Woodland Rotary - Photos - Annual

NOTE: TO SHOW THE MOST RECENT STORIES ON TOP OF THIS PAGE, STORIES ARE LISTED HERE IN REVERSE CHRONOLOGICAL ORDER (MOST RECENT ON TOP, EARLIER DATES BELOW).

March 4th Meeting

Gary Wegener ‘rang the bell’ since he is celebrating his 77^th birthday (Detroit MI) today. We sang ‘Happy Birthday’ to him. President-elect Aniek Pflager ‘rang the bell’ in memory of the Club’s February 22, 2005 meeting which was her first as a member; and this weekend she will be in San Jose attending Rotary’s President-elect training session (AKA ‘PETS’) to get ready for her year as President which starts this July.

Reggie Powell was happy the weather has been improving, so he ran in a marathon (26.2 miles!!!) over the weekend and recorded a personal-best time. Dan Stroski was today’s ‘Fine Master’, first charging those who were not wearing their Club badge today. Next, in honor of President’s Day, Dan asked a series of multiple choice questions about famous quotations made by our country’s Presidents. Some questions were pretty easy (WHO SAID: 'Ask not what your country can do for you; ask what you can do for your country.? ANSWER: John F Kennedy), while others where more difficult (WHO SAID: I walk slowly, but I never walk backwards.' ? ANSWER: Abraham Lincoln). Ryan Burger, Kevin Haarberg, Tom Schwarzgruber, Blair Voelz, Shawn Seyk and Roger Kohlmeier each identified the President who authored the quote they were given, so the member to their right had a pay a fine. Jim Nolan, Mark Ullrich, Clyde Brooker, Wendy Casas-Raviotta and Steve Venables all got the wrong answers and had to pay their own fine. Our Presidential scholars are shown above.

February 25th Meeting

Mark Ullrich was in charge of today's Recognition, and he recognized Jayne Williams for having been named 'Yolo County Hero' by the Daily Democrat over the weekend. Though Jayne was not in attendance today, Mark expressed how proud we are for the honor she has worked hard to achieve. View the complete Daily Democrat article about the award at https://edition.pagesuite.com/popovers/dynamic_article_popover.aspx?guid=8dfc37fd-aacf-4e27-83a4-2b6f9c7f9ccd&appcode=DAI215&eguid=bf60d8b9-12e5-4776-9688-6b4e9f18211c&pnum=1

Woodland Sunrise Rotarians Don Sharp and Byron MacConnell joined us again today. While Jayne Williams wasn't with us today, her guest, Dina McWashington was. Reggie Powell did the honors of introducing Dina. Steve Venables introduced local resident Tibi Forca, who saw we were holding a meeting and decided to stop by.

We were happy to welcome George Burger back after having recovered from some time in the hospital. Jim Nolan reported the 'Unhoused Conversation' event, sponsored by the three Woodland Rotary Clubs, last Saturday morning at Woodland Community College's Performing Arts Center, as a big success. Shawn Seyk was celebrating his birthday today (1971 in Baltimore MD), so we serenaded him with 'Happy Birthday'. Chuck Maltese announced the Rotary Mystery Golf Trip is set to take place Wednesday, May 7 this year. More details to come.

With 19 cards to choose from, Mark Ullrich found the joker to win the $290 pot! President-elect Aniek Pflager briefed us the latest preparations for the Club's 2025 Dinner Auction coming up April 26. She said we are still looking for oral auction and silent auction donations, as well as sponsors, to make the event a success. Grand prizes raffle tickets are expected to be distributed to members for sale or purchase next Tuesday.

udrat Rahimhodzhayev, President, Uzbek Community Center of San Francisco Bay Area and health professional at UCSF St. Josephs Hospital, was our guest speaker today. Assisted by colleague Muza Farr, Qudrat provided us with a program 'Uzbekistan - A Comprehensive Overview'. Thanks to Lori McGrath for arranging for and introducing our speaker today. Qudrat is a native of Uzbekistan, and wanted to introduce us to this independent, Islamic and landlocked country with a population of 39 million in Central Asia. He gave us an understanding of its history, culture and the people of Uzbekistan, and even brought along some rice pilaf and honeycake prepared in the native style for us to sample. To view more of the visual slides of Uzbekistan presented by our speaker click here.

North American Youth Exchange Network

Conference 2025

Dan Stroski, Rotary District 5160 Youth Exchange Inbound Coordinator, attended the 2025 North American Youth Exchange Network (NAYEN) Conference along with his wife Ginny and over 400 other Rotarians February 20-22 in Merida, Mexico.

Meet Our New Member -

Ryan Burger

Ryan Burger, sponsored by his father Jeff Burger, was installed as a new member of the Club on February 11, 2025 by President Bob Nakken. At our request, Ryan provided the following bio. If you haven't already done so, please take a moment to introduce yourself to Ryan when you meet and welcome him to the Club.

As a Woodland native, I have had the pleasure of growing up in this fine town. My family has lived in the area for quite some time with my mother, Lea Burger, who is from Arbuckle and my father, Jeff Burger, from Dunnigan. I went through Woodland’s school system starting at St. John’s Preschool and ending at Woodland High School, after which I spent a brief period in Merced, CA where I acquired a Bachelor’s Degree in Psychology from the University of California, Merced.

After graduating college, I moved back to Woodland where I acquired my real estate license. I currently help my fellow community members in Yolo County, as well as surrounding counties, buy or sell their homes. I am one of five members of a team within RE/MAX Gold led by Don Sharp, who is a fellow Rotarian and another of the members is my father, who is also a Rotarian. I thoroughly enjoy what I do for work and one of my favorite parts of the job is networking and meeting new people, which is part of my motivation for joining Rotary.

In addition to being a member of Rotary, I am also the 2025 Chair of the Young Professionals Network (YPN) and an active Toastmasters member. YPN is a group that helps new real estate agents engage with their community as well as providing education to ensure our clients are getting the best service possible. Toastmasters, as an organization, has been around for a very long time but our club is fairly new, and its members share the goal of developing public speaking skills through practice and education.

As a third generation Rotary Member (with my father and my grandfather George Burger), I understand the positive impact this organization has on our community, and I am excited to be a part of it. I am looking forward to supporting the town I have been able to call home my whole life as well as making new connections and meeting like-minded individuals who share my passion for further building our community.

February 18th Meeting

President Bob Nakken got us started on a busy day. Steve Venables had to lead Rotary Grace all by himself since his cohort was traveling. In addition to our regular visiting Woodland Sunrise Rotarians Don Sharp & Byron MacConnell, we also welcomed Jayne Williams' guest Dina McWashington to our meeting today.

President-elect Aniek Pflager reminded us our Dinner Auction is just two months away. We need to get ready NOW! Blair Voelz and Lori McGrath need our help getting Silent Auction items donated. He distributed a letter (see below) that each of us can use to solicit donations. Mark Ullrich, along with Roger Kohlmeier are again seeking sponsors for the Dinner Auction and distributed a Sponsorship Registration form to obtain your sponsorship. If you haven't already done so, register your dinner tickets already purchased by using the QR code (EventBrite) on the event flyer. Additional dinner tickets can be purchased there too. Kevin Haarberg will once again be our Auctioneer. Gregg Kowes has agreed to 'head up' the Wine Wagon effort this year and will begin asking each of us for some good wine donations in March. Grand prize raffle tickets will soon be available for members to purchase or sell @ $100.

President Bob was a little miffed he had to oversee today's Recognition since no one had been assigned. Recognition Chair Kevin Haarberg was absent, so President Bob fined all Recognition Committee members as a result. After taking happy time, President Bob asked for stories about how we spent our Valentines Day. Mike Chandler celebrated his 76th birthday on Feb 1 (Woodland). Shawn Seyk was proud of and happy for his daughter who recently won a business plan competition with other high school and college students. While this year was a little quiet, Marie Galbo has great memories of earlier Valentines Days. Steve Venables passed out about 15 boxes of chocolates to several Valentines this year.

Yolo County District Attorney's Office Investigators (in top photo, left to right) Paul Doroshov, Nate Hutson, and Brett Hancock, were our guest speakers today, giving us a program on 'Protecting Against Fraud', and the extensive forms of fraudulant activity they work on. Find the complete set of the visual slides they presented on the subject at Info on Past Programs page on this website. More information about the Yolo County District Attorney's Office can be found at https://yoloda.org/

Meet Our New Member -

Gregg Kowes

Gregg Kowes, sponsored by Brian Dwyer, was installed as a new member of the Club on January 7, 2025 by President Bob Nakken. At our request, Gregg provided the following bio. If you haven't already done so, please take a moment to introduce yourself to Gregg when you meet and welcome him to the Club.

I was born in Grass Valley CA but moved to Woodland at the very young age of 1. After graduating from Woodland High School, I attended American River College and then to the University of Phoenix.

After college I started working at Woodland Davis Termite and Pest control. I worked there for 12 years before becoming an owner in 2018.

I got married in 2006 to my wife Kim and we have 3 wonderful boys. My oldest son Nick works with me at the pest control company and our 2 younger sons Tyler and Brett attend Woodland Christian School. They are involved in football, baseball, and FFA programs which keep me very busy.

I served on the Woodland Little league board for 8 years until my sons aged out. Coaching has been my passion for many years. I coached the Woodland High JV baseball team for 6 years and then it was time to coach my boy’s baseball teams which included little league teams and their travel baseball teams.

These days I enjoy walking my two dogs Vinny and Deebo in the Davis Arboretum and golfing at Yolo Fliers Club.

GEORGE M BERRETTONI

MEMORIAL SCHOLARSHIP

George Berrettoni was a 41-year member of the Rotary Club of Woodland, serving as Club President in the 1997-98 Rotary Year. George was actively involved in the Club and with the Boy Scouts of America as well as being a regular donor of blood. After George passed in 2018 the Woodland Rotary Endowment raised money to start this Memorial Scholarship in his honor.

Amount: $2,500.00

Purpose: Any Woodland CA student graduating from high school with a cumulative 3.00 grade point average or higher and who will be attending a college, university or trade school is eligible. Applicants must complete and submit an application (see link below) asking for personal information in order to determine their eligibility and need. The scholarship is targeted towards students with limited financial resources or access to grants. Preference will be given to a student attending the University of Santa Clara (George's alma mater); a person involved in the scouting program, experience as a blood donor (as George was); a finance or business major; and a demonstrated ability to overcome adversity and work hard.

2024-25 Award: Tabb Randolph recently announced that to be considered for the 2024-25 award, completed applications must be received at either the Woodland Rotary Club Post Office Box (PO Box 31 Woodland CA 95776) or via email to Tabb Randolph at tabbr001@gmail.com no later than March 15. Questions? Contact Tabb at 530 304-6652.

APPLICATION

February 11th Meeting

President Bob Nakken welcomed Ryan Burger as the newest member of the Club today. Ryan was sponsored by his father, Jeff Burger. We now have three generations of Burgers as Club members - George, Jeff and Ryan. President Bob also 'recognized' Jayne Williams for having been nominated by the Daily Democrat as one of Yolo County's Heroes. (The complete article can be read at: (https://www.dailydemocrat.com/2025/02/09/jayne-williams-aims-to-prepare-yolo-countys-young-people-for-success-yolo-county-heroes-nominee/). Jayne also shared with us her students at All Leaders Must Serve (ALMS) recently enjoyed hearing from Fire Chief Eric Zane about what it takes to work in the fire service, and that Kevin Haarberg is set to speak soon with those students about working in the financial services sector. Jayne is looking for other Club members volunteer to speak to ALMS students about their professions to help these young people get ready for their futures. Contact Jayne if you can help.

Visiting Rotarians Debbie Koo (Moraga) and Brad Miller (Woodland Luna Vista) joined us today in support of the Rotary sponsored event 'An Unhoused Conversation', on the subject of homelessness, coming up Saturday, Feb 22 from 9am-Noon at Woodland Community College's new Performing Arts Theater. The event is free of charge and open to the public, however registration is requested. Jayne Williams is our Club's contact. More about this event is available in this Daily Democrat article: https://www.dailydemocrat.com/2025/02/06/rotarians-collaborate-to-learn-more-about-homelessness/

Tabb Randolph got an early warning on his 38th wedding anniversary with wife Nancy on Feb 14 (Mt Vernon WA). Les Engelmann celebrated his 79th birthday (Joliet IL) on Feb 8.

Christian Sherrill took charge of today's Recognition with a look at 'Roommates 101'. Christian had some real card sharks as roommates in college. Mark Ullrich was happy his son Brian has started working in his office and may be considering a career change. We were delighted to see, among our other guests today, the familiar face of former member Roger Dorris. Gary Wegener and wife Joanie enjoyed a performance of 'Amelie' at the Woodland Opera House this weekend, an event 'presented' by our own Kevin Haarberg and Roger Kohlmeier and their wives. Gary Bunch had a great trip to Hawaii.

Our own Eric Zane, Fire Chief of the City of Woodland, was our program speaker today giving us a look at 'WOODLAND FIRE and Response to LA Wildfires', about Woodland Fire's Strike Team that traveled to Los Angeles last month to work on the Eaton Fire. Chief Zane, who also serves as the Operational Area Coordinator for Yolo County and manages mutual aid requests made for fire personnel and apparatus from Yolo agencies, explained the resources involved, the experiences of the strike team, and the costs and challenges involved, including why water was not always available from fire hydrants. There were lots of questions asked. We thank Eric for providing this very informative program to us.

February 4th Meeting

President Bob Nakken welcomed us on a rainy winter day giving thanks the numerous members who keep the Club operating. We were joined once again by visiting Woodland Sunrise Rotarians Byron MacConnell and Don Sharp. Jeff Burger introduced his guest, son, Ryan Burger who is also a prospective new member. Jeff also gave us news that his father George is recovering from successful surgery this morning.

Jim Nolan, sporting a special tee-shirt about his topic, took on Recognition today with questions about Black History Month. Peter Holmes got an early warning on his 41st wedding anniversary with wife Christine (married in San Diego) coming up Feb 11. Don Huff III 'rang the bell' announcing today's birth of his granddaughter Elliot Georgiagrace Huff in Great Falls MT (8lbs, 7oz) to parents Brandon and Annettia ('Netta') Huff . Blair Voelz got a not-so-early warning on his 53rd wedding anniversary with wife Jan (married in Sacramento) today. Blair also told us he attended the Rotary District 5160's Foundation Day Grants Training on Feb 1, enabling the Club to apply for Rotary Grants next year. Lori Ross gave us a report and shared a short video from the Club's donation of children's books to kindergarten and first grade students at Gibson School on Jan 23.

? President-elect Aniek Pflager told us plans for the Club's 2025 Dinner Auction at Velocity Island Park on April 26 for moving forward. Members are encouraged to get involved by:

registering dinner tickets already already using the QR code (EventBrite) on the event flyer; additional dinner tickets can also be purchased there
bringing in donations for the event's silent auction
bringing in two bottles of good quality wine ($20 or higher value) for donation to the wheelbarrell of wine to be auctioned off at the event
consider sponsoring the event via Mark Ullrich and Roger Kohlmeier
Grand prize raffle tickets will soon be made available for members to purchase or sell @ $100

Melissa Moreno, PhD, Ethnic Studies Faculty, Woodland Community College was our guest speaker today, giving us a presentation on 'History of the Yolo Bracero Program' which was part of a nationwide effort to address labor shortages in the agriculture and farming industries from 1942-62 , and was especially active in Yolo County and left an extensive legacy. Thank you to Program Coordinator Wendy Casas-Raviotta who arranged for and introduced our speaker today. A CBS13 report on Yolo County's efforts to honor the local Bracero Program can be viewed at: https://www.cbsnews.com/sacramento/news/yolo-county-honors-legacy-of-mexican-braceros-and-their-descendants/

Meet Our New Member -

Joe Cadelago

Joe Cadelago, sponsored by Mark Ullrich, was installed as a new member of the Club on January 7, 2025 by President Bob Nakken. At our request, Joe provided the following bio. If you haven't already done so, please take a moment to introduce yourself to Joe when you meet and welcome him to the Club.

I was born in Vallejo and grew up in Napa. I spent my entire childhood there until I was 20 after I finished my associates degree at Napa Valley Junior College. Napa was a great place to grow up in the 80’s and early 90’s, until the city removed most of the fun things for kids as it moved towards a tourist-centric destination place. My grandparents on my mother’s side met during WWII in England and relocated to Napa. My grandparents on my father’s side immigrated from Italy and relocated to San Francisco. My parents met in Napa when my father moved to Napa from SF to start his music teaching career which he had for 38 years before he retired. My mother was also a music educator and balanced that as a full-time mother to myself and my two siblings. I have an older sister that lives in Roseville, and a younger brother that lives in Seattle.

After graduating from Napa Valley Junior College, I transferred to Chico State. I chose Chico State for two primary reasons: my great uncle was one of the founders of the Chico agricultural department and always spoke fondly of the community and the school. In addition, I found Chico to be a college that was just far enough away where my parents couldn’t easily visit often, but close enough to go home to visit when needed. I also heard Chico was a great place to develop my social skills and that proved to be true.

I received my degree in Political Science and spent the first several years of my career working for various political entities. This included my first career job as the mailroom assistant to Arnold Schwarzenegger when he was elected Governor. To this day, it’s still one of my favorite jobs. I had a variety of roles in the administration, and finished after I completed my time as his political director for Northern CA. For the past 15 years I’ve been with Waste Management (WM) managing the business contracts between the company and various local jurisdictions. My primary office is in Woodland, and I also manage a team of recycling coordinators in Yolo County.

I met my wife Amanda at a party at Chico State within a few weeks of transferring there, and we’ve now been married almost 22 years. We don’t have kids of our own, but we fostered three siblings from Woodland for several months and it was a life-changing experience for us and them. We currently live in Carmichael and have two dogs, a Weimaraner (Watson) and an Aussie-doodle (Mabel). Amanda and I love to travel, and have been to Sweden, Italy, France and England in the past few years. My personal hobbies include road cycling, volunteering in the community, family time, and doing my best to enjoy life each day.

I was previously a member of the Pacific Grove Rotary Club and a Paul Harris Fellow. Tuesday lunch meetings were at Spanish Bay with ocean views. Miss those meetings but am excited to be part of the Woodland noon-club and looking forward to contributing and participating.

January 28th Meeting

Its what's up BACK that counts!! The first thing we see when arriving at our meetings are the (mostly) smiling faces at our back table. Dan Stroski, Carl Rodegerdts, Aniek Pflager and (eventually) Gary Bunch give us raffles tickets, take our money and sign us up for the right events. Dan Stroski and Steve Venables got us going on today's Rotary Grace.

Blair Voelz was in charge of today's Recognition, asking a series of questions about local agriculture. Blair recognized one of our newest members, Joe Cadelago for receiving the 2025 Volunteer of the Year Award from the West Sacramento Chamber of Commerce on Jan 16. Jayne Williams reports the three Woodland Rotary Clubs are being asked to sponsor a public presentation on homelessness called 'An Unhoused Conversation' at the Woodland Community College Performing Arts Theater from 9am-Noon on Saturday, February 22. Aniek Pflager is calling for volunteers for the Club's Annual Dinner Auction April 26th at Velocity Island Park. Dan Stroski is looking for a local family that can host an inbound youth exchange student (female) for four months next school year. Contact Dan if you or someone you know can help.

Woodland Sunrise Rotarian Don Sharp was our only visitor today. Reggie Powell and his wife Blythe celebrated their 8th anniversary on Jan 26. They were married at the Santa Barbara History Museum.

Our former member, Frits van der Hoek, Supervising Deputy District Attorney, Yolo County District Attorney's Office, was our guest speaker today, giving us a look at Proposition 36 which was overwhelmingly passed by California voters last November. Thanks to Frits' colleague at the Yolo DA's office, Preston Schaub who introduced our speaker. More about Proposition 36 can be found on the Yolo DA's website: https://yoloda.org/prop36/

Rotary Gives Children's Books

to Gibson School Kids

Lori Ross reports our Club presented the kindergarten and first grade students at Gibson School with their own personal copies of children's books on January 23. The author of the books, Leticia Ordaz, along with Club President Bob Nakken, members Lori McGrath, Gary Wegener and Woodland Sunrise Rotarian Wayne Ginzburg were also on hand to make the presentation. Thank you to Kelly Timothy, Gibson School Vice Principal and Acting Principal for making the presentation possible.

January 21st Meeting

President Bob Nakken once again welcomed everyone to our meeting today. Winters Rotarian Woody Fridae, who is also the District 5160 Governor Nominee (will serve as DG in 2026-27), presented President Bob with an acknowledgement from the Rotary Foundation of the financial support several Club members have provided the End Polio Now: Countdown to History Campaign through pledges to provide $100 or more annually until worldwide eradication of polio is achieved.

Jayne Williams took charge of today's Recognition with a focus on Martin Luther King, Jr. Ever the fund raiser, Jayne started by asking every Club member who was alive when Dr. King was assasinated in Memphis TN on April 4, 1968 to standup. Everyone not standing was fined $5. She then asked several trivia questions about Dr. King's life. Lori Ross was happy the braces were recently removed from her teeth (What a smile!). Gary Wegener was happy the Rotary banners he collected and brought back from his 2014 motorocycle tour across Russia were now hanging on the wall.

After winning the 50/50 raffle for $1,100 last Dec 10, Dick Hoppin continued his winning ways today. With $169 in the pot and and 24 cards Dick's ticket was drawn again, but got a free lunch this time. Jeff Burger introduced his son, and prospective new Club member, Ryan Burger as his guest today. In addition to Woody Fridae, we were also joined by visiting Woodland Sunrise Rotarian Byron MacConnell today.

John Goodwin, a former Mayor of Colma CA, was our guest speaker today, giving us a look at his extensive and eventful 27 year career as a Ranger with the National Park Service. Thanks to Lori McGrath who arranged for and introduced our speaker today. Copies of John Goodwin's memoir, 'Echoes of the Badge', are available for sale at Amazon and Barnes & Nobel.

January 14th Meeting

Assisted by President Bob Nakken, Club members today voted unanimously to set Yolo Farm to Fork and Woodland Healthcare Foundation as the beneficiary organizations for antipated proceeds from the Club's 2025 Dinner Auction scheduled for Saturday, April 26 at Veloscity Island Park. The specific projects to be funded are:

YOLO FARM TO FORK – Up to $11,000 for construction of two large instructional gazebos for the outdoor edible gardens at Beamer Elementary and Gibson Elementary schools. Currently the gardens are not shaded and have no seating. Materials will be procured from local suppliers, individuals and firms for the construction. The structures will provide an outdoor classroom (shaded with seating) for teachers, staff, volunteers and students to learn about outdoor gardening. Construction is planned to be completed by August 2025. This is the first priority for Auction proceed funding.

WOODLAND HEALTHCARE FOUNDATION – The balance of 2025 Dinner Auction proceeds, up to $38,387, would be used to complete the purchase of state-of-the-art surgical tool to assist in orthopedic surgeries. The equipment is radio-graphic camera technology (x-ray machine) called the C-Arm (due to its shape) and is used in spinal, hip, knee and other orthopedic surgeries. Woodland Healthcare already has 4 C-Arms, but with demand for use all are in operation creating 30-minute or longer delays in some surgeries. The new machine will have updated technology including the ability to capture precise measurements and a map for surgeons to use. The new machine captures 3-D imaging allowing surgeons to view a multi plane image. The machine allows for precise confirmation and analysis of structures not currently available with the existing machines. The total cost of this C-Arm is $399,467, and the Foundation has assembled all but the requested amount, $38,387.

President Bob emphasized funding of these proposals depends on achieving the proceeds.

Chuck Maltese oversaw today’s Recognition, asking respondents to provide either your resolutions for the new year, holiday travel stories, or recommendations on ‘what do we need in Woodland? Chuck volunteered his personal resolution was to lose 10lbs in the new year, and shared he now has only 14lbs left to go! Don Huff III and Dave Molinaro both had a fun trip to Texas over the holidays to hunt for sandhill cranes. Unfortunately, the cranes never got the memo and weren’t there to hunt. Dave did enjoy a diner they found in Littlefield TX, otherwise they never left their lodgings. Ann Taylor had a full house over the holidays including her sons and their families, which she housed for three days. She was delighted, and happy when they left. Christian Sherrill thinks Woodland needs a good Italian restaurant; an idea supported by a few others. Ernie ‘Redskin’ Hodges was happy his Washington Commanders were the only victorious visiting team in this past weekend’s NFL playoff games.

Our regular visiting Woodland Sunrise Rotarian friends Byron MacConnell and Don Sharp joined us once again today.

Martha Michel, President of the Folklorico Latino de Woodland, was our guest program speaker today giving us an overview of their organization. More about Folkloric Latino de Woodland can be found at its website: http://www.folkloricolatinodewoodland.org/

January 7th Meeting

President Bob Nakken welcomed a good turnout (nearly 40 attendees) to our first meeting of 2025. President Bob inducted two new members to the Club today. Gregg Kowes (left), Manager, Woodland-Davis Pest Control (sponsored by Brian Dwyer), and Joe Cadelago, Public Sector Services Manager, Waste Management (sponsored by Mark Ullrich). If you haven't already done so, please introduce yourself to these new members.

Wendy Casas-Raviotta introduced her guest today, Linda Pillard. Familiar Woodland Sunrise Rotarians Don Sharp and Byron MacConnell also joined us today.

Lori Ross reported the Club will be presenting kindergarten & 1st graders at Gibson School with gifts of children's books at 8:30am on Thursday, January 23, as discussed in a November 12, 2024 presentation by author Leticia Ordaz to the Club. Lori is looking for 5-6 members to join her that day for the presentation. Contact Lori beforehand at 530 867-1900 if you can do so. The Woodland Rotary Endowment contributed $2,000 from its Community Fund to purchase 130 children's books from Cieleto Lindo Books for this project.

Jim McGibbon was pleased to report the 2019 project, which our Woodland Rotary Club co-sponsored, to aid medically underserved patients in northern Nicaragua has finally succeeded by graduating its first graduating classes of dentists and optometrists in December 2024 after 3 years of supervised training of local high school graduates by faculty members of the University of Managua. Later this year, the first class of 2025 family doctors will graduate from their 4-year courses.The UNICAM, (or 'University in the Country' ), created near Tuma-La Dalia in this region by this project will continue to produce graduates in all three specialties.

Yvette Roy took charge of today's Recognition, fining everyone who was NOT awake to ring in the New Year, and asking several questions about the history of our Club. David Pinto enjoyed a great family trip to Tenerife, Spain and Marrakech, Morocco over the holidays. He also celebrated a his 33rd wedding anniversary with wife Rebecca on Jan 4, and his 62nd birthday ('Old' Delhi, India) on Jan 5. Barbara Sonin was happy she visited her three children and 7 grand children over the holidays. Kevin Haarberg gave us greetings from former Club member and Past President Charlie Rayl. Peter Holmes 'rang the bell' in celebration of his 'Medicare' birthday (Fresno CA) on Jan 6.

Our own Shawn Seyk was our program speaker today, giving us an look at 'What is Bitcoin?'.