We kicked off the meeting today with Bill Sutton & Gary Schneider giving a quick update on their meeting with the Stand Down committee for helping Veterans. The next Stand Down event will be in the end of June.
Then Steve Weitzen spoke about the roles & responsibilities of an Assistant Governor (AG) in the Rotary club. Some of the key points he mentioned are as follows:
- There are 65 clubs in our district and those are managed by 16 AGs.
- Steve has to monitor 6 of those clubs including our DMSB club.
- One has to serve as President of a club in order to qualify as an AG.
- He has to setup a time to talk at each of the 6 clubs once or twice each quarter.
- He needs to make sure there are potential Presidents and President-elects at each club by Dec 31st.
- Report to the Governor about memberships, challenges, etc. for each of his clubs.
His responses to two questions:
1. WHY DID YOU CHOOSE THIS ROLE: He was chosen by Janice Kurth, who was the Governor at that time.
2. WHAT WOULD YOU DO TO IMPROVE THIS ROLE: He says, it cannot be better than this :-).
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Following this we had a wonderful talk by Charlotte Fan, North County Area Manager for Meals on Wheels. They provide meals for senior citizens over 60 years of age. She came from Taipei Taiwan in 1982 and has a master’s degree in Community/Social Psychology. She joined Meals on Wheels 19 years ago and continues to serve as the North County Manager coordinating over 500 clients and 700 volunteers. Charlotte is married with 4 grown children- a dentist, a speech language therapist, a registered nurse, and a student graduating soon from the pharmacy school at UCSF. One of Charlotte’s favorite pastimes is eating. Some people like to cook and Charlotte likes to eat and Charlotte would like to make sure our seniors eat well and age well at home.
Clients sign up for proper nutrition, to socialize and to ensure safety in the home environment. They have delivered over 18 million meals to date. They have been in service for 58 years now. They pride themselves in ensuring healthy meals are delivered and they make sure when meals are delivered that the client's environment is safe and clean. They check the client's home and refrigerator to make sure the food is not piling up and no unhealthy signs in the home. If they see any issues they report it to the appropriate authorities or family members.
New clients are welcomed with a bag full of goodies as shown above. Some clients make fancy items, such as kitchen trivets, etc. One trivet was made by a client/volunteer Rachel Reed from Del Mar and Molly Fleming at our club received it as a gift at the end for answering a question that Charlotte popped up.
Meals on Wheels also celebrates client's birthdays and major events, such as, Valentine's Day, Thanksgiving, etc. with special treats for clients. The above gift box is delivered to clients on their birthdays. It has many useful items, such as, mittens, bath items, etc.
The primary qualification to receive a meal is that the client needs to be over 60 years and opt for at least 3 weekday deliveries. The cost is very reasonable at $4 per meal and $7 for 2 meals/day. They provide special discounts for veterans and financially stressed clients. More details can be found on their website at MEALS ON WHEELS. Information on how to volunteer or donate funds can be seen on their site.
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