Newsletter - Archive  Jun 17, 2010

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 Rotary Club of Villa Park Newsletter

Countdown to Demotion

Today we learned from our speaker Mike Shanahan  that projects  we reluctantly accept can ultimately become one of our life's  great passions and most important accomplishments. 

Our meeting began with an invocation by Steve Stern who wished everyone a happy and healthy Father's Day this Sunday and to appreciate the opportunity to share it at home with family and friends; he  ended  with a  rousing Go Lakers!!  Eric Sense led us in the Pledge of Allegiance and Eddie Nash read the Rotary Four Way Test.  We sang America the Beautiful.

Guests:

Introduced by Greeter Mark Schmidt

Larry Dick - Orange Rotary Club

Mike Shanahan- Yorba Linda Sunrise Rotary President-Elect and today's speaker.

Welcome back Chanda Parrott who had been vacationing in Europe.

Announcements:

Millie Alexander- the Demotion Party will be on June 27th from 5-8 PM at the home of Joe and Pam Brand.  Millie sent around an attendance sheet and encouraged everyone who plans on attending to sign up.  She is also asking for a Set Up and Clean Up Committee for the event- contact Millie to volunteer.

Millie was also today's Secret Greeter and caught several members who neglected to shake her hand.

Pete Moriarty updated us on membership activity and reported we have 3 new prospects who will be attending the Demotion Party.

Brian Nash- Oktoberfest 2010 Chairman updated us on what's happening to prepare for the event.

His committee had a meeting last week and came up with some good concepts.

Birthdays/Anniversaries:

Paul Hudson celebrated his birthday on June 14th.

Ken Fischer - celebrated his birthday on June 16

Jay & Terry Applebaum celebrated their 30th wedding anniversary on June 15th with dinner at the Citrus City Grill

Ron & Deb Accornero celebrated their wedding anniversary last week with dinner at Francoli's on the Orange Circle

Lesslie & Peter Giacobbi will celebrate their wedding anniversary with dinner at Marshe Moderne

Happy Bucks:

Bob Kreisberg- was happy to announce the success of  his Junior Achievement Program at Cerro Villa Middle School.  Each speaker was presented with a thank you card that was created by the 8th grade Avid Class.  Bob thanked all the speakers that participated.  We  thank you Bob for all your hard work and dedication in putting this program together.

Bob is also going to have lunch with Dan Cregg who had a stem cell transfer 100 days ago and can now venture out, but cautiously.

Bob is also happy that his son and daughter-in-law will be coming to visit from Singapore for 1 week beginning on Father's Day.

Ron Accornero was happy to announce that he beat a red light ticket in Long Beach.

Lesslie Giacobbi praised Bob Kreisberg for his Junior Achievement Program successes in this and in prior years.

Bob Meyer was ecstatic over the service he received from the Bryan Nash Publishing Company.

Ken Meyer is starting nursing school and needed some of the study aid sets that Bryan produces. 

Bob reported prompt and very friendly service.

Stan Van Denberg- pointed out the very complimentary article on NIcole Applebaum that appeared in today's Orange City News.  Nicole was named the Villa Park High Spartan of the Year by her  teachers and peers.  Stan's son is also graduating from Villa Park High tonight.  Thank you Stan for pointing out the article.

Bryan Nash's softball team named,  "Too Dumb to Quit" had their first ever undefeated season.

Bryan also met a young boy at a Leukemia Fundraiser who recognized him as one of the speakers in Junior Achievement Program at Cerro Villa Middle School.

Lisa Stepanski was very proud of her older son who really buckled down and did better than expected in his Biology Class- getting an 83 for the semester.  She was very impressed with his new found study habits and preparation for the big test... final score with the curve was 110/100.  Congratulations!!

Pete Moriarty was very proud of his granddaughter who graduated from 8th grade and will be attending Lutheran High in the fall.  She will be playing varsity soccer.

Joe Brandalso got out of a traffic ticket at the Grand Prix of Long Beach.  When he was pulled over by the officer he told him that he had been a cop.

Pam Dunn reminded everyone about the Bryan Nash Foundation event that will be taking place on June 25th at the Newport Beach Vineyard and Winery.  Tickets are still available- call Bryan or Pam.

Drawing- winnings up to $893- Nagi drew a Jack and will share his winnings with Lisa Stepanski.

Speaker:  Mike Shanahan

Mike's talk was about the Yorba Linda Veterans Memorial which was recently dedicated and can be seen at 4756 Valley View Avenue in Yorba Linda.  Donations can be made at P.O. Box 144 Yorba LInda CA 92885 and more information can be found at the website:   HTTP:YLVMA.ORG.

Mike is a retired Tustin Police Captain who is also the President-Elect of the Yorba LInda Sunrise Rotary that recently put on their 23rd Annual Lobsterfest Fundraiser.  He informed us that over 3,400 lbs of lobster was consumed by over 1000 attendees.  Profit to date $70,000.

Mike was born in Gary Indiana  and told us that  options were limited when he graduated high school.  He could work in the steele mill, join the military or go to college.  He seriously considered joining the Navy until one day he received a letter from President Nixon informing him of a program that would allow him to attend college for free if he became a policeman.  This was no problem for him since his family has been in police work for 5 generations(and now 6 with his daughter).  He went on to attend and graduate from Indiana University in 1976.  He married shortly thereafter and moved to Tustin where he was hired on as a police officer.  He recently retired at the rank of Captain after 30 years of service and still does police reserve work. He has been a Rotarian for 10 years; 5 in the Tustin Club and 5 with the Yorba Linda Sunrise Club.

3 years ago he joined the Yorba Linda Veterans Memorial Committee after much cajoling by one of the founding members Sue Fenwick.  Sue had come up with the idea after talking with a Korean War Veteran after church who complained that there was no fitting war memorial in the city.

She vowed to help, but didn't have a great vision about how to go about it, but she had a great passion for the project.  Ultimately she surrounded herself with a committee that helped to raise funds, acquire a piece of land from the city and held a contest to get the best design for the memorial.  The winning design was submitted by a 16 year old and was the design with some modifications that has been created.   The project was moved along greatly  with the help of Gary and Elaine Brattain, who had lost a son Joel in Iraq.  The Brattains were also passionate about creating a fitting memorial for the counties service members and as luck would have it they also had a construction company that would do most of the building.   Interesting enough Mike was never in the military, but had a deep respect for those who served and made the ultimate sacrifice for their country.  He went from being a reluctant participant to a passionate crusader to make sure that the memorial lived up to everyone's expectations.  He became teary-eyed during the presentation when he viewed some of the construction images, particularly the eagle with talons bared that sits atop the memorial.  He went on to say that despite all the hard work and his initial reluctance to get involved, that aside from his family and a police officer memorial that he helped to create in Tustin,  this was one of his life's greatest and most cherished accomplishments.

The ground breaking ceremony was held in 2008 and the project was completed earlier this year.

It features a "Veterans Walkway", where any service member or service family member in Orange County can purchase a brick with the name of the service member, service, rank and unit. Some of the bricks are dedicated to soldiers who served in the Civil War and earlier Indian Wars.  There is also a "Gold Star Walk of Honor"  recognizing service members that have died since 9/11.

Bricks for the walkways can be purchased at the following prices.

4X8 inch brick......$200

8X8 inch brick......$375.

Residence in Yorba Linda is not a requisite to be honored at the memorial.  It is open to all Orange County Residents or Residents who have had service members in their family that have   served in any of our nations wars.  Honorees need not have perished in war.

If you get a chance visit the website for more information and views of the memorial, but if you have the time its worth the drive to see this beautiful memorial that honors our service personnel.