She began with calling for helpers to go to the shed at 3:15 tomorrow to clear our shed of equipment we can use for the event. But the school is right on the entryway to the high school which is crowded at 3:15, so the time to meet at the shed was adjusted, and (sad news) Terri’s pickup got sold. We can’t get into the hall until 4 and we don’t have a pickup to haul equipment, so Rotarians with a vehicle large enough to haul stuff from our six bins, will meet at the high school at 2:00: volunteers included Mike, Osborne, Ed, Heather. Next item is the auction. First, from our Wendy who is fighting breast cancer, is the $1,500 set of peridot necklace, earrings and bracelet she donated to the auction. Who has peridot in their collection? Liz asked. These were passed around to oohs and aahhs. Liz went on to say the Mitone and Ginger “have been working their tushes off” for this event. Ginger talked about the checkout and how well organized it is; how items will be displayed along with descriptions. We have less-elaborate display than in past years, but we’re trying to keep the auction small so as to focus on selling raffle tickets. She spoke of dining gift certificates, and Betty the Yeti, who is the slot machine (“Ding-Ding-Ding!” said Liz). More discussion followed about the auction (difficult to make out through the chatter for note-taking purposes) and Ginger talked about how we are streamlining the process to make it easier for attendees to eventually get their items. We have a total of 29 items of which four will be raffle items: Who Wants to be a Millionaire Scratcher basket, a Relay for Life quilt, a basket of assorted honey goods and a gift certificate for a lobster boil for four. You can get multiple tickets and choose which box you want. Ginger said the raffle items, like the auction items, will be identified by signs, and you can put your tickets in the box alongside your desired item.
Items include a fishing trip, a room at the Ritz for the night, a gourmet chef dinner, a lesson in tamale-making from our own Rosie, a lesson in biscotti-making from our own Teresa Adam, an Abundance Skin Care certificate and a Save the Ocean spa basket, a Pilates lesson, two bottles of 1969 Crown Royal donated by Heather, two Isabelle Fiori purses. Bidder numbers go on the programs on Friday night, also numbers for Fund-a-Need and there will be a training session Friday afternoon for event workers.
Warren walked by and received applause. Joe had a philosophical question: if someone pays $150 for dinner, does a glass of wine go with it? No, said Liz, that’s more profit; we will be selling the drinks at $10 for a glass of beer or glass of wine. There are color-coded tickets that the bar will take; water is free. Barb brought water and Dustin donated jugs, Bill at Lighthouse Water donated water that Irwin picked up, Barb bought pitchers and Kevin bought glasses, Shirley has “cases of wine” in her garage. Barb, Warren, Ed, Barb Fleck, Jeannie, Wally and more are working the bar. There will be signage and placement for the drinks.
Nancy talked about decorations: her cousin (a professional event planner) will help and decorations will be based on a sea theme with shells, driftwood and flowers, and hopefully lobsters too. We put butcher paper down but nothing else can be on the tables till the lobster is done. Barb and Nancy will help make the tables attractive.
Mark will also bring decorations from last year, like lobster nets and buoys. As the talk continued, Liz noted that Paul Wrubel will need help putting all of the Rotary signs, and the stands, need to be packed up and brought to the event --- help might be needed as Paul has only a “teeny car,” Liz said, adding that the all the Rotary signs need to be put up to advertise what we do.” Also, she said, we will promote the Boys and Girls Club. And, she emphasized, no one would be wearing the lobster costume this year, and that 5 p.m. today is the cutoff day for tickets because Mark needs to know how much he is ordering for the vegetables. We’re at 15 people now, the same as last year.
Ginger was asked about San Benito desserts: and she said they’d be delivered, Saturday at 4: Liz spoke of mini-brownies and mini-cookies, carrot cakes and lemon cakes and donuts --- yum! And Rosie and Peggy will help plate them.
Bella said that the band was good to go, setting up around 3:30; the same group as last year and “they’re excited” about it. The band will get food. Warren handled questions about the sound system. There was discussion about the exact location of the event, the ticket list and table assignments --- noted on the back of everyone’s programs, with a number for the table and a letter that the bidder to see during the auction. There was some clarification about ticket lists, table assignment and programs; and the exact location of where seat placement is and of bidder numbers. Liz also emphasized that, instead of sitting next to buddies, we should fan out throughout the room so that there would be Rotarians at every table: “We are entertaining the people at our event,” she said, adding that she had tried to seat people with whom they wanted to sit. There was discussion about the check-in processes. Susan, Dianne and Erika will be handling the checking in.
Liz asked Rotarians to make sure you point out the wine pull, auction, raffle, get drink tickets and have fun, and Liz recommended 5:15 to get set up. Kevin helped clarify: all these things were in different spots, and wine pull tickets were being sold by us.
Signage: Paul is bringing the signs, Nancy and Liz have made the signs that go in the building, the sponsor sign will be brought and the other two entities are making their own signs. She is also sending info to the New England Lobster Company; there will be extra lobsters you can buy for, she thought, $20. Many people have designated their tickets to someone else. Mark will help us.
Fund-a-Need: Warren will be a spotter (though it was humorously suggested that he run the event.) Liz said that five more spotters are needed: So far she has Warren, Dianne, Steve, Kevin and Rosie. She reiterated what we can tell others we’re trying to recruit: we’re trying to raise money for Sea Huggers to get plastics out of our ocean, to send kids to camp when there’s no school, to continue our projects in the community and we need your help; we’re trying to raise $8,000 for the Boys and Girls Club and Sea Hugger, and whatever else we raise goes to Rotary. Liz needed four more people during the event: Bella said we can add Wally, and Mitone and Dustin stepped up. People are encouraged to generously help with Fund-a-Need; it was recalled that last year we had had a miracle in exceeding our financial goals: we thought we’d raised $3,500, and after tallying we thought we’d raised $5,000. But Mary called her the next morning to reveal that $10,000 went to the beneficiary, Coastside Adult Day Health Center --- last year, some donors got into the spirit of benefiting and doubled their donations. (“I think I’m gonna cry,” said Liz, recalling that moment.)
Liz noted that we needed someone to help with the Fund-a-Need checkout and Nancy offered to step in, was there anyone else? A couple of Rotarians stepped up.
Mitone noted that the auction will close at 8:30 (before Fund-a-Need); was there any way to compile the auction results by midnight, and when Fund-a-Need comes in, add that? That was not decided on.
Is there a way to find out how donors got to us? There is a survey that will include this, that attendees will see when they check in.
There was further talk about a raffle this year. Liz described different colored tickets that might be used in such a raffle at the end of the evening, but pointed out that it was desired that people would take their items home, as opposed to having to track people down, and everything must go home!!
There was clarification as to the timing of the event, thanking the sponsors, and details of room setup, the tables and putting out everything that could be put out. Thanks went to Ginger, Warren and Barb for getting the sponsors. Liz wanted to talk about the wine pull; Drew Gamut will be coming to help us with setup and takedown for that. Thanks also went to Bella for getting insurance and license.
Wine pull: Liz thanked everyone who brought in wine, “including Sir Paul (Wrubel) who had his son-in-law bring two cases of wine,” the least expensive of which was a $50 bottle, and the most expensive a $177 bottle, for which she plans to get multiple bracelets. It’s a game of chance. You pay $25 for a blue bracelet, four for $100, and you wear that bracelet until the end of the event, at which time you go to Kevin and he collects the bracelets and randomly gives you four wrapped bottles of wine. There are some nice – and expensive -- wines in there, Liz said. There are whites and reds; Liz listed some pretty impressive wine names. This is to help the Boys and Girls Club, Sea Hugger, and Rotary to continue its work in the community.
Warren asked about how Fund-a-Need donations would go to the three nonprofits; Liz said that representatives would speak to the club as to why they want money and why we are being asked to support these causes. Whatever we raise, Sea Hugger gets $3,900 of it, the Boys and Girls Club gets $4,000 of it, and we get the rest. If we don’t raise enough to cover that, it will be split among the three. To these events, we are asked to wear our Rotary shirts.
It was asked, what should those of us who greet arrivals upon entry to the Lobsterfest? Liz responded that we should tell them welcome and thank you for coming, and that we are so excited to have you be part of raising money for the Boys and Girls Club, and Sea Hugger, and Rotary, and please buy tickets and go to the wine pull and visit the auction, see Kate at the raffle and can I help you find your ticket or answer any questions for you?
Liz suggested being a the Lobsterfest by 4:30. Erika suggested that it might be helpful to go over the timeline for Saturday: doors open at 5, there’s a no-host bar, the auction opens, the raffle opens, the wine pull opens and the music starts. At 5:45 President Irwin will give a welcome (“and he’s been practicing and he’s excited,”) dinner will be served at 6 and there will be background music, the Fund-a-Need will be at 7:15, the auction closes at 7:45, there will be entertainment, and at 8:30 auction items can be picked up, and the event ends at 9. It closes at 9 since we have to be out by 10 by a sound ordinance.
Questions: If someone comes to the table wanting to buy a ticket or asking if there’s extra lobster, just politely say no and encourage them to come next year. If someone insists that they’re on the list, send them to Dianne. (Someone’s phone rang and everyone laughed but reminded us of the rules.) Will we announce the raffle winner by the end of the event? Yes. There were questions about some inquiring about selling tickets or going to Event Brite to do so, and they must legitimately be on the list. Discussion followed.
On cleanup detail: Nancy, Irwin, Heather, Doug, Steve, Warren, Mike.
Next week’s meeting will be at Ciya in Half Moon Bay, which is the Mediterranean restaurant on Main Street. Orders will be taken ahead of time.
The raffle was held and Kevin read out the winning number; Steve Wilson emerged the winner but did not get the white marble.
CLUB MEETING - SEPTEMBER 5, 2024
President Irwin Cohen rang the bell at 12:15 p.m. to a nearly full room, starting a lively meeting focused on this Saturday’s Lobsterfest.
Pledge of Allegiance - Ed Daniels led the Pledge of Allegiance.
Inspirational Thought - Called upon to offer a motivational thought, Kevin O’Brien started by noting that we are on the cusp of something very fun – football season – and also our event Saturday, so he tried to find something apropos to both, and that was a quote from Vince Lombardi: “The achievements of organization are the results of the combined effort of each individual. People who have worked together will win; whether it be against complex football defenses or the problems of modern society (or San Mateo County) (which drew laughs.) Individuals who pitch into a group effort, that is what makes a team work, a company work, a society work, a civilization work.” Comments agreeing on this followed.
Guests - Kate Hobbie (daughter of member Clark,) Doug Mallon (who helped start this recording), Teri Pickle, photographer Mary Bartnikowsky (invited by Mitone Griffiths), and Marla Wong.
Pres. Irwin's Quiz - Then Irwin launched into the quiz: What happened on Sept. 8, 340 years ago, (that was 1664) in New York? No one knew, until – Dianne Bobko called it: New Amsterdam and that story turned to Petrus (Peter) Stuyvesant (1592-1672), a Dutch colonial governor who resisted the British seizure of New York; Irwin went on to say that the Dutch wound up with an island from which they got their nutmeg (okay, everyone was being lighthearted.)
Birthdays - Ginger dropped the news that today was Liz’ birthday, and so Liz made a $70 donation to the Rotary Club of Half Moon Bay Foundation in light of her 70th birthday – a Rotary tradition, Liz happily noted. Rotarians sang a rousing “Happy Birthday” to her. (You can donate the number of your birthday, or total for all the HMB Rotarians or anything you choose, to the club Foundation, and Liz chose the first option.) Mike had a birthday too, on Aug. 29, which he celebrated by visiting Bodega Bay. So the club members sang a rousing “Happy Birthday” to Mike too.
Happy News - Irwin said that a patient of his had wanted to donate to the Lobsterfest but, upon finding that it was too late for that, instead donated some jars of fresh honey from Pescadero for him to sell at $20 each and donate proceeds to the Lobsterfest. Anyone who wants one, can let him know. .