Minutes: The One with the Ukranians (03/21/2012)

President Joe Weiland called the meeting to order.

Greeters: Steve Boehm and Bill Boyd
Invocation: Joe Weiland
Flag salute: Julie Joy Stillwell
Raffle:  Bruce Belfiore bought a gift certificate to Via Maestro

Visiting Rotarians: Gil Garcia (SB North), Peter (South Edinburgh)

Guests: Sue Wilmer, Marti Garcia, Boris Alves, Kateryna Oleksiyivna Tyminska, Kostyantyn Mykhaylovych Bakharyev, Olha Oleksandrivna Sulnikova, Marharyta Ivanivna Ponomarenko, Nataliya Volodymyrivna Skrypnychenko, Yuliya Oleksandrivna Petlevana

Club and President’s Announcements:

• Foundation – Jody reminded members about our commitment to The Rotary Foundation, where funds are eligible for matching grants. The money needs to be submitted in March.
• Dictionary distributions – Dictionaries were given to children at a few schools yesterday.  Connard Hogan described it as a controlled mob.  A child found 2 bad words “murder” and “sex.” More distributions are planned for later this week.
• Golf tournament – Steve Kally asked for a volunteer to visit the Rotary Club of Goleta Evening to talk about the golf tournament. More golfers are still needed. Silent auction items are still needed.
• Social reception – There is a social gathering at the home of E. Russell and Luz Maria tonight to meet and greet the Ukranian visitors.
• District Assembly – It is coming up on March 31 in Oxnard.  There is a repeat in Bakersfield in mid April.
• Project in Mexico – You may sign up to participate in this project.  See Mark Reinhardt.
• The Rotarians at Work Day is April 28. We’re continuing our project at Elings Park.
•  Tuesday Rendezvous was extra fun and well attended this week at the Wildcat. Next week’s rendezvous will be at The Brewhouse on Montecito Street, starting at 5:30 PM.
• Rotary Lunch Lottery. We enjoyed a few reports from completed lunches. The new names will be announced when President Joe Weiland sends them to The Blogle editor.
• During pay and tell, Bill Wilmer shared some bittersweet news. He and Sue have sold their Ojai home and purchased a ranch in the Western Sierra. They will be moving next month. Bill and Sue received a standing ovation. They will be missed, and we hope they will still visit often.

Program: Understanding Ukraine

• A delegation of six Ukranians — five people from Crimea and a facilitator — are spending the week in Santa Barbara with the One World program.
• They shared quite a bit about Ukraine and one of it’s regions, Crimea — an autonomous republic.
• Crimea has more than 11,000 historical places.
• It is a leisure and health destination for travellers.