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Contact
Editor: mail@roasters2000.com
T
h E P o t
was won
by Don Shannon
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Sertoman
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Of the
-
Week
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Dan Kaup
Chartered
March 15, 1969
Foundation
Community Foundation Serving Northern Colorado
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Published
monthly by Sertoma Club of Fort Collins. All
rights reserved. Copyright 2002, Fort
Collins Sertoma Club. If you received this
email by accident, please ask to be removed
from distribution. Keep your email current; send updates
to
Mike
Thorsrud.
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In the Bible, it doesn't say there
were three Wise Men. |
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In
Russia, Santa is known as Ded Moroz
(Grandfather Frost). |
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The name of the horse in the timeless
holiday song "Jingle Bells" is
Bobtail. Hence the line "bells on
Bobtail ring, making spirits bright." |
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Frosty's last
words were,
"Merry Christmas
to all, to all a
good night!"
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Brags
and
Notices
As
of
Friday,
1.9.04,
our
Foundation
total
is
$17,504.99!!
December
31,
2004
~
$24,
089.63
December
31,
2005
~
$35,308.09
August
1,
2006
~
$42,
591
October
1,
2006
~
$44,107.73
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THIS IS COOL! Click HERE for a night view of the earth, from NASA.
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Bill Benton presented the club with a plaque from a youth baseball club we've been sponsoring this year.
They were not only very appreciative of our support, but they are apparently very good. Bill told us that they won their league! |
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Chris MacDonald reports that we are "approaching break-even" on ticket sales for the Mustang. We currently have over $20,000 in hand. FRIDAY is the last day to turn in money and ticket stubs, so BE SURE to get everything in by then!
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HOT OFF THE PRESSES!!!
A new issue of LA Law . . . ARE WE WINNING THE WAR ON DRUGS?
I hear characterizations of the war on drugs as "dismal failure", "the war is lost", etc. but the evidence presented by the proponents of the "lost war" is often fuzzy, and based more on emotion than hard facts. . . . click HERE for more! |
Larry Glass told us that the Sertoma gift exchange will be on Friday, December 22nd. Bring a trashy or gag gift, or a nice one, but don't spend over $10 ~ $15. This is a CLOSED meeting, so don't bring guests, wives, or girlfriends. There will be, as usual, an open bar. Larry asks for ""gifts, good attitude, no inhibitions".
A Sertoma golf tournament is being planned for Friday, June 8th at Mariana Buttes. Shotgun start on Friday at 7:30 a.m., with a 72 player minimum. More on this as it happens. We might do this as a project fund raiser, or to benefit a local group, or some combination of the two.
NO SANTA????
I remember my first Christmas adventure with Grandma. I was just a kid. I remember tearing across town on my bike to visit her on the day my big sister dropped the bomb: "There is no Santa Claus," she jeered. "Even dummies know that!"
My Grandma was not the gushy kind, never had been. I fled to her that day because I knew she would be straight with me. I knew Grandma always told the truth and I knew that the truth always went down a whole lot easier when swallowed with one of her "world-famous" cinnamon buns. I knew they were world-famous, because Grandma said so. It had to be true.
Grandma was home, and the buns were still warm. Between bites, I told her everything. She was ready for me.
"No Santa Claus?" She snorted...."Ridiculous! Don't believe it.
That rumor has been going around for years, and it makes me mad, plain mad!! Now, put on your coat, and let's go." "Go? Go where, Grandma?" I asked. I hadn't even finished my second
world-famous cinnamon bun.
"Where" turned out to be Kerby's General Store, the one store in town that had a little bit of just about everything. As we walked through its doors, Grandma handed me ten dollars.
That was a bundle in those days.! "Take this money," she said, "and buy something for someone who needs it.
I'll wait for you in the car. "Then she turned and walked out of Kerby's.
I was only eight years old. I'd often gone shopping with my mother, but never had I shopped for anything all by myself.
The store seemed big and crowded, full of people scrambling to finish their Christmas shopping. For a few moments I just stood there, confused, clutching that ten-dollar bill, wondering what to buy, and who on earth to buy it for. I thought of everybody I knew: my family, my friends, my neighbors, the kids at school, and the people who went to my church.
I was just about thought out, when I suddenly thought of Bobby Decker. He was a kid with bad breath and messy hair, and he sat right behind me in Mrs. Pollock's second grade class.
Bobby Decker didn't have a coat. I knew that because he never went out to recess during the winter. His mother always wrote a note, telling the teacher that he had a cough, but all we kids knew that Bobby Decker didn't have a cough; he didn't have a good coat.
I fingered the ten-dollar bill with growing excitement. I would buy Bobby Decker a coat!
I settled on a red corduroy one that had a hood to it. It looked real warm, and he would like that.
"Is this a Christmas present for someone?" the lady behind the counter asked kindly, as I laid my ten dollars down. "Yes, ma'am," I replied shyly. "It's for Bobby."
The nice lady smiled at me, as I told her about how Bobby really needed a good winter coat. I didn't get any change, but she put the coat in a bag, smiled again, and wished me a Merry Christmas.
That evening, Grandma helped me wrap the coat in Christmas paper and ribbons and wrote, "To Bobby, From Santa Claus" on it (a little tag fell out of the coat, and Grandma tucked it in her Bible). Grandma said that Santa always insisted on secrecy.
Then she drove me over to Bobby Decker's house, explaining as we went that I was now and forever officially, one of Santa's helpers.
Grandma parked down the street from Bobby's house, and she and I crept noiselessly and hid in the bushes by his front walk.
Then Grandma gave me a nudge. "All right, Santa Claus," she whispered, "get going."
I took a deep breath, dashed for his front door, threw the present down on his step, pounded his door and flew back to the safety of the bushes and Grandma.
Together we waited breathlessly in the darkness for the front door to open. Finally it did, and there stood Bobby.
Fifty years haven't dimmed the thrill of those moments spent shivering, beside my Grandma, in Bobby Decker's bushes.
That night, I realized that those awful rumors about Santa Claus were just what Grandma said they were: ridiculous. Santa was alive and well, and we were on his team. I still have the Bible, with the coat tag tucked inside: $19.95.
May you always have LOVE to share. And may you always believe in the magic of Santa Claus
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After "stalking" Brad Florin for the past 4 1/2 months, Carl Glaser finally
caught up with him recently to present Brad with the Sertoman of the Year
Award. Brad was informed that Sertoman of the Year is our club's highest
honor, so it's all down hill from here! Congratulations Brad!
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THE NIGHT BEFORE CHRISTMAS"
'TWAS THE NIGHT BEFORE CHRISTMAS,
HE LIVED ALL ALONE,
IN A ONE BEDROOM HOUSE MADE OF
PLASTER AND STONE.
I HAD COME DOWN THE CHIMNEY
WITH PRESENTS TO GIVE,
AND TO SEE JUST WHO
IN THIS HOME DID LIVE
I LOOKED ALL ABOUT,
A STRANGE SIGHT I DID SEE,
NO TINSEL, NO PRESENTS,
NOT EVEN A TREE.
NO STOCKING BY MANTLE,
JUST BOOTS FILLED WITH SAND,
ON THE WALL HUNG PICTURES
OF FAR DISTANT LANDS.
WITH MEDALS AND BADGES,
AWARDS OF ALL KINDS,
A SOBER THOUGHT
CAME THROUGH MY MIND.
FOR THIS HOUSE WAS DIFFERENT,
IT WAS DARK AND DREARY,
I FOUND THE HOME OF A SOLDIER,
ONCE I COULD SEE CLEARLY.
THE SOLDIER LAY SLEEPING,
SILENT, ALONE,
CURLED UP ON THE FLOOR
IN THIS ONE BEDROOM HOME.
THE FACE WAS SO GENTLE,
THE ROOM IN SUCH DISORDER,
NOT HOW I PICTURED
A UNITED STATES SOLDIER.
WAS THIS THE HERO
OF WHOM I'D JUST READ?
CURLED UP ON A PONCHO,
THE FLOOR FOR A BED?
I REALIZED THE FAMILIES
THAT I SAW THIS NIGHT,
OWED THEIR LIVES TO THESE SOLDIERS
WHO WERE WILLING TO FIGHT.
SOON ROUND THE WORLD,
THE CHILDREN WOULD PLAY,
AND GROWNUPS WOULD CELEBRATE
A BRIGHT CHRISTMAS DAY.
THEY ALL ENJOYED FREEDOM
EACH MONTH OF THE YEAR,
BECAUSE OF THE SOLDIERS,
LIKE THE ONE LYING HERE.
I COULDN'T HELP WONDER
HOW MANY LAY ALONE,
ON A COLD CHRISTMAS EVE
IN A LAND FAR FROM HOME.
THE VERY THOUGHT
BROUGHT A TEAR TO MY EYE,
I DROPPED TO MY KNEES
AND STARTED TO CRY.
THE SOLDIER AWAKENED
AND I HEARD A ROUGH VOICE,
SANTA DON'T CRY,
THIS LIFE IS MY CHOICE;
I FIGHT FOR FREEDOM,
I DON'T ASK FOR MORE,
MY LIFE IS MY GOD,
MY COUNTRY, MY CORPS."
THE SOLDIER ROLLED OVER
AND DRIFTED TO SLEEP,
I COULDN'T CONTROL IT,
I CONTINUED TO WEEP.
I KEPT WATCH FOR HOURS,
SO SILENT AND STILL
AND WE BOTH SHIVERED
FROM THE COLD NIGHT'S CHILL.
I DIDN'T WANT TO LEAVE
ON THAT COLD, DARK, NIGHT,
THIS GUARDIAN OF HONOR
SO WILLING TO FIGHT.
THEN THE SOLDIER ROLLED OVER,
WITH A VOICE SOFT AND PURE,
WHISPERED, "CARRY ON SANTA,
IT'S CHRISTMAS DAY, ALL IS SECURE."
ONE LOOK AT MY WATCH,
AND I KNEW HE WAS RIGHT.
MERRY CHRISTMAS MY FRIEND,
AND TO ALL A GOOD NIGHT."
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The Sertoma Board
usually
meets EVERY
SECOND
TUESDAY AT
NORTH AMERICAN TITLE
COMPANY
AT
5:30
p.m.
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What you really value is what you miss, not what you have.
~
Jorge Luis Borges |
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| Ed
Hull |
Charter
Member |
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Stan
Shalla |
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David
James |
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Don
Sendgraf |
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Dick
Manges |
Past
President |
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Bill
Banks |
Past
President
and
Past
Governor |
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Marvin
(Marv)
Fries |
Charter
Member |
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Harv
Nesbitt |
Past
President
and
Charter
Member |
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Jim
Nichols |
Past
President
and
Charter
Member |
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Gen.
Bill
Mauer |
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Jim
Hoeven |
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| Pete Montagriff |
September 15, 1934 - April 15, 2005 |
| Jim Waltz |
November
2,
1936
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August
23,
2005 |
| Ron
Kresl |
March 29, 1932
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December
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