On November 12 at the Morning Meeting for all Del Sol Rotarians, Carol Wight, CEO of the  New Mexico Restaurant Association spoke on the timely topic of "What Restaurants Will Look Like in the Future".    Carol, who at one time owned three restaurants in Las Cruces, became CEO of the Association in 2002.  She explained about what a difficult time the Covid 19 crisis has been for the restaurant industry.  25200 people in the industry have lost their jobs.  New Mexico restaurants have lost $574 million this year as of August.  

 

Carol stated that restaurants are not "Super Spreaders", contrary to some peoples opinion.  They are required to observe strict protocols for sanitizing.  There are very few positives related to restaurants and most restaurant employees who did test positive became infected  from outside the restaurant.  Carol said that if this situation continues 1/3 of New Mexico Restaurants  will close in a year.  

 

This was another of Club Admin Chair Kent Craven's very timely programs.  The next day on November 13, Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham announced a new Health Care Order for New Mexico which will close all restaurants for in-person dining for two weeks starting November 16.

 

 This directly effects our member Steve Reynolds and his restaurant Jimmy's Cafe which will be doing take-out orders only during the two week mandatory shut-down.  We as Rotarians can help Steve and other friends in the restaurant industry by ordering take-out during this difficult time.  They really need our help.  

 

Aprilyn Geissler, Del Sol Newest Member inducted on November 12.

 

On November 12,  Aprilyn Geissler, a transferree from the Downtown Club was inducted into Del Sol.  Welcome Aprilyn!!

 

Also at the same meeting President Ed Robertson presented  Robert Brown with his Paul Harris Plus One pin virtually.  Congrats to Robert.  

 

Christine Glidden thanked members who are Helping with the Navajo Hope project which is ongoing.  Chris Van Dyck announced that the Health Care Heroes project will continue for at least a month.  

 

This week on Thursday and Saturday the Ramps project chaired by Greg Hallstrom completed another project which is featured in Facebook and on the Del Sol Home Page.  

 

Del Sol Foundation Chair Dave Seely reported on the work of the Foundation.  

 

Del Sol Members were saddened to learn that former member Tom Thomas passed away suddenly on November 3.  Tom was an excellent member of Del Sol and had transferred to the downtown club for scheduling reasons.  I am sure his wife Tina would appreciate sympathy cards.  Her address can be found under Tom's listing under Inactive Members on the website.   Memorials  to the Folds of Honor will be appreciated.  

 

Tomorrow The Satellite Meeting for all Del Sol Rotarians will be held via ZOOM starting at 5:30PM.  Jeff Weinrach, Satellite Co-chair has sent out a link for the meeting. As a reminder, as part of our ongoing series highlighting other local service and professional Clubs and identifying potential partnerships, our speaker tomorrow (11/16) will be Gary White from the Albuquerque Breakfast Lions Club.  As with our first presentation from the Young Professionals of Albuquerque (YPA), we will hear about their club, how they are organized and what community efforts they are involved with. Let’s welcome Gary and see if we can partner with their efforts.  

 

On Tuesday November 17, the RDS Board will hold its December Meeting via ZOOM at 7:00A.M.  All members are invited and Club Secretary Davis Riordan will send out a link for the meeting.

 

Be Well. Be Safe