FRIENDSHIP, FELLOWSHIP AND THE FUTURE

Posted by Barbara Bontemps 
on Jul 16, 2014
 

ImageJEAN LYFORD AT ORINDA BOOKS: Our meeting on June 25th took a different turn when, after our regular lunch at OCC, we traveled to Orinda Books to hear our former club president and dear friend, Jean Lyford, do a reading of her latest collection of poetry, "Waiting for the Wind."  The event was both moving and comical, as Jean shared poems written during her struggle with stage four breast cancer, as well as light-hearted anecdotes from her days as an educator and administrator in the Orinda Schools. The poems themselves offer astute observations of the natural world, along with deep psychological insights. One review states, "The process of looking back over a lifetime of memories to create a meaningful narrative of one’s time on Earth is beautifully portrayed in this luminous new work."

After the reading, Jean took time to sign her books and greet long-time friends and admirers one-by-one.  An article about Jean's pursuit of poetry as art and about what inspires her is well worth reading.

With tears in our eyes, but smiles on our faces, we are grateful to have had the chance to hear Jean's lyrical poetry.

 

ImagePRESIDENT DAVID PIERCE TAKES THE HELM:  July means a new presidential year and our July 9 meeting saw the installation of our 2014-2015 president, David Pierce.  President David started things off with a bang (of the drum), a riff (on the piano) and a thump (on the string bass) as he brought the terrific Claudio Madeiras Trio to entertain at our meeting.  With great aplomb, Past President Sue invested David with the powers of the office as she presented him with the Orinda Rotary Skunk trophy, the Club Charter, and his very own presidential pin.  Jack Bontemps then bestowed the past-president pin upon Sue and the transfer was complete.

President David outlined his goals for his term:

Rotary International Clean Water Initiative: President David was greatly inspired when he attended his PETS training by RI's efforts to bring clean drinking water to villages in Africa and other third world nations. It is his hope to advance such a projeImagect through our club for a commitment of $7,500 toward this effort.

Membership: Growing and sustaining membership will be a key component of President Pierce's administration. He has appointed a committee that includes Gary Wong, Dick Burkhalter, Sue Breedlove, Clay Deanhardt and Linda Delehunt which will pursue ways to bring in new members and develop projects to help members stay active and enthusiastic about Rotary.

MuImagesic: President David also wants to support music in a big way -- through the schools with workshops, assemblies and scholarships; and for seniors and the community in general with concerts such as those we have coming up -- our annual "Opera in the Park," the Mike Vax Big Band Concert and the FAB Five's USO/Rossmoor Big Band Concert at the Lafayette Reservoir.

Let's give President Pierce our support and make this another great year for Rotary!

CAMP ROYAL BUILDS LEADERSHIP:   Andrew Bower and Sandra Abruzzo of Miramonte High School were Rotary's ambassadors to this summer's Camp Royal.  The two spent a week of in the wilds northwest of Redding immersed in leadership training and forging new friendships with other Rotary-selected students from throughout District 5160.  Guest speakers and fun physical activities both inspired and exhausted the participants.   They learned about the 4 key characteristics for becoming a succeImagessful individual: Compassion, Knowledge, Energy and Structure -- and how to develop those characteristics.  They talked about the importance of hope and learned about mindfulness, all while completing a service project to provide school supplies for low-income students through our area Interfaith Housing organization.  Most importantly, the two came away from their experience at Camp Royal understanding what "Service Above Self" means and motivated to incorporate that credo into their own lives.