Rotary Club of Sacramento

The meeting was chaired by past-President Walter Dahl (specialization: Law:Bankruptcy & Auctioneering). The festivities started early, with a March-In of the this years' leaders- starting with President Tim, President Elect Beverly, Sgt at Arms Dave Higdon, this year's board members, some more straggling board members, and members of the

Foundation Board. Sgt-At-Arms Higdon then introduced a plethora of visiting Rotarians, among those Past District Governor Clarence Parkins, and an enneagon of guests. Past District Governor Parkins came forward to present a certificate of appreciation to past Emperor Wes Yee, and Wes, while removed from power, was still able to hold the spotlight to make a heartfelt speech of thanks.

The program then began in earnest, as Guest Speaker Paul Robins (of Y92 and the "Paul and Phil Show" fame) took the podium to present a photographic review of our new President's life to date. Our president was born in Long Beach, on the fourth anniversary of D-Day. It was obvious that aviation was in Tim's blood- for while his parents were not birds, they were both members of the Civilian Air Patrol, and introduced Tim to the friendly skies long before he could probably ride a bike. Mr. Robins had obtained many photos of our President, from his school days and prom photos, to photos of Tim starting his navy career. Our brave president showed his courage early- he was the only member of his graduating high school class to enter the armed forces, and he became a naval aviator, flying (unarmed) A-6 Intruders off perfectly good aircraft carriers, and flying into harms way during the Vietnam war.

After the war, Top Gun Tim, whose mother is of Russian heritage, spent time as an economic ambassador- and lectured about free market systems to a rapt Moscow audience, some six months after the fall of the USSR. His financial management career blossomed in the northwest, and he joined a slightly larger Rotary club- some 800 members or so- in Seattle. When President Tim moved to Sacramento, he was nominated to the board while being a member for only six months. In true Rotary Club of Sacramento fashion, he lost of course. However, then President John Frisch appointed him to the Foundation board, where Top Gun Tim's financial acumen helped to propel the growth of the Foundation assets from just over $600,000 to over $3 million today.

Finally, after the prerequisite photos of your Top Gun in drag, and Top Gun sculpting pumpkins, and a youthful Top Gun wearing a hairpiece later purchased by Donald Trump, our new President was brought to the podium.

President Tim used his time to speak from the heart. He reminded our club of RI President DK Lee's motto to "make dreams real"- noting that 30,000 children perish each day in poor countries around the world. President Tim talked about the five definitions of personal wealth, and focused on how Service to the Community grows wealth. Finally, he spoke about his gratitude for the members of our club- for what they have done in the past, and what they will do in the future. In a true testament of his time management skills, he finished with enough time remaining to collect a few community service donations from Liz McClatchy, Walter Dahl, Kim Mueller, Rob Scherer, Denise Mazzucca-Barrett and a final bell ringer from Ludy Langer.

While chance brought President Tim to us as a member of our club, his dedication to service and fellowship has made him our friend. We look forward to working with him, and as we turned into the warm breeze of the afternoon, our hearts were lifted in anticipation of the meetings yet to come. -BDM Rotary Youth Exchange by Staff, RCS Host Families Needed

Jullyana Mary de Carvaiho Berezaga, from Brazil will be the RCS 2008 - 2009 hosted student. Her arrival date is August 13 th , 2008 and she will be attending Rio Americana High School. Amin & Linda Emallah will be her 1 st host family. They are the parents of our outbound exchange student Sharif, who will be going to Brazil. Rita Gibson will be her counselor.

The Club is responsible for finding the 2nd and 3rd host families. Each host family provides room and board for the student for approximately three months. They do not need to be Rotarians, but should live within close proximity of Rio Americana High School. Please consider this opportunity to share in this Rotary International fellowship opportunity and contact Thom Gilbert about details.