The meeting was opened by President Justin Raithel leading the Pledge of Allegiance. Bob Mange gave the Invocation.

 

Secretary Jim Padgett introduced our guest, Jason Reid.

 

Trudy Nygren announced a workday at the Lake Natoma Nursery and Gardens Wednesday, April 10 from 9 to 11 am. Work will include prepping the Native Plant Garden area prior to installing the plants mid-April. Other work includes weeding the decomposed granite trails in the garden area. Trudy also talked about Earth Day which will be our first planting party at the Lake Natoma Gardens and Nursery on Sunday, April 21 from 9 to 11 am. RSVP by April 19 to Trudy at (916) 769-4370.

 

President Justin talked about the Folsom/Fair Oaks Oktoberfest on October 27, 2024. We need committee members for Marketing, Silent Auction, Raffle, Cleaning, Day of Event Management, and Youth Coordination. Please contact Frank Ali or Scott Bailey to sign up for one of these committees. We need everyone to participate in this fund-raiser.

 

Ramesh Dontha talked about Rotary Foundation giving. Our goal is Every Rotarian, Every Year and we are now at 92% of our members who have participated by donating to the Rotary Foundation. Ramesh will be contacting the members who have not donated with a request to help us reach our goal.

 

President Justin talked about the camping trip. The camping trip from June 7 to June 9 is now on our website at Camp Lotus. You can register and reserve tent campsites, RV campsites, or cabins. You can register for river rafting or wine tasting on Saturday. You can also register for Friday and/or Saturday dinner if you just want to come for those meals.

 

The Rotary Club of Folsom was selected to have a fireworks booth again this year which will be in the Raley's shopping center at Blue Ravine and Natoma.

 

Ramesh presented Trudy with a Paul Harris +6 pin.

 

 

Jim Ortega levied fines. He also asked for volunteers to work at Folsom High Sober Grad Night on May 23. If you are interested in volunteering, contact Jim.

 

John Baciocco introduced our speaker, Matt Wallbeck. Matt is a former professional baseball catcher who played in Major League Baseball for five different teams, primarily in the American League, from 1993 to 2003. He served as third base coach for the Texas Rangers in 2008. After retiring from baseball, he started Wallbeck Baseball Academy and now works for California Parks and Recreation. He gave a very interesting talk about his career from playing baseball at Sacramento High School to minor league baseball to major league baseball.

 

President Justin presented a box of Snook's Rotary Wheel Chocolate to Matt.

 

 

 

 

 

On Saturday, April 6, 2024, the First Annual Dragon Boat Festival was held at Lake Natoma. The event was a fund-raiser sponsored by Powerhouse Ministries. The Rotary Club of Folsom was first to sign-up a team and was the first sponsor, sponsoring the Finish Line. The Rotary Club of Folsom team name was the Gnomies. There were 9 boats and each boat had 16 rowers and a drummer. A Dragon Boat company employee steered the boat.

 

 

Monika Reyes was the drummer and the rowers were President Justin Raithel, Trudy Nygren, Ramesh Dontha, Ryan DeVore, Ryan Jantzen, Josh Brannan, Charlie Grows, Jason Brinitzer, Khari Nelson, Olga Garton, Samuel Holly and non-Rotarians Mike Kozlowski, Jim Nygren, Sandy Econome, Cameron Tatsch, and John Lane. 

 

The Gnomies came in third overall and our drummer, Monika Reyes, won the best drummer of nine teams. There were three races and the teams were racing for best time overall in the first and second races. The third race determined the final order from first to last place. Folsom Rotary was in third place after the first two races so they were in the Grand Final to determine first, second, and third place. The Gnomies ended in third place and the team members received medals for their achievement.

 

 

The Dragon Boat Festival raised over $100,000 and there are plans for the Second Annual next year. The Rotary Club of Folsom has already signed up. Each boat had to raise $6,035 and the Gnomies raised just over $8,000 which put us in third place for team donations. Additionally, the club sponsored the Finish Line with a donation of $5,000.

 

The club had a tent near the start area and another tent in the vendor area so we could provide information about the club.

 

For more photos, go to the Photo Album, Dragon Boat Festival, on our website.

 

 

 

Great partnership with Friends of Lakes Folsom and Natomas (FOLFAN) and Rotary Club of Folsom Lake as we continue to build the Native Plant Nursery and Interpretive Gardens on Wednesday, April 10. The office/meeting rooms building also painted.

 

Trudy Nygren, President Justin Raithel, Dina Collins (Folsom Lake Rotary), John Messner