.org for tickets

13 May            Mother’s Day

28 May            Memorial Day

17 June            Father’s Day

21 June            Summer Solstice

23-27 June      Rotary Convention in Toronto, Canada.

 PLEASE continue to help us out with setting up and striking the necessary equipment that we use during our meetings!

President Gail called this meeting to order at 12:00N and led the membership in the Pledge of Allegiance & the 4-way test, followed by a moment of silence and retrospection.

Visiting Rotarians:   

Guests:           Gretchen Kryda, guest of John           Amanda Simes, guest of Gail                                                            Penny McElhaney, guest of Mary J.

March is “Literacy Month”

One pin / name tag fine collected today.

Announcements/Sad-Happy-Brag bucks:

Gail’s happy to have granddaughter Amanda visiting.

Maggie was good for $2- She’s here today because the motor home needs repairs AND found that Penny is her neighbor.

Mary J put up a buck for Penny’s member application AND her office will be ready in May.

Mary B had a happy RLI buck AND at least “5x plus ones” were to be had at “Ragtime”.

Sgt-at-Arms Allan’s questions for today: Where was Conrad Hilton’s Hotel, in Albuquerque?

Hotel #4 was located at 2^nd and Copper. There was some argument as to its present name.

By now, we all know that RI’s next President is Barry Rassin. In his last  article, what does R.I. need?

It’s a need to better connect with each other!

Club, District & R.I. News and Business:   

N. Domingo Baca has approved our installation of a locked cabinet for Rotary! Where to purchase? New? Used? Minimun ht= 45” inside. Libby suggested that we try Restore office furniture.

Interact: Wednesday, March 21^st.  A combined meeting of both Interact & Rotary -The kids are excited about meeting all of us. We’ll buy and bring them lunch and some awards and prizes. Check in at the school front desk at around 11:30AM… The meeting will take place from 12:05PM to 12:25PM.

District 5520 assembly – 24 March @ Crowne Plaza- 10A-3P- $25. To attend, you must register at the District 5520 website. Foundation Dinner- same evening @ Crowne Plaza- $50

Pick up your District Cruise raffle tickets from Dave and buy or sell what you can. Ten would be nice. Any that you buy will add to your EREY and Paul Harris Fellowship. Make out checks to “Rotary Club of Albuquerque Sandia”.

“Roots to Wings” Project: The Rio Rancho Club has asked us to provide 6 to 7 volunteers to man their fundraising booth on 14 April (evening?) at the Marriott Pyramid Hotel. We can earn $400-$500. We’d better do this just in case the Bernalillo Beer festival doesn’t happen! This’ll be a book signing event.

Our pancake breakfast tickets… Buy 10 for $90 (A special price for today). Hopefully, enough cash will appear “up front”, in order to pay for food & supplies, which we must purchase. We’re donating our paid unused tickets to Interact… they’ll be our guests this year.

Judy announced that the 10^th annual CLNKids support breakfast will take place on 4 May, at the Hotel Albuquerque, 7:30 AM. We have 9 to 10 who’ll attend. All we need is a table host/manager. We have to register by 27 April.

Today’s Program:     Ghost Ranch

Karen introduced Stephen Picha, Groups & Meetings Representative.

Ghost Ranch is a 21,000 acre interfaith education and retreat center of the Presbyterian Church (USA), located in northern New Mexico approximately 2 hours drive from Albuquerque. The ranch’s mission is to enrich lives. The landscape of Ghost Ranch has been made famous by painter Georgia O’Keeffe. People from all over the world come to work together, to paint, write poetry, to hike, ride horseback, to research globally renowned archaeological and fossil quarries or simply to rest and renew their spirits.

There are two different guided Georgia O’Keeffe Tours and a Trail Ride through the landscape she painted during the fifty years the artist spent painting and living here. Other guided tours include Archaeology and Paleontology, the Ranch History, and our Movie Site Tour which visits sites of the numerous movies filmed here (Cowboys and Aliens, City Slickers, Wyatt Earp, and many more).

Visitors may tour the Florence Hawley Ellis Museum of Anthropology, which displays Native American tools, pottery, and ancient artifacts from Paleo Indian culture, 10,000 years ago through ancestral Puebloan times to present time pottery and weavings from local Pueblos.

The adjacent Ruth Hall Museum of Paleontology displays the fossils of the Coelophysis (SEE-low-FY-sis), a dinosaur discovered at Ghost Ranch in 1947. Ghost Ranch is the site of one of the best known paleontological digs in the Northern Hemisphere.The Coelophysis Quarry is a National Natural Landmark as designated by the National Park Foundation.

The Welcome Center houses a Trading Post stocked with books, art, O’Keeffe ephemera, and a cafe.

As a retreat center, the Ranch specializes in offering workshops on topics ranging from photography, painting, fiber arts and writing to yoga, wellness, spirituality, sustainability and social justice. Throughout the year guests may choose from programs led by leaders of conscious thought and skilled teachers of creative pursuits. Guests stay in basic, no frills lodging or in the campground. There are also RV hookup sites. Meals in the Dining Hall are included.

Ghost Ranch is available for groups, meetings and conferences with meeting room areas for a day retreat or week long event with overnight lodging and meal plans for as many as 350 people. Integrate our Farm, Library, Museum Classroom into your program. Our ropes, challenge and waterfront courses help promote team building and interactive fun. The Ghost Ranch Bodywork Program can help participants renew body and mind.

The facilities are open for guests who wish to simply lodge here. You may stay while workshops, retreats and conferences are bustling and integrate with this energy over meals in the Dining Hall. “Overnight Stay Lodging” includes breakfast.

While lodging at Ghost Ranch, guests may access to the 24-hour library, children’s playground, labyrinth, karesansui garden, water wheel and four hiking trails.

There’s a Farm to Table program using their own seasonal farm produce whenever possible. Menus highlight vegetarian entrees. A salad bar is featured at lunch and dinner each day. Meals are served cafeteria style, with choice of indoor or outdoor dining.

HISTORY: Arthur Pack, one of the country’s first environmentalists, bought the Ranch and sold a little piece of it to Georgia O’Keeffe. Scientists took respite time here from the stresses of building the nuclear bomb at Los Alamos. Famous guests have included Charles Lindbergh, Ansel Adams and John Wayne. Arthur Pack and his wife Phoebe gave the Ranch to the Presbyterian Church in 1955 and even though Georgia O’Keeffe wanted the Ranch for herself she eventually became friends of the first director of Ghost Ranch, Jim Hall. The history of Ghost Ranch reads like a novel.

When the cattle rustlers were hiding their stolen goods in the box canyon alongside Kitchen Mesa, they discouraged their neighbors from looking around by spreading the rumor that the land was haunted by evil spirits. “Rancho de los Brujos” it was called, “Ranch of the Witches,” which naturally evolved into Ghost Ranch. The turn-off to Ghost Ranch was marked by an animal skull long before Arthur Pack bought the ranch in 1936. When Georgia O’Keeffe came looking for the Ranch she was told to watch for the skull on a fence post. O’Keeffe made a drawing of an ox skull and gave it to Arthur Pack; he promptly adopted the artwork as the logo for Ghost Ranch. When Pack gave the Ranch to the Presbyterian Church they used a sketch of Chimney Rock as a logo. By 1971, partly as a result of O’Keeffe’s encouragement, the familiar skull design was firmly established as the official Ghost Ranch logo.

For over fifty-five years Ghost Ranch has been a national education and retreat center. At one time in history it had the largest number of employees in Rio Arriba County. From the beginning, Ghost Ranch has been deeply involved in support of the surrounding communities and committed to the preservation and protection of the environment. Classes are offered each year in subjects ranging from Memoir Writing, Adobe Building and Paleontology to Painting and Yoga. Groups reserve rooms and meeting spaces for their meetings; individuals and families come for the day or the week to hike, kayak or just to relax. Beaver national park is nearby.

Need more information? Call them at (505) 685-1000 or go to www.GhostRanch.org

President Gail presented a packet of our gift cards in appreciation to Mr. Picha for his time spent with us today.

Our thought for the day was presented by Emily: “I've been absolutely terrified every moment of my life - and I've never let it keep me from doing a single thing I wanted to do.” - Georgia O'Keeff

There being no further Rotary business, President Gail concluded today’s meeting at 1:00 PM.

Programs, Happenings and Stuff & Such:

17 Mar            Saint Patty’s Day

20 Mar            IT’S THE FIRST DAY OF SPRING !!!!

20 Mar            Regular Meeting – Rancho de las Golondrinas - Laura Gonzales-Meredith

21 Mar            We ALL meet at Manzano H.S. Interact

24 Mar            District Assembly & 6 PM Foundation Dinner @ Crowne Plaza hotel. 10AM start

24 Mar            OUR CLUB’S Pancake Breakfast fundraiser @ The Rock At Noonday.

27 Mar            NO MEETING – Maybe there’ll be a field trip today! Maybe to the PBS studios.

30 Mar            Good Friday AND Passover begins.

1 Apr               Easter

3 Apr               Board Meeting

3 Apr               Regular Meeting –

10 Apr             Regular Meeting –

16 Apr             DaVinci Exhibit- NM Museum of Natural History- 5:30P-7:30P

17 Apr             Regular Meeting –

21-22 Apr       Our Club will have a presence at the H&G show! See Allan to help out!

24 Apr             MAYBE Regular Meeting – (Maybe NOT)

26-29 Apr       District 5520 2018 Conference in Santa Fe – Eldorado Hotel.

27 Apr             All Club Luncheon  - Past Rotary International President, Rick King, Main Speaker

4 May              CLNKids support breakfast @ Hotel Albuquerque, 7:30AM

5 May              Women2Be Fundraiser- “Wine for Womanhood” www.Women2Be.org for tickets

13 May            Mother’s Day

28 May            Memorial Day

17 June            Father’s Day

21 June            Summer Solstice

23-27 June      Rotary Convention in Toronto, Canada… Hope you’ve got a passport!

PLEASE continue to help us out with setting up and striking the necessary equipment that we use during our meetings!

Following our monthly board of directors meeting, President Gail called this meeting to order at 12:00N and led the membership in the Pledge of Allegiance & the 4-way test, followed by a moment of silence and retrospection.

Visiting Rotarians:    Kelsey Lyons, Summit County, CO

March is “Literacy Month”

No  pin / name tag fines collected today.

Announcements/Sad-Happy-Brag bucks:

Mary B. PETS happened! And a few beers, too.

Vivien Thanks for the get well card from our members, re: her indisposition.

Karen Had chest pains last week… A visit to ER & lots of tests, all is OK… wonder what it really was?

Emily She’s gonna be a grandma in October! After waiting 9 years.

Judy had some information: On 1 March, the Journal’s crossword puzzle clue was “a service above self organization”. Of course, the word ROTARY was the answer!

Libby tossed in a buck for Karen’s ER visit turning out OK.

Sgt-at-Arms Allan’s questions for today: Last week we determined that Barry Rassin (East Nassau) will be our next RI president. What does he think the 2 things that Rotary should keep? Judy won a corn magnet – It’s the 4-way test AND Our Motto “Service Above Self”.

Next, The Rotarian has published 7 things we don’t know about Rotaract Clubs. Can someone name ONE? Yes, you CAN be a member of both Rotary AND Rotaract. They’ve got energy!

Club, District & R.I. News and Business:   

So, Patrick told us all about PETS and what transpired over that weekend. Also, he commented that many presidents-elect are under 40!

Interact: Wednesday, March 14^th.  Save the NEW Date…..The kids are excited about meeting all of us. We’ll buy and bring them lunch and some awards and prizes. Check in at the school front desk at around  11:30AM… The meeting will take place from 12:05PM to 12:25PM.

District 5520 assembly – 24 March @ Crowne Plaza- 10A-3P- $25. To attend, you must register at the District 5520 website. Foundation Dinner- same evening @ Crowne Plaza- $50

Dave has distributed the District Cruise raffle tickets. Pick up your tickets and buy or sell what you can. Ten would be nice. Any that you buy will add to your EREY and Paul Harris Fellowship.

“Roots to Wings” Project: The Rio Rancho Club has asked us to provide 6 to 7 volunteers to man their fundraising booth on 14 April (evening?) at the Marriott Pyramid Hotel. We can earn $400-$500. We’d better do this just in case the Bernalillo Beer festival doesn’t happen! This’ll be a book signing event.

Mollie reminded us about our pancake breakfast tickets… Buy 10 for $90 (A special price for today). Hopefully, enough cash will appear “up front”, in order to pay for food & supplies, which we must purchase. We’re donating our paid unused tickets to Interact… they’ll be our guests this year.

The Rotary District 5520 Nominating Committee met on Thursday, March 1, 2018, and selected Past District Governor Tom Walker (Albuquerque), to serve as Vice District Governor 2018-2019. They also selected Gary King (Moriarty), as District Governor Nominee Designate, to serve as District Governor 2020-2021.

Today’s Program:     Dave Fontaine's Africa Trip

Karen introduced our own intrepid traveler, Dave Fontaine, who told us all of the most intimate details about his trip to Africa.

As a paying guest of Micato Safaris, it certainly looks like Dave had a really first class trip through East Africa, Kenya and Tanzania. Lots of great photos attested to this great adventure. Bush flights were also provided in order to expedite travel between national game reserves. “Tented” camps were provided for overnight stays, while excellent meals were also served. Travel within each reserve was provided by special land rover vehicles, which permitted really close up views of those indigenous animals. Two to three night stays at five different tour locations appeared to be the norm during the two week adventure. 

If you save your sheckles, this may very well prove to be a trip which would provide memories to last a lifetime!

Thanks to Dave’s wanderlust and (hopefully) a long life, we may become privy to additional adventures in the future.

There being no further Rotary business, President Gail concluded today’s meeting at 1:00 PM.

Programs, Happenings and Stuff & Such:

10 Mar            Rotary Leadership Institute in ABQ- 7:30A-1:30P. Sign up on the District website.

11 Mar            DAYLIGHT SAVING TIME BEGINS ! (So soon?)

13 Mar            Regular Meeting – Ghost Ranch – Stephen Picha, Groups & Meetings Representative.

14 Mar            We ALL meet at Manzano H.S. Interact

17 Mar            Saint Patty’s Day

20 Mar            IT’S THE FIRST DAY OF SPRING !!!!

20 Mar            Regular Meeting – Rancho de las Golondrinas - Laura Gonzales-Meredith

24 Mar            District Assembly & 6 PM Foundation Dinner @ Crowne Plaza hotel. 10AM start

24 Mar            OUR CLUB’S Pancake Breakfast fundraiser @ The Rock At Noonday.

27 Mar            NO “real” Meeting – It’ll be a field trip today! Maybe to the PBS studios.

30 Mar            Good Friday AND Passover begins.

1 Apr               Easter

3 Apr               Board Meeting

3 Apr               Regular Meeting –

10 Apr             Regular Meeting –

16 Apr             DaVinci Exhibit- NM Museum of Natural History- 5:30P-7:30P

17 Apr             Regular Meeting –

21-22 Apr       Our Club will have a presence at the H&G show! See Allan to help out!

24 Apr             MAYBE Regular Meeting – (Maybe NOT)

26-29 Apr       District 5520 2018 Conference in Santa Fe – Eldorado Hotel.

27 Apr             All Club Luncheon  - Past Rotary International President, Rick King, Main Speaker

13 May            Mother’s Day

28 May            Memorial Day

17 June            Father’s Day

21 June            Summer Solstice

23-27 June      Rotary Convention in Toronto, Canada… Hope you’ve got a passport!

PLEASE continue to help us out with setting up and striking the necessary equipment that we use during our meetings!

President Gail called our meeting to order at 12:00N and led the membership in the Pledge of Allegiance & the 4-way test, followed by a moment of silence and retrospection.

No Visiting Rotarians or Guests today.       Well, there was one unnamed guest.

February is “World Understanding Month”

No pin / name tag fines were collected today.

Announcements/Sad-Happy-Brag bucks:

Mary B’s happy ‘cause Patrick & she will be attending PETS along with a couple of bottles of wine.

Mollie’s happy because there are only 6 more members to get their pancake breakfast tickets.

Gail & Jeffrey & de doggies went to Las Cruces & Messia for a couple of days & learned where the saying “the real McCoy” originated (Elijah).

Allan - yesterday, he got Mary to drive him to a meeting… one month early!

Emily parted with many bucks, for her trip to Vegas, Greece, NYC and a brand new car!

Sgt-at-Arms Allan’s question for today: So, who’s going to be next year’s RI President? Allan had to tell us, ‘cause, even though we see his name in every issue of The Rotarian, we couldn’t remember! It’s going to be Barry Rassin from East Nassau, Bahamas. Next week, there’ll be a couple of dream catchers up for grabs. So, read your Rotarian magazine.

Club, District & R.I. News and Business:   

Well, we have our new replacement name tags. That’s the good news.

For the not so good news, we found all of our old name tags today. They were well hidden!

We’ll soon get a decision from N. Domingo Baca, re: a locking cabinet for our “stuff”.

Interact: Wednesday, March 14^th.  Save the NEW Date…..The kids are excited about meeting all of us. We’ll  bring them lunch and some awards. Check in at the school front desk at 11:30AM… The meeting takes place from 12:05PM to 12:25PM. We have 3 volunteers to review their 4-way test essays.

District 5520 assembly – 24 March @ Crowne Plaza- 10A-3P- $25. To attend, register at District website.

Foundation Dinner- same evening @ Crowne Plaza- $50

Dave has District Cruise raffle tickets available. Pick up your tickets and buy or sell what you can. Ten would be nice. Any that you buy will add to your EREY and Paul Harris Fellowship.

“Roots to Wings” Project: The Rio Rancho Club has asked us to provide 6 to 7 volunteers to man their fundraising booth on 14 April at the Marriott Pyramid Hotel. We can earn $400-$500. We’d better do this just in case the Bernalillo Beer festival doesn’t happen!

The DaVinci exhibit at The New Mexico Museum of Natural History will be open to Rotarians only, on 16 April, 5:30 PM to 7:30 PM. We’ll have to “sign up” soon for the event. Who knows what it’ll cost.

Mollie reminded us about our pancake breakfast tickets… Buy 10 for $90. Hopefully, some of the cash will appear “up front”, in order to pay for food & supplies, which we must purchase. Judy passed around a signup sheet for jobs at the breakfast. We’re donating our paid unused tickets to Interact… they’ll be our guests this year.

Mollie also reminded us about tonight’s outing at the evening lady Lobo’s basketball game, with dinner before at Quarters on Yale at 5 PM.

Our next Rotary Friendship Exchange travel opportunity from our district will be to Sweden, August 15–27, 2018. Travelers must arrive in Stockholm no later than August 14. They’ll stay overnight, then take the train to their hosting destination in District 2380.

Most Swedish citizens speak English, so language issues will not be a barrier. All travelers are  responsible for their transportation to/from the hosting district, some meals, and some sightseeing expenses. The Rotarian hosts will provide a private bedroom, bath, breakfast, some other meals and sightseeing. The RFE program offers the opportunity to experience another country from the local viewpoint rather than as a traditional tourist.

If you’re interested in joining this trip to Sweden, please respond to Donna at pedaceabq@aol.com ASAP. As always, it’s first come, first served. Anyone who has been on an RFE in the past 18 months will go to the bottom of the list to give others the opportunity to participate. Questions? call Donna 505-349-8850 . 

All participants are asked to attend one general meeting of the RFE group in order to meet each other and to discuss the travel plans in advance. Remember, if you want to travel on an outbound RFE, we ask you and your club to be willing to host an incoming RFE sometime in the future. It’s an “exchange” program!

Today’s Program:     NM Voices For Children

Karen introduced Mr. James Jimenez, Executive Director of New Mexico Voices for Children.

Originally called the Coalition for Children, New Mexico Voices for Children (NM Voices) was founded in 1987 by three pediatricians. The group sought a way to change the causes of poor child well-being — causes like poverty, inadequate nutrition, violence, pollution, homelessness, and the like. They knew that such entrenched problems would only be solved by changing the systems that perpetuated them. These systems include underfunded schools, the prevalence of low-wage jobs, wage theft by unscrupulous employers, unchecked predatory lending, substandard housing, and the criminalization of drug use, among others. Changing these systems requires educating lawmakers and other leaders about the problems and their solutions, and then holding them accountable.

Voices is a non-profit, non political group with 10 on their staff.

Thirty years later, NM Voices, a nonpartisan, statewide advocacy organization, still works to create systems-level sustainable change to improve the lives of New Mexico’s children. To accomplish their mission, they work with state and national lawmakers and officials to shape and implement public policies that are supportive of children and working families.

NM Voices conducts rigorous research and data analysis, creates and disseminates reports, policy briefs, and other publications and educates and informs policy-makers, the news media, and the public, using the research and analysis. They also make their research available to communities and other organizations so they may advocate for their specific needs. Additionally, they identify and advocate for innovative public policies to improve the lives of New Mexico’s children.

While working both at grassroots and governmental levels, often in coalition with other advocacy organizations, business leaders, community groups, and the faith community, NMV reaches out to and educates the community through various initiatives and events around the state.

Over the years, their work along with dedicated partnerships and policy-makers has resulted in significant victories on behalf of New Mexico’s children and working families

For more info, go to http://www.nmvoices.org/

Following an extensive Q&A session, President Gail presented our gift cards in appreciation to Mr. Jimenez for his time spent with us today.

Then, there being no further Rotary business, President Gail concluded today’s meeting at 1:00 PM.

Programs, Happenings and Stuff & Such:

1-3 Mar           PETS & “CATS” 12N to 12N in Mescalero, NM @ Inn of the Mountain Gods

6 Mar              Board Meeting @ 10:30AM

6 Mar              Regular Meeting – Rancho de las Golandrias- Laura Gonzales-Meredith

10 Mar            RLI in ABQ- 7:30A-1:30P

11 Mar            DAYLIGHT SAVING TIME BEGINS !

13 Mar            Regular Meeting – Ghost Ranch – Stephen Picha, Groups & Meetings Representative.

14 Mar            We ALL meet at Manzano H.S. Interact

17 Mar            Saint Patty’s Day

20 Mar            IT’S THE FIRST DAY OF SPRING !!!!

20 Mar            Regular Meeting –

24 Mar            District Assembly & Foundation Dinner @ Crowne Plaza hotel.

24 Mar            OUR CLUB’S Pancake Breakfast fundraiser @ The Rock At Noonday.

27 Mar            Regular Meeting –

16 Apr             DaVinci Exhibit- NM Museum of Natural History- 5:30P-7:30P

21-22 Apr       Our Club will have a presence at the H&G show! See Allan to help out!

26-29 Apr       District 5520 2018 Conference in Santa Fe – at the Eldorado Hotel.

                       Donna Pedace is District 5520’s conferene chairperson.

23-27 June      Rotary Convention in Toronto, Canada… Hope you’ve got a passport!

PLEASE continue to help us out with setting up and striking the necessary equipment that we use during our meetings!

President Gail called our meeting to order at 12:00N and led the membership in the Pledge of Allegiance & the 4-way test, followed by a moment of silence and retrospection.

No Guests or Visiting Rotarians were present at today’s meeting.         

February is “World Understanding Month”

Only one pin / name tag fine was collected today.

Announcements/Sad-Happy-Brag bucks:

Maggie found a buck to introduce “IMPI” (Warrior) her very small rescued canine companion.

Pat brought greetings from the Amazon, where you can find crocs, birds and many nasty animals!

Mary B. brought some news, re: Jeff Weinrach, our District Governor Nominee. It seems that he just came home from a stay in hospital (very serious stuff) and is doing fairly well.

Gail left her pin & name badge in the car today. (No wonder… she does so very much!)

Sgt-at-Arms Allan’s questions for today: Somehow, he’s acquired many refrigerator magnets as prizes.

Who/what was featured on the cover of the March, 2018 Rotarian magazine? It’s ROTARACT! With a picture of Joan Nairuba, a very active lawyer, Rotaractor & Rotarian. Allan tried to give Pat a pineapple magnet.

Question #2: Who made our box of name tags disappear? Mollie will donate a $10 prize for the correct answer!

Club, District & R.I. News and Business:   

Yup… our name tags have been lost and we’ll soon be in the process of ordering new name tags! Those members who have hoarded their name tags have “lucked out”. Please let us know who still has theirs, by checking one of two boxes opposite your name, on the printed sheet designated for that purpose.

So, we’ve decided that we need to borrow, beg or steal a secure cabinet in which to store our meeting equipment. Any ideas on how to obtain one? Thoughts? Concerns? If new, it’ll cost us $350 or so.

Don’t forget the yearly dinner that we provide and serve at Casa Esperanza TOMORROW, 21 Feb. at 5 PM. We’ll be serving soups, salads, breads & desserts. Bring your dish AND wear your Rotary vest!

So, it looks like we’ll try to meet in the “big” room (#1) as much as possible. PLEASE check the big white bulletin board located at the facility’s entrance, just to be sure of the room in which we’ll be meeting.

Interact Wednesday, March 7^th.  Save the Date…..The kids are excited about meeting all of us. For lunch, we’ll bring them a fruit plate, veggie plate and a couple of pizzas. We’ll be deciding on some awards that we can bestow on these kids in the next week. Also, maybe do a 4 Way Test.

We’ve arranged this combined meeting with Kelly Hayes-Dutro and our Manzano H.S. Interact Club.

Check in at the school front desk at 11:30AM… The meeting takes place from 12:05PM to 12:25PM.

Note: There’ll be an APS foundation grant that’ll appear this summer for Manzano Interact.

District 5520 assembly – 24 March @ Crowne Plaza- 10A-3P- $25 to attend. Register at District website.

Foundation Dinner- same evening @ Crowne Plaza- $50

Dave has those District Cruise raffle tickets available for Club members. Please pick up your tickets @ $10 ea. Buy or sell what you can. Ten would be nice. Any that you buy will add to your EREY Paul Harris Fellowship.

“Roots to Wings” Project: The Rio Rancho Club has asked us to provide 6-7 volunteers to man their fundraising booth on 14 April at the Marriott Pyramid Hotel. We can earn $400-$500. We’d better do this just in case the Bernalillo Beer festival doesn’t happen!

The DaVinci exhibit at The New Mexico Museum of Natural History will be open to Rotarians Only, on 16 April, 5:30 PM to 7:30 PM. We’ll have to “sign up” soon for the event. Who knows what it’ll cost.

Mollie reminded us about the pancake breakfast tickets… Buy 10 for $90. Hopefully, some of the cash will appear “up front”, in order to pay for food & supplies, which we must purchase.

She also touted our outing at the Tuesday evening lady Lobo’s basketball game, with dinner before.

At their next meeting, your board of directors will address your approved business card advert. from our Club, In the New Mexico Peace Choir’s concert program (24 March & 7–8 April) for $65.00

Today’s Program:     New Mexico PBS-

Karen introduced Bill Pinnell of NMPBS (KNME). He publishes their Ventana magazine.

Today, we learned about how a broadcasting station does what it does, how Public Broadcasting works

and what's new on KNME's schedule.

KNME has been around for the past 60 years (1958) and is older than PBS. The $250 million that PBS receives from the federal government accounts for 20% of its budget. An additional 20% originates from State government budgets, while the remainder comes from public donations.

The Corporation for Public Broadcasting is an American privately owned non-profit corporation created in 1967 by an act of the United States Congress and funded by the federal government to promote and help support public broadcasting (TV & Radio).

APS & UNM are also very important to the existence of KNME! UNM houses the KNME facility and all of their staff are UNM employees.

NMPBS partners include Albuquerque Public Schools, Boys & Girls Clubs of NM, ABC Community Schools, Explora, ECAP, NMOST, RGEC, Sandia Nat’l Labs & United Way.

NMPBS isn’t left out of the picture when it comes to producing their own shows! Besides documentaries like Cloudstreet (Soaring the American West & Balloon Fiesta), they also produce Painting Santa Fe, NM Masterpieces. They’ll also be doing a show called “The Majesty of Music & Mathematics, which will feature the Santa Fe Symphony at the Lensic Theater. Also, there’s the weekly series “Colores” and New Mexico in Focus.

So, the NMPBS TV digital broadcasting channels lineup is as follows:

KNME 5.1

KNME 5.2 – nmPBS Kids – Kids Shows 24/7

KNME 5.3 – FNX – Devoted to Native American & World Indigenous content

KNMD 9.1 – PBS World – Documentaries, Science, Current Affairs & History

KNMD 9.2 – PBS Create – Cooking, Arts & Crafts, Gardening, Home Improvement & Travel.

KNME is one of the best public supported stations in the United States.

President Gail expressed our appreciation to Mr. Pinnell for his time spent with us today. It looks like the remainder of our speaker appreciation cards disappeared along with our name tags.

Our thought for the day was presented by Libby: “PBS is a yardstick of quality. Some people aren’t used to an environment where excellence is expected.” – Steve Jobs

Then, there being no further Rotary business, President Gail concluded today’s meeting at 1:00 PM.

Programs, Happenings and Stuff & Such:

21 Feb             WE prepare & serve dinner at Casa Esperanza – 5 PM – Soups, salads, breads & desserts

24 Feb             Who wants to learn how to CURL? Wanna go with John? It’ll cost you $20

27 Feb             Regular Meeting – NM Voices For Children – James Jimenez

1-3 Mar           PETS & “CATS” 12N to 12N in Mescalero, NM @ Inn of the Mountain Gods

6 Mar              Board Meeting @ 10:30AM

6 Mar              Regular Meeting – Rancho de las Golandrias- Laura Gonzales-Meredith

7 Mar              We ALL meet at Manzano H.S. Interact

10 Mar            RLI in ABQ- 7:30A-1:30P

11 Mar            DAYLIGHT SAVING TIME BEGINS !

13 Mar            Regular Meeting – Ghost Ranch – Stephen Picha, Groups & Meetings Representative.

17 Mar            Saint Patty’s Day

20 Mar            IT’S THE FIRST DAY OF SPRING !!!!

20 Mar            Regular Meeting –

24 Mar            District Assembly & Foundation Dinner @ Crowne Plaza hotel.

24 Mar            OUR CLUB’S Pancake Breakfast fundraiser @ The Rock At Noonday.

27 Mar            Regular Meeting –

16 Apr             DaVinci Exhibit- NM Museum of Natural History- 5:30P-7:30P

21-22 Apr       Our Club will have a presence at the H&G show! See Allan to help out!

26-29 Apr       District 5520 2018 Conference in Santa Fe – at the Eldorado Hotel.

                       Donna Pedace is District 5520’s conference chairperson.

23-27 June      Rotary Convention in Toronto, Canada… Got a passport?

 PLEASE continue to help us out with setting up and striking the necessary equipment that we use during our meetings!

On this Fat Tuesday, we partook of food & fellowship before convening to our regular meeting business.

President Gail then called our meeting to order at around 12:30 and led the membership in the Pledge of Allegiance & the 4-way test, followed by a moment of silence and retrospection.

Visiting Rotarians:    None

Guests:           Rhonda, guest of Mary J.

February is “World Understanding Month”

No pin or name tag fines were collected today.

Announcements/Sad-Happy-Brag bucks:

Mollie’s  happy this week for her sister, who’s doing OK.

Mary J. had two bucks worth – One for guest Rhonda & one for her grandson’s birthday.

Patrick was happy for all of the food today.

Judy put up a buck to commemorate tomorrow’s Valentine’s day.

Maggie put up a buck for her nine pounds of motivation to walk.

Club, District & R.I. News and Business:   

We seem to have misplaced that rectangular plastic container, in which resided our name tags! We have searched high & low for it, to no avail… Does anyone have any idea to whence it has gone? If we must replace all of those name tags, they’ll cost us $7.00+ each!!!!

Don’t forget the yearly dinner that we provide and serve at Casa Esperanza on 21 Feb. 12 members are signed up. President Gail has set the menu details. We’ll be serving soups, salads, breads & desserts.

Mollie has set up a date to see the last of the Lady Lobos on 27 Feb., maybe with dinner before.

Interact Wednesday, March 7^th.  Save the Date…..The kids are excited about meeting all of us. For lunch, they selected a fruit plate, veggie plate and a couple of pizzas for us to bring. We will be deciding on some awards we can bestow on these kids in the next week. Also, maybe do a 4 Way Test.

We’ve arranged this combined meeting with Kelly Hayes-Dutro and our Manzano H.S. Interact Club.

Check in at the front desk at 11:30AM… The meeting takes place from 12:05PM to 12:25PM.

Note: There’ll be an APS foundation grant that’ll appear this summer for Manzano Interact.

District 5520 assembly – 24 March @ Crowne Plaza- 10A-3P- $25 to attend. Register at District website. Foundation Dinner- same evening @ Crowne Plaza- $50

Dave has District Cruise raffle tickets available for our Club members. Please pick up your tickets @ $10 ea. Buy or sell what you can. Ten would be nice. Any that you buy will add to your EREY Paul Harris Fellowship.

“Roots to Wings” Project: The Rio Rancho Club has asked us to provide 6-7 volunteers to man their fundraising booth on 14 April at the Marriott Pyramid Hotel. We can earn $400-$500. We’d better do this just in case the Bernalillo Beer festival doesn’t happen!

The DaVinci exhibit at The New Mexico Museum of Natural History will be open at No Charge, to Rotarians Only, on 16 April, from 5:30 PM to 7:30 PM. We’ll have to “sign up” soon for the event.

The Rotary Friendship Exchange (RFE) is one of the oldest fellowship programs within Rotary.  It’s a program that sends Rotarians with/without a spouse/relative/significant other to another district, usually in another country. There, they are hosted in the homes of fellow Rotarians for periods ranging from 3 to 14 days. During that time, they may visit Rotary projects, Rotary Clubs, do some sightseeing, and generally get to know their hosts, their customs and culture, and something of the surrounding area.  Rotarians from the hosting area come to visit our district, where we do the hosting.

RFE has proven to be very popular in our district and over 400 members who have signed up to host incoming guests and/or to travel out to another district. Anyone who travels pays for their own transportation to/from the other district, some meals, and some sightseeing costs. The hosts provide a private bedroom, usually a private bathroom, breakfast, and usually some other meals. The real benefit of RFE is that you have the opportunity to meet fellow Rotarians from another part of the world and can better understand how others live. The hosts do a great job of seeing that you experience their area in a way that no regular tourist ever could.

The RFE to Egypt will be from May 1 - 8, 2018, in Cairo. The group has been asked to attend their district conference (an additional cost of $285 per person) and give a presentation at that conference. The group will arrive in Cairo no later than April 30 and spend one night in a hotel (at your cost) to rest up from the flight before beginning the RFE on May 1.

If you are interested in filling a vacancy for either a couple or a solo traveler, please let Donna Pedace know very quickly, as we have to finalize the group. You can reach her by phone at 505-349-8850 if you have questions.

Today’s Program:     It’s a pot luck Valentine’s party day today!

There were all sorts of goodies to be had & we all saved room for them! Thanks to all who brought more than enough for all.

Then, there being no further Rotary business, President Gail concluded today’s meeting at 1:00 PM.

Programs, Happenings and Stuff & Such:

14 Feb             Valentine’s Day & Ash Wednesday

16 Feb             Chinese New Year – It’s the year of the dog.

19 Feb             Presidents’ Day

20 Feb             Regular Meeting – New Mexico PBS- Franz Joachim, general manager.

21 Feb             WE prepare & serve dinner at Casa Esperanza – 5 PM – Soups, salads, breads & desserts

27 Feb             Regular Meeting – NM Voices For Children – James Jimenez

1-3 Mar           PETS & “CATS” 12N to 12N in Mescalero, NM @ Inn of the Mountain Gods

6 Mar              Board Meeting @ 10:30AM

6 Mar              Regular Meeting – Rancho de las Golandrias- Laura Gonzales-Meredith

7 Mar              Meet at Manzano H.S. Interact

10 Mar            RLI in ABQ- 7:30A-1:30P

11 Mar            DAYLIGHT SAVING TIME BEGINS !

13 Mar            Regular Meeting – Ghost Ranch – Stephen Picha, Groups & Meetings Representative.

17 Mar            Saint Patty’s Day

20 Mar            IT’S THE FIRST DAY OF SPRING !!!!

20 Mar            Regular Meeting –

24 Mar            District Assembly & Foundation Dinner @ Crowne Plaza hotel.

24 Mar            OUR CLUB’S Pancake Breakfast fundraiser @ The Rock At Noonday.

27 Mar            Regular Meeting –

16 Apr             DaVinci Exhibit- NM Museum of Natural History- FREE – 5:30P-7:30P

26-29 Apr       District 5520 2018 Conference in Santa Fe – at the Eldorado Hotel.

                       Donna Pedace is District 5520’s conference chairperson.

23-27 June      Rotary Convention in Toronto, Canada… Got a passport?

What’s the slogan of Rotary?

Get the food before it’s all gone!

PLEASE continue to help us out with setting up and striking the necessary equipment that we use during our meetings!