We were warmly greeted by the official greeter Kjell Hellberg (more on him later) and AJ Johnson as sergeant of arms.  John Schuricht had things moving with the sounds from his 7 piece band.  A good crowd was in attendance to see what  District Governor Elsa Gillham a member of the Wilshire Club LA had to share with us.  The invocation was done by our own President Jim Hartman, the pledge by, here he is again, Kjell Hellberg, the Patriotic song by one of our favorite visitors Rick Mendoza our past District Governor from Redondo Beach.

This was followed by John Stillo with a lengthy introduction of guests, is this the program?  The guests in attendance were some that seemed more official than others, Lew Bertrand Past District Governor, sunset Club, Larry Gillham spouse of District Governor Wilshire Rotary Club of LA, the aforementioned Rick Mendoza, David Moyers Past District Governor Sunset Club and District Rotary Foundation, Colette Paul, Assistant Governor for Club Service Redondo Beach Rotary Club, Bill Paul, District 5280 webmaster and PR Director for the Redondo Beach Rotary Club, John Spalding one of our founding members, was great to see John again, and Melody St. John Chief of Staff and member of the Hollywood Club.  Some non-official guests as best I could keep track of were in attendance were Steve Holstman a new member at the San Pedro Club, Cheryl Hellberg, Carolyn O’Brien and Pat Hartman.  Suzie Zimmerman had Robert Bobick from Green Hills join us from lunch along with her daughter Emma a Senior at Mira Costa High and a visitor from Lisbon Paul Sorcie.  She had met his family in Lisbon and he was excited to be here for a few weeks.  Last but far from least was the spouse of the soon to be inducted Max Bartoli his wife Fabioli.  If I missed anyone I apologize my pen ran out of ink more than once.

Bob Johnson lead us in front of all those guest in the welcome song.  With all the goings on we were short on announcements.  Phyllis did ask for volunteers to help in painting the Wilmington YMCA, August 23rd & 24th.   The band broke into YMCA and Club members and guest alike became the Village People.    And we thought the welcome song was not too much in rhythm.  It was some good fun for everyone and enjoyed by all.  Good news is nobody got hurt.  Gregg also gave the last shout out  for the progressive dinner put on by Suzie Seamans with the appetizers, John Polen and Joey Komada with the dinner and your s truly Allen Bond with desert.  Everyone was very much looking forward to it.  I will say in advance before any upcoming comments it was really a great night all around.

There were very conspicuous letters on our tables.  As we soon came to know they spelled out VIBRANT the Rotary theme for our district this year.  Each letter has an important meaning to us as we learned a bit later.  As those that picked up the letters at their respective tables were asked to come forward and get in line to spell out VIBRANT, we also learned Rotarians do not appear to be able to spell all that well.  It was a good exercise for what was to come.

Some significant honors to some our club members quickly followed, Julia Parton did her Rotary Story, speaking of how much of an effect Rotary has had on her life and family.  Throughout her life her dad was a very involved long time member, he would have been very proud.  This was followed by a number of significant recognitions, Kjell Hellberg who has been a Rotarian the longest (39 years going on 40 in September), most recruited new members, Julia Parton, most active Rotarian last year Greg O’Brien and most contributions to RI last year Christine Barnicki.  The birthday/anniversary table was back and it appeared to be pretty full.  In the light of brevity will not name everyone at the table, but if one of you forgets the date of your wedding anniversary feel free to call me.

This was followed by the induction by the District Governor of 4 new members, Lynne Neuman, Greg Allen, Max Bartoli and Juliet Demoss.  The respective sponsors were Julia, Suzie, and the two Johns, Stillo and Schuricht.  Congratulations and welcome to the Club!  In the same vein the District Governor shared with us a new program regarding recruitment of new members.  There is a new pin with a specific colored backdrop depending on the number of members you sponsor into the club.  Our clubs first recipients were Julia Parton, Carolyn Lehr and Allen Bond.  Hopefully we will all be receiving one of those by the end of our Rotary year.   Dave Moyers did announce the first District Vocational Scholarship awarded to Rebecca Salsado from Banning High School for $4,750, congratulations Rebecca.

We did finally get to the main event, our District Governor.  She did share the Rotary International theme for this year “light up Rotary”.  Our District version is VIBANT.

V is for Visibility, in Community where ever the members are , may be as simple s always wearing the Rotary pin.

I is for Involvement and Participation, an involved member is a member for life

B is for Bigger, Better, Boulder projects, and we can see them emerging not only in our club but district wide

R is for Reaching Out to Recruit and Retain members.  Looking to recruit younger, and increase the numbers of Women in Rotary and also include spouse and family members to grow Rotary

A is for Advancement and Training of New Members, we all need to work to create new leaders

N is for Never Ending Fun & Fellowship, we’ve got this down

T is for Rotary Foundation, the goal his year is $250 per member

She finished up by asking all Rotarians to light up a candle and make our club a VIBRANT Club.  Given all we do I think we are well on our way.

We are all joining in to volunteer at the Wilmington YMCA Building.  Our team is painting the exterior in two shifts, 8-1 or Noon - 5.  The location is 1127 N. Avalon Blvd on August 23 and 24. Wear old clothes, a hat and water. Lunch will be provided.

 

Please respond to pelezzare@yahoo.com or call 310-530-7145 before August 15.

The scene was a beehive of activity when I arrived about fifteen minutes before the meeting. A lot of animated discussions were going on in the groups of 2’s, 3’s, and 4’s.  There were noticeable smiles and laughter.  What a nice prelude to our weekly Rotary meeting.

 

Jim, our president, gave the invocation, followed by Shell with the Pledge of Allegiance, Paul leading us in the patriotic song, and Mel, introducing our guests.  Visitors included Lynne Neuman, Matthew Douglas (new manager at Farmers & Merchants Bank), Max Bartoli, Greg Allan (who will be inducted next week) and Steve Day, who brought his daughter.  Ralph Black was our only visiting Rotarian.  Megan Lyne brought three cast members from the Norris Theatre production “Singing in the Rain”, and they shared with us a small bit of the play.

 

Our program was brought to us by two Korean Representatives in native dress from the Korean Spirit & Culture Promotion Project.  This organization has visited over 300 Rotary clubs to inform them of Korean history and culture.

 

We learned about some of the early wonders of Korea, including moveable metal type, which was invented in Korea 200 years before Gutenberg developed his printing press.  They also introduced us to the Korean alphabet, Hangul, the world’s most scientific writing system.  The alphabet was created by King Sejong in the 1400’s.  He analyzed the basic units of medieval Korean speech and made it into an alphabet.  The basic consonant symbols were schematic drawings of the human speech organs in the process of articulating certain sounds which then provided the building blocks of his alphabet.

 

King Sejong was a very enlightened ruler, providing 130-day maternity leave and 30-day paternity leave.  Some of the inventions during his reign were the rain gauge, clocks, and mobile rocket launchers.

 

In the last 70 years since the Korean War which devastated the country, the Korean people have completely recovered and then some.  Who has not heard of major companies such as Samsung and Hyundai?  IT is alive and helping the Koreans do wonders.  The country has become the heart of broadband, where 97.5% of homes are wired and the country is 100% wireless, including schools.  Only 20% of U.S. schools are wireless.  Korea has the highest average broadband speed with the most competitive pricing in the world.  Broadband speed is used in a myriad of ways:  bus companies use it to deliver schedules, fares can be collected with using cash, groceries are ordered in subway stations that are then delivered to the home and even utilized in opening your hotel door.

 

The top five shipbuilders are in Korea with Hyundai being the largest, even though we in the U.S. often think of them as being just an automobile manufacturer.  Today Korea has become one of the largest exporting countries in the world.

 

The last fifteen minutes of the program was devoted to our business meeting.  The following announcements were made.

 

A representative of the Volunteer Center discussed their “Foods for Kids Programs” which provides weekend food.  They now cover eight elementary schools in the Los Angeles area. Seventy percent of the schools are classified as Title 1, which means average income is below the poverty line.

 

Next Friday is the Governor’s visit, so please be present and attentive.  John Schuricht and a group will be providing musical entertainment and early bird wine will be provided, so please come at 11:30 a.m. if you can.

 

 Mary Jane, who has hosted three Rotary high schoolers will be hosting another.  Sophia Ruiz from Spain will be staying with Mary Jane for the first quarter of the Peninsula High school year.  Kudos to MJ!

 

Alan Colman discussed Moon’s special donation for a Chadwick project.

 

The memorial service for John Evans will be August 6, 2014 at Green Hills Memorial Park at 12:00 noon.  Donations can be made to the Palos Verdes Rotary Foundation in his memory.

 

The meeting was adjourned promptly at 1:30 p.m.