Newsletter - Archive  Jul 29, 2009

print this page

P.O. Box 620700                                                   Riki Itner                                                                   Dave Hyman 

Woodside CA 94062-0700                                District Governor                                                       Club President

                                                      http://wpvrotary.org                                          

Regular Meeting                                                                                       July 29th, 2009

7:30 AM - 8:30 AM Wednesday with breakfast by Encore Performance Catering, fellowship, project updates and an interesting speaker from the community.  The last Wednesday of some months we meet at 6:00pm at a local restaurant for and hors d'oeuvres and no host bar and meeting new people.  Please check our website calendar for details. 

Morning meetings:  Guild Hall, Woodside Village Church, 3154 Woodside Road, Woodside, California  Guests are not only welcome but encouraged!

This Week's Program:   District Governor's Visit 

Riki Itner, District #5150 District Governor will speak to our club about her plans for her Rotary year.  Think membership! 

Last  Week's Program:   (courtesy of Last Week Editor, Dean Babcock) 

Pres. David Hyman introduced Katie Weissenborn to speak to us on experiences in the General Pencil Company. While this may sound like an anachronism in this day of ball point pens and such, it is not.  General is the oldest pencil company in the U.S.  Katie’s grandpa came to America in 1894 and started hawking pencils in New York city.  At that time there were 17 pencil companies in America – and General is the only one left.  The granddaddy of pencil companies,  Eberhardt Faber still carries on in Germany, run by the Faber family.  They have really left their mark!   We call them lead pencils, but they haven’t had lead in them for many years.  The marking material is graphite which is mixed with a binder.- how much depends on whether the pencil is a No. 1,2,3 or four, in increasing degree of hardness.  General uses good old American cedar for the structural covering, which is sawed and planed to the correct thickness, width and length and then grooved to receive the “lead.”  Glue is applied and a second piece of wood is added and the pencils formed into cylinders, hexagons or what will you have.  Then they are painted, lettered and the ferrule and eraser are added.  Katie presented each listener with a box of finished pencils, as well as one each of General’s newest products – a cartooning pencil and pad.  Katie also showed us samples of their books on cartooning – something new for an old pencil company!

Next Week's Program:  Acupuncture 

Past President, Joan Fuetsch, will introduce Edward Weiss, MD who has been practicing acupuncture in the shadow of Stanford Hospital for over thirty years. He will talk about his shift from traditional medicine after graduating from Stanford Medical School and will also demonstrate on any one of you who is willing.

Club News:  Agnes is back!  It was great to see Agnes last Saturday at Barbara's birthday party.  What a trooper she is.  Next thing you know she will be doing dishes again.

Coming Events:

Next Board Meeting:  Tuesday,July 28th, 4:30pm, Sandie's house

Potluck Dinner with DG:  Tuesday, July 28th, 6pm, Sandie's house

Rotary Means Business:  Wednesday, August 5th, 5:30 pm Encore Performance Catering

Kickout Party:  Sunday, August 16th, home of Art Barker, 3pm

Taste of Woodside:  Sunday, September 20th 2009, 3-7pm, Woodside Village Church

Announcements:   Have you had a look at the Rotary International website lately for what is going on in Rotary's world?  www.rotary.org   How about finding out about what is going on in the district?  www.rotary5150.org