Rotary Meeting of August 22, 2013 “Neighbors Helping Neighbors”, written by Gary Wilson, Bulletin Editor.
The Meeting
Dave Rieman told the Joke of the Day about an Irish Lawyer…A WINNER and nicely told.
No one wanted to do any fining.
Laura had a Birthday, don’t know which one.
No Anniversaries
An Eagle thanked us.
And a number of other announcements that we will be receiving emails during the week.
Shiela got a nice "Thank You" from Laura for stuffing teacher bags, and during that process gave a very nice presentation about Rotary. What's in a Teacher Bag?
Some Meetings are More Interesting Than Others
The Program – “Westchester Playa Village” – Carol Kitabayashi
What a great idea this one is. Here is how it works. Seniors typically want to live at home throughout their lives, but as they get older they need “help”. Help can be a lot of things. It could be changing a light bulb, driving someone to an event, help clean the yard etc. etc. Elders who have run out of family just need some help from time to time and this is a great program with lots of potential. If they have outlived their children and younger friends -- this program is ideal.
So, the light bulb thing got us going.
We had to come up with some sort of banter when it came to changing light bulbs. It started by myself saying : “If Tom, Jack and Gary were summoned by a Senior to help someone change a light bulb, what would be the outcome”. Tom was sure of one thing, with that group; “the light bulb would not be changed”. Chances are the light fixture would never work again. And then the idea took off on a life of its own. We may be older, but we have children's minds.
The charges to the senior for this service were just $500 for the year, and there appeared to be no limit to what they could ask for. I smiled and I saw that Kevin smiled from across the room. We were both thinking the same thing. We would gladly be a member for the $500 if we could get Tom to Volunteer to help the Seniors (and he will; he has such a good heart and will always help others). We could request him to come over every time we needed our car’s washed, floors cleaned, yard work, etc. and we could leave the light bulb changing to a more knowledgeable Volunteer. Jack and Len could do it. It would take some charts and graphs and project software, but it would get done, and done well, an about a month.
Back to Kevin. Kevin could even have Tom come and wash the Fire Engines and save the City come money and make the Engines look good when he went for coffee in the morning with the siren’s going as he pulled into Starbucks and saw all the El Segundo Police having a break.
Back to the Real Seniors.
Sometimes the Seniors just needed to talk, and Jack would be great for that as well. Days would go by. Summer would turn to fall and the leaves would change.
Or, ENTERTAINED! How about the “Elyse and Joe show”. They could bring their podiums. Joe could fine the Seniors.
Or, if they wanted a spreadsheet done…."Hello Len". He could make it in different colors. Seniors don't like Spread Sheets, but they may want their sheets changed. Can you do that Len?
Or, Ted could balance their check books (+ or - $5,000). Sell them Vitamins too.
Or, Sheila could show them how to turn off their smart phones so it wouldn't disturb the other Seniors at meetings. She’s good at that. Most Seniors sleep at meetings anyway. They do in our club.
Oh, the possibilities are endless. I hope they have this program when I am “ready”. I can think of lots of fun things to request. Oh my! It might be gender specific. There is confusion over gender now-a-days, but not for me.