Rotary Meeting

Rotary Meeting

Rotary Meeting

Rotary Meeting

Meeting August 18, 2008 - Joyce Terhaar by RCS Staff

Bruce Meissner Chair of the Day Reception Music provided by Mark Luhdorff

Joyce Terhaar, has been Managing Editor of The Sacramento Bee for almost 10 years. As such she is responsible for the daily production of the news, managing a staff that has ranged to as many as 300 people.

She has led major change within the newsroom, most recently the complete redesign of the newspaper as The Bee switched to a slimmer format. This was the third, but most dramatic, redesign under Terhaar. During her tenure she has led significant change, including the newsroom's conversion to a continuous news cycle as The Bee has increased its online and mobile news coverage, through sacbee.com and such niche sites as Capitol Alert.

Joyce, a Minnesota native, has worked at The Bee since 1988, beginning as a Business reporter. Prior to Managing Editor, she ran all local news coverage as the paper's City Editor. She is married and has two teenaged sons. Golf 4 Kids - September 29, 2008 by Staff, RCS You make a difference in children's lives.

Your generous donation supports physical and health impaired children in our area. Funds provide water therapy, adaptive equipment and materials, and much more. Some of these helpful programs would not exist if it were not for this Rotary club. Please consider a sponsorship today. Call Jenifer at 929-2992 for more information. Sponsorship Opportunities Meeting Recap - August 11, 2008 by Bruce Meissner

The dog days of summer may be upon us, but there was no doggin' it at the Rotary Club of Sacramento's meeting on Monday, August 11. The room was buzzing as we returned to the familiar rooms of discourse at the Radisson. We were treated to a wine reception, piano music melodies, and a tasty repast of Meatloaf with a medley of Vegetables. After bringing the meeting to order, our steadfast President Tim once again led the club in a thought for the day, marshaled the group through Pledge of Allegiance, and then welcomed prospective members, guests, the head table- and introduced a new member to the club.

After 10 minutes of conversation time, our "Committee Announcements" started next, with a "Caddieshack" skit put on by the mighty Golf-for-Kids-Players. The bit featured John Kelly in the Bill Murray role, Monica Sandgathe as "The Caddieshack Girl", Bruce Hester as "The Forecaddie", Steve Raymond as "The Cable Guy", and Norm Marshall in a role that couldn't get respect, as "Rodney Dangerfield." Given that this was promoting Golf For Kids, a Rotary event on 9/29 benefiting orthopedic children's charities- it would be most charitable to review this skit by speculating that the Gopher ate most of the script. (Golf for Kids- September 29th- Call the office and sign up now!).

President Top-Gun Tim then grabbed the helm, and launched the club through a sizzling PowerPoint presentation on the five goals for his term. With an organization table that only an eye doctor could love, President Tim talked about Membership (he'd like the club to finish at +12 members for his term), then Public Relations (and how the club, like Norm Mar.eh. Rodney Dangerfield, gets no respect for the great things we do in the community), and then teased the squinting lunch crowd, by promising to talk about the other three goals, at a later meeting.

As the one o'clock hour approached, and after the clanking cacophony of plates had been appropriately shushed, Chair of The Day Kim Mueller introduced our speaker, Twin Rivers School District Superintendent Frank Porter. Mr. Porter, we learned, has the unenviable task of blending four school districts (Grant, Rio Linda, North Sacramento, and Del Paso Heights), 8 labor contracts, and over 3,200 employees into a functioning, unified school district. The Twin Rivers district was created as a ballot measure last November, where over 60% of the population voted for the unified district- and that was the 8th attempt in unification. Unification, which was desired by the voters, led to a greater return and investment of state revenues (an 8 to 9% bump) on a per pupil basis- and this was a necessary benefit, for these were school districts where the wealth from education could only come by investing more into the education system.

Mr. Porter spoke affably, and from the heart, the goal of the district to "inspire each student to extraordinary achievement every day." This is quite the challenge, especially in that some of the districts have dropout rates of over 30%. Mr. Porter spoke of the operational challenges, but ultimately made the point that a "commitment to purpose" among the members of any organization is a key factor in organizational change- a great lesson for any business, and a key take-away from today's meeting. Educators, it seems, will always take time to educate their audience, and today was no exception. If you weren't there, you missed a another great meeting. -BDM Attention Musicians: by Staff, RCS

If you play an instrument (piano, guitar, sax, harmonica, tuba, spoons, accordion, etc.) or can sing (solo or in a group - something a little above shower skills preferred) please contact Sharon Gerber, Music Committee Chair, at 448-2881 or sharongerber@sixdegreez.net . We're looking for internal musical talent for our weekly receptions. No pay for play, but you'll receive lots of thanks! Sucess Through Rotary Seminars by Staff, RCS

STRS (Sucess Through Rotary Seminars)

Sept. 6 8:30 am - 3:30 pm

Join us to learn more about Rotary, leadership, effective communications, planning and budgeting and conducting effective meetings.

Please call the Rotary Office at 929-2992 to sign up. $50 per person.