Newsletter - Archive  Apr 8, 2010

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Rotary Club of Villa Park Newsletter

"Rotarians are the beacon of a simple truth:  That the key ingredient to making a peaceful world is the understanding that all people no matter where they live are equally precious." 

This was the wonderful quote on the projector screen that greeted us this morning from our guest speaker, Tecate Rotarian and our good friend Alex Mora.  He said he read it in one of the Rotarian Magazines and that it has been an inspiration to him.

Our meeting began with yet another thoughtful invocation from  Millie Alexander, who is getting quite good at filling in with impromptu invocations, our pledge was led by Steven Pollack and then we belted out a rousing version of "Take Me Out to the Ball Game" in honor of the new major league baseball season.  Greg Mills led us in the Rotary Four Way Test.

Guests:

Dick Krause-  Orange Rotarian

Alex Mora-  Tecate Rotarian and guest speaker

Bret Gerdes-  District Governor - Irvine Spectrum Rotarian

Announcements:

Steve Stern reported that our club led by super salesman Bob Bell had sold $700 worth of tickets to the Harlem Ambassadors Basketball Fund Raiser last Saturday at Ralph's Market.  He was ably assisted by Jane McDonald, Pam Dunn, Jay Applebaum and Nagy Ibrahim. 

This Saturday and Sunday we plan to be back at Ralph's and at the Little League Field on Saturday

we had Bob Kreisberg, Millie Alexander, John Broussard, Bob Meyer,Pete Moriaraty,LIsa Stepanski , Jay and Terry Applebaum step up to the plate(to use a baseball metaphor).  Sales were not as brisk, but lots of people took flyers.  You may also have noticed that Paul Hudson's wonderful street signs are up on the corners of Wanda and Villa Park Road, Center St and Santiago and Taft and Lemon, plus the article and centerfold insert came out in the most recent Villa Park Magazine....Yeah.  So far, and I don't have all the individual member's ticket sales results, we've sold over $2000 worth of tickets, sponsorships and about 30+ Sports Lovers Specials.   And we still have about 3 weeks to go.   Linda Bartrom-Olsen also volunteered to burn DVDs of the Harlem Ambassador's Highlight Video and distribute it to all the high school teachers, to Andie Mills and Jill Kuli who will try to get it into the hands of the elementary  parents via the parent teacher groups.   We should be prepared for lots of ticket sales over the next several weeks and  on the night of the game.  Jay Applebaum thanks you all for your efforts and support...  No matter how many people show up this is going to be a great event for the club. 

Bryan Nash wanted to remind everyone that the incoming board for 2010-2011 would be meeting right after this morning's meeting.

Greg Mills announced that the Villa Park Band will be serenading us next week and the they will help us market our Harlem Ambassadors Fund Raiser and we would in turn help them with their May 8th Car Show Fund Raiser.   Greg also wants us to start working on projects for next year and passed around a sheet for ideas.

Linda Bartrom-Olsen announced that the club's Annual Awards Ceremony would be given on May 13th- to  include:  Business of the Year, Above and Beyond, Teacher of the Year, etc.  A special dinner at Rockwell's to honor our Interact Clubs at Villa Park and Lutheran High will be on May 22nd. 

Teri Brooks announced the 14th Annual Armed Services YMCA Golf Classic will be on Tuesday, July 20th, 2010 at the Sea N' Air Golf Course, Naval Station, North Island.  Proceeds will benefit Military Families at Camp Pendleton.  For more information contact:  stabrum@camppendletonasymca.org  or call 760-385-4921.

Bob Meyer thanked Millie Alexander, Teri Brooks and Milt Stamos for helping him with the detergent pick up for our overseas troops. 

Anniversaries:

Steven and Loretta Pollack celebrated their anniversary at Ambrosia.

Happy Bucks:

George Poulos was happy to announce that he ran into Woody Rickerl who says he will return

to the club in the future.  Great news.

Mark Schmidt had a trip to Fresno last week and brought back photos which included a photo of the 36 foot Frank Sinatra Mural.

Bryan Nash told how fiance Lorie's car was hit in the parking lot of Ralph's by an elderly confused driver.  Fortunately, Lorie was out of the car at the time and was unhurt.  Bryan says its a good idea to check on your elderly parents and make sure that the are still competent enough to drive.

In a similar comment, Wayne Silzel reported on someone who made an illegal U turn and caused Jim Glenn some exasperation.

Bill Baker proudly reported that his dad, age 85, is on the Long Beach Redevelop Agency and was just honored with a local paper write up and a job extension to age 87.

Steven Pollack was happy to report that his rapidly enlarging turtle had found a good home in Bryan Nash's new turtle pond.  Bryan followed up by saying that Steven's large male turtle had evicted his smaller male turtle and seems to be happy with his new female companion. The smaller male apparently took off.

John Broussard was happy there was only one turtle story.

Raffle - John Broussard drew a 10

Speeker: Alex Mora

Alex is a long time member of the Tecate Rotary Club which despite having only 12 members has had numerous accomplishments in their community.   He tells us that Tecate is much safer now and that visits from our club would be very welcomed.  He did a presentation that highlighted all of the projects  his club has completed in partnership with different clubs from Southern California.

These include:   Creating a blood bank in Tecate, building an auxiliary fire department and equipping it with a fire engine, building public restrooms in the city square,  creating a sports court in a boys orphanage,   the medical clinic that we helped to create as their centennial project and ambulance that followed.  Alex told us that in the last year they have layed a concrete drive in the front of the clinic and created a playground for the children to use while their mothers are being seen in the clinic.  The clinic , Which serves about 5,000 families annually,  has also been used by a project called Tecate Smiles, where doctors from all over come 3 times per year to repair cleft lips and palates. Alex also showed photos of the needy children that received the 500 backpacks we filled and sent to Tecate this year.  He told us that their club is currently helping to refurbish a school that is in great need of repair.  They are doing some structural repairs and construction of new facilities.  They are also doing a project to place whiteboards in all the classrooms and are looking for some help from other Rotary Clubs who want to do joint grants.  All very  impressive for a very small, but energetic club.   Bret Gerdes our visiting Governor says the best thing we can do as Rotarians is support the Rotary Foundation that makes all of the joint grant monies available.   

It is said you can be a member of Rotary for many years and never be a Rotarian until some thing or someone touches your heart.  For those of us who witnessed the creation of the Tecate Clinic from its conception to final completion and experienced the warm-genuine friendship   and total dedication of  the Tecate Rotarians to their community,  this was where we became Rotarians.  We did more than create a clinic that will serve needy families in that community; we made a lasting friendship based on mutual respect and admiration for a job well done. It is with great pride  and emotion that we view the finished clinic today,  from the structure itself, to services it provides to that very poor community.   This is what makes Rotary such a special organization, where strangers can join together, identify a need,  working together across borders to give a helping hand for those in need, while building friendships and overcoming cultural  bias. Which brings us back to the special meaning of the quote by an unknown rotarian that began this newsletter.     Jay