A beautiful day in the neighborhood on this 2nd Friday in October and members are greeted by the Dynamic Duo of
David Peck and
Bud Olson.
Eldon Strong, Tom Overton and Bob Avery were all with us today and having a good time.
Karl Geil reads the invocation.
GUESTS
Our guest today is a long-time friend of
Bob Avery (and Steve's God Father). Scott Mathias is also a member of "Knock Knock Angels". According to Scott, "We serve new housed individuals and families who have recently overcome homelessness by providing the necessary home furnishings to make a house a home. We have a focus on Veterans, Single Mothers, and Seniors. Our team works with partners and other charitable programs to find our next recipients. We work with our recipients to determine their greatest needs and with your help, we fulfill their dreams! Check out their website at: https
://kkaco.org/about-us Hope to see Scott again soon!
PRESIDENTS CORNER
President Larry Pulaski shared a thank you note from Eagle Scout Macklin Gifford, winner of the Donlie P. Smith award as outstanding Eagle Scout. Larry also asked if anyone had a contact in Denver Mayor Johnston's office. Having a hard time getting the mayor's signature on our Super Citizen certificates. If you do, let Dr. Bob know as soon as possible.(303-880-7611.
RAFFLE!Phil Perington, Master Raffler, reminds us that the drawing will be held August 25, so we have only two weeks to sell the raffle tickets. Remember this event supplements the funds earned at the tree lot which supports all of our activities. Buy one for yourself, sell one to your mother-in-law. Let's maximize this opportunity.
ROCKIES HANDOUTS
Michael Chavez presented Treasurer Pat Bush with a check for $500 from the last Rockies game and announced that we need volunteers to work the Rockies against Toronto on Saturday, September 2. We need 35 members to earn $750. This is an evening game, which means we need to be at Coors Field by 3:00. Check with Michael if you have any questions. 303-960-5304.
MEMBER NEWS
Dick Nickloff asked us to remember those in Maui who are impacted by the wildfire.
Frank Ross is resting at home with a collapsed lung. We wish him a speedy recovery.
Mike White recovering from surgery and will be back soon.
SPEAKER
Our speaker today was our very own "Ronald McDonald" AKA Dan Rodriguez. Dan shared some of his experiences in his years of working with McDonalds in various capacities.Editor's Note: The following is from Wikipedia and provides background to Dan's story.
Founded in 1940 by Richard and Maurice McDonald (otherwise known as Dick and Mac), it took an entrepreneur named Ray Kroc and a ton of drama to catapult McDonald's to the global fame they have today. According to McDonald's official history, Kroc bought out the brothers in 1961 for a cool $2.7 million — adjusted for inflation, that's about $23 million in today's money. That's a lot of money, but considering Statista says the McDonald's brand was worth over $129 billion in 2020, it's safe to say that was a good investment.
Dan has always loved magic and used to hang around the magic shop in Cinderella City.
At the magic shop he met Clancy Wise, who was Ronald McDonald, but was preparing to retire. Dan followed in Clancy's footsteps and became Ronald. Dan remembers the time at the Denver Zoo, when there was a scuffle immediately after his appearance as Ronald. He later learned that the police had apprehended a guy with a rifle who was attempting to shoot Ronald McDonald.
He also related the fact that in 1980, the image of Ronald McDonald was the second most recognized character in the World, second only to Santa Claus.
In 1989, Dan applied for a franchise with McDonald's but was turn down. He figures it may have been because he was 27 years old and had only $500 in the bank. But Dan persevered and sent a weekly update as to what he was doing to McDonald's headquarters. Dan finally received an invitation to discuss a franchise. After 4 years of training (with no pay) Dan was awarded a franchise in Ely Nevada. This was the only fast-food place in the county, which numbered 4500 people.
After two years in Ely, Dan decided to move back to Denver, He turned the Ely location back to McDonald's and purchased three franchises in the Denver Metro area. Rather than use armored car service, Dan's father-in-law would go through the McDonalds' drive through window and the cashier would hand him a Mcdonalds's sandwich bag containing the bank deposit.
In 2000 McDonald's went to 24-hour service, which made it hard to staff and manage the 6 franchises that Dan now managed.
After 9/11 in 2001, Dan decided life was too short and to spend all your time working, so he relinquished his 6 Denver area stores and opened a store in Pahrump Nevada and while there did a daily radio talk show. (He also had some adventures involving the employees of the Chicken Ranch, a famous brothel. In 2006, Dan decided to move back to Denver and severed his ties with McDonald's.
Dan showed
us his Ronald McDonald costume including the giant shoes and striped socks.
A great presentation by Dan who says that he lives his life according to this quotation:
"Nothing in the world can take the place of persistence. Talent will not; nothing is more common than unsuccessful men with talent. Genius will not; unrewarded genius is almost a proverb. Education will not; the world is full of educated derelicts. Persistence and determination alone are omnipotent." - Calvin Coolidge
DRAWING
With only 8 cards to drawn from, it should be easy to pull the seven of spades and win $40...but nooo! Greg Holt, Carl Brown, Josh Lipuma,Bryce Slaby and Jake Baker all too the sure thing and neither Don Roth, nor Steve Kady was lucky enough to get the right card. Bryce had a second shot by virtue of his name tag, but was also unlucky.
Better luck next week. Remember, you can't win, if you don't play.
