Woodside/Portola Valley Rotary - Newsletter

7:30 AM - 8:30 AM Wednesday with breakfast by Encore Performance Catering, fellowship, project updates and an interesting speaker from the community. Meetings: Guild Hall, Woodside Village Church, 3154 Woodside Road, Woodside, California Guests are not only welcome but encouraged!

This Week

Please bring club stuff stored at home to the meeting. Then we can store it in our new storage locker.

Program:

Woodside resident, Bob Falkenburg, will talk about a water project in Africa and tell us how we can be involved.

Last Week's Program:

Jim Sanderson introduced his friend and fellow Woodside resident, Oliver Bock, to speak to us about his planned cross country electric bicycle trip. Oliver was born and raised in Palo Alto, attended Paly High and graduated from UC Santa Cruz. He currently lives on Grandview in upper Woodside.

Oliver’s goal is to start on April 22, 2010 with a series of prearranged stops and find out what kind of green activities are going on amongst the common folk of America. He says “The Green Riders are now in training on tricycles at Mom’s while contemplating their navels.” The question is can you make it on electric bicycles? Electric bikes now on the market have a range of about 20 miles. With a route length of about 3600 miles and a recharge time of 8-10 hours that estimates out at six months on the road! But then there is the Green Riders Support Team, which includes Oliver’s brother in-law, the technical guru. He is working on an advanced design which will be recumbent and will have a range of 120 miles. The HT motor will connect to the multi-speed chain drive to allow it to run at optimum speed when climbing hills.

So why do this? Oliver blames it on Al Gore who got him thinking about CO2, climate change and polar bears drowning. Lots of people are trying to motivate the scientific and political communities but who can motivate the common people and keep them motivated? At this point he asked our club members how they felt about it. Oliver was overwhelmed with comments, suggestions, criticism and speeches. The mob was called to order by multi-year-president Schmidt so that he could finish his speech.

Oliver, his sister Catherine and bro-in-law Michael want to see and experience the greenness of America at the grass roots level. How many solar electric and wind farms will they see? How many farmer’s markets, green start-ups, sustainable self sufficient homes, farms or communities a-planning or a-building? They hope to talk to and get support from NGOs , e.g. Rotary clubs, across the mountains and prairies of America. Stay tuned, Oliver promises us a progress report when he gets back.

Next Week:

We will have a regular meeting next week at 7:30 am (Assembly meeting?) and also a social gathering at 5 pm at the Encore Performance Catering kitchen in Redwood City. Feel free to invite friends and family. David will provide fondue and bake cookies made with ingredients to be supplied by inspired members. (Ye olde editor temporaire requests peanut butter cookies.)

Club News:

Sunday, Dec. 6th at 5:30 pm will be our club holiday Pot Luck Dinner at Sandi's home. Start thinking of a specialty dish to bring and do not forget some of us enjoy wine. Jim Stephens is being asked to provide our singing entertainment again.

Coming Events:

Taste of Woodside: Sunday, September 2010, 3-7pm, Woodside Village Church

District Conference: San Francisco, April 16-17, 2010, www.rotary5150.org

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