You’re always welcome at Norris Pavilion!
Like a ship without a port, our rotary crew members found sanctuary in the safe harbor of Norris Pavilion for our Friday meeting. There must have been a 50 year storm brewing at the Country Club causing us to tack to the welcoming arms of Richard Moe and our Norris hosts. We thank them for their hospitality!
The change of venue was refreshing. The experience was enhanced by the cheerful greeting of Jack Goldberg. By the way, no worry of suffering through sea rations, everyone ate like captains. Speaking of captains, ours was AWOL. Thankfully, our incoming captain Lynne Neuman dutifully assumed command and expertly guided us through the rough waters.
The meeting was kicked off by Chris Leach with an inspirational invocation focusing on Rotary’s four-way test. Henry Lee focused us on our patriotic duty with the Pledge of Allegiance. And I tried to bring it home with a rendition of God Bless America.
With the notable exception of Rick Moe , we were light on visitors but Julia Parton made everyone feel right at home. That is – until we got to the welcome song. Fortunately Mark Mazorow did all he could to help keep us off the rocks!
There were numerous announcements, but the highlights are as follows:
- Buy your District Raffle tickets before the 1st week of October.
- Try to attend the next District breakfast 10/11/16. Five time Olympic medalist Janet Evans will be speaking. Cost is $35.
- PV Peninsula Village has a lecture on “What is the Upside of Aging” 10/13/16.
- The Candidates Forum (jointly with PV Chamber) is 10/8/16. Registration is at 11:30am with the meeting beginning at 11:45.
- Harry Kitter proudly announced that we are to nearly $40k in sponsorships for the Educator of the year award. Excellent job “Past Captain Kitter”!
In polio news, Lynne informed us that sadly there were three new polio cases in Nigeria and one in Pakistan. We’re making progress but we are still “this” close!
Before a mutiny could break out, Captain Lynn wisely diverted everyone’s attention to the revered raffle. To add to the excitement three winners were picked – John Cameron; Greg O’Brien & Jackie Ignon.
Finally, we made it to the afternoon’s highlight – CRAFT TALKS!
Lynn Kim kicked things off with some very personal insights into her life.
Lynn was raised by a single mother with her formative years (age 4 onward) in Lunada Bay. In looking back at her own resolve she attributes it primarily to her mom’s “Grit and perseverance, which helped Lynn learn to stay so focused”. As a result, Lynn has been an overachiever in the Real Estate world at Keller Williams. That focused drive didn’t just materialize in her career, Lynn was a competitive Ice Skater and plans to inspire her 3 year old daughter to follow in her skates. In addition to a young daughter Lynn also has a son who just entered kindergarten. Lynn had not lived in PV since College so one of her primary goals was to return with her family back to Lunada Bay, which she achieved this year! In a period of introspection, Lynn told us of a hair-raising episode when she was four years old and a woman briefly kidnapped her away from her mom in their family car for five minutes before dumping her off and stealing the car. Her mom’s determination, struggling to get back into the vehicle and then chasing the assailant down the road, left an indelible impression.
Our second talk came from Dr. Sahar Lashin.
Dr. Lashin was born and raised in Egypt. Her early education was incredibly rigid as one might expect when being instructed by nuns. At the age of 16 Dr. Lashin began as a first year Medical Student. She had the “Desire to effectively change lives”. She worked incredibly hard to earn her medical degree and became a faculty member at Cairo University. After her Residency, Sahar Joined Rotaract in Egypt. This helped her to gain access to Rotary VIP’s allowing her to bypass much of the typical Bureaucracy so that she could better give aid to those in need. Dr Lashin received her Master’s degree and PHD before coming to the United States. She is now a Primary Care Physician specializing in internal Medicine with an interest in gastrointestinal cures.
I am always amazed and humbled by talents of our club members!