Newsletter - Archive  Oct 22, 2009

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Rotary Club of Villa Park Newsletter

 Halloweenfest Next Friday Night

The morning seemed to begin as usual with Millie Alexanderreading an invocation by football coach Lou Holtz with a Carpe Diem theme.  The flag, recovered from the VP TV Studio, was saluted and then President Joe had us attempt a frightening  ROTARY song that prompted visiting Rotarian Roy Jefferson to nominate us for "worst singing club".  Redemption would come later when we sang "Happy Birthday" to Eric Sense celebrating 50 today.    Spooky Beginning !!

Guests:

Pete Moriarity- transferring to our club from Louisiana- category Retired Engineer

Roy Jefferson- visiting from Anaheim Hills; Chairman of Rotary Foundation Dinner

Angela Senale- today's speaker

Birthdays/ Wedding Announcement:

Eric Sense- turning 50 today- had a wild party this weekend

Linda Bartrom announced her recent wedding to Bill Olsen - she is now Linda Bartrom-Olsen.

Much happiness to the newlyweds.

Announcements:

Jane McDonaldannounced that we packed 500 "lovepack" in 50 minutes last Saturday.

She wishes to thank RotariansMillie Alexander, Jay Applebaum, Pam Dunn, Mark Schmidt,Joe Brand, Milt Stamos, Chanda Parrett, Nagy Ibrahim and Lesslie Giacobbi; Rotary Friends Craig Alexander, Mary Wright, Clarinel Stamos and Bill McDonald; Interact members Kathleen Metcalf, Lorene Chung, Calli Hansen, Daryl Hok, Alexandra Niohim and Nick Rose.  Thank you to Jane and Bill McDonald for organizing the event and providing lunch and snacks.

The packs will be transported to Santa Fe Springs along with tools and seeds and be sent overseas.

Greg Mills is still asking members to submit the names and addresses of their guests so thank you letters can be sent and the information can be added to the data base.

Roy Jefferson talked about the upcoming Rotary Foundation Dinner on  Saturday November 7th at the Hilton Irvine/OC Airport; cost $75 per person.  Roy promises a fun evening featuring key note speaker  KNBC-TV weatherman, comedian Fritz Coleman.  We will presented with our 100% Paul Harris Club Banner and there will be a parade of club banners.

Steve Kawa-  We have tickets available to attend the opening night performance of the Annual American Celebration of Music at Chapman University on Friday Nov. 6 at 8PM- this includes an invitation to join the cast for a reception following the show.  Tickets $45 each.

Contact Spud Lambing  at 714-565-7227 or Fax 714-565-7189  -  by the way $15  of each ticket purchased can  be a tax deduction.   Lesslie Giacobbi tells me tickets for this event cost $2000 each the next night.

Steven Pollack auctioned off some wine left over from Oktoberfest.

Steve Sternreminded everyone that next Friday night is the Halloweenfest - we will be cooking hotdogs, bat-wurst and the famous Villa Park Rotary Combination platter including a choice of chips and drinks.  Steve promises some special libation(wine) for the cooking crew. Our booth will be across from  the City Hall.   We'll set up at 4:30.

Chanda Parrett announced that David Kritz has set up a memorial fund for his son Ryan recently

deceased in a car accident at St Joseph Hospital. Contact Chanda at 714-771-8211 if you wish to contribute.

Millie Alexander announced that she has 6 seats available on her Trolley Tour of Old Town Orange this Saturday from 10- 1:30.  Meet at the parking lot by Ralph's at North Hills Realty.

Contact Millie if you want to attend.  Includes Lunch at Jalapena's Restaurant.

Eric Sense-picked up 2 Frog Table Centerpieces from last year's Oktoberfest and was literally bubbling at how wonderful they looked in his yard.  As a result Lesslie Giacobbi and Millie Alexander  will buy 2 each at $20 each.

Secret Greeter- no show again.

Happy Bucks;

George Poulos- announced the birth of a new grandson- from his youngest daughter.

Bob Bell and son Chrisattended the USC - Notra Dame Game and had a great time watching USC win.  Was the Touchdown Jesus shedding a tear at games end? 

Nagy Ibrahim- announced his son's 39th birthday.

Roy Jefferson was happy to be awake at this early hour.

Lesslie Giacobbi will attend the Sage/Wise Conference and speak about Real Estate

for more information see www.womensage.com  or www.wise-investers.org

Congratulations to Lesslie.

Steven Pollack'sdaughter Lauren turned 21 and they will go to Las Vegas to celebrate.

Eddie Nash had a visit from his daughter and 2 grandsons; he was happy the visit came and went. 

Bob Meyer announced the 5th year of  the Mail Train- this year the focus is sending DVD to the troops in Afghanistan.

Drawing - $1200 with 17 cards left- Teri drew a 5

Speaker:  Angela Sanale

Angela spoke to us about Autism and her passion for giving support to the families of children with autism.  She talked of the difficulty and disappointment that families suffer in dealing with autistic children since their is no cure and each case is different.

Autistic Children demonstrate the following characteristics:

1.  inability to relate to social stimuli

2. need for sameness and order

3. failure to use language to communicate

4. fascination with objects

Asperberger's Disease is a form of high functioning autism- children do not have a problem with language and communication and are highly intelligent.  Bill Gates and Albert Einstein apparently suffer/ed from this.

The cause is unknown. No cure is available but behavior can be modified with help from a knowledgeable professional like Angela.

Parents need support and Regional centers are available to provide this support.

If affected children are enrolled before age 18 they are entitled to lifelong benefits which include respite homes so parents can have  needed relief.

Next week Millie Alexander and Greg Mills will take over for Eric Sense who will be attending a conference.