President Allen Bond rang the opening bell at 12:30.  The invocation was by Bruce Attig, the pledge leader was Ron Ellis, the patriotic song by Les Fishman, the guest introduction by new member Jen Sullivan and the welcome song by Matt Kang.   There were a number of guests, among them Ralph Black (a Sunset Rotarian), Alec Tuckman, guest of Pres Bond, Arlene Kruger, Ann Sidler (wife of Derald) and David Hadley from the California Legislature.

 

 

Next came an auction of a large bottle of really good, old wine donated by its care takers John Cameron and Gary Tossell.  Purchased in1988, it was a Pinot Noir and went – to the Sidlers – for over $300.  Then Kjel Hellberg reported on the fact that our club had 40 members in attendance at the recent District Governors Breakfast.  Shel thanked the members who were there and highlighted that our own John Schuricht provided music at the meeting.  Prez Bond then reported on several upcoming items, including the picnic, the cardboard boat race and the fund raiser on the USS IOWA coming up October 22^nd.  Next for the regular raffle for the door prize was won this day by John Cameron and Allan Colman.  Wednesday Night live will be at the Ragin’ restaurant on PC Highway near the Walgreen in Redondo Beach.  Inga Liden reminded us of the visiting Swedes Sponsored by the San Pedro Rotary on September 18^th.  Prez Bond pointed out that the fight to eradicate polio is ahead of last year, as only 22 new cases have occurred this year to date.  Guest David Hadley presented Derald Sidler with a plaque congratulating the recent retiree, Derald Sidler on his illustrious career and many contributions to local causes.

 

 

Our speaker today was Kristi Fera, the outreach and education officer of the Marine Mammal Care Center, housed in Fort McArthur.  This charitable effort was established shortly after the sale of Marineland in 1987, primarily to fill in the function that Marineland had previously provided for the rehabilitation of sick and injured marine mammals in our South Coast area. 

 

 

The workers in this group do not go onto the beaches nor do they “rescue” animals in trouble, but they are equipped to rehabilitate those that are brought to them for Care.  They are mainly elephant seals, sea lions, harbor seals and some “fur”seals.  She described the reasons for their illnesses and injuries, including Natural Events and human and she went over the way their Care Center can do what they need to do to get these creatures cured and back in the water.  What folks like us can do is learn about their needs and hopefully contribute items needed to feed them.  The primary problem seems to be that there are not enough fish to feed the baby mammals, so contributions most needed are food items that can be fed to the creatures.