Community Outreach

Attending Rotarians delighted in the glorious sunshine and unseasonably warm temperatures as we gathered for what would be an opportunity to reflect, update our calendars and learn more about one of the treasured resources in our community—the Salvation Army.

We were greeted by newer members Dora de la Rosa and Marcie Guttierez, followed by President Suzy Zimmerman calling the meeting to order at 12:20 pm. Bruce Attig offered a thoughtful invocation, and Jim Morgan led us in the flag salute. Paul Rubicam bravely selected a patriotic song that honored bravery—The Star Spangled Banner—which was carried off quite well by the group.

Keith Deisenroth had the pleasure of introducing our guests, which notably included a contingent of visitors from the San Pedro Rotary Club. Rica Vola introduced several of her Club members present, and extended a warm invitation for our Club Members to attend any of their upcoming meetings of our choosing. The San Pedro Club meets on Thursday mornings at 7:15 am. Other visitors treated to our infamous Welcome Song as led by Julia Parton included Tim Foley’s wife Cindy.

President Suzy came prepared to share quite a list of acknowledgements and calendar alerts. Apparently there was no shortage of trash talk last weekend, as we learned that Paul Rubicam’s Crenshaw Pick-Up weekend was wildly successful and generated tons of litter. Rotary volunteers that day were pleasantly surprised to recover antique jewelry, mistakenly discarded winning lottery tickets and gold coins—among the usual rusty beer cans and things best left unmentioned (just kidding!).

Next, Suzy reminded us that the annual directory delivery event is coming up for those interested in volunteering, and the Sunset Rotary is organizing a Chinese New Year celebration. Also, April 12 is designated as the Rotary Day of Service, and Suzy asks us to come forward with ideas and suggestions to identify a worthy project that we can work on in conjunction with another club or public agency. Please mark your calendars for the District Conference in Indian Wells set for May 15 through 18 this year.

Next, Phyllis Pelezzare stepped forward to share a heartfelt letter of thanks from Harbor Interfaith Board of Directors for our Club’s donations of food and toy distribution over the holidays. An estimated 18,000 homeless and other underprivileged people were served. Thank you, Phyllis, for bringing such a rewarding opportunity for us to give back to the community!

 

Allan Colman brought us up to date on Foundation developments. Programs coming up include our Club’s sponsorship of a production of Shrek by the children’s group at the Norris Theater—Megan Lyne, Director of Services. Also, we will be congratulating our $3,000 scholarship recipient—a student at Marymount California University and her Marymount Vice President of Development Brenda Solomon.

 

Thanks to the efforts of Bob Gulcher a few weeks ago, our Rotary members were advised on their status of achieving the Paul Harris Fellow designation. As a result of the encouragement, we welcomed three more of our members into the honorary status: Steve Day, Hal Lazar and Alan Bond completed their contribution levels.

And we cannot forget the Three Amigos! Greg O’Brien, Greg Sparkman and Keith Deisenroth stepped forward to reveal the top choices for Rotary excursions as voted by our members. Members were most enthusiastic about a trip to Catalina with supper at the Blue Water Grill; followed by an evening of entertainment at the Hollywood Bowl; a journey on the Wine Train through the tasting rooms of Santa Barbara, and a magical evening at the Magic Castle. Can’t wait!

Our speaker program featured Tim Foley and his wife Cindy, who are amazingly dedicated training officers of the Salvation Army, Western Region. Their introductory remarks about SA officer uniforms giving them the appearance of an airline pilot or doorman added levity to what quickly became apparent—that the Salvation Army is a most impressive group of trained professionals first organized in the mid-1800’s to assist in time of need.

Tim Foley has been in service since 1978 and has his Master’s Degree in Theology, while currently pursuing a doctorate degree. He was first exposed to the SA in his early days as a trained actor! Tim and Cindy explained that the Salvation Army can be counted on to respond to disasters throughout the world, and they shared a riveting story about the 2004 tsunami in southern India—where today you can find a monument to the heroic joint efforts of Rotary and Salvation Army.

The Salvation Army administers to the dying, and the organization has helped in missing persons searches—for a total of approximately 209,000 searches. The SA provides substance abuse recovery programs (we learned where the expression “on the wagon” came from) and our donations of cash and furniture/clothing go to support the Adult Rehab Center in Long Beach.

All these contributions are made by the thousands of dedicated individuals that make up the Salvation Army in devoted service to God.

 

The meeting was adjourned at 1:30 pm.