Today’s cruise commenced with captain Dick Daybell giving a shout out to several members who we’ve missed.
Opening traditions- Judy Atwell led us in the pledge and the captain welcomed aboard several passengers, including Laura Macias of Joya Scholars, one of today’s speakers. Joe Lins welcomed his daughter and Rypen member Stephanie Goedl, and Raco welcomed Angelica Navarro and Christin Angel of CSUF Rotaract. Drew Napolin welcomed his guest Nick Derr, a neighbor and Zoot Velasco welcomed artists of from Fullerton’s sister city from Korea. One is being featured as a solo artist at his 7:30PM opening tomorrow at the Muckenthaler. Allan Lean performed thoughtful Invocation.
Recognition duties were ably performed by Kim Barlow after a slew of no-shows by the first several members she called out. Then she started hitting pay dirt when Bill Schenk stood up and waved to fellow passengers in confirmation of his presence. He proudly mentioned that for one month his wife will be older than him, so you mathematicians and fact- checkers could probably determine something that is not usually divulged if you have some extra time on your hands.
With some skepticism of the last weeks’ recommendation to discontinue the singing during our meetings, we did cut it back to just one number today, the famous “Smile I did a quick survey of the guests at my table about singing and they thought it was fun. ”. Last week’s suggestions actually got me to wondering if it will truly benefit our future club members to know which meetings that “Smile” was sung at. Logically I know it isn’t that important, but out of tradition and some caution, I did mention it in today’s Rotagram for your nostalgia buffs. If you’d like to see us Rotascribes immediately cease repeatedly mentioning that we sang “Smile”, please tell us.. but we don’t have to do everything the Millenials want, do we?
Kim fined Don Bankhead, Wolf Knabe and Chris Meyer of the city of Fullerton not only for her help, but for the fact that her help was needed. Kim fined Tony Fabelo and Carol Futterer and she singled out Dan Kiernan not only for wearing shorts, but also for having better legs than her! John Phelps and Mike Oates were given well-deserved props for their support of the Women’s Transitional Living Center (WTLC). Raco Raco was singled out because Kim recently learned his real first name and asked why he doesn’t use it. I would divulge the name and his reason right here and now, but some things need to be just for those who attended the meeting in person…. Besides, I’m not sure how to spell it correctly! Jim Williams was singled out for not remembering his daughter-in-law’s birthday, but to save him embarrassment, that won’t be mentioned here. Bob Clark was recognized for his wine generosity and Dick Daybell was fined a hefty $1.00 for his expedient habit of calling for a vote without first asking for a motion. After much effort, Kim was able to extract from Zoot that he’ll be the Master of Ceremonies at this weekend’s 4oth Anniversary celebration for WTLC, a good excuse to mention the event during the meeting as well as right here! Kim also recognized Allyn Lean for Pastor Greg Hickman’s brilliance in getting him to attend a meeting by inviting him to do the Invocation! I think our good pastor is on to something! Rick Crane was justly recognized for his tireless efforts organizing our sports-related events, like fellowship baseball games and this year’s twice rescheduled then rain-cancelled all-city track meet.
Announcements
Bill Schenk announced that starting June 1, we will be going back to the Elk’s Lodge, (where Harbor Blvd and Brea Blvd collide) our old stomping grounds which we vacated prior to the original building being torn down and replaced a few years ago.
Zoot proudly announced that our CSUF Rotaract team successfully defended last year’s title at the Epic competition. Second place was USC and third place was UCLA. Congrats!
Miko Krisvoy invited us to assist with the upcoming Top 100 banquets at the Fullerton Community Center. Spouses are also welcome to be a part of these two fun evenings! Fullerton High School students will be honored Thursday, April 21 and Sunny Hills students will be honored Tuesday, April 26. Sign up next week or contact Miko to join the fun!
Jim Blake will be at Park Vista for a couple of weeks recovering from a recent illness. We wish you a good recovery, Jim! Thanks to Francis Hunter for her representing our club by giving “get well” cards to members.
Our club is supporting a hands on project on Saturday April 30 at 8AM when we join the Love Fullerton event. We will be painting the fellowship hall at Christian Life Center, a room made available to the community. Tall ladders are needed! Please sign up and mark your calendars to help our club improve our city! We’d like to see all hands on deck!
Laura Macias, executive director of Joya Scholars a non-profit organization that offers tutoring and mentoring and other preparatory services for Jr. High and High School students and their parents in the Fullerton low-income Garnet Neighborhood where until 2014, no college graduates had been produced.
Opportunity Drawing- Kim Barlow’s ticket was drawn and she did us the favor of eliminating the last non-essential chip from the Captain’s ever-changing bag. Unless a new rule is invoked, it appears that whoever’s ticket is drawn, will have a very good chance of winning! Be there to purchase tickets and see who wins and try to be the winner’s new best friend!
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Fellowship Lunch last week.
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PROGRAM
Dick Mathewson has been spearheading our “Reading by Nine” project for 5 years, where for 20 weeks, some club members, spouses and others mentor students who can benefit from extra reading practice. Tuesdays from 3-4PM become an anticipated time for both students and mentors to interact and learn patience and give and receive encouragement. This really is quality time and attention that many of the students so desperately need and frequently don’t receive at home. No doubt the kids feel that someone cares about them and wants them to succeed, an encouragement that can make a big difference in their attitudes! This project presents two books a year to each participating student in grades 4-6 at Raymond School. Current mentors were presented special pens as a thank you and many told stories of how meaningful the experience was to them personally. Bob Muschek commented on the difference between boys and girls’ attention spans at this age. Raymond School Principal Yolanda McComb shared that our Reading by Nine program is an important part of the remarkable improvement of the 4th graders, evidenced by a congratulatory call she received from the district superintendent.
Mention was made that some kids “hide out”, meaning they try to avoid letting anyone know about their embarrassment about not being able to read effectively. Dick Mathewson encouraged us to peruse the latest April 2016 Rotarian Magazine article “Hiding Out” about a 50 year old man who received help and went on to become Rotary Club president and then District Governor!
Yolanda told us that a “Title 1” school receives federal funds to enable the offering of free or reduced cost breakfasts and after school programs until 6PM. Mention was made of an increasingly popular program called “Dual Immersion”, where starting at Kindergarten level, 90% of instruction is given in Spanish and each year, a larger percentage of English in introduced. Grades 4-8 is 50-50 English and Spanish, so students learn to be bilingual! There is a big waiting list to get in this program.
Rotarians and wives can make a big difference to our community by helping to increase literacy in our community and are encouraged to seriously consider contacting Dick Mathewson to help with this important project!
The famous Rotary Bell was loudly rung to end the meeting after the recitation of the Four Way Test just as we pulled into the dock!
| 4/13 |
Understanding Islamic America Hafez M. Hafez and Alaa Milbes |
| 4/21 |
Top 100 - SHHS @ Community Center |
| 4/26 |
Top 100 - FUHS @ Community Center |
| 2/27 |
Tarah's Chance Using Horses to Help Children with Special Needs or Autism Tim Howell |
