Jim kicked us off with an invocation, Nancy did the pledge of Allegiance, special guest Walter Woo who is a Navy /West Point Cadet and the clubs candidate for rotary scholar.

There were plenty of guests in the house!  Marlene Montoya who is a local realtor with Coldwell Banker. Carolyn, the wife of current member and district governor Hon. Greg O’Brien. The wives of two of the three new members inducted Regina Mazorow and Sarah Ott. Also Bob White who is a local resident, navy pilot and current general contractor. Also in attendance were the parents and other family members of our speakers for the day, Connor O’Neil and Monica Masuda.

Greg communicated some news from the district trail. Membership numbers are looking good across the board, there are currently 69 active members in our club, 2 honorary members, 4 apps in the pipeline. Our rotary district has 95 net new members and our zone has grown by 1000 members!

 

At that point, Greg communicated a moving story that he heard at PETS with Les Fishman regarding RYLA which is the youth leadership group that we sponsor. Tragically a young student named Paola Ruiz from East Los Angeles had lost her mother to cancer and was not going to attend the conference which was located in Arrowhead or Big Bear.  Her mother spoke with her from beyond the grave to push her to attend this conference. This had a huge impact on her life and now she attends MIT as a Junior and is going to pursue a Master’s degree in Physics.  Very impressive!

At that point it was time to introduce and induct our three new members!

 

We will start with Christine Chui, who is a transfer from San Marino club and also runs her family business and is a talent artist. Her son attends Chadwick and is part of their signing group and she serves on the board of East Los Angeles College.

 

The next new member is Henry Ott who is from Germany who is a businessman who currently lives in Rancho Palos Verdes and is very active in local environmental causes.

 

Our last new member to be inducted was Marc Mazorow who is a long time attorney/civil lawyer who lives in Palos Verdes Estates. He is a graduate of Whittier Law School (our clubs 3rd member to hail from that school).

 

John then spoke about next week’s Wednesday night live which is located at R10 Social House in Seaside Lagoon/Redondo Beach Pier. The location is on the corner in the north end of the docks and the website can be found here http://r10socialhouse.com/. The address is 179 N. Harbor Drive, Redondo Beach, CA 90277

 

Other notes of upcoming events: April 18th we will do a beatification project to help plant a garden and tickets are still available for the Beer and Wine Fest. Todays raffle winners were David Rowe and Chris.

 

 The main program focused on the youth entrepreneur program that Eileen Hupp, our rotary member who also is president of the organization presented with the 2 young speakers.

This program works with children from lower middle and high school to help them develop businesses and learn valuable skills. They can compete at the local level at Trump hosted by the Don himself and an investment committee of around 200 people. The winners then compete at a regional level and then at the national level as they can win 30,000 in scholarship money! Our own Allan Bond, Sasha Ohara and Derald Siedlers wife are also involved in this educational non-profit.

The first presenter was Connor O’Neil and his company named Press Away. His product which he development himself using natural and safe ingredients allows users to remove stairs by pressing the sponge like applicator on a stain to cure the problem. He successfully demonstrated the product in from of the class and member and customer, Inga vouched for its benefits. He presented the goals for the company and the financial goals to fuel its growth. He was asking for $200 to run his website and produce more products for sale.

The second presenter was Alison Masuda for ABC Bag company. She has a sewing background and developed a fashionable and environmentally friendly denim bag to carry books and groceries. She makes them herself and with the help of a seamstress using donated denim from an existing jeans company. She was asking for $363 dollars to produce more goods. Her bags are currently for sale for $20 each on Etsy.com and the link to view and purchase is here https://www.etsy.com/listing/208539168/eco-friendly-denim-tote-bag

Invocation: Jim Morgan

 

Pledge of Allegiance: Chris Leach

Guest from Rotary: Phil Randell – Cotswold’s, Past President

 

Speaker: Craig McDonald

Announcements:

 

Induction:  Greg O’Brien

Special Olympics – Joan Behrens: July 20, 2015 World Games

District Luncheon 4/7 – Raefer Johnson, Speaker

Rotary Foundation has two openings for the board – See Jim Schuricht.

Thank you Carolyn Lehr for hosting the fundraiser for International Services!

Reminder: May 3, 2015 is the Beer and Wine Festival in the Botanic Garden, Rolling Hills Estates.

 

Author about James Caldwell

Pulitzer Prize Nominee

Author of 19 books on history

About James Caldwell

U S Army – Greatly responsible for delaying invasion of Georgetown, which gave Washington a chance to excape.

From New Jersey

In 1780 about 30,000 from Staten Island came to Elizabethtown in New Jersey to loot and burn the town.

Mr. McDonald is Mr. Caldwell’s Great, Great, Great, Great Grandson.

1759 Graduated from Princeton

Became a Presbyterian Minister

Wife Hannah with 10 children

Mr. Caldwell acquired weapons and shoes for the military. He advertised in the newspapers for people to donate shoes for troops.

British hated James Caldwell and warned him that they were going after him. In 1780 the British burned his house and church.

Mr. Caldwell’s wife was killed by British soldiers. His daughter carried shrapnel throughout her life.

Villagers swarmed to help the cause after murder of Mrs. Caldwell. Avenge death.

6/23/1780: More British storm Connecticut to try to get to Washington’s army in Georgetown.

Mr. Caldwell and his army met the British in Springfield. The British were 5 times their numbers. They call this battle the “Forgotten Victory.” Last battle in New Jersey.

15 months later, Mr. Caldwell was shot by a guard that was bribed by the British.

Washington started a fund for his kids, who went on to be very successful.

60 years later people were still talking about Mr. Caldwell. They said he was known for his patriotism and religion. He loved the Lord and hated King George!

Please take note that:

All comments should be directed to Keith D. and/or Jim H.

 

Please introduce yourselves to our new and potential members if you have not met each of them already.