Stories

Dave told us about the work CCSD along with the Cambria Fire Safe Focus Group are doing to

make sure we are as safe as can be in the event of a fire. Among the projects are:

• Working on a new route to the south

• Evacuation pamphlet for the visitors

• Evacuation planning for the disabled with CERT

• New evacuation plan for Cambria

CCSD has also submitted an application for an emergency alert system and have contracted with Genasys to estab- lish sage routes out of town. You can check out Genasys at

https://protect.genasys.com/zones/US-CA-XSL-CMB-E024?searchTerm=Cambria%2C+California%

2C+United+States&coords=35.564143%2C-121.081106&z=15.459643509201918&latlon=35.54693823400852%2C-

121.08280781462

You can also view Dave’s presentation at: https://drive.google.com/file/

d/1d7wxscXW4qeXE63obIVgBPtLlnm34sgb/view?ts=65591ad2

Club Service Chair, Karen Pelle told us that, so far this year, Club Service worked

on the July 4th  Picnic in the Park, Pinedorado Parade and the District Gover-nor’s Reception. On Dec. 4th,    Hospitality Night, we will be in front of Mi-mosas with Santa from 3-7 and we will be offering framed photos of children with Santa. And, on December 8th, we will be gathering for our annual Holiday Party. It is always a fun time. Tickets are $55 and you have your choice of Prime Rib,

Salmon  Mediterranean, Chicken or Eggplant Parmesan. Make your reserva-tions today!!

Community Service Chair, Sandy Cha, explained that the Community Service Committee meets via Zoom at 11 a.m. on the first Thursday of the month. Meetings typically last less than an hour and we welcome anyone interested to join us. Committee members work

together to choose projects that the community needs, the community wants, the commu-

nity supports and the club supports.

So far this year, we have donated to: American Legion Fourth of July; Beautify Cambria trash can maintenance, Cambria Grammar School PTA Taco Night, Cambria Chorale program support, Cambria Historical Society School House Project, CUHS Bronco Boosters (banner), Court Appointed Special Advocates (CASA), Estero Bay Kindness

Coalition’s Got Your Back program, Honor Flights and Vineyard Church Feed the Needy program. 

Luanne circulated a booklet about the Santa Lucia Middle School field trip to the Catalina

Island Marine Institute. 7th Grade Science teacher, Kasie Hoss, took 30 7th graders from her class to Catalina in September for a 3 day, 2 night outdoor science school. Our Youth

Services Committee approved a donation to help fund the trip and a number of club members made individual donations. The trip was a huge success judging by the letters the students wrote and compiled into a booklet about their trip. It is attached to the email. Just one

more way our club is making a difference for students in our community.

Ed Arrigoni told us that Julian Mercado is a Coast Union graduate who took filmmaking classes while at Coast which led him to go on to film school. He is now back in Cambria working on his own film and has Coast students helping and learning. Ed then turned the mic over to Julian Mercado who introduced Steve Brody. 

Hidden Creek was filmed entirely in Cambria on Gloria Fiscalini’s ranch. It is about an old widowed rancher who fears he might be losing his mind and suspects his son and daughter of furthering his dementia so they can sell the ranch out from under him. The film presents a contemporary reinter-pretation of the traditional rancher’s story. A tale that addresses significant themes such as Alzhei-mer’s Disease, generational land preservation, the grief associated with losing a loved one, and their impact on small family dynamics. 

The film will be premiered on January 13, 2024 at the Hearst Theatre at the Castle. Julian explained that they have secured funding for production but are still in need of funds for promoting the movie. It is their hope that they will be able to show the movie at various film festivals in the coming months. For more information about the movie, the Gala Premier or to donate, go to HIDDENCREEKMOVIE.com. 

Chuck told us that The Rotary Foundation (TRF) was built from the bottom up. It started as one club in Chicago and has grown to be a huge international organization that fights poverty, disease, hunger, thirst, illiteracy and promotes peace. 

Rotary International: RI is the administrative arm of Rotary. The dues we pay to Rotary International (RI) goes for administrative costs, not charitable giv-ing. 

TRF is the charity arm of Rotary International. It’s a non-profit supported by contributions from Rotary members and other donors who share our vision of doing good in the world. The Foundation’s mission is to help Rotary members advance world understanding, goodwill and peace through local, national and international humanitarian and educational programs. 

You can specify where you would like your donation to go. If you write TRF in the memo section of your check, it will go to charita-ble giving and help fund the 7 Avenues of Focus: Peacebuilding, Disease Prevention, Water & Sanitation, Maternal & Child Care, Basic Education and Literacy, Community Economic Develop-ment, Environment and Disaster Relief. You can indicate The An-nual Fund/Share so that a portion of the funds are returned to the club in the way of District Designated Funds. Donation to the Polio Fund go directly to Rotary’s efforts to eradicate polio. By noting Endowment, your donation is invested to support Rotary's causes today while generating funds that will further the work of future Rotarians committed to Doing Good in the World. 

Laudon told us that she really did not know much a out Rotary when Dr. Joe brought her to her first meeting. She was amazed at how passionate members were when discussing Polio. Two of her cousins, brother and sister, contracted Polio. The sister still walks with a cane and the brother was confined to a wheelchair. So she and her family have been touched by Polio leading her to want to do something to help eradi-cate the disease. 

Julie explained that she contracted Polio at 8 months old and her dad contracted it 10 days later at the age of 30. Despite having Polio herself, she really didn’t feel driven to get involved in the End Polio campaign until her dad’s condition deteriorated in 2009. There was nothing she could do for him but decided she would get involved in the End Polio movement in his honor. People often think Polio is not a big deal. So what if someone walk with a limp. But, Polio can do so much more destruction. Julie showed us photos of some victims in the poorest communities around the world. She explained that there is no cure, only prevention. 

Jane told us about “NID’s”, National Immunization Days. 3 or 4 times a year, Rotary International teams up with the World Health Organization and local Rotary Clubs to vaccinate every child in countries where Polio is endem-ic. Bruce and Jane originally went to India and Nigeria on NID’s. The local Rotary Clubs were the key because they knew where the children, who had not been vaccinated yet, were located. People with Polio in these re-mote areas can’t work and their families often are embarrassed and shun them. One Polio victim Bruce and Jane met decided to build a bicycle that could be ridden using your hands rather than your feet. This invention has helped many victims who previously could not get around at all except by crawling. 

Chuck announced that in 1988, there were 350,000 cases of Polio in the world. Today there are 7 cases in just two countries: Pakistan and Afghanistan. The Rotary Foundation has created a global infrastructure to reach the most remote areas so children in those areas could be vaccinated. To date, 3 billion children have been vaccinated and an estimated 20 mil-lion did not contract Polio because of this effort. Even after Polio is eradicated, the infrastructure will remain and will likely help to combat other diseases. 

A copy of the slide show that was shown during the meeting will be attached to the email with this newsletter. Laudon will be reporting on the very successful 5K Walk/Run for Polio at Friday’s meeting. 

SPONSORSHIPS: PE Miguel announced that we are now up to $21,500 in sponsorships! Miguel thanked Patty for everything she did to make this happen. Sponsors have agreed to sponsor our club for the entire 2023-24 Rotary year and will be acknowledged throughout the year on social media and on event flyers and posts. See current list of sponsors on page 5. (List to be updated as new sponsors sign up). 

GIFTING AND GIVING ONLINE AUCTION: Lorienne told us that we have a total of 60 baskets so far and Karen Pelle has volunteered to make baskets for anyone who does not have the time or will to make their own. Luanne told us that 125 shops in town have been visited and given a packet tell-ing them what Rotary does and asking them to donate to our auction. Of those 125 businesses, only 20 have to be revisited. If you can take the time to visit 5 of these businesses, see Luanne. And remember, proceeds from this auction go to Avenues of Service. 

WINE: Mr. Wine himself, Dennis Rightmer, along with fellow wine enthusiast, Miguel Hernandez, have been visiting wineries to get donations to be used in online auction baskets, the Wine Pull during Viva and the live auc-tion. Please check your wine cellar/supply to see if you have any bottles, worth $25 or more, that you could do-nate. In the white wine category, we especially need Chardonnay, Viognier, Albariño, Chenin Blanc, Sauvignon Blanc, Etc . As for reds, we especially need Pinot Noir, Syrah, Cabernet, red blends, Merlot, Grenache etc. Wines can be brought to a Friday meeting or dropped off at Linda Sherman’s. 

HOLIDAY WREATH AND GREENERY SALE: Sue told us that, despite the fact that is is not even Halloween yet, we need to get our order for holiday wreaths and greenery by November 7th because they do not begin to harvest the greenery un-til they receive our order. We saw a video that shows how the company harvests and create the wreaths. You can view it at https://vimeo.com/281337775/f6948038ef. Please consider purchasing a wreath or other green-ery either for yourself or family and friends at https://sherwoodfundraiser.com/CambriaRotary2023 

TASTE OF CAMBRIA: Mark your calendar for Tuesday, November 7th for this fun new event that will benefit lo-cal youth programs and refurbishment of the bandstand. Tickets are available at Taste of Cambria or from Bob Kasper. 

Miguel finished by telling us about his experience at President Elect Training where he learned a lot about what being President is all about. He came back with some great ideas and looks forward to his 2023-24 Rotary Year! 

A copy of the slide show that was shown during the meeting will be attached to the email with this newsletter. 

Peace Committee Chair, Paula Porter told us that this year’s plans are about Pickets, Poems and Rocks! 

The Cambria Grammar School Peace Leader Program was started in 1998 by a team of teachers and parents as part of a county-wide consortium. The program was originally called "Paxis" which means Peace. The Peace Leader Program is based on the belief that academic achievement and school safety will improve with a positive common language that encourages respect and personal responsibility. Teachers Mrs. Kathy Quigley and Ms. April Benham were fired up and ready to go. Their enthusiasm was contagious and soon the Keys to Peace and the Peace Promise became a part of every student's vocabulary. 

Peace Council Representatives are selected from each class to participate in Council meetings. These 1st-5th grade leaders plan school-wide activities, create project samples. and promote events with posters and bulletin boards. Activities spread messages of empathy, kindness, gratitude, family, friendship, and Peace. 

5th Grade Peace Leaders, Annabelle, Kathy and Miguel from Ms. McCarthy’s class and Kat, Sandy & Chase from Mr. Sassaman’s class recited the Peace Promise then each student told us about various projects and activities the Peace Council has planned for this year that follow the Keys to Peace: Honor good acts, Offer help, Stop harm and blame, Make amends, Find trusted guides and Strive to improve. 

We were then treated to a video of 2023-24 RI President Gordon R. McInally’s speech about peace at the recent RI Convention. You can see the speech at https://mail.google.com/mail/u/0/#inbox/FMfcgzGtxKLnmknvzgxMcSGwqCwsNrpm?projector=1 

Peace Hand 

ADG Michelle Lilley told us that it was fitting that, after visiting all the clubs in the county, they ended up her for the last meeting because “you guys are the best and so much fun”. But don’t tell Cayucos she said that. 

Michelle read Marta’s bio: Marta joined Lancaster Sunrise Rotary in 2005 serving two terms as Club president, receiving co-President of the year for District 5260 during her first term. She has served five years as Assistant District Governor, was a multi-year District Trainer and Group Study Ex-change (GSE) member, staff member and Director. In 2015 Marta moved to Ventura County and joined the Oxnard Rotary Club, in District 5240. Pri-or to being chosen as District Governor Designate in 2021, she served the District as the PRLS (Practical Rotary Leadership Seminars) Director for two years and as District Trainer for three years. Marta is a Multiple Paul Harris Fellow, Paul Harris Society Member, Major Donor and achieved PRLS and Master PRLS Graduate in 2006. Marta is Co-Founder and CEO of Smart Coast California and has had a long and successful career in housing and community development in California and Nevada. She accepted this position in February 2023, following eight years as the Government Affairs Director for Ventura County Coastal Association of REALTORS®. Smart Coast California supports property rights in coastal communities and in 2022 she received the California Association of REALTORS President's Award for leadership for this work. She’s earned the National Association of REALTORS’ Realtor Association Certified Executive (RCE) designation, exemplifying a goal-oriented association executive with drive, experience, and commitment to professional growth. She was one of only 510 association executives nationwide and just 38 in California who held the designation when she received it. Marta resides in Ventura, California with her husband Forrest, and they have a daughter, MacKenzie living in Col-orado. 

As Dr. Kate has told us before, “It is better to be wrong in the ER than to be right somewhere else. Kate covered a 10 signs and symptoms that de-mand immediate action: 

Headaches: a severe headache could indicate a brain bleed. 

Dental Hygiene: a cracked or broken tooth can lead to an infection which can increase your risk of a heart/cardiovascular issue. 

Shortness of Breath: a sudden shortness of breath could indicate a clot in the lung or a heart attack. 

Blood Pressure: normal is 120/70. It is important to know your numbers. If your top number goes over 180 or your bottom number goes over 100, go to the ER immediately. You could be at risk for a stroke or heart attack and your organs can begin to shut down. 

Chest Pressure/Pain/Nausea: indicates a heart attack. 50% of people experiencing these symp-toms do not make it to the ER because they wait too long. 

Piercing Stomach Pain: could be an ulcer and, if left untreated, it could perforate your stomach. 

Injury: if you cannot put weight on the area, if it bruises and/or swells immediately, it is likely a fracture. 

Bleeding: Sudden bleeding from rectum, vagina or bladder could indicate a cancer risk. 

Weight loss: Unplanned, unexpected weight loss could indicate a cancer risk. 

Swelling and redness in one extremity only: an ultra-sound is needed to determine if you have a blood clot. 

Thank you Kate for making sure we know when to go to the ER. Trust me folks, Kate knows what she is talking about!! 

Jonathan Mumper, Rotary Interact Advisor told us that his goal for this year is to encourage students to go out and find a way to make an impact. 

The 2023-24 Interact Club at Coast Union High School will be led by Presi-dent Adair Ponce who addressed our club at Friday’s meeting. Adair told us that last year’s club members did numerous beach cleanups, helped at Pinedorado, participated in Squibb Day, the Camp Ocean Pines Harvest Festival, Trunk or Treat, Oktoberfest, Art & Wine, the Easter Egg Hunt and more. Money raised during the year is donated to causes selected by the club members. Previous recipi-ents include Jack’s Helping Hands, Camp Reach for the Stars, LA Children’s Hospital and SLO Food Bank to name a few. Their goal this year is to expand the club by letting students and teachers know what Rotary and Interact are, expand the board and spend wisely and effectively. Joining Adair on the board are Olivia Klemstein, VP; Ashley Becerril and Dane Volz, co-secretaries; Ashley Klemstein and Tristen Lehrmann, co-treasurers; and, Sean Schalk, who will serve as social media director along with Estrella Merced. 

After the meeting, the Interact students joined club member to fill 150 bags of hygiene products for the homeless in our community. 

This promises to be a very productive year for the CUHS Interact Club. 

Coastal Pines Medical Group is a collaborative effort between two fami-ly practice physicians who share a deep commitment to caring for their patients as they do their own families. In order to provide excellent standards of care, CPMG has adopted a membership based practice model. Sometimes called "concierge medicine", this model allows the physician to spend high quality time with patients. This model results in a deeper and more rounded relationship between physician and pa-tient, as well as being more cost effective and providing higher quality care. Dr. Dave Griffith was born and raised in Tucson, Arizona but in a family with deep roots in California. Dr Dave attended Wesleyan University in Connecticut earning a BA in physics and obtained an ED.M. from Harvard University. In a desire to understand how the human body works, he went to UCSF medical school in his early 30s. Dave chose to specialize in Emergency Medicine and did his residency at UC Davis Medical Center in Sacramento. Dr. Dave joined the ER group at French and Arroyo Grande Hospitals in 2010 and branched out into a solo practice of elderly homebound patients in 2018. He plans to continue to care for the patient's in his home visit practice several days a week while staffing the clinic at Coastal Pines Medical Group on the other days. He continues to find his home in medicine as a place he can pursue lifelong learning and growth and finds his life enriched beyond measure by the relationships he has developed practicing primary care since leaving the emergency room. 

Dr. Brooke LaDuca joined CPMG in July, 2023. She comes to us from more than 15 years in academia, teaching new physicians at the Long Beach Memorial Family Medicine Residency program. She is fantastically overquali-fied to run our little clinic but has amazing ideas and plans. She is brilliant, experienced, wise and compassionate. She is committed to her future role as the “community doctor” and sees each patient as a complete individual. She believes in wellness and health, not just treating disease. She is trained in “Lifestyle Medicine”, amongst nu-merous other accomplishments. 

Dr. Kat Estopinal grew up in Houston, Texas. She attended Georgetown University in Washington, DC where she received her BS in Biology of Global Health. After graduation, she completed two years of service work, first with the Jesuit Volunteer Corps in Sacramento, CA then with AmeriCorps in Austin, TX. While in medical school at Texas A&M College of Medicine in Temple, TX, she joined the US Army via the Health Professions Scholarship Program. During her residency at Carl R. Darnall Army Medical Center in Fort Hood, TX, she built a foundation of full-scope Family Medicine which she continued at her next duty assignment at Brian D. Allgood Medical Center in Camp Humphreys, South Korea. Dr. Estopinal utilizes evidence-based medicine to provide preventative and wellness medical care for all ages from newborn to geriatric patients. The Jesuits’ motto cura personalis (caring for the whole person) particularly resonates with Dr. Estopinal. As a Family Medicine doctor, she values taking care of the whole family, as well. She has significant experience with women’s health, sexual assault medical care, and transgender medicine. 

Kathe Tanner has been writing about the people and places of SLO County’s North Coast since 1981, first as a columnist and then also as a reporter. Her career has included stints as a bakery owner, public relations director, radio host, trail guide and jewelry designer. She has been a resident of Cambria for more than four dec-ades, and if it’s happening in town, Kathe knows about it. Cambria has had a local paper for over 150 years. The Cambrian was launched by Marcus Waltz in 1931. She began writing for the Cambrian and Tribune in 1981. When she joined the paper as a part-time reporter (after spending a decade as a columnist), the staff included an editor, news editor, sports reporter, full-time photographer, four staff writers, various interns and “stringers,” and advertising and circulation staffs. Now it’s just me, covering from Big Sur to Cayucos, and sometimes farther down the county’s North Coast. 

Many of the priceless documents from the Cambria are now housed at the Cambria Historical Society’s Moure Resource Center, because when the Cambrian’s office closed down in 2018. Kathe stuck to her guns and insisted that the archival newspapers belonged to the community and needed to stay in town. 

Wade Nomura is involved both local and international humanitarian causes, having worked on more than 200 charitable projects benefiting over 2 million people, including an NID to India, where he has a special passion, having had polio as a child.

Wade is an organizer for Cadres of technical advisors globally and serves on the Long-Term planning committee for the Rotary Foundation program.

Wade is the Water, Sanitation and Hygiene Rotary Action Group’s

(WASHRAG) Operations Chair and Technical Officer, and Projects Support Committee Chair for HANWASH (Haiti),

Wade has received Rotary International’s highest individual award, the

Service Above Self award and Rotary Foundation’s Citation for Meritorious Service and their highest individual award, the Distinguished Service award.

Wade is a Charter member of the Rotary Club of Carpinteria Morning, and District Governor in 2011-2012. He is also the Multidistrict PETS Alliance Executive Director, a Rotary Rose Parade Float Director and past 2 times chair, Leadership Training Director, and Rotary International Presidents Representative (12 times).

Wade is the former Mayor and spent 28 years volunteering for the City of Carpinteria, California. In addition to

many other local projects, he was the General Coordinator of Tomol Interpretive Play Area, a $1m partnership be- tween his Rotary Club, the community, local, state, and federal governments. In 2011 he was selected as

Carpinterian of the Year.

A regular keynote and workshop presenter, Wade focuses on topics including building better sustainable projects, leadership, performance improvement, Civil Rights and more. He produces and hosts the TV show Rotary, Serving Our Community (www.WeAreRotary.TV)

Wade was also a multiple BMX National Champion, Hall of Famer and designer of the Nomura Racing bike, an icon

among the avid BMX collectors.

Recently Wade coauthored his biography Creating Destiny, with his wife Debbie Nomura, who is also a Rotarian.

Bob introduced his wife, Maureen, mother-in-law Maryann (who has lived in Cambria longer than Bob & Maureen) and his sons Aidan and Ryan. He told us that he has been in the club for 16 years. He began with the club when Aidan was 3 and Ryan was 2. Was asked to be president early on but said he would not until the boys were in college and the International Convention was in New Zealand. He accepted now that the boys are in college and the convention was in Melbourne. 

Bob talked about his experience at President Elect Training (PETS) where they shared ideas about how to choose a board, ways to make the club more fun and interesting, etc. He came back with some great ideas. 

At the International Convention he heard from some amazing speakers such as RI President, Jennifer Jones and a 10 year old girl from Africa who spoke about peace. Incoming RI President, Gor-don McNally will be emphasizing Mental Health during his year. 

Plans for his Presidential year: There will be an emphasis on FUN. He is planning incorporating a $1 joke challenge, Rotary Fun Facts, a Random Trivia Contest and more ideas for our meetings. He is proposing that a new member and an experienced member get together for coffee or lunch, get to know each other and make a 3 minute presentation at a meeting about what they learned about each other. 

Upcoming Speakers include Wade Nomura (Mr. Rotary), Bruce Gibson, Kathe Tanner, George Daou and a number of other interesting speakers. 

5th Friday meetings will be held off-site starting with a wagon ride and BBQ at Covell Ranch. Possibly followed by locations such as Hearst, the Lighthouse, Moonstone Cellars. 

DG Marta Golding Brown will be visiting our club on September 8th and there will be a reception for her on the evening of September 7th. 

This promises to be a fun year full of surprises. 

Donna told us about how she and Ann Glaser came up with the idea to create a collection of poems and haikus about Cambria with royalties from the sale of Cambria Cadence support local students’ dreams of high-er education, through the scholarship program of The University Women of Cambria. 

The book is dedicated to Ann Glaser who, sadly, passed away in February, prior to the publication of the book. Ann was “a remarkable woman who lived her life with optimism and wonderment, believing in the possible, but attending to the practical. Ann was guided by her dedication to family, friends, faith and community, loved by all who knew her”. 

Cambria Cadence features the artwork of Art Van Rhyn, a Cambria legend, as well as a number of his haikus, a couple of which he read to us during the meeting. Donna and Julian read poems they wrote about the Ghost of the Bluebird Inn and Mr. Beal’s Dream House. Rick Auricchio contributed a poem about the “Lockdown in Cambria”, a Covid Sign Limerick and “Hot Sun Kisses Vines”. Otis’s poems “Cambria’s Ode to Age” and “Somewhere” are also included in the book which is available for purchase on Amazon. Remember, proceeds from the sale of the book will go towards scholarships for local students. 

Bob told us that he was asked to speak with us today because many people are wondering how our very rainy winter might affect this year’s fire season. We live in a Mediterranean climate where we go for long periods of time without moisture which increases our fire risk. Many of our area native and invasive plants, shrubs & trees are used to going long periods without pre-cipitation. Many contain resins, sap and other materials that help them survive long periods without rain, however this also adds to how intensely they burn. 

What does 2023 look like? It is all about four variables: 

 Fuel (we have plenty of that, and much of it is old) 

 Weather (hot, dry weather, hi temps, low humidity, dry winds) 

 Topography (we can’t change that, we live in an area that is ripe to burn) 

 Fire starts ( one of the few things we can try to reduce..) 

Typically, Cambria & the North Coast are not in prime wildfire season until late August through December. That doesn’t mean we cannot experience a wildfire. 

A slide show attached to this newsletter gives us some excellent information on how to protect our homes and what to do IF we are faced with a wildfire. We are so grateful to Bob for brining his 35 years of expertise to our club. 

Bob told us that he was asked to speak with us today because many people are wondering how our very rainy winter might affect this year’s fire season. We live in a Mediterranean climate where we go for long periods of time without moisture which increases our fire risk. Many of our area native and invasive plants, shrubs & trees are used to going long periods without pre-cipitation. Many contain resins, sap and other materials that help them survive long periods without rain, however this also adds to how intensely they burn. 

What does 2023 look like? It is all about four variables: 

 Fuel (we have plenty of that, and much of it is old) 

 Weather (hot, dry weather, hi temps, low humidity, dry winds) 

 Topography (we can’t change that, we live in an area that is ripe to burn) 

 Fire starts ( one of the few things we can try to reduce..) 

Typically, Cambria & the North Coast are not in prime wildfire season until late August through December. That doesn’t mean we cannot experience a wildfire. 

A slide show attached to this newsletter gives us some excellent information on how to protect our homes and what to do IF we are faced with a wildfire. We are so grateful to Bob for brining his 35 years of expertise to our club. 

Mark Ober told us that this year 50 students submitted essays. A committee of Donna & Julian Crocker, Lo-rienne, Nancy McKarney, Cynthia Woodruff-Neer and Mark took on the task of reading all the essays and deter-mining the winners.. 

At the 7th grade level, Jaqui Cruz submitted the winning essay explaining how the 4-way test would have helped her in dealing with an “irritating younger brother. Jazlyn Bautista’s second place essay explained how the test would have helped her make better decisions and be more respectful. Third place winner, Arabella Feldman-Milliken essay earned third place. She explained how the 4-way test would help her to be more compassionate. 

For the first time, 11th graders were asked to submit essays. Condee Seed turned in the first-place essay conclud-ing that the 4-way test is a helpful resource in being a thoughtful friend and family member. Second place win-ner, Adair Ponce wrote about how the 4-way test helped him to prevent escalation of an argument. Two essays tied for third place. Zahaira Melendez explained how being able to ask the four questions in the test helped “better improve the mindset while also valuing the process of making a decision that won’t have a terrible out-come”. Brandon Diaz Solis submitted the other third place essay about a disagreement he had with a teacher. Because he followed the 4-way test, he took time to let the problem solve itself rather than getting into a confron-tation with the teacher. 

Congratulations to all the students who participated in this project. 

Rotary Youth Leadership Awards (RYLA) is an intensive leadership experience organized by Rotary clubs and districts where young people can devel- op leadership skills while having fun and making connections.  The event offers courses not often found in the regular curriculum teenagers are offered. These courses include diversity training, public speaking, team building, leadership funda- mentals, goal setting, leading a meeting, character & ethics, facilitation, fellowship and creating good habits. The retreat offers a mix of indoor and out- door activities. Very talented keynote speakers are

invited to come and teach, motivate and inspire our youth to become great leaders and to do great things. Cam- bria Rotarian Nancy McKarney serves as the Senior Administrator and club members Tim Carr and Jane Howard both served as counselors.

This year our club sponsored five Coast Union juniors to attend RYLA. They were chosen based on their leadership potential to attend RYLA. Olivia Klemstein, Ashley Klemstein, Adair Ponce, Dane Volz and Sean Schalk joined 190 students from high schools in Rotary’s District 5240 at Camp Ramah in Ojai. At our meeting on Friday, we were

pleased to hear about the student’s experiences. Adair told us that after attending RYLA,“I see leadership differ- ently. Ultimately my goal is to bring what I’ve learned back to Coast Union and any community I’m part of”. Ash- ley said “if I hadn’t come here, I wouldn’t understand the breakdown steps of how to be a leader and how I can positively impact my community”. Olivia described it as “a crazy fun experience I will appreciate forever”. Dane credited the friends he made there for teaching him so much about the world, life and himself. Sean told us that RYLA “has been a blessing. I have learned so much about being a leader and using my unique skills and talents to help my community”.

Local experts say human trafficking impacts thousands of people in California every year and warn this crime could surge during Super Bowl weekend. Most victims of human trafficking are forced into sex work between 11 and 14 years old — lured in with drugs and expensive gifts. Many remain trapped for years, or even decades. 

Marianne Jackson, a human trafficking survivor, said she was a sex worker for more than eight years and she shared how she broke free. “I was on the street and I did-n’t have anywhere to go, anything at all,” Jackson said. “I got talked into getting into this lifestyle. It was portrayed as something really glamorous and empowering, but it was nothing like that at all.” 

Jackson said her trafficker went to prison for murder, but it still wasn’t easy to leave sex work behind. 

“I was able to break free from my trafficker, but I kept doing it on my own because that’s how I knew how to sur-vive,” Jackson said. “These girls really aren’t out there by choice. Whether they have a pimp or don’t have a pimp, like I said, it’s all about survival.” 

Now she works for Magdalene Hope, a local group that serves and rehabilitates victims of sex trafficking. 

“My daughter-in-law went to church one day and they were talking about Magdalene Hope and how they helped girls get out of the sex industry,” Jackson said. “When I first got into the program my four front teeth had been knocked out by a guy. We got a grant to fix my teeth and now I have my smile again. It was a free program. They provided everything for me. My life changed completely, it’s a blessing.” 

Jane Howard introduced our speaker, John Weiss and told us that he joined the Rotary Club of Morro Bay in 2001. He is a Past District Governor (2017-18) and Club President (2009-10 & 2011-12). 

John has created and presented Membership seminars since 2010, was a PETS instructor on “Engaging Members” for 4 years. He personally sponsored over 60 new members to his club, helped charter the Eco-Rotary Club Morro Bay, Morro Bay High School Interact Club and the San Luis Obispo Rotaract Club. 

John’s wife Christine is a great partner who was a Charter member of the Rotary Club of Morro Bay—Eco. Together they have 5 adult children ages 33 to 44. 

John served as a working Governor with retail and professional electronics stores in Morro Bay, San Luis Obispo and Paso Robles. Many members of his staff have been with the company (founded with father in 1978) and industry to 20-35 years. 

John plays basketball, golf and walks when possible in between Rotary functions, church, family and work. 

He is a cancer (Stage 4 adrenal Cortical Carcinoma) survivor having been diagnosed a month before serving as Dis-trict Governor in June 2017 and continues to get monthly treatments and constant monitoring. 

INTERNATIONAL SERVICES: Julie Jenkins gave us an update on the works of the International Committee. The main purpose of International Services is to promote peace and understanding. So far this year the following donations were made: $1,000 Compass Zambia; $1,200 Whisper & Thunder; $924 + a $780 District Grant to Lor-des Meade in Uganda; $825 Grace Center in Zambia; $1,000 committee donation and $1,000 member donation to Turkey & Syria Earthquake Relief; $1,150 Water for Honduras; $2100 San Miguel de Allende (empowerment for women); $500 Arco San Pedro for a 7th grade classroom; $800 Roses of Mbuya, Uganda to purchase sewing ma-chines for young mothers; 4 Committee and 1 Private scholarship for girls to attend PACE in India; $1,000 to Shel-ter Box. A copy of the slide show will accompany this email. 

NEAL JENSEN FOUNDATION: Dennis White and Mike Griffin announced that the Neal Jensen Fund is now at almost $700,000! They also told us about an exciting new project. Thanks to Andrew, a 4 acre parcel at Cam Ocean Pines where we will be planting 38 trees: one for each club member who has joined the Neal Jensen Fel-lowship. Greenspace has agreed to help us by telling us how to plant and space the trees. 

YOUTH SERVICES: Cynthia Woodruff Neer told us that Luanne Kittle will be co-chairing Youth Services next year! Thank you Luanne. She also announced that there will be a reception at Camp Ocean Pines from 4-5 on June 7th to honor this year’s scholarship winners. 8 students will be awarded scholarship this year. And, for the first time, one of the students is a home-schooled student. RYLA is coming up and we are sending 8 students who will be attending our weekly meeting on May 5th to tell us about their experience. On May 12, we will be hearing from the 4-Way Essay Contest winners. And, plans are that there will be an Interact Club at the Middle School next school year. More information about that will be forthcoming. A copy of the slide show Cynthia presented is attached to this email. 

TRF: PP Chuck told us that everyone in out club donated $50 a year to Polio Plus and $100 to the Annual Fund. This is possible because funds raised each year from fundraisers such as VIVA, go to the Cambria Rotary Founda-tion. 25% of those funds stays in our Foundation while the remaining 75% funds go to our Avenues of Service which includes TRF. The portion that goes to TRF is used to make the donations in each members name to Polio Plus and the Annual Fund. The 25% that remains in the Foundation grows due to dividends. A link to the slide show that was shown during this presentation will be in the email with our newsletter 

Lorienne began her introduction with a quote from Rosalynn Carter, “There are only four kinds of people in the world: those who have been caregivers, those who are currently caregivers, those who will be care-givers, and those who will need caregivers.” She then welcomed Karen Ortiz, Director of Development and Tamra Mariott, Development Manager. We learned that The Longest Day is the day with the most light — the summer solstice. On June 21, thousands of participants from across the world come together to fight the darkness of Alzheimer's through an activity of their choice. Together, they use their crea-tivity and passion to raise funds and awareness for the care, support and research efforts of the Alzheimer’s Association. For more information about The Longest Day, go to alz.org/TLD. 

Currently, more than 690,000 people in California are living with Alzheimer’s disease, and over 1.12 million family and friends are providing care. 

The Alzheimer’s Association, California Central Coast Chapter provides free edu-cation programs, support services and care consulta-tions across the counties of San Luis Obispo, Santa Bar-bara and Ventura counties while also supporting critical research toward a cure. 

CUHS English Teacher, Ogo Agbo read the 3rd Place Essay from senior Emily Reed who could not be with us due to illness. 

Patricia Acosta, also a senior, submitted the 2nd Place Essay. Patricia will be attending Boston College on a QuestBridge Scholarship. 

Declan MacKenzie, a sophomore, received 1st place honors for his essay. Declan was home-schooled in Viet Nam, where his family lived due to his father’s job, until last year when he relocated to Cambria and enrolled in Coast Union. 

Joni Kirby has enjoyed sharing many of her personal life’s moments through “untrainings” for over thirty years. She is passionate about reminding other that their happiness is always carried within their inner heart space. Joni cur-rently lives in Cambria with her fur babies, Love and Faith. 

“Our lives are full of satori moments—powerful snippets of time that, when recognized, invite us to awaken, become aware, be present, and find enlight-enment.” “Through inspiring personal stories and wisdom acquired over time, Joni Kirby teaches us that we do not need to be trained to be. Instead, she encourages us to live as Rylan did—awakened, dancing, and celebrating life in the mo-ment. As she leads others on the satori journey of reawakening, also known as Rylan’s untrainings, she reminds us of who we are deep inside, to love, live, and learn in the moment, to laugh often, to re-member that all is well because we are one, to embrace the joy that is always with-in, to breathe in the space of stillness between thoughts, and to intentionally plant our life’s garden—all while embracing the beauty of life.” Joni’s book, Satori Moments, shares anecdotes and wisdom intended to inspire any-one interested in finding their way back to their true selves and the I-ness within and it is available on Amazon All proceeds are donated to Dr. Loh’s Childhood Cancer Research. 

Estero Bay Kindness Coalition started in December 2017, when founder Bobby deLancellotti met with the principal at Del Mar Ele-mentary school in Morro Bay, CA to inquire about how he could serve the most vulnerable students during the holidays. The princi-pal connected him with 10 families. Bobby bought them 2 gifts each: a fun gift, a practical gift, and a $100.00 gift card to a local su-permarket. In January, the principal sent Bobby a letter thanking him for the impact the gifts had on the families. She also informed him that 64% of the students at Del Mar were living at or below the poverty line. This broke Bobby’s heart, so he decided to do some-thing about it. 

In March 2018, he started Got Your Back, a program that helps feed kids over the weekends, providing 2 breakfasts, 2 lunches, 2 dinners, healthy snacks, fruit, milk, and juice to each kid enrolled. The kids in this program rely on “hot/reduced lunch” at school to eat during the week and would often go hungry on the weekends. By June 2018, Estero Bay Kindness Coalition was serving 48 students with Got Your Back. The following school year, it jumped to 8 schools and over 200 students in the SLO Unified School District. During this time, our organization became a nonprofit 501 C-3. By the 2019 school year, we were feeding over 200 children in 8 schools. 

When the Covid-19 pandemic hit and schools closed their doors in March 2020, Bobby met with local principals to get connected with some of the most vulnerable, food insecure families in the SLO Unified School District. 

The Estero Bay Kindness Coalition went from feeding school kids on the weekends to feeding whole families for the week, virtually overnight. 

To meet the needs of the families referred to us by 1 of our 8 partnered schools, we created Bags of Love, a program that delivers 3 bags of groceries per week to 164+ families in the greater Estero Bay area. The bags of groceries consist of healthy, protein-rich breakfasts, lunches, dinners, snacks, juice, milk, and fresh, local produce. During this time, we also created Sunshine and Seed, a new and gently used kids clothing collective where kids can shop for free. 

When schools reopened in 2021, we reimplemented Got Your Back, sending kids home with healthy meals and snacks to eat over the weekends. 

The Estero Bay Kindness Coalition has built a team of over 80+ volunteers, 2 team leaders, and 2 food pantries. They are currently partnered with 8 schools, 41 for-profits, 18 nonprofits, and 10 churches 

Interact Club members plan various fundraising activities so they can raise money to donate to causes select-ed by the Interactors. In previous years, the club has donated to such causes as high school scholarships, Camp Ocean Pines, HART, Feeding America, Doctors Without Borders, St. Jude’s, Skate Cambria and FFRP. This year we were joined by Interact members President Violet, Ave, Oscar and Robert and their Interact Advisor, Ayan John-son. 

The Annual Interact Bake Sale is always one of our favorite meetings because the baked goods the students make are auctioned off and, invariably bidding wars break out as auctioneer Bob Kasper uses humor to encourage high-er and higher bids. It is just another example of our motto: “If it ain’t fun, it ain’t Rotary”. 

At Friday’s meeting, there were a lot of laughs, we got to enjoy some delicious baked goods and the 2023 Interact Bake Sale raised almost $4,500! 

Don Maruska engages people around the world to take climate action and have fun doing it. Since 2003, he has brought together people from scientific, environmental, business, government, and community organizations to boost awareness, actions, and advocacy for steward-ship of natural resources. 

Don’s new book, “Solve Climate Change Now: Do What You Love for a Healthy Planet” includes stories and examples of Rotary Clubs and community groups working together to make a difference. As a mem-ber of Rotary San Luis Obispo de Tolosa, Don has earned a President’s Special Recognition Award and a District Governor’s Award for his climate action leader-ship. He’s delighted that Rotary International has awarded collabo-rating Rotary Club’s “Day of Service” recognition for their results. 

Earlier in his career, Don founded and was CEO of three Silicon Valley companies, earning a National Innovator Award. Now he’s a Master Certified Coach helping others succeed. Don is also author of “How Great Decisions Get Made” and co-author or “Take Charge of Your Tal-ent.” He earned his BA magna cum laude in government from Har-vard and an MBA and JD from Stanford. 

Major publications including Fast Company, Inc., and Entrepreneur have quoted Don for his expertise. He has also appeared on over 30 radio and TV stations across the country. Businesses, nonprofits, government agencies and community organizations enjoy his inspiring keynotes and productive workshops delivered both in person and online. 

A copy of Don’s presentation is attached to this email and his book is available on Amazon 

Thanks to Miguel and Judy, who met with each of the 19 families to find out what the children wanted and needed for Christmas and came up with a detailed list. These two are amazing! 

21 Rotarians agreed to be Secret Santas to the 43 children living in the Oceanside Apt. 

Once again, an anonymous donor purchased a pair of shoes for each of the children. Once again, thank you, thank you, thank you. 

Valerie Ratto had the students in her confirmation class at Santa Rosa Church write a note to each of the par-ents, in Spanish, telling them that they are appreciated. What a great idea, Valerie. 

When Del Clegg heard me promoting the Secret Santa project and hearing that 10 or so kids that were still waiting, he offered to give me $200 to purchase gifts for those children. Well, club member did step up and, in record time, all the kids were covered. Nan-cy Carr had suggested that we purchase gifts for the children in Head Start in Cambria. I asked Del if it would be ok to use the money he gave for Secret Santa to buy sweaters and stuffed animals for the little ones at Head Start. Needless to say, he was all for it! Not only that, but he gave us a 10% dis-count on the Cookie Crock gift cards that will be passed out to the Oceanside Apt. and Head Start families. Is there any wonder why Del was recently honored with a Legacy Award from Camp Ocean Pines? 

Thanks to Karen and her helpers, we had a fun evening at the Holiday Party. Everyone was in a festive mood and seemed to be enjoying themselves. The poinsettia centerpieces were auctioned off with the proceeds going to Polio. A total of $175 was raised! The each table was asked to sing a holiday song and everyone happily participated. We heard holiday songs, Christmas carols, a Hannukah song and, yes, “Take Me Out to the Ballgame” by you know who. 

Branna Still joined the SLO Food Bank team in June 2020 and is excited to be a member

of a phenomenal organization that offers relief to those who are finding themselves

in the most challenging situations.

Branna was born and raised in Missouri. After graduating high school, she studied at

the University of Missouri—Columbia (MIZZOU) while also serving in the US Army Reserve.

After a year-long deployment overseas and a six-month course at the Defense

Language Institute, she graduated from MIZZOU with a duel degree in International

Studies and Business, emphasis in Marketing. After living in a few different states and

working in various for-profit roles, Branna shifted her career in 2014 to fundraising

and community development for the American Cancer Society. After four impactful

years serving Monterey County communities, she followed the sunshine and landed in

San Luis Obispo. Branna was honored to join the Woods Humane Society as the Development

Manager and, after a month, her family grew by adding a sweet canine

stray found in Paso Robles. As the “normal day” in the life flipped upside down amid

the global pandemic, an opportunity to help those at risk of hunger came forth, and she was excited and grateful

to become part of the solution. Outside of work, she enjoys spending time with her family and fur babies, listening

to music, enjoying the great outdoors, and traveling the world.

Branna told us that 26% of households in SLO County do not earn enough to afford an essential cost of living and

1 in 6 children may experience food insecurity in the US this year! The SLO Food Bank serves over 31,000 individuals

each month. 28% are children and 25% are seniors. Community Service Chair, Sandy Cha, was pleased to present Branna

and the SLO Food Bank with a check for $500 to help families and individuals

during this holiday season.

Membership: Chairman Roger began by reminding us that our club thrives because

of its members. For various reason, some members have to leave the club and it

is up to every one of us to help to fill the void. We need to identify friends, neighbors,

family members that should be Rotarians but are not. Bring someone who may be interested

to lunch. We will take care of them from there. The District 5240 Membership

Committee has suggested that clubs send weekly letters to new members welcoming

them, explaining the Basics of Rotary, Avenues of Service, TRF and more. We

have begun that process and have sent the 1st 8 letters to each of this year’s new members, The letters will be

available for viewing on Box.com if you are interested.

Community Service: Sue filled in for Chairperson Sandy. She told us that Sandy specifically wanted to

thank all the members of the committee (listed on the attached slide show). This year, we have a little over

$15,000 to fund Community Service projects. Projects we normally fund fall into the following categories: Activities

for local youth, programs for families in need and assistance to other non-profits in Cambria and San Simeon.

But we need eyes and ears out there to let us know what needs there are in our community. So, if you know of a

project or if you would like to join our committee, contact Sandy or any committee member.

Peace Builders: Chair Paula told us that the District awarded our club with Peace

Builder status last year. Our focus is promoting peace and we will be having one speaker

each quarter as well as a peace quote at each meeting. We also sponsor a Peace Essay

Contest with high school seniors. Our biggest project is the Peace Pickets. The original

thought was that we would have 20 or 30 pickets to place around town. We wound up

with 105 pickets painted by students! Our goal this year is to have an additional 100 and

we are hoping to get artists to paint some to use as a fundraiser. We were recently honored

at the Pinedorado Parade where members marched with some of the Peace Pickets

that local students painted. Our committee members are Janet, Julie, Nancy McKarney, Joe, Otis, Gerry, Kate

and our newest member Shari McLean. We meet on the 1st Thursday of each month at 10 am on Zoom if you

would like to join us. Also, PDG Rudy Westerfield has established an E-Club of World Peace. If you would like

more information, let Paula know.

Neal Jensen Fellowship: Chairman Dennis White told us that Mike and Patty put together a group of

people to discuss the future of the Neal Jensen Fellowship which started over a decade ago with inspiration from

Neal Jensen, Mike Griffin and Bruce Howard among others. It is similar to the funding arm of the Paul Harris Society

and is designed to raise funds for our club endowment. Over $80,000 has been raised since it’s inception.

Committee members Valerie Ratto, Luanne Kittle, Linda Sherman, Joan Broadhurst, Miguel Sandoval and Miguel

Hernandez are working on a clear vision and direction for the future. One possible project that has been

discussed is planting a tree each time someone joins the Circle. If all of us could look 20 year out and see the potential

of an endowment that could really help the community, can you imagine what it could look like?

Paula was born Glendale Ca. in 1952. She moved to Africa in 2003, Mwandi Village in 2005 to concentrate their efforts on building homes for those most in need in the village, With the help of volunteers, they have built 199 

homes. They have been involved with education since 2007. Donors have sponsored over 35 

students through colleges many of them now have good paying jobs and a future. There are 9 

still in college and are always looking for sponsors to help. In 2017 they started working on a 

community school we started classes in 2019 and now have over 300 students from pre school 

through 4 th grade. 

In October 2020, Paula and her daughter formed a 501 c-3 American corporation, Compass Zambia, 

to help support Home For Aids Orphans. Survival and growth all these years has been 

fueled by volunteers coming to work on the projects. With covid this went away leaving them 

vulnerable, the new corporation has given us a much-needed boost and allowed them to continue 

working on the school, as well as to keep the staff employed. Paula took that time to finish writing a 

book about my life called Wings on My Heels- a life unraveled – By Paula Van Zyl. All proceeds 

go to Compass Zambia, to help Home For Aids Orphans. 

This year volunteering has picked up and they are again working in the village. But the school 

remains the most important aspect of our organization. They need to continue building as they 

have no place for the 5 th grade students. 

Paula joined the Rotary Club of Livingstone in 2009 served as Secretary for 2 years 2011-2013 

President 2013-2014 International Projects chair 2014 -2022. In June 2022 she resigned from that 

club and joined Mosi-oa-tunya Rotary club in Livingstone. 

Paula and Matt, her business partner since 2007 live in Mwandi most of the year. She returns to the US 

every year to raise funds and awareness as well as to visit my family. 

Chuck explained to us that TRF is the non-profit arm of Rotary International

and fundraises and supports efforts of RI around the world (Polio eradication,

healthcare, education, ending poverty, etc.). Charity Navigator has rated The

Rotary Foundation with 4 stars for 13 consecutive years!

Rotarians can designate where they would like their donation to go (see

attached graphic “Your Check to rotary—Who Do I Write it to and Where Does

it Go” attached to this newsletter). Half of the donations to the Annual Fund Share come back to our club in

three years in the form of grants. The other half goes to urgent projects around the world. Our goal is for everyone

in the club to donate $100 a year to the Annual Fund Share and $50 a year to Polio Eradication.

In 1988, Rotary launched the Polio Eradication project. At that time, there were 1,000 cases of polio per day,

350,000 each year in over 25 countries where polio was endemic. Over 20 million people are not paralyzed today

due to the efforts of Rotary. That is equal to the total population of New York State!

Attached to this newsletter is a TRF Information sheet and Rotary Direct form that you can complete to make

monthly, quarterly or annual donations to The Rotary Foundation.

There will be a “post-Rotary-meeting” follow-up to our TRF panel discussion on October 28th, a Q&A session

for interested members,

to answer (as best we

can) member questions

about the Annual Fund,

Polio Eradication, TRF

Endowment, and the

seven areas of focus.

This will be immediately

after the meeting on Friday,

November 11th, at

1:30PM. Stay as long as

you’d like, and no commitment

for any further

actions… the intent is to

answer member questions

about The Rotary

Foundation, again, as

best we can.

Laurie passionately believes that everyone deserves to have

a fun, meaningful life. A Harvard-educated Jersey girl, she is

the close advisor and coach to country and state leaders,

mayors, education and business pioneers, and other top

movers and shakers worldwide. Starting as an inner city high

school teacher and the youngest

principal in Boston, Laurie became

disillusioned with the state

of public education and spent

two decades spearheading a

global school reform movement, founding and directing an internationally

acclaimed charter school nonprofit and helping thousands of

education and other leaders to start and run successful organizations.

Laurie received graduate and undergraduate degrees in education,

psychology, and world religions from Harvard University, where she

also taught quantum physics. An avid world explorer and former Outward

Bound wilderness instructor, cultural exchange guide, and service-

learning leader, she has traveled to 60 countries and 40 states

and speaks five languages. She is a master practitioner in over two

dozen body/mind/spirit wellness techniques, including intuitive coaching.

While successful on the outside, by her late 30s, Laurie felt empty and exhausted on the inside.

She decided to try a nontraditional approach to get perspective on her life, unexpectedly writing

a book while fasting in the desert on a vision quest. Her book, The Road to Shine, is receiving all

5 stars on Amazon and has been featured on nationwide media. The sequel, The Road to Joy, is

pending publication shortly.

After her quest, Laurie quit her workaholic job, broke up with Mr. Almost, and dedicated herself

to a new education path, helping people find the courage to live lives they love and be happier,

more effective leaders. Anyone seeking to be their truest, best self or who wants to help their

communities or the world is someone she is honored to learn from and serve.

Laurie’s website is https://shineyourlight.life 

Deepa Willingham, residing in Lompoc, CA, is a naturalized citizen of the United States,

was born and brought up in Calcutta (Kolkata), India where she obtained her primary

(under the stewardship of Mother Teresa, who was her teacher), secondary and undergraduate

educations in Kolkata and graduate degrees in the US. Prior to her entrepreneurial

endeavors in the energy sector, Rotarian Willingham served as the Administrative

Director of Ancillary Services in the

hospital industry.

Deepa is an active Rotarian and served as the District Governor for Rotary District 5240 in 2010-2011. She is the

Past President of the Rotary Club of Santa Ynez Valley, being named the Rotarian-of-the-Year during her year as

President and has been the winner of many humanitarian awards including the winner of Santa Barbara’s ‘Gutsy

Gals You Inspire Me Award’ in 2013; one of the “Women of Action” Honoree at the White House in 2014; Time

Now – Global Amazing Indian awardee from the Times of India in 2015; one of three Inspiring Women of Action

at World Bank’s celebration of International Women’s Day in Washington DC, 2016; and the recipient of

the 2018 United Nations Association (UNA) Peace Prize.

She is an ardent believer of the principles of Rotary and therefore, actively participates in recruitment and retention

of Rotary members. During her year as Club President, she added 12 new members to her club, she chartered

a new club, and she helped her daughter – Rotarian Reena Howmiller - establish a community based Rotaract

Club in Santa Barbara. PDG Deepa believes that PEACE is not just the absence of war. It is for us to actively

create a lack of poverty, injustice, non-human environment, and hopelessness for our fellow citizens.

Thus, in her dream to create peace, she founded PACE Universal – www.paceuniversal.org, an US not-for-profit

organization spearheading programs that are eradicating poverty, injustice, non-human environment/condition

including trafficking through the education of girls and women, providing adult education/vocational training/

micro-loans and upgrading the living conditions through holistic village rehabilitation. It is her aspiration to make

the first PACE Learning Center be a model for duplication around the world on our pathway to peace.

Tony’s job title is Head of Planetary Science Formulation which means he leads teams coming up with ideas for the next two decades of exploring our solar system. Tony hold a Bachelor’s degree in Mathematics and a Ph.D. in Astrophysics, both from the University of Manchester in England. He is a Fellow of the Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engi-neers for his work on radar observations from space and is a 35 year veteran at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena. 

Tony was inspired by Neal Armstrong and his predecessors at JPL. explained that his job is to look at new mis-sions. He treated us to a slide show that will be attached to this newsletter. You could hear a pin drop during his presentation. It was fascinating and I am sure we will be asking him back to update us on what is happening in our solar system. 

To the tune of Charlie’s Angels, Linda (played by Heide), Patty (played

by Janet) and Christel (played by Rick) came onto the stage to tells us about

their memories of Patty’s Presidential year.

Retro Patty (played by Dr. Joe) told us that is was her 6th birthday and her mom gave her

a diary as a birthday gift. “Dear Diary”, Patty wrote, “I dream of going to California, becoming

President of Rotary, marrying a tall, handsome man with a moustache, I’ll have lots of

dogs and a pottery shop. And, my best friends Linda & Christel will be with me.”

Mature Patty (also played by Joe): “Well, Diary, it’s been many years

since I’ve written. I married the man of my dreams, I am a successful potter, I’ve been President

of Rotary. So, what’s next? It’s time for me and my friends to just have fun!”

Enter Rotarians dancing to “Girls Just Wanna Have Fun!”

Patty was then treated to messages of love and congratulations from her sister,

“Congrautlations. We are so proud of you”; Her son told her “aside from being a

great President you have been a wonderful mom”. Co-President Christel thanked

her for getting us over every bump in the road and promised to see us in a few

months.

PP Chuck presented Patty with a Rotary Citation, awarded by Rotary International to recognize

clubs for all they do throughout the year. Only the best clubs are recognized and, out of 70 clubs in

our District, only 7 received the honor for the 2021-22 Rotary year.

Patty told us she was blown away! She said she has such gratitude to all for our resilience, friendship

and hard work. “You guys, we made it!” she exclaimed.

Such a fun meeting. Special thanks to our honorary director and choreographer, Otis for another

great job!

A Celebration of Patty

Hailed by 805 Living magazine as the Maestro of California’s Central Coast, Brian Asher Alhadeff has been Artistic and General Director of Opera San Luis Obispo since 2011. He is also the Artistic Director and Conductor of the Lompoc Pops Orchestra, and Principal Conductor of State Street Ballet and Civic Ballet San Luis Obispo. An internationally celebrated conductor, Alhadeff was Artistic Director and founder of the Hradec Kralove International Summer Opera Festival which took place in the Czech Republic, and also conducted the Albanian premier of Howard Hanson’s Symphony No. 2 with the Albanian National Radio and Televi-sion Orchestra. Guest conducting highlights in-clude Marina Del Rey Symphony, Phoenix Symphony, Tulsa Ballet, South Florida Opera, Long Beach Opera, Ballet Tucson, Bourgas Opera Ballet, and Pra-gue State Opera Ballet and Chorus, in addition to many other orchestras and opera companies throughout the U.S. During the COVID-19 pandemic, Alhadeff and OperaSLO commissioned the first entirely produced “virtual” opera: Quarantine The Opera for OperaSLO’s Children’s Summer Opera Camp, in addition to conducting and co-producing the first complete virtual production of a standard repertoire opera with or-chestra; Puccini’s Suor Angelica, alongside Valley Opera Performing Arts and Mission Opera. Alhadeff studied conducting at the Peabody Conservatory and Janacek Academy of Music. A California native, Alhadeff holds a Bachelor of Arts from Loyola Marymount University, Masters of Music from California State University of Los Angeles, and Doctorate of Musical Arts from UCLA 

PDG John Weiss introduced our speaker, Gary Stoner who he has known for a number of years. He told us that Gary called him one time to find out about the Lions Club. After explaining that, while the Lions are a great organization, Rotary is the club he should join. Gary, John explained, was born in Paradise, Alaska and is a master auto mechanic. He has a passion for Grizzly and is life motto is “It is in giving that we receive.” 

Gary told us that he was tasked with finding a local charity and discovered Grizzly. The most common misconception, he explained, is that the program is court mandated and that those attending are criminals or juvenile delinquents at best. In order to be eligible to attend, one must be 15½ - 18 years old, a legal resident of the United States and California, be credit defi-cient or At-Risk of dropping out of high school. Students must be free from any serious involve-ment with the law and have no felony convictions. Students must also be drug-free or willing to be drug-free. It is a 100% volunteer program. 

Grizzly Youth ChalleNge Academy is a quasi-military operated by the CA National Guard in partnership with San Luis Obispo County Office of Education. Grizzly is a free 5½ month residential leadership academy for students seeking to gain valuable life skills, up to 70 transferable high school credits and a second chance at life. Grizzly Youth Academy’s mission is to intervene and reclaim and lives of 16 to 18 years old at-risk high school students; to produce program graduates with the values, life skills, education and self discipline to succeed as productive citizens. 

For more information about Grizzly, check out their website at www.grizzlyyouthacademy.org. 

Grizzly Academy 

Greg McGill is the founder of Honor Flights of the Central Coast. Greg was born and raised in Templeton and moved to Bakersfield in 2007 to play college football. He then started working for Kern County Fire Department and that is when he learned about the Honor Flight pro-gram. Greg went with Honor Flight Kern County as part of the medical staff on their inaugural flight. After going on a second flight, Greg was inspired to extend the Hon-or Flight program to the central coast in 2013 as a way to give back to the community he was raised in. Greg currently resides back in Templeton with his wife and he works as a fire fighter at the Camp Roberts Military Base. 

As part of Greg’s presentation, we were treated to a clip from Cambria brothers Kyle & Carlos Plummer’s 2016 documentary about a group of 21 World War II, Korean and Vietnam veterans who were flown to Washington D.C. to see their memorials. A DVD of the documentary can be purchased at Tour of Honor DVD Movie | Honor Flight Central Coast California (honorflightccc.org) 

Randy Schwalbe and his wife Mary have been full-time residents her in Cambria since 2010. They bought a small cottage in Lodge Hill in 1996 and contracted Rick Low to design a craftsman-style home to replace it, a first for Rick. Then they hired Mike O’Sullivan to build it. 

Randy has directed musicals since the 90’s, both in various theaters in Southern California and here at CCAT and Coast Union High School. How he has taken the helm for the Annual Follies, a part of the Pinedorado Days celebration. 

Randy has been retired now for ten years after spending 30 years as the Lean guy at Boeing Satellites in El Segundo, CA. However, he started out as a high school band director after earning a Bachelors of Arts degree in Music Education from UCLA. How’s that for a career path? Randy and Mary are active members of the Unitarian Universalist Community of Cambria and enjoy weeklong back-pack excursions high up in various mountain ranges. 

Barbara Owen is an international expert in the areas of women and imprison-ment. Most recently, her work in SE Asia centers on implemtation of the Bangkok Rules and other human rights protections for imprisoned women. A Professor Emerita of Criminology at California State University, Fresno, she received her Ph.D. in Sociology from UC Berkley in 1984. Prior to returning to academia, Dr. Owen was a Senior Researcher with the Federal Bureau of Prisons. Along with Barbara Bloom and Stephanie Covington, she co-authored the policy initiative, Gender-Responsive Strategies: Research, Practice, and Guiding Principles for Women Offenders (National Institute of Corrections, 2003). She also serves as a Senior Advisor to the Thailand Institute of Justice and on the Advisory Board of the Safe Alternatives to Segregation II initiative with the Vera Institute of Jus-tice. 

Dr. Owen currently volunteers with Friends of the Elephant Seals in San Simeon and is working toward illustrating her interviews with women serving life terms. 

Barbara told us that there are 200,000 men in State prison but only $12,000 women. And, women are sentenced to State prison for crimes such as shoplifting (3-5 yrs) and marijuana (5-7 yrs). Men are sentenced to State prison for much more serious crimes and almost never for crimes like shoplifting and marijuana. 

Otis introduced our speaker as a man he has known for over 33 years and someone who has been an inspiration to him and hopefully to many of us in the club. 

Dr. Joe began by asking us to bring up a memory of a time on the beach. Imagine the sound of the ocean and maybe the seagulls. Imagine taking a handful of sand and letting it slip through your fingers. Joe explained why it is both fun and healthy for us to play in the sand: When we’re engaged in sand play, we’re in control of our “world” – no one else is! 

. Thank you Joe for reminding us that we are never too old to play in the sand. 

Brynn Albanese is a well known Central Coast violinist who has performed over a dozen times on the PACSLO stage as Concertmaster and Soloist. She was also a member of the “iconic” band, Café Musique, for twelve years. 

She has since left the full time big stage to pursue Certification as a Therapeutic Music Practitioner and End of Life Doula (a nonmedical professional trained to care for a terminally ill person’s physical, emotional, and spiritual needs during the death process). She is the founder of Pneuma Melodies and, in the fall of 2022, Brynn will be pre-senting to our local hospitals, care centers and memory care centers. Her goal is to implement regular musical programming through the hiring of an onsite trained and certified therapeutic musicians as an integral part of the daily culture of our facilities. Ther-apeutic Music uses the science of sound and is complementary to conventional allopathic medicine, providing live one-on-one thera-peutic music at the bedside promotes im-proved quality of life during treatment and the healing process. Brynn told us how she takes this service one step fur-ther while sitting with the patient, she provides healing music with her one of a kind Bass Native American Flute which she played for us. 

During Brynn’s visit on Friday, she accompanied the music video of “Imagine” on her violin and treated us to Moon River and a rousing rendition of music from Moulin Rouge which had many of us clapping our hands and tapping our feet. 

2021-22 Community Service Committee Recap: Community Service Chair, Sue Rob-inson presented a slide show highlighting all of the ways our club contributed to pro-grams benefitting out community. She thanked the committee members for their work this year and encouraged anyone interested in serving on Community Service next year to contact 2022-23 Community Service Chair, Sandy Cha at scmumper@gmail.com. A copy of the Community Service presentation can be viewed at Community Service recap.pptx 

2021-22 International Service Committee Recap: International Service Chair, Julie Jenkins told us that the International Service Committee chose the following pro-grams to fund this year: Home for Aids Orphans, Whisper & Thunder, Lords Meade, Grace Center, Kristina Health Clinic, Saving Little Hearts in Romania, Oxygen Gener-ating Systems to India, Pace Universal and Shelter Box. Julie thanked Nancy McKarney for putting together the slide show that highlights the many accomplish-ments of the International Service Committee. The slide show can be seen at: https://www.dropbox.com/s/emjhoy3seskivmq/JuliesPresentation.pptx?dl=0 

Is there any doubt we are People of Action??? 

Emma Wharton, who could not be with us due to a recent COVID diagnosis, is a junior at CUHS and has been in-volved in FFA for over 5 years. Emma raises pigs and is a part of both her chapter and sectional officer team. Out-side of FFA, Emma plays volleyball, is secretary for her school’s GSA, and enjoys spending time with her friends. 

Elizabeth Reed is going to be a senior this year and has been active in FFA all three years she has attended high school. She has competed in numerous FFA speaking competitions, raises cattle and has a rabbit breeding busi-ness at the high school. She has also taken on many lead-ership roled at the chapter, sectional, and even state level. Outside of FFA, she loves to spend time with her family, including her dog, Max, and loves to work with her grand-ma, Bambi Fields. 

Elizabeth explained that this year she decided to show a steer again and a Californian rabbit meat pen. Her steer, Peter, is a black Angus cross that she bought from Miller Bros Cattle. She works with her steer for hours every day walking and show practicing to prepare him the for fair. She has also continued her rabbit breeding business and has gained more experience and confidence in running a business and being part of the livestock industry. She will take three of her kits, baby rabbits, to the fair as a rabbit meat pen who will then be sold if they are in the top four meat pens. 

Elizabeth hopes someone will consider purchasing one of her animals or donating to her projects so she can continue her rabbit breeding business and raising animals in the future. The California Mid State Fair will be holding the livestock auction at the Pavilion on Saturday, July 30 at 8 am. There will also be a virtual platform to do add-ons, which are donations through the Fair. 

You can see a copy of Elizabeth and Emma’s presentation at https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1DYls_I0k2JCD7shIc2EI-Om33rcgGQi0__qpHU6ODV4/edit?usp=sharing 

Coast Union FFA 

Elizabeth Reed 

Youth Services Chair, Cynthia Woodruff-Neer gave a quick recap of what Youth Services accomplished this

year. Interact raised $6,000 and made donations to numerous programs such as Doctors Without Borders,

American Cancer Society and Ukranian relief. The 4-Way Test was expanded this year to include the high school. The 1st place essay winners at each level went on to the District level and were awarded 3rd place. W sent 7 students to RYLA this year. Books were donated to all 3rd grade and 5th grade students this year. A summer Volleyball Camp is being set up with high school students doing the coaching thanks to funding from our club.

Scholarship Winners: There were 57 graduates from CUHS and Leffingwell this year and 54 applied for schol- arships. 36 from CUHS and 10 from Leffingwell applied for Rotary scholarships. Donna Crocker, Paula Porter and Cynthia reviewed the applications and, based on their academics, extracurricular, essays and interviews, selected 10 students to receive $1,000 scholarships and 3 students to receive $1,100 Service Above Self Schol- arships in honor of Sue Oberholtzer.

Alexandra Aguilar will be attending Cal Poly majoring in Political Science with the goal of becoming a Public De- fender.

Emmy Johnson will be attending Santa Barbara Community College majoring in Biology and hopes to become teacher.

Marlem Cambron will be attending cooking school with the goal of becoming a chef in one of Cambria’s resta rants.

Alexander Mercado was accepted at Cal Poly where he will be majoring in Civil Engineering.

Emiliano Pena will also be attending Cal Poly majoring in Aerospace Engineering.

Shaidy Placencia is headed to UC Davis to study Neuroscience.

Isabella Weaver will be at UCSD studying Political Science with a possible minor in Creative Writing.

Sue O. Service Above Self Scholarships were awarded to:

Jannah Al Defaaei who will be attending UC Davis majoring in Applied Chemistry.

Jonathan Cleave will be studying Business at Cal Poly.

Lisi Happel with be working towards becoming a doctor after majoring in Chemistry at UC Berkley. Congratulations to all!

Greg Mora is the senior manager for individual philanthropy at Direct Relief.

He talks to donors across the country about Direct Relief’s work. He has been

at the organization for 5 years and has traveled to Puerto Rico, El Salvador,

Honduras, and Mexico to build partnerships with local health organizations on

behalf of Direct Relief. Prior to Direct Relief, Greg consulted non-profits on corporate

engagement strategies for the protection of natural resources in Costa

Rica. He has over 10 years of non-profit experience in volunteer management,

program development, and philanthropic initiatives. Greg has a BA in Political

Science from San Francisco State University.

Direct Relief works in the U.S. and internationally to equip doctors and nurses with life-saving medical resources

to care for the world’s most vulnerable people. In 80+ countries. More than 650 tons of medical aid and

$14.7 Million in direct financial assistance has been provided to Ukraine since the conflict began. A copy of Greg’s

presentation is attached to this email. Thank you, Greg, for letting us know about this wonderful organization

Bob told us that, thanks to the brainstorming sessions of the Cambria FireSafe Focus Group, Cambria, with its aging forest of shallow-rooted, native Monterey pines, is an official FireWise Community, which means those brainstorming ses-sions are paying off in terms of town-wide readiness and education, available grants and other benefits. However, local fire experts and homeowners already are worrying about and trying to take actions to make their town safer. 

Bob has been a major player in this effort with his background as former Cambria Fire Chief and is currently the FireWise USA Representative for Cambria. We are thankful that Bob took time to put together a presentation for our club on how to be better prepared in the event of a wildfire. 

You can access Bob’s Power Point Presentation at Wildfire in the North Coast How can we be better prepared .pptx . Thanks Bob for helping us protect ourselves and our property against wildfires. 

Janet Meyers explained that today was “Senior Ditch Day” so the students were unable to attend

to read their essays. However, their essays are attached to the email with this newsletter. Janet did read the guidelines for the essay as presented by their teacher:

Using your open-ended questions, your research and the power of inquiry from last week’s unit, develop an ess on the topic of “Peace”.

How can the power of peace help us channel our moral fury in constructive ways? Discuss this excerpt from The

Art of Waging Peace:

“When people tell us about a truly unjust problem they are having, the moral fury within us can erupt like a bur ing flame. A flame is calm, but it is also intense. It is soothing, but also fierce. The flame of moral fury can be calm and soothing to those treated unjustly, while intensely and fiercely opposing the forces of injustice”. 

Moral fury is an emotion, and people with empathy and conscience often instinctually feel this emotion when they witness injustice. This is a good thing. But moral fury is not a strategy. It is not a plan or roadmap for over coming the root causes of injustice. When people criticize activists for being outragted by injustice and trying to solve problems with emotions rather than reason, we should keep in mind that feeling moral fury about injustic is not the problem, and the world would be better off if more people felt outraged by the injustices that so man ignore. Instead, the problem is when people mistake the emotion of moral fury for a strategy. Moral fury is fue that can propel a strategy toward practical solutions for reducing and ending injustice.

Peace is not the absence of war but is a state of mind: individual or collective, peace is social, cultural, political, and economic harmony, Peace can also be seen as a way of being and a way of living. Intellectual dialogue should be among civilizations and should empower the youth of today. Therefore, use the prompt(s) below and support your ideas with concrete proposals to the questions at hand. But also recognize the number of existing obstacles for the realization of a true culture of peace.

In this essay, you will develop the following open-ended questions:

1. What does the word “peace” mean to you and how does one promote peace in one’s community?
2. Do you think humans are naturally peaceful? Why or why not?

1. How can the power of peace help us channel our moral fury in constructive ways?
2. How can you promote peace within your community?

5 of this year’s RYLA graduates came to our meeting along with their parents, each telling us about their experience.

Two of the graduates had baseball finals and one joined us via Zoom.

Estrella Merced told us that she was pretty scared going in but quickly got out of her comfort zone

and explored her boundaries. She developed close bonds with many other students she met there.

She thanked Rotary for giving her an amazing experience.

Alejandra Quintero said she loved meeting so many new people and learning new things. She enjoyed

public speaking because it is something she was not comfortable doing prior to going to RYLA. RYLA

really challenged me in a good way, she said.

Ashley Merced thanked us for the honor to speak to us. She said she went into RYLA with few expectations.

RYLA forced her to be open minded and she learned a lot about herself. She realized

that anything is possible if you try. She learned new ways to be a leader and is looking forward to

inspiring others.

Jacob Althen told us about all the amazing people he met and how he felt welcomed by everyone. It

gave him must more confidence and he is sure, going forward, he will be much more open to meeting

new people and experiencing new things.

Emma Wharton told us how, on just the 2nd day, her color group was asked to gather together

for a group picture. She said it was a pretty awkward photo because nobody knew each other so

they kept their distance from each other. On the last day, they again were asked to pose as a

group. Everyone was smiling and hugging and looked like they had known each other for years!

She said RYLA taught her to be herself and to put herself out there.

Sabas Melgar told us, via audio, that it was hard for him to explain the experience only that it was amazing. People

had such energy! The class on diversity was his favorite.

Mark Ober told us that it was his privilege to work on

the 4-Way Test Essay project. He thanked Whit Donaldson,

Middle School Language Arts teacher and

Laura Weaver, CUHS English teacher for encouraging

their students to participate. This was the first year

that the high school participated and, even though it

was a voluntary assignment, 18 students participated.

He also thanked Donna and Julian Crocker, Lorienne

Schwenk and Nancy McKarney for reading all 43 essays

and selecting the 6 winners. It was not an easy

task! The students had to expose themselves by telling

about mistakes they have made and how they

might have done things differently had they known

abut and followed the 4-Way Test. Each student did a

commendable job. When the students were reading their essays, you could hear a pin drop in the room.

These kids sure made us proud.

The winners from the Middle School were: Kevin Merced, 3rd place; Weston Gustafson, 2nd place and,

Dereck Quintero, 1st place. At the high school, the winning essays were Ethan Wade, 11th grade, 3rd

place; Shanyra Cardenas, 11th grade, 2nd place andSean Schalk, 9th grade, 1st place. Ethan Wade was unable to attend because he was at RYLA

Janet Meyers told us that we were here to celebrate Suzette

Morrow, art teacher at Santa Lucia Middle School and Coast

Union High School. Suzette holds a Bachelor’s and a Master’s

degree in Fine Arts and has been teaching for 30 years.

Suzette told us that students 10-18 years old in her art classes

participated in the project. As part of the curriculum, they discussed

what peace is and what peace means to them. Students

were then asked to design a picket with that in mind.

Some chose to design their pickets with scenes that they see as

peaceful while others used animals to show how different species

get along.

Suzette thanked Rotary for the opportunity to participate in

this project saying that Rotary has contributed more to the student’s

education by getting them engaged in school and creating

a culture for our school and community.

Paula Porter, on behalf of the Peace Builders Committee presented Suzette with a

certificate of appreciation and announced that the committee made a gift to the

Rotary Foundation in her name and presented her with a Paul Harris pin.

Mark your calendars: We will be honoring and congratulating the students for their

outstanding work promoting art and expressions of positivity and celebrating art

teacher, Suzette for her outstanding lesson plan and guidance at a Peace Picket

Kickoff Celebration on Saturday, April 9 from 11 to 1 at the Cambria Historical Museum.

Suzette told is that the students and their parents are really excited about

this since they have not had a public showing or their artwork for a couple of years

due to COVID.

Paula also told us that the Peace Pole on the stage is from their home and, if you are interested, you

can purchase one online at PeacePoleProject.org.

Thanks to Suzette for what most of us thought was one of the best presentations we have had in a long

time. And thanks to the Peace Builder’s Committee for a project that is getting tons of attention all

around town and beyond.

Cassandra brings a wealth of programmatic expertise and has a proven track record of building local partnerships to catalyze positive change. Prior to join-ing The Community Foundation San Luis Obispo County, she served as a Grants Officer for the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation collaborating across the organization to align program strategy and values. Additionally, Cassandra was the Program Manager for Scholarships and Grants at Hum-boldt Area Foundation. During her tenure at Humboldt Area Foundation, she co-founded Youth Engaged in Philanthropy, a leadership academy that sup-ports youth to develop their leadership voice through the power of philan-thropy. 

Cassandra holds a bachelor’s degree in psychology and history from Universi-ty of Hawaii at Manoa, a graduate certificate in advanced project manage-ment from Stanford University. In 2021, Cassandra was awarded by Pacific Coast Business Times “40 Under 40” for her work with The Community Foun-dation San Luis Obispo County. She lives in Morro Bay with her husband Georgy and her dog Luna. 

Cassandra presented a slide show about the Foundation and it is attached to the newsletter email. But, the best part of her presentation was her announcement of the establishment of the Julian Crocker Community Scholarship Fund which will support career technical education; and students transferring from a 2-year to a 4-year university. Needless to say, nobody was more shocked by this announcement than Julian himself. And Donna was seen wiping away some tears. We are all so proud of Julian for this well deserved honor after dedicating years to edu-cating our youth and serving on the Foundation board 

Pres. Patty told us that she sat with Heide for about 3 hours putting together the slide show and she learned so much about this amazing woman. Some words come to mind: resilience, creativity, determination, curiosity. 

Heide told us that her family was from Berlin and had to escape during the Russian invasion when their home was destroyed. Heide’s mom took her older sister Hel-ga (14 years older than Heide) and sister Doris (10 years older) to Marienbad, a town on the border of the Czech Republic and Germany where, shortly after, Heide was born. Heide’s mom was dealing with health issues at the time so older sister Helga basically raised Heide. 

When she was 4, her family returned to Berlin to reunite with her father. He was an amazing man who served in WWI where he was shot 8 times and was exposed to mustard gas. They lived in a small town where her dad was in charge of a camp for Russian soldiers. At the time, there were only women in town because the men were off fighting so the fields could not be planted. He had the Russian soldiers plant the fields so the women would have food, which they shared with the soldiers. He also used to ride around on his bike collecting pinecones from which he collected the seeds so the forest could be replanted. He also collected apples and pears during the summer, had them made into juice so children would have access to fruit in the winter. 

Sadly, when Heide was 10, her dad passed away leaving her heartbroken. To help her take her mind off the loss of her father, she was sent, by train, to school in Sweden where she got to see the Alps and experience live in another country. When she was 12, she returned home and the family relocated to the larger town of Hano-ver where Heide could receive a better education, learning both English and French. To help with expenses at the time, her mother would rent out rooms in their house to students from Turkey. One of the students was a boy named Engin. After he returned to Turkey, he sent a letter to Heide and her mom inviting them to visit he and his family in Turkey. Engin came from a large family who had a beautiful home and a large ranch. Heide and her mom were treated like family while they were there and 4 years later, she and Engin married. They moved to Munich where Heide was first exposed to computers. She read about classes being offered and read-ily took them and became quite good at computer programming. Engin always dreamed of moving to the Unit-ed States. At the time, the wait for a German to immigrate was years. However, since Heide was born in Mari-enbad which at that time was part of Czechoslovakia, she was considered Czechoslovakian and was issued a visa. After spending some time in Rochester, NY, Heide finally came to California. 

Thanks for a very interesting presentation, Heide. We look forward to hearing more about your amazing life. 

Bruce started by talking about peace and ab out Ukraine. In 1950, shortly after World War II, some German and French Rotarians met in Strasbourg with a goal of building peace and under-standing. Together they made a gamble to emerge from tragedy through intelligence. What re-sulted from their talks was Rotary’s first-ever Intercountry Committee, or ICC. Jane Howard is the first ICC Chair for our District and also the National ICC Chair for United States/India. The US/Ukraine ICC was set to be chartered 2 weeks ago but the war has postponed that. However, Belgium/Ukraine ICC and French/Ukraine ICC are mobilizing to send money and supplies to Kyiv to assist the steady stream of refugees leaving Ukraine. Rotary has boots on the ground. It is because of Rotary members world-wide who, through their membership, have helped in this effort. 

Bruce presented Paul Harris Awards to Otis Archie (PH+4); Rick Auricchio (PH+4); Bob Kasper (PH+7); Nancy McKarney (PH+8); Mark Ober (PH+1); Dennis Rightmer (PH+2); Linda Sherman (PH+5); and, Tom Tierney (PH+1). 

Bruce reminded us that it is because of generous donations to Polio Plus that we have gone from 1,000 cases of Polio a day in the early 1980’s to 5 cases world-wide last year and 2 so fat this year. 

Gerry Porter introduced Erin Groble, The Rotary Foundation Planned Giving Officer, via Zoom. Erin explained that Gifts to Rotary's Endowment ensure that future Rotarians will have the resources they need to design and implement sustainable projects year after year. For more infor-mation about the endowment fund, go to rotary.org/legacy. You can also view Erin’s Power Point presentation attached to this email. She can also be contacted by email at erin.groble@rotary.org. Thank you Erin for speaking to us today and for doing it with very little notice! 

Gerry also welcomed, for the 3rd time, Ken DeCroo, author of the Almost Human series of books. Ken recently finished his 3rd book in the series, Becoming Human, a story about when three families are viciously massacred in the forest of the Pacific Northwest, and three young girls disappear, Dr. Ken Turner and his colleagues sus-pect the hybrid creatures they discovered in the jungles of Africa who were kidnapped by shady government agents. They find themselves back in pursuit of the half-human, half-chimpanzee creatures, and their missing colleague Dr. Melon. Their quest begins, at risk to their careers and reputations, in the little town of Willow Creek and the surrounding Trinity Forest where the mythical bigfoot is said to roam. Who or what will they find? Ken agreed to visit us in person on one of his next trips to the West Coast. 

Nick Rasmussen is the current CEO of Habitat for Humanity for San Luis Obispo and has served in this position for two years. He is a graduate of Wheaton College (Illinois) and has an M.S. in Clinical Psychology and has 25 years of experience in the Social Service sector. Prior to joining Habitat, Nick was Executive Director for a non-profit in Los Angeles that focused on affordable housing, specifically for newly homeless families. He is originally from Eu-gene, Oregon and is pleased to call San Luis Obispo his new home. 

Thank you Nick for an informative and inspiring presentation. 

A total of 14 baked goods were entered into this year’s Bake Sale. Interact President Lisi Happel, Vice President Caiden Kennedy and Secretary Emmy Johnson along with Faculty Advisor Ayan Johnson presented a slide show of all the creations. Auctioneer Bob Kasper joked and cajoled until every baked good was sold. In the end, a total of $5,770was raised for Interact. The student’s slide show is attached to this email for those who could not attend. Be prepared to have your mouth watering when you see some of these creations! 

Bill is Rotary Relations Manager for ShelterBox USA and Member OF Rotary Club of El Dorado Hills Ca. D5180. 

His presentation with the speaker notes is attached to this email and his notes are be in a little box at top left of each slide, except on a few slides with no notes. 

Website: https://www.shelterboxusa.org 

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/shelterboxusa 

ShelterBox USA Annual Reports: https://www.shelterboxusa.org/financials/ 

Syria a decade of conflict and ShelterBox humanitarian interventions (webinar recorded 3/31/21). 

https://youtu.be/-5w1oP9QRXc 

10 things you need to know about the Syrian conflict - ShelterBox USA 

HERO Club info: https://www.shelterboxusa.org/hero 

Volunteer opportunities https://www.shelterboxusa.org/volunteer 

Danny Community Relations Coordinator Danny Danbom knows a thing or two about loss. In her young life, she has been the primary caregiver for her grandfather, her grandmother, and her own mother in their final months—each suffering from their own degenerative illness. "Watching their decline gave me the courage and the confi-dence to speak about illness and death," she said. "That's a trait most people struggle with." With a Bachelor's degree in Recreation & Hospitality Management and a stint in the finance industry, Danny (short for Danielle) brings a wealth of knowledge and a sincere desire to be of service to her current position at Sydney Creek. "l want to be the advocate our community needs," she said. "It's my pleasure to articulate who we are, what we do here, and how we might help." 

A copy of Danny’s Power Point Presentation is attached to this email. 

Danny COMMUNITY RELATIONS COORDINATOR 

The Village at Sydney Creek 1234 Laurel Lane, San Luis Obispo, CA 93401 

(805) 543-2350 | (805) 543-1948 

Sydney Creek Lic. #405800577 Garden Creek Lic. #405800467 

Danny Danbon, Sydney Creek Memory Care 

Each table was asked to discuss how to bring peace into family gatherings during the holidays especially during

COVID.

Nancy Bennett reported that her table discussed not talking about COVID or politics.

Elaine Beckham suggested being more like Rick Low (ha ha) but ended by saying that her table suggested that

we just listen.

Shari Long told us that her table suggested checking in with yourself. Be grateful for what you have; be kind

to others; communicate.

Jane Howard relayed a situation in her own family where she and her sisters got together for the normal holiday

dinner but one of the brother-in-laws is not vaccinated and nobody wanted to sit near him. It made for a

very awkward evening. The group had plans to meet again the next night with their 97 year old mother and

they were concerned about putting her at risk. So they told the brother-in-law that they love him but just

can’t have him there. It was very hard.

Paula ended the discussion by reminding us to love ourselves and understand that there are differences. Janet

added that we are the Family of Rotary despite our different nationalities, religions, political leanings.

She then wished us a Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukkah, Happy Kwanza.

Jenn originally began her path to becoming a healer as a Psychology student. She evolved into practicing energy and body work modalities as well as completing her 200 hour registered yoga teacher training in 2013. She com-pleted her massage therapy education in 2005 and has been a California board licensed Physician of Acupunc-ture in 2016. Jennifer has over 300 units in Medicinal studies including vigorous courses in Western Medicine and anatomy. She is currently 20 units away for obtaining her Doctorate in Chinese Medicine and Acupuncture. Her passion and belief in her practice shine through in every treatment that is very specifically individualized taking every patient and their personal life journey into account. 

Jenn explained that herbs acupuncture can be used to treat a number of conditions such as migraines, arthritis, Fibromyalgia and muscle pain, sports injuries and nerve pain. She then demonstrated on Janet, Patty & Miguel. 

Dr. Alex and his wife, Dr. Casey Erickson are the owners and practicing veterinarians at Cambria Veterinary Clinic. After relocating to the Cen-tral Coast in January 2016 and purchasing Cambria Veterinary clinic, we could have not felt more welcomed into a community that truly adores their pets. We are committed to high quality medicine and patient care, and also believe that you should have a doctor for your pet that you trust to offer you guidance and options in caring for your 4-legged fami-ly member. We are hard-working, honest and compassionate when it comes to advising you on anything from preventative care to difficult end-of-life decisions. 

Dr. Alex grew up in Los Banos, California and could be found cleaning kennels and helping out at his father’s vet clinic from a young age. Following in his father’s footsteps, he attended Kansas State University for his undergraduate studies and then graduated from UC Davis Veterinary School in 2008. During veterinary school, his studies focused both on farm animal and small animal medicine. After graduating he moved to Sonora, California, at the base of the Sierra Nevada Mountains where he practiced at a busy small animal veterinary clinic for 8 years. Alex has addi-tional continuing education training in small animal dentistry and ultrasound. 

Dr. Alex told us that dermatology is the number one reason pets visit their veterinarian and, here on the Central Coast, there is no shortage of allergy triggers. 

Exchange students unlock their true potential to: 

• Develop lifelong leadership skills 

• Learn a new language and culture 

• Build lasting friendships with young people from around the world 

• Become a global citizen 

In 1982, Katherine went to Sweden as a Rotary Exchange Student and stayed with the Nilbrink family. Shortly after arriving, Anders left for the United States to begin his student exchange year. He had hoped to be sent to New York, California or Florida but wound up in Mt. Pleasant, Iowa, a town just 24 miles from there Katherine’s family lived. 

When Katherine arrived in Sweden, she did not speak a word of Swedish but learned bit by bit by listening and watching tv with sub-titles. She attended Rotary meetings every week. Since, at the time, women were not allowed in Rotary, she was in the company of 50 “old men”. 

Language was not as big a problem with Anders since, in Sweden, students are taught English beginning in the 3rd grade. 

Dick Cameron, filling in for Janet, introduced our speaker, Paula Van Zyl who was born in Glendale, CA. She moved to Africa in 2003, to volunteer with Primates in South Afri-ca then traveled up to Zambia where she met her late husband, Dan Van Zyl, who was, at the time, working for the U.N. When his contract ended in 2004, they went back to South Africa and worked with the baboons at the sanctuary until 2005. It was decided they would start a volunteer organization and drove international volunteers from Phalabora, South Africa to Mwandi, Zambia, Dan’s childhood home. They worked in and around the mission, helping where needed. 

In 2015, they started a non-profit organization called Home for Aids Orphans. In 2016, they started building a community school which opened in January 2019. They now have over 280 students from pre-school through 3rd grade and are working on building a 4th grade classroom which will open in January 2022, after which they will begin work on the next phase, upper primary grades 5th-7th. 

Compass Zambia is a California registered non-profit organization that was organized by Paula and her daughter in 2020 to help support the efforts of Home for Aids Orphans a registered NGO with a focus on building homes for extended families that had been displaced by AIDS. Together, the two companies work to improve the lives of people in the area by improving the community. 

Julie Jenkins, International Committee Chair, presented a check for $1,000 to Paula Van Zyl, Founder & Chairperson at Home For Aids Orphans. This organization works with the local community to im-prove the living conditions for those most vulnerable in society, es-pecially young children who have been orphaned by AIDS by provid-ing housing and building schools in Zambia, where AIDS is still at ep-idemic proportion. (homes4aidsorphans.com) 

Bruce Howard introduced Frank Ortiz and told us that he has served over 40 years in the Fire Service, which included 13 years as Fire Chief for the City of Santa Ma-ria. He holds a Bachelors Degree in Business Management from Saint Mary’s College and a Mas-ter’s Degree in Emergency Services Administration from CSU Long Beach. Since his retirement , Frank continues to volunteer in his community in various capacities. A 24-year Rotarian, he is a member of the Rotary Club of Santa Maria Breakfast where he served as Club President in 2003-04. He served as District Governor for Rotary District 5240 in 2012-13 and currently serves as District Rotary Foundation Chair. Frank is a charter member of the District 5240 Paul Harris Society and a charter member of the Triple Crown Donor Circle. He and his wife, Scottie, are Level 2 Major Donors to The Rotary Foundation. They both have partici-pated in several humanitarian projects, both locally and internationally for the benefit of serving others. 

Frank explained to us that doing good in the world means a lot of things. We can do good in our community and around the world. Many of us wish we could do more but we don’t have the money to tackle many of the huge projects that we care about. That is where the Rotary Foundation comes in. There are about 35,000 clubs that donate to TRF! The Foundation uses those funds to help Rotary make a difference in the world by funding some of these huge projects. A copy of the Power Point Frank used in his presentation is attached to this newsletter. 

Frank then explained Paul Harris Fellow. Continuing the legacy of our founder, the Paul Harris Fellow program recognizes individuals who contribute, or who have contributions made in their name, of $1,000 to The Rotary Foundation of Rotary International. Multiple Paul Harris Fellow recognition is extended at subsequent $1,000 levels (e.g., $2,000, $3,000). Recognition consists of a pin with additional stones corresponding to the recipients recognition amount lev-el. There was a well deserved standing ovation when our very own President Patty was presented with a Paul Harris Fellow + 2 for her total contribu-tion of $3,000. Congratulations Patty. 

Ed told us that he grew up in San Francisco. As a young boy he joined the scouts and went on a trip with them to a ski resort. Ed immediately fell in love with the resort, the ski lifts and skiing. At 18, he dropped out of school and went back to the ski resort looking for a job. He was hired to work on the lifts, a job he loved. While at the resort he met a teacher who was there with some of her friends. They got to know each other and eventually married. 3 months later he received his draft notice. After basic training, he was sent to Germany and a couple of months later, his bride joined him. When he was discharged (1 year, 7 months and 4 days later), they purchased a VW and traveled around Europe for 2 or 3 months. 

Upon returning to the States, Ed enrolled in Modesto Community College before transferring to Cal Poly where he majored in Architectural Engineering. One of his required classes was welding, which he knew quite a bit about. At the time, Cuesta was just getting started and they were looking for someone to set up a machine shop. Ed’s teacher recommended him and, once he set up the shop, he was asked if he could teach auto me-chanics. Of course he said yes. This led to him becoming Dean of Vocational Education, a job he held for 35 years. 

While at Cuesta, Ed hired a counselor from Long Beach State. She relocated to the Central Coast, purchased a home in Cambria and, shortly after, became Ed’s second wife. That is how Ed came to live in Cambria. 

If you have the opportunity, take some time to ask Ed about his life. He has a lot of interesting stories to share. 

Sherry Sim introduced Dana by telling us that she joined Rotary in 2002 and is currently a member of Rotary Club of Westlake Village. At the Rotary International Level, DG Dana is the Inter-Country Committee (ICC) National Coordinator for USA. She started the first ICC of USA with her country-of-origin Romania in 2003 and has traveled extensively for various Rotary projects including polio cam-paigns in Nigeria and India. In the last several years she was a presenter, talking about Peace & Conflict Resolution, Prevention Projects and Initiatives at Rotary International Con-ventions, Zone Institutes and Peace Conferences. DG Dana told us that she has been a fan of our club because, when she first joined, she met Monte Rice who en-couraged our club to support one of her projects helping children in Romania. She congratulated us for our crea-tive fundraising despite COVID and is impressed with all the good work we do. Dana believes in The Rotary Foundation and its ability to transform lives. For this reason, she became a Major Donor, a Bequest Society member, a Benefactor and a Paul Harris Society Member. She is a strong supporter of the Annual Fund Program because this is what allows us to work on projects and continue to do good in the world. DG Dana then honored a very surprised Cynthia Woodruff-Neer with a District Governor Recognition for her work with youth in our community, as well as her ongoing service to our club as treasurer. District Governor Dana Moldovan 

Bruce Howard, TRF Chair, began by introducing the Rotary Club of Cambria TRF Committee:  Julie Jenkins, PolioPlus Chair; Gerry & Paula Porter, TRF Endowment Chairs. 

Bruce explained that The Rotary Foundation transforms your gifts into service projects that change lives close to home and around the world. By giving to the Annual Fund, you make these life-changing projects possible so that together, we can keep Doing Good in the World. The Annual Fund is the main funding source for Foundation programs. Your gift empowers Rotarians to carry out sustainable service projects in your community and around the world. At the end of each year, contributions directed to Annual Fund-SHARE from all Rotary clubs in the district are divided between the World Fund and the District Designated Fund. The Rotary Foundation uses the World Fund to support Rotary’s highest-priority grants and programs, which are available to all Rotary districts. Your district uses the District Designated Fund to pay for Foundation, club, and district projects the clubs in your district choose. 

Julie Jenkins explained to us that she was only 8 months old when she contracted Polio so has no memory of the experience. Her dad contracted polio at the same time but the impact on him was more severe. While Julie survived and lived a full life, she would like to see every child have the opportunity to do the same. That is why, hearing that there have been only 2 cases of Polio so far in 2021, brings her to tears. Donations to Polio Plus allow Rotary to continue its world-wide immunization projects. 

Gerry Porter presented Julie Jenkins with a book he purchased while at the Inter-national Meeting in Seoul in 2016. The book is entitled “Doing Good in the World: The Rotary Foundation” by David C. Forward. Mr. Forward was a speaker at the convention and signed the book “Thank you for helping Rotary’s great campaign to eradicate Polio”. Gerry had been hanging on to this book since 2016 waiting for the perfect opportunity to present it to the perfect person. Julie obviously fit that bill! 

Gerry went on to explain that the Rotary Foundation is by far the most difficult to understand by many of today’s Rotarians. Its role as a not-for-profit corporation to support the efforts of Rotary International is very complex and as such becomes hard for people to comprehend. 

Little did he know, when in 1917 Arch Klumph proposed establishing an endowment fund, he was “creating a monster” that in the years ahead would tackle such things as the eradication of polio, 

Continued... 

TRF and the Neal Jensen Foundation 

the world’s largest privately funded international scholarship program for university-level students (Ambassadorial Scholarships), Rotary Grants for University Teachers, Rotary Peace and Conflict Studies Fellowships, Vocational Training Teams for professionals, cultural and educational pro-grams, national and international humanitarian programs, the list goes on and on and will continue to do so thanks to his vision. 

The challenge we have as Rotarians of today is to teach and carry on in the spirit of those that came before us. The Fourth Object of Rotary – “the advancement of in-ternational understanding, goodwill, and peace through a world fellowship of busi-ness and professional persons united in the ideal of service” is significant to the success of The Rotary Foundation. This, in my opinion, is the hardest thing to get across to our club members. Many clubs have the mentality that the monies that they raise for projects should only go for local community projects – “why should we spend dollars for some project in Africa, or India, or South America when there are plenty of needs right here in our own back yard?” 

We can start by setting an example in becoming Paul Harris Fellows, Rotary Foundation Sustaining Members by contributing $100.00 per year or more, or becoming a benefactor by contributing $1000.00 or more or even better yet, place the The Rotary Foundation in your estate plan for a minimum of $10,000.00 and become a member of the Rotary Foundation Bequest Society. 

In addition Gerry described the opportunity for Rotary members to open a Donor Advised Fund by making a tax-deductible contribution through The Rotary Foundation where the proceeds may be donated to any IRS approved 501(c)(3) organization. 

Paula told us that she just got this request from City of Hope where Gerry's doctor was and our son was a patient. They were wanting us to consider them for a donation in our will or trust. All organizations do this-colleges, universities, religious organizations and yes Rotary. They all desire similar donations. Because of Rotary' history and the highest rating on Charity Navigator I chose Rotary knowing my gift will continue to help those in our country and around the world in perpe-tuity. I feel safe that whatever pandemic or flood or other disaster my money will be used wisely. So for my peace of mind I chose TRF." 

To learn more about the Rotary Foundation Endowment, check out this short video at https://youtu.be/x3aMYHpE3uU 

Kitty Connolly joined the Friends of the Fiscalini Ranch Preserve in January 2020 after visiting the Ranch while on vacation. Her work experience includes six years as executive director of the Theodore Payne Foundation for Wild Flowers & Native Plants in LA and 14 years in education at The Huntington Botanical Gardens. She got her start in museums at the Smithsonian Institution after teaching sciences at a variety of colleges and universities. She holds a B.S. in environmental zoology from Ohio University and a M.A. in geography from UCLA. FFRP brings together her experience in non-profit and education with her academic training in ecology, all on one of the most beautiful plac-es you could hope to live. 

Friends of the Fiscalini Ranch Preserve (FFRP) is a non-profit organization dedicated to the preservation and protec-tion of the 437 acre former Fiscalini Ranch. The Ranch is one of the last unspoiled public open spaces on the Califor-nia coast, and FFRP, in collaboration with the Cambria Community Services District, has stewardship responsibility for conservation, restoration, and public participation programs. 

FFRP holds the Conservation Easement that protects and restores the natural resources on the Preserve and main-tains access as a public trust. The organization is responsible for monitoring the property for purposes of environ-mental, public service, and easement compliance. FFRP reviews all plans affecting the Ranch to safeguard this won-derful public resource. 

In addition, FFRP assists in managing the property for the public by organizing volunteers to remove invasive plants, maintain trails, and plant native species to restore natural habitats. FFRP organizes monthly walks with expert do-cents to educate the public about all aspects of the Ranch and sponsors a wildflower show each spring that displays more than 500 specimens. FFRP raises funds from public and private sources and provides a forum and vehicle for public input and direction on the management of the Ranch. 

On Friday, Skate Cambria director Juli Amodei told our club about progress made over the past year toward a new

skate park. Juli is passionate about giving the children of Cambria open recreational space, especially after seeing

how difficult it has been for kids during COVID. To date, the student-led organization raised $168,000! Check out the video

Skate Park Initiative, Youth Driven & Community Supported” at www.skatecambria.com to get an idea

of how hard our local youth are working to get this done and how you can donate toward this project. It is truly

impressive and, if any community can get this done, it is Cambria!

Before her presentation on Friday, Juli gave the Coast Morning Report a preview of the presentation she gave our

club (including a very ice shout out to our club).. You can see it at https://youtu.be/G-zosb-dZZo.

Chuck introduced Youth Services Chair, Cynthia Woodruff-Neer who welcomed everyone to our Celebration of Sen-iors and clarified that she was not talking about our membership. We were lucky to have students from Coast Un-ion and Leffingwell via Zoom to honor and celebrate our RYLA graduates and our scholarship winners. 

Cynthia touted the work of Youth Services reminding us that our club raised $4100 for Interact in a virtual bake sale! In-teract voted at their last meeting to make donations to Doc-tors Without Borders, St. Jude’s Hospital, the World Wildlife Fund as well as local organizations such as ECHO and Camp Ocean Pines. Our club also funded the first ever Peace Essay Contest. All the 3rd graders received the book “Dreamers” and we are sponsoring a volleyball camp at the Middle School this summer that will be taught by high school students and paid for by our funding. 

Christel Chesney is replacing Jane Howard as the leader of RYLA. Christel introduced this year’s RYLA graduates who attended via Zoom due to COVID. She congratulated them and told them she hoped their RYLA experience was something they will always remember. 

Cynthia told us there were 35 graduating seniors from both CUHS and Leffingwell. From the graduating classes, Ro-tary received 16 scholarship applications from CUHS seniors and 2 from Leffingwell students. Donna Crocker, Paula Porter, Heidi Santos and Cynthia interviewed the students and selected 8 scholarship winners, weighing their aca-demics, extra curricular activities, written essays and personal interviews to reach their decisions. 

Leffingwell graduate, Joey Acevedo, was unable to join us but Principal Justin Gish told us that Joey will be attend-ing Full Sail University in Florida to pursue a degree in music production. 

Michelle Acosta will be attending Cal State Fullerton to major in Communications and Public Relations. 

Chrystal Fabela will also be attending Cal State Fullerton, majoring in Criminal Justice and minor in Computer Sci-ence. 

Samantha Fabela is excited to be going to UC Davis to study Political Science with plans to go further into the immi-gration system and see where that takes her. 

Jonathan Jewell will be majoring in Computer Science at Cal Poly and plans to work towards some internships in order to gain experience while attending school. 

Viviana Nunez was unable to attend but Mary Stenbeck, counselor at CUHS, told us Viviana is headed to UC Berkley majoring in Business. 

Jasmine Pena, who hopes to join Rotaract when she gets to the University of Notre Dame where she will be major-ing in Political Science. 

Zachery Stephenson will be going to UC Berkley this Fall. He plans on majoring in Business, but, since he does not have to declare un Junior year, he is leaving his options open. 

Chuck introduced our oldest Charter Member, Tom Tierney, and told him, “In appreciation of your long years of service to the Rotary Club of Cambria, and your hanging in with us for so many years, I would like to present you with a Paul Harris Fellow award” and a trophy that reads “Charter member Tom Tierney, in recognition of your dedicated services as a charter member and loyal Rotarian since 1971, Rotary Club of Cambria est. June 1971”. 

Christel Chesney told Tom that he was really hot in those early days. She then said that the in-coming Presidents decided they need to have a pin made in honor of our 50th years and she wanted him to be the first person to wear it. She then told us that everyone will be getting one in their swag box along with a bottle of champagne, a cupcake, and a bag of pretzels. 

Tom said that Otis brought to his attention that Tom was the only one with back-to-back presidencies. He was the vice president but the president was here for such a short time, he wound up stepping in to replace him. 

Tom wanted to relate to us one of the projects we did that actually got into the Rotary Magazine. When they first started the club, there was a bunch of guys that were in construction and they would meet in one of the ware-houses on Main St. to try to build a following and getting sanctioned. They decided to help the high school with their Medieval Faire. They were able to get a group from Fresno who did jousting and horseback riding in full dress. There were booths at the faire that were run by other non-profits in town as fundraisers for their organizations. Rotary decided to handle the parking by charging each car a small fee to park. However, it did not take long for the police to show up and demand that they stop collecting money because there was a line of cars all the way down Santa Rosa Creek Rd., down Main St. and overflowing onto Hwy 1. Thousands of people were coming to see the event. Needless to say, Rotary wound up not making much money. You can see photos of this event on the slide show that is attached to this email. 

Tom was the President of the HS Booster Club as well as President of our Rotary Club so he was able to get coordinate volunteers from the Rotary Club and the Booster Club to work on projects for the schools. Tom designed a sys-tem for lighting the football field, the cost of which neared $15,000. So the Boosters and Rotary started fundraising and were able to fund the lighting of the field. Rotarians drilled the telephone poles, mounted the light systems and put in all the lighting. Every year, Tom would climb to the top of the poles and adjust the lights so they lit the baseball field then adjusted them again so the lights shined on the football field. 

Linda Sherman told us that Sheila O’Leary Jones who was President of the Chamber of Commerce and owned San Simeon Travel. In May of 1987, everything changed for Rota-ry and women. Sheila joined our club in Fall of 1987 and became our first female member followed by Debra Walton, Superintendent of San Simeon Park District including Hearst Castle and, of course, Flo Kast, better known as Momma Flo. Flo was our first fe-male President and the second one was Nancy Carr! 

The Cambria Community Council transportation system, known locally as “The Cambria Community Bus” provides local door to door service for seniors (persons over 60) and disabled persons within the Cambria-San Simeon area. Multiple stops are not only allowed but encouraged. All rides are free. A dispatcher answers the dispatch phone between 9am and 11am Monday through Friday. If you call outside these hours, you may leave a message. Persons needing a ride must call the dispatcher 1 (805) 927-4173 at least one day prior to the scheduled ride. Each bus is equipped with a cell phone to assist in schedule adherence and process any additions or deletions to the daily schedule. The service operates one bus locally on weekdays, Monday through Friday, between 8am and 4:30pm. 

A second bus makes a day trip to San Luis Obispo on the first and third Tuesdays of each month. This second bus also makes a trip to Paso Robles and Templeton on the second Tuesday of each month. These out of town trips are used primarily for shopping, however, Medical appointments have priority seating. Both buses are ADA equipped. Drivers will provide assistance if necessary for riders entering and exiting the bus as well as transporting packages and groceries into the rider’s home. All drivers are volunteers from the community and again, all rides are free. 

The Cambria Community Bus always needs volunteer drivers. There are no special license requirements. A prospective driver needs a valid Class C license (this is the most common license) and a good driving record. Training will be provided and takes about 8 hours with most of that time being hands on behind the wheel in the bus. Drivers determine their own driving days and whole and half days are available. It is a wonderful way to give back to our community! 

If you want to volunteer to drive or just need more information about driving, call Warren Gay at 1 (805) 927-1147 or Tony Church at 1 (805) 927-1442. 

Dr. Plateroti was born in Italy and moved to New York at the age of 11. After graduating from Fordham University, he attended medical school at the New York College of Osteopathic Medi-cine. He went on to complete his internship and residencies in both Family Medicine and Der-matology. He is dual Boarded in Dermatology and Family Medicine and has been in practice in Templeton for about 25 years. His specialty is Surgical/Mohs procedures for skin cancer. 

Plateroti Dermatology takes an integrative approach that combines the best Western medicine practices with the most effective holistic care. 

1. Elaine Beckham                           7. Patty Griffin
2. Bruce Howard                              8. Nancy Carr
3. Mike Griffin                                 9. Linda Sherman
4. Otis Archie                                  10. Christel Chesney
5. Janet Meyers                               11. Shari Long
6. Donna Crocker                           12. Roger Robinson

Since 2010, Jackie has been the North County Regional Librarian for the County of SLO Libraries.

Before that she was the Librarian of the Morro Bay Branch Library from 2005-2010. She has held variety of library positions since college, including student assistant, Reference and Government Documents librarian, 9 years with the Enoch Pratt Free Library in Baltimore, temporary and volunteer positions throughout the county libraries and 1 year as a school librarian. She and her husband are librarians who received their Master’s degree in Library and Information Technology from the University North Texas. They have 2 adult daughters and live in SLO.

The San Luis Obispo County Library was established in 1919 under authority of the County Free Library Act. The Library is a department of the County of San Luis Obispo, operating under the authority of the County Board of Supervisors. Today the library provides service to residents of 6 the 7 incorporated cities and the unincorporated areas of San Luis Obispo County, a service area that extends over 3,000 square miles. The Library offers circulation of books, magazines, newspapers, government publications, and other special publications, and also offers downloadable media of all types.

Jackie told us that Grab & Go is now available at 7 locations! Our doors are open Tues-Sat, 9-5, at the Arroyo Grande, Atascadero, Cambria, Los Osos, Morro Bay, Nipomo, and SLO Libraries for browsing, holds pickups, and computers. Face coverings are required and visits are limited to 30 minutes.

Bruce Howard asked if anyone had any idea how many Americans were infected by polio. The answer: a quarter of a million. He then asked if anyone know who the first doctor to administer a polio vaccine and the year he did it? It was Dr. Jonas Salk in 1954. Finally, does anyone know the name of the competing doctor who did a live virus? His name was Albert Sabin. 

In 1978-79 Rotary started a program in the Philippines to eradicate polio. It was only conducted in the Philippines and was a 5 year project. It was the first Health, Hunger and Humanity (3H) Grant that Rotary did. About 6 million children were immunized against polio, at a cost of about $760,000. The funds for 3H Grants come from your Annual Fund donations. So, everything related to Polio started with the Annual Fund. In 1984 Dr. Albert Sabin spoke to the Rotary Convention and commended rotary on the wonderful job they did in the Philippines. He said, if you guys were really good, you would take on the world. RI figured it would cost around $125 million to eradicate polio world-wide. About a quarter of a billion dollars was raised by Rotary through the Annual Fund. When we started the program, there was over 1,000 new cases in the world per day. Today we have had just 2 cases of the wild cases of the polio virus so far this year. About 19 million people today don’t have polio today because of our efforts! Please keep up your support! 

Cynthia Woodruff-Neer introduced the talented middle schoolers who won this year’s 4-Way Essay Contest. The essays were written during the month of February. A committee consisting of Sue Robinson, Julie Jenkins, Nancy McKarney and Cynthia. Cynthia then introduced Mr. Donaldson, Language Arts teacher at Santa Lucia Middle School. This is his 3rd year advising on this project and it was challenging during virtual learning. Mr. Donaldson thanked us for doing this and helping to pull it off during a COVID year. It wasn’t easy and the participation was less than desirable but he is sure they will come back pretty strong next year. The award money is a great motivation and it is great that we link this sort of opportunity to money and excelling at things like this will eventually lead to exactly that. Thank you all, also, for the volleyball grant. We are going to try to pull off our volleyball camp run by Mr. Donaldson and some high school students. Volleyball is a thing in Cambria and it has been strong for years now. 

We are pleased to announce the winners of the contest: 

3rd Place: Launa Hedding 

2nd Place: Anna Schalk 

1st Place: Juan Urbina 

The winners will each receive a certificate and cash prizes: $100 for 1st place, $75 for 2nd and $50 for 3rd. The students were also encouraged to consider joining Interact when they reach high school. 

Peace Essay Winners 

Julie Jenkins told us that in December we reached out to Sarah Johnston, English teacher, to ask whether she was interested in coordinating a Peace Essay Contest for her students. As the daughter of Rotarians, she embraced the idea immediately but needed to figure out how to work it into the year’s course work. It fit best into the “inquiry” module that was coming up in February (it wasn’t ideal but the best option had already been completed in the Fall). I sourced a few ideas from Rotary’s website for Sarah’s consideration. We told her that our committee would work within whatever guidelines were needed in order to achieve the purpose of the module—no length requirements. Students were not required to submit their assignments to the contest but 15 did. All 8 members of the committee read the 15 essays and submitted their selections for first, second and third place. In parallel with the Four Way Test essay contest, we are awarding $100 for first place, $75 for second place and $50 for third place. As the Peacebuilders Committee has no budget, Cynthia has provided the prize money from the Youth Services budget. Sarah explained that, as seniors during the pandemic, it has been a challenge to make sure they have all the things that they need and that are necessary as they move into the exciting next stage of life. The inquiry unit is about the best way to question, the best way to research and the best way to think critically about the bigger issues we have in the world, one of them being what is peace and what does peace mean to you. 

3rd Place: Diego Hernandez 

2nd Place: Viviana Nuñez 

1st Place: Jonathan Jewell 

Kenneth L. Decroo truly believes you must live a life worth writing about. Before he became an educator and consultant for universities and school districts, he worked in the world of research and wild animal training in the motion picture industry for many years. He holds advance degrees in anthropology, instructional technology, and education. He lives and writes in the San Bernardino mountains of Southern California with his wife, Tammy. When not writing and lecturing, he loves to ride his BMW adventure motorcycle down the Baja peninsula to beaches and bays without names. More about his adventures can be found on his blog, http://bajamotoquest.com 

PE Patty Griffin started the presentation by asking everyone to submit a photo of themselves in the ‘70’s for our April contest. Patty then said, even though it is not the favorite part of her job, she is coming to us again asking for support of our next fundraiser, Ping Pong Palooza by encouraging friends and family members to purchase ping pong balls. If you are on social media, consider posting about the fundraiser. 

What were you doing in the summer of 1971? 

Patty: Loaded her horse along with 10 others into a rundown trailer and rode to King City to participate in a mini-rodeo. 

Dr. Joe: Spent the summer at the Jersey Shore as he did every summer. 

Joan: Took the bar exam and found out she passed it, went out to celebrate with friends and met her husband! 

Sue R: Rented a house in the Hamptons with friends and spent every weekend there. 

Bob K: Since he was 4, he was living in Buffalo and probably playing in a sandbox. 

Ed Pearce: Retired from Cuesta after 38 years. 

Cynthia: Was 11 years old got her first passport for a trip to Japan the next year. 

Mike G: In his 2nd year at Humbolt State. 

Dennis R: Just finished first year teaching, Linda was planning their wedding while he was sailing with a friend. 

Shari: Graduated high school, packed everything she owned into her Triumph Spitfire and moved to Cayucos. 

Otis: Baled hay for the first time but showed up the first day in shorts and a t-shirt. 

Linda S: Took a canoe trip on the Wisconsin River before beginning graduate school. 

Gerry P: He and Paula and their joined her parents in Newport Beach. Paula & her dad would make fresh fish and scrambled eggs for breakfast every morning. 

Mary Ann: Worked in Yellowstone Nat’l Park for the summer then took a road trip to CA with friends. 

Nancy M: Gave birth to a beautiful baby girl. A week later moved from Ventura to Oceanside. 

Christel: Was mother to a 6 mo old boy, her husband was just promoted to Captain in the Army and headed to the National Security Agency in Washington DC. 

Bob P: Had just finished sophomore year at Napa HS and spent 2 weeks at Whiskey Town Lake in No. CA, hiking, skiing and dirt biking. 

Judy S. Was mother to a big furry cat named Pierre who got skunked. She took the cat into the shower and poured tomato juice all over it. The cat hated her after that. 

Steve O: We adopted our oldest daughter Nicole. 

Janet: 1971 was a bad year because her mother passed away in July. 

Roger: Moved to Marina Del Rey, bought a Pinto and went to Europe. All this on $12,000 year. 

Chuck: Was 15 yrs old growing up in Pittsburg, took a vacation in Stone Harbor, NJ. Every night they would listen to the Pittsburgh Pirate games on the car radio. The Pirates won the World Series that year. 

Rick Low: attending Cal Poly, inner tubing down the Nacimiento River with large bottles of wine. 

Julie: Got involved with a local theatre group at Penn State working on You’re a Good Man Charlie Brown. 

Elaine: Was a 25 yr old single lady living in London sharing a flat with 4 others. Was a bridesmaid 4 times. 

Nancy B: Moved to San Diego from Connecticut where her twin brother was trying out for the SEALS. 

Wade is currently the mayor of Carpinteria. But he can't be defined by just one title. He's been a BMX racing champion (5-times), Rotary leader who's traveled the world in the name of humanitarian service and is a Japanese American who's family has overcome discrimination. 

In Creating Destiny, he writes about the many ups and downs throughout life and how it made him who he is today. 

Times were tough for his family as Japanese Americans in the wake of World War II. His family was among those removed to interment camps in the Arizona desert, stripped of all their belongings and forced to start over when the war was over. 

Their struggles still weren’t over, with discrimination part of daily life. Wade was not allowed inside his friend’s homes because of nervous parents. “It was hard always being looked at with suspicion. In some ways the discrimination made me who I am – it made me work harder to prove myself,” he says. 

Wade hopes his book will inspire others to embrace community service. “It’s the most rewarding feeling, knowing you’ve played a part in improving someone else’s life forever,” he says. 

You can purchase Wade’s book at www.wadenomura.com/book. If you order it now, note on your order form that you are with Cambria Rotary. Wade and his wife, Debbie, will be delivering the books to Cambria on Friday, April 2nd. 

We are a Strong club...The Best Rotary Club in the World! We have accomplished, as a unit, an immeasurable amount of good for our friends, neighbors and so many of those in need here and around the world. Our Members are of all persuasions, talents and abilities that work in unison towards common positive goals. And we have all had the benefit of creating new friends and close relationships through the course of our Rotary actions. Having said that.... Attrition happens. It just happens for so many obvious reasons, no need to list. Strong clubs can dwindle all too quickly. To stay strong we need to work at adding new members to fill the gaps created by loss and to help keep the energy flowing so we can remain productive and beneficial to our community and the world. With that said... I want you each to remember how you were introduced to Rotary and some of your most enjoyable Rotary experiences. It can be a good time you had or a particularly satisfying experience. Nancy McKarney: was introduced to Rotary in 1988. The N. Hollywood Club named her a member before it was technically required. She became a member of Cambria Rotary in 1994. One memorable experience was taking a cruise to Puerta Vallarta with a whole gang of club members and being served paella by a group of Rotarians. 

Christel: Socorro Simons brought her to the club, and, as it turns out, all her best friends are members of Rotary now. She didn’t have mush of a social life in Cayucos because, where they lived, was mostly vacation rentals. Her most memorable experience was hanging out with the kids at RYLA where she was a counselor. 

Pres. Chuck: was introduced to Rotary back in Pittsburgh when he was a young attorney. He was encouraged by the older attorneys in his office to join and, quite frankly, he did not enjoy any of the meetings he attended. He thought, “who are these people singing songs and doing the pledge”. When he moved to Cambria in 2004, he was invited to a Rotary meeting and fell in love with our club specifically. 

Linda Sherman: she was introduced to Rotary in 2016, right after her husband passed away, by Joan Broadhurst. Shortly thereafter, Socorro knocked on her door and told her that she was coming to Rotary with her the next day. One of her most memorable experiences is what she is doing right now. She is restoring the history of our club going back to 1971. It has become quite an incredible project. 

Otis: Rotary actually sponsored him when he was in college. The Snyder Rotary Club even gave him a small stipend that really helped. His most memorable part is the fact that we are really his family! He still gets teary eyed when he thinks about the reception the club threw for him and Joe. 

Chuck DeVroede: In 1982 he was approached by Jim Siegel (?) from Cambria Electric. He felt he was too busy with his business but kept being approached by people asking when he was going to come to Rotary. He especially enjoys the comradery. 

Sue R.: This guy kept running around. He had a mustache and walked with a cane and he talked me into joining Rotary. What she loves and really misses the new member orientations where everyone lets their hair down and has a good time. But we will be doing it again. 

Dick & Bonnie: Bonnie moved to Cambria first and got started in Rotary because she had a business and wanted to give back. Dick’s sponsor was Bonnie. He had been a member of the Moorpark Club before moving to Cambria. His most memorable time has been in his role as Sheriff. 

continued 

Nina Lozano is co-anchor of KSBY News every weeknight at 5:00, 6:00, 10:00 and 11:00 p.m. She joined the KSBY News team in October 2020. 

Before moving to the Central Coast, Nina spent 3 years at KTNV-TV, the Scripps-owned ABC affiliate in Las Vegas, Nevada where she was an anchor and reporter. Prior to that, she worked as a reporter in Rochester, New York. 

“I’m very happy to join KSBY and live in California’s beautiful Central Coast. I am humbled by this opportunity to serve the community and tell people's stories. Being a part of this community makes me proud to call the Central Coast home." 

Nina is from the Philippines and is a proud graduate of the University of the Philippines Diliman where she received her bachelor's degree in Broadcast Communications. In 2014, Nina moved to Tampa, Florida to start her broadcast career as an intern at WFLA-TV. 

Nina told us to feel free to contact her with any questions or with information about upcoming events or local stories at Nina.lozano@ksby.com. 

John Lindsey is a media relations representative and marine meteorologist for Pacific Gas and Electric Company at Diablo Canyon Power Plant. He has worked for PG&E for more than 16 years. He has forecasted weather and oceanographic conditions along the Central Coast of California for over 30 years. His forecast can be heard every morning on 920 KVEC radio. He writes a weekly column that appears in Tuesday's edition San Luis Obispo Tribune. He also writes a weather forecast that appears in Sunday's edition of Tribune, Santa Maria Times, Lompoc Record and Santa Ynez Valley News. 

He is on the Board of Directors of the Point San Luis Lighthouse Keepers, Central Coast Aquarium, PG&E Veterans’ Employee Resource Group and the Lost at Sea committee. 

Prior to working with PG&E, he was a marine meteorologist and research scientist with Tenera Environmental. He served in the U.S. Navy for over 24 years. He attended Santa Rosa Junior College, California and Cal Poly in San Luis Obispo, California. He successfully completed the U.S. Naval Aviation Meteorology and Oceanography Program at Naval Air Station Pensacola, Florida. 

He currently lives in Los Osos, California and is married to Trisha. They have two children, Chloe 23 and Sean 17. 

If you are interested in current weather information, John told us that he keeps weather information up to date on his Twitter page (twitter.com/PGE_John). Or if you have any questions for him, his email is jcl5@pge.com 

What funds what? 

How it works…. 

What it does and does not do… 

Who’s on 1st, what’s on second? 

Bob explained where our dues, our pledges, and donations go and what the benefits are. A copy of his presentation is attached to this email. 

You can make one-time donations or recurring monthly donations to TRF Annual Fund, Polio Fund, World Fund and/or Disaster Relief Fund by going to my.rotary.org/en/donate or by calling 1-866-976-8279. 

Ben Higgins is the Director of Agricultural Operations for the Hearst Corporation, where he oversees two properties on California’s Central Coast – the 83,000-acre Hearst Ranch in San Simeon and the 73,000-acre Jack Ranch in Cholame. Hearst is the largest agricultural landowner on the Central Coast and the largest single-source producer of grass-fed beef in the nation, selling over 1,000 head of grass-fed-and-finished animals to Whole Foods Market annually. 

Prior to joining Hearst in 2013, Higgins served as Executive Vice President of the California Cattlemen’s Association, appointed by President George W. Bush as State Director of USDA Rural Development in California, and was Director of Government Affairs for Mainstream Energy Corp. He also has a significant history of community involvement, via local economic development organizations, agricultural trade organizations, Cal Poly San Luis Obispo, local 4-H/FFA clubs and more. 

Higgins resides in San Simeon with his wife Rochelle and daughters Audrey and Mary. 

He was asked to speak today about the Sebastian’s building in Old San Simeon. The building was originally constructed in 1873. It is actually a building constructed from 2 separate buildings that were previously our at San Simeon Point. He told us about the plans to bring the building up to code while keeping the original layout. Once the permits are issued, the first thing they will do is raise the building and put in a new foundation. Right now the plan is to turn it back into a market likely with some “grab and go” food options. The tasting room will remain where it is, in the old Hearst warehouse. Plans are in place to install a kitchen and provide lunch and dinner options. 

Bake Sale

Youth Services Chair, Cynthia Woodruff-Neer, told us that she simply told the students the day and time for the bake sale and they took it from there. She told us to be prepared to be

impressed with the baked goods they created. She also thanked Bob Kasper for agreeing to, once again, be our auctioneer. He has been working with them throughout the week to come up with a way to do this virtually.

Cynthia introduced Interact students: Ava, Caiden, Crystal, Jasmine, Lissi, Sami, Shaidy, Violet,

Viviana and the Interact Advisor, Ayan Johnson.

After all the baked good were auctioned, the total raised was $3,255. Joan Broadhurst said she would like to donate an additional $45 to make the total an even $3,300. Then, Elaine Beckham told us that she is unable to each much in the way of sweets so didn’t bid on anything but she wanted to do her part so she donated $700, bringing the total to an amazing $4,000! As

Auctioneer, Bob Kasper said, this is why our club is the Best Rotary Club in the World!

San Luis Obispo County Sheriff Ian Parkinson was sworn into office on January 3, 2011. Parkinson's career in law enforcement in San Luis Obispo County began when he joined the Morro Bay Police Department in 1984. He transferred to the San Luis Obispo Police Department in 1988, where he rose to the rank of Captain, second in command of the department. 

The Sheriff began by telling us that they were able to clear out the Highway 1 and Cambria Drive homeless encampment just prior to the rain. The encampment filled up to about 6 feet of rain so a number of lives may have been saved by evacuating that area. 

This has been a very interesting year with COVID and our lives have been changed in many ways. We have all been on a roller coaster. There have been many changes to how it is dealt with. Deputies still have to be on the street and make contact. The jail has done a great job keeping the incidence down. 

We had 3 deputy involved shootings within a 4 month period which is unprecedented for our county. In all 3 cases, the suspect was killed and in 2 cases 2 of the deputies were shot. Both deputies suffered significant injuries with one being shot in the jaw and the other shot in the leg. He was pleased to report that both deputies are doing well and will hopefully return to the job soon. The downside of these events is the mental toll it takes on the deputies and the families of those injured. And the taking of a life can be difficult to deal with. 

Crime is up, but major crimes in January are down. There has been a increase over the past year in burglaries, theft, and property crimes possibly caused by the economy and/or the mass release of prisoners from county jails. Domestic violence has been consistently up every month likely due to the COVID lockdown and the economy. 

On the Cambria front, the biggest issue has been the homeless. Especially during fire season, it is imperative that encampments be taken down as quickly as possible. Luckily, Cal Fire has been very quick in pulling the trigger to get aircraft from Paso in the air, many times arriving before the fire engines can get there. 

When asked who we can contact if we see homeless entering deeply wooded ravines, he encouraged us to call the Coast Station at 805-528-6083 and ask to speak Cmdr. McDonald or one of his sergeants. They are anxious to know about any homeless in heavily wooded areas because of fires. Some of these are well hidden and hard for the Deputies to locate. 

ROTARY CLUB 

Reflection and Resilience for Changing Times 

Willow Baker is the program director of the Prem Rawat Foundation's signature Peace Education Program, an innovative series of video-based workshops that help people discover and develop their inner strength and personal peace. These workshops are available in over 70 countries in 37 languages. 

Fluent in French, Willow has had the opportunity to work and travel in Africa and throughout Europe. She is also Peace Chair for Conejo Valley Rotary. 

The Peace Education Program is an empowering series of workshops that help people discover their own inner strength and personal peace. Food for People offers an innovative approach to helping people emerge from the cycle of poverty. TPRF also provides essential humanitarian aid to those in crisis. 

Willow reminded us that peace is a lifestyle, not a destination. 

Brian has managed organizations for Nobel laureates Archbishop Desmond Tutu and the Dalai Lama, taking the knowledge they have imparted to him and created programs to inspire youth on their own explorations of ethics, and that reshape conversations on peace, equality and forgiveness. 

He has worked on projects in India with Kailash Satayarthi and sits on the board of Leymah Gbowee's U.S organization. He was the founding executive director of the Human Thread Foundation, an organization with a mission to educate the public and drive awareness about human dignity and human trafficking. In addition, Brian was a co-creator of The Ubuntu Lab, an organization created to facilitate a better public understanding of our common humanity. He regularly consults with NGOs, governments, corporations and celebrities to help them strategize on how to best optimize their platforms to be change makers for good. 

Brian was a Rotary Youth Exchange Student to Brazil and became a Rotarian in his 20s when he joined the Rotary Club of Hollywood, California. He helped to create the Rotary Club of San Francisco - Castro, Rotary's first LGBT-cultured club, and is currently the charter president of the Rotary Club for Global Action, an e-club based in District 5150 with membership from countries around the world including some countries where Rotary is not currently allowed to establish an in-country presence. 

Dr. Sakeena Ali is an educator and a lifelong learner. Her goals are to empower those in need and help others reach their highest potential. 

She has been working the education field for 20+ years and has experience with all ages and backgrounds. Her experience working with international students in the US inspires her to continue to learn about others. Her background studying abroad, working in the US and overseas, and visiting 30+ countries brings a unique perspective to her work. 

Dr. Ali received her Ed.D. in educational leadership from California State Polytechnic University, Pomona, where her research focused on building professional learning communities within educational organizations to better achievements of students, faculty and staff. 

Growing up with immigrant parents who began their life adventures by moving across the globe gave Dr. Ali the enthusiasm to embrace all that life has to offer. She earned a B.A. in human development and history, with a minor in education, at UC San Diego, where she studied abroad on Semester at Sea. She met people from around the world and learned about their cultures. After graduating, she continued to work internationally, teaching English language skills to cruise ship workers. She subsequently served in Peace Corps Ukraine and completed a TESOL Master’s International degree through American University. Shortly after serving she was an English language fellow in Turkey for two years. She has presented at many English Language Teaching (ELT) conferences and facilitated workshops in the US and abroad. 

Dr. Ali’s love for people and cultures around the world brought her back to Peace Corps, where she helps others gain the opportunity to see and better understand the world they live in. In October 2017, she began as a field- based recruiter for the Los Angeles area, including Santa Barbara and Ventura County. In this role, she presents Peace Corps opportunities through class talks, panel discussions, information sessions, and other events in order to encourage those who have a passion to serve disadvantaged communities abroad. She also meets with individuals to help them through the application process and at times acts as a career mentor. Additionally, she works as a staging facilitator, preparing departing volunteers for an extraordinary two years of service abroad. 

Peace Corps and Rotary International have common values and have been working together for years. Today we are going to learn more about the Peace Corps as well as how Rotary members and Return Peace Corps volunteers can work together in supporting sustainable projects in communities of need abroad. Dr. Sakeena Ali is a return Peace Corps volunteer and she will share about her experiences in the Peace Corps as well as discuss the Partnership between Rotary and Peace Corps. 

James Kennedy is the Founder, President, and CEO of Beach Cities Solar Consulting LLC, with Global Corporate Headquarters based in San Juan Puerto Rico and remote offices in cities throughout the state of California. Beach Cities Solar Consulting LLC is an education based solar consulting firm that works with homeowners, business owners, and corporations to provide them with turnkey solutions to go solar, save money, and become energy independent. James has consulted on over 100 commercial and residential solar installations throughout California, New Mexico, New York, and Puerto Rico. James splits his time between Puerto Rico and Manhattan Beach and cares deeply about protecting the environment for future generations and getting America off fossil fuels for good. James is the Vice President of the San Juan Rotary Club and recently published Solar Energy Secrets For Homeowners (available on Amazon). He is giving a complimentary copy of his book to all of our club’s Rotarians. 

Dr. Joe, filling in for Chairperson, Paula Porter who was without electricity at the time, thanked the club for the opportunity to do a presentation about the Peace Committee. Joe said they are taking baby steps and getting their stride this year and part of that is to have programs where we have discussion topics. In the interest of predictability in this time when so much is unpredictable he gave us an overview of what we will be doing. First we watched a short video about peace. You can watch this excellent video at: 

https://youtu.be/6vuXEvhua1A . 

We then broke into groups to answer the following question: During the past week, what are some ways you have worked to create peace within yourself and/or with others. After each group met, one person was selected to share one of those peace cultivating practices with the rest of the club. After all the groups have shared, we reflected on some common themes that emerged. 

Group 1: Kate Perry shared that her mom died September 17th and theirs was a less than ideal relationship. She has been struggling with what will never be when it comes to that relationship. There is no small thing when it comes to being mindful about yourself and cultivating peace and being at peace. 

Group 2: Janet Meyers said that their group talked about the need for patience. Patience is so important to having peace in your life. We all find ourselves in situations where we lose our patience but we have a choice to be patient or not. To be respectful or not. To be kind or not kind. Being aware of that consciousness is very important. 

Group 3: Otis Archie talked about the importance of listening. By listening, people are being heard and by being heard, stress is relieved. 

Group 4: Julie Jenkins discussed the need to take personal responsibility for ourselves or where we are. While we have no control over what the other person is doing, we have control over what we are doing. Also, cancelling out some of the voices that come out through Facebook and other social media and instead finding your own worth. 

Joe finished by reflecting on the one theme he picked up on and that is “Slow down”. Paula added that peace really is an inside job. 

Joel Sheets joined The Land Conservancy Board in 2019. He is a retired scientist who moved to San Luis Obispo with his family in 2014. He earned a Ph.D. in Physiology and Biophysics from the University of California, Irvine, CA. He spent over 30 years working for Dow AgroSciences, having various research roles as Research Leader in the Biochemistry & Molecular Biology Department. 

He has authored/co-authored over 25 patents, over 40 external peer reviewed publications and book chapters, and over 200 proprietary internal research reports in the area of Agricultural Biochemistry. His primary research interests are in the application of insecticidal proteins in agriculture. He is a board member of the San Luis Obispo Rotary Club and currently enjoys many outdoor activities including hiking, biking, sailing and touring. 

The Land Conservancy of San Luis Obispo County works cooperatively with both landowners and government agencies to find positive, mutually beneficial solutions. Our goal is to help prevent poorly planned development, protect drinking water sources, restore wildlife habitat and promote family farmlands and ranches. 

Since 1984, we have permanently conserved over 24,000 acres of land in San Luis Obispo County. With your support, we’ll ensure that San Luis Obispo County has wild natural areas, productive family farms and ranches, clean fresh water, and stunning landscapes forever. 

See PowerPoint presentation attached to this email for more details about Joel’s very interesting presentation especially about plans to preserve ranchland in the North Coast. 

Soren Christensen became Hearst Ranch Winery’s winemaker in 2014. His expertise hails from working with some of the best vineyards in Paso Robles. While at Hope Family Winery, he worked on the winemaking team crafting Cabernet-based wines for Treana and Liberty School and later worked with the Rhône-variety based Alta Colina Vineyard. 

Hearst Ranch Winery owners, Jim and Debby Saunders are in a partnership with Steve and Barbara Hearst. The main tasting room is in San Simeon but they also have a second one in Paso. 

Soren first met longtime grape grower Jim Saunders some 20 years ago, when he was tasked with sampling grapes prior to the 2000 harvest. The fledgling cellar-hand became fast friends with the Saunders, who was selling his grapes to top wineries at that point. “Jim offered insight and expertise that I took to heart, so it was an easy decision to join his team,” Christensen said. “Making wine worthy of carrying the Hearst name is no small task. I am honored to join their team and will strive to exceed expectations as I embark on this new journey. 

Soren told us that a new food purveyor, Field to Table, has just signed on to provide food at the San Simeon tasting room. 

Dennis Frahmann is a journalist, writer and award-winning marketer who grew up in small farming and resort towns in Wisconsin and now lives in the small seaside town of Cambria, California. He holds a B.A. from Ripon College in English and philosophy, and a masters in journalism from Columbia University. After an initial stint as a restaurant reviewer and reporter for Mpls. St. Paul Magazine, Frahmann worked in marketing for a variety of high-tech companies, including Control Data, Xerox, and Sage. He is currently Director of the Cambria Film Festival. 

Dennis told us that, when they started out, our goal was to create a film festival that celebrated our community and our shared love of film from around the world. That remains our mission. Admittedly, no one can predict with confidence what the world might look like in February of 2021, but we know one thing. If the Cambria Film Festival wants to host another wonderful year of outstanding films, we need to start now. It takes a full year to plan and execute. That’s why we’re sharing our thinking with our entire community of filmgoers, volunteers, screeners, and sponsors. We are committed to moving forward with our plans for a film festival dedicated to romance, romantic comedies and the complexities of love on February 4-7, 2021. We believe it will be good for our town and for all of us. With that in mind, we already put out a call for films on FilmFreeway.com. If you know filmmakers who may be interested, let them know about our festival and encourage them to submit. Screeners, get ready. In about 30 days, we anticipate asking you once more to start your watching engines. We hope life is closer to normal by then, but that you can still give us your time. Volunteers, we’ll keep you informed on our progress. We’re looking at new ways to make your experience even better, and we plan to host a special session for key roles in mid-summer. Passholders and sponsors, please keep the Festival in your thoughts and plans. Just know that your enthusiasm and support during our first three years resulted in reserves sufficient, even in these financially perilous times, to allow us to host a fourth year, even if we need to scale it back. Meanwhile, we will use our Facebook and Twitter pages to share weekly film recommendations. We plan to showcase films at the Cambria Center for the Arts on July 29 and October 21. And we’re exploring options for testing a virtual film festival later this summer. If all goes well, this will provide an alternative way to view some of our Festival films next February. In February 2021, we hope our Festival will be one of many reasons why locals and out-of-towners will want to spend time on this beautiful coast and celebrate that theme that motivates our programming . . . love is in the air. To give you a taste of that, I am happy to share our poster design for the 2021 Festival. 

We were so pleased to have the officers of this year’s Interact Club join us. Presidents Jasmine Peña and Sami Fabila; Vice Presidents Viviaña Nunez; Secretary Crystal Fabela and, Social Media Director Caiden Kennedy. Treasurer Violet Wills was unable to join us. 

Each of the Interact students told us why they wanted to be involved in Interact (see their presentation attached to this email). 

We were told that during the week of November 2-6, the students will be celebrating World of Interact in a rather creative way. 

Member Monday (11/2) and they will introduce the officers to the student body and encourage everyone to join. 

Take Action Tuesday (11/3) they will be encouraging the community to take action by voting, participating in projects that benefit the community such as community clean up. 

Around the World Wednesday (11/4) our local Interact club will be connecting with a club from another area (country) via video. 

Thankful Thursday (11/5) they will be showing appreciation to their advisors (but don’t tell them It is a surprise). 

Fundraise Friday: Interactors will be selling baked good on campus. 

We were also reminded of their Fun Run/Walk Fundraiser. For more information on how you can participate or donate, go to https://runsignup.com/Race/CA/Cambria/InteractFunRunWalkCambriatoSantaBarbara 

Asst. DG Jane Howard told us that it is an honor to introduce Deb who was with the Sheriff’s Dept. for 18 years before being hired as SLO Police Chief in 2003. She served until 2011. 

Deb asked us to take a minute to imagine what our community would be like without our Rotary Club. What would have happened if we didn’t provide scholarships, food for families in need, volleyballs for kids whose volleyball camp was cancelled, etc. Please know you are so relevant and important to the community during these difficult times. 

Our focus this year is Rotary Opens Opportunities, selected long before COVID. We are being challenged to find opportunities despite what everyone is facing. Check out RI’s video at https://www.bing.com/videos/search?q=Rotary+International+video+%22What+we+see%22&docid=607995961547360068&mid=E8E94660AA081FD017F0E8E94660AA081FD017F0&view=detail&FORM=VIRE. 

Our District-wide focus. Membership is a priority. Look for opportunities for new clubs. We can create satellite clubs that meet at different times and places; cause-based clubs; clubs that cater to different demographics. Do you have any ideas for opportunities for new kinds of clubs. We need to keep in touch with members who are not attending meetings to keep them engaged. Continue doing community service projects to keep members involved. 

The second focus is the Rotary Brand. To quote Maya Angelou: “I’ve learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel”. This is true of our club meetings. Getting word out about our club through social media is important. 

Deb also reminded us that we are still working to eradicate Polio. One of the speakers at this year’s conference is a man who was raised by a mother in an iron lung due to polio. She told us that he has an amazing and uplifting story and encouraged everyone to attend the virtual conference to hear him speak. You can check out the agenda for the entire conference at https://www.dropbox.com/s/2pcdtsu2729ayfn/Agenda%20for%20Website%202020.pdf?dl=0 

Finally, DG Deb reminded us of a quote by Charles Dickens, “No one is useless in this world who lightens the burden of another”. 

Deb then presented the District 5240 People of Action Award to Linda Sherman for her tireless and selfless service. 

Mike di Milo is the Education Coordinator and holds a Bachelor of Science from Cal Poly in

Natural Resources Management. He leads field trips and is involved in coordinating all of

the recycling education program activities for the IWMA. Mike has over twenty years of

experience in developing and administering school education programs. Mike, along with

his staff do 900 recycling programs to both children and adults throughout the county.

This was a very interesting presentation and we all learned a few things we did not know

such as food scraps can be turned into compost and electricity if we put them in our green bins. (See the

flyer attached to this email for more info).

For more information about the county’s waste management program, go to: https://www.iwma.com/

On January 17 & 18, 2020, Rotary brought peacemakers together from around the world to Southern California. The World Peace Conference was held at the Ontario Convention Center. Rudy Westervelt, Chair of Rotary World Peace Conference 2020, and his team of Rotarians from eight Rotary Districts dedicated two years to produce this conference. 

“The mission of the Rotary World Peace Conference 2020 is to bring together experts with solutions to major issues that are occurring in our personal lives, homes, schools, businesses and communities, not just in Southern California, but around the world. We are inviting leaders from health care, academia, government, public safety, religions, business, and communities to meet together to share the solutions presented by experts. The format will allow for action plans to be developed such that real and measurable actions can be undertaken when attendees return home.” 

Craig Collins is a retired USAF officer and also a retired pilot of Continental Airlines. He came from a military family, his father retiring after 28 years of active USAF service. Craig attended the US Air Force Academy, graduated and was commissioned in June 1969. He completed pilot training in July 1970 and follow-on F-4 training in July 1971. His first operational assignment was at Da Nang Air Base, Republic of Viet Nam, where he flew 222 combat missions and amassed 379 combat flying hours in the F-4 from Jul 1971-July 1972. His post Viet Nam assignments were at Homestead AFB, FL and Nellis AFB, NV. He separated from active duty in Oct 1978 and began flying commercially for Continental Airlines. He was furloughed in October 1980 and re-entered the military as an F-4 pilot in the Air Force Reserve and later as an F-16 pilot with the same unit in Austin, TX. In 1985 he was recalled from his furlough with Continental and continued his airline career until his mandatory age 60 retirement in 2006. He simultaneously continued his Air Force Reserve career until his retirement in June 2007, having served in the military for 36 years. 

Scott was born and raised in Santa Barbara, California and when he’s not working, he enjoys spending time with his dog, hobbies such as Amateur (Ham) Radio and photography, many outdoor activities and giving back to the local and international community through his involvement with the Rotary Club of Goleta Noontime, where he has been a member since 2013 and served as club President in 2016-17. He is a member of the Paul Harris Society, is a Multiple Paul Harris Fellow (PHF), Major Donor to The Rotary Foundation and Bequest Society Member. Scott served as Rotary District 5240 Communications Director in 2015-16 and was awarded "The Quiet Rotarian Award". He served as Assistant Governor for the Rotary clubs in Goleta, Santa Barbara, Montecito and Carpinteria area in 2017-18, Rotary International District 5240 Chief Oper-ating Officer in 2018-19 and currently serves as Rotary Zone 26 Assistant Public Image Coordinator (ARPIC), Rotary District 5240 Administrator, PRLS Director and member of the Board of Directors for the Rotary Dis-trict 5240 Charitable Foundation. In 2022-23, Scott will serve as Rotary District 5240 Governor. He has also served on several local non-profit boards over the past 20 years. 

Scott gave us some great information about how to avoid being a sitting duck to cybercriminals! You can see his entire presentation at https://www.synergyinc.net/rotary-cybersecurity-resources/ 

Dick Cameron introduced our speaker, Jeff Jones who is the current President of Morro Bay Rotary. Dick told us that Jeff has been with the club since 1996 and is a 7 times Paul Harris Fellow. 

Jeff told us that it is a challenge to get someone to take on the job of President. The President makes a difference in the club, the community and the world. He/she must be willing to take a risk, build trust and teamwork by encouraging every member of the club to participate. Some of the requirements include: 

Gumby Management Style Ability to Network with other Clubs 

Plan & Organize Be Decisive 

Be Creative Keep Things Fun 

It all comes down to “Service Above Self. 

If you are interested, there is a lot of information on the role of a Rotary Club President on Rotary.org: 

https://my.rotary.org/en/learning-reference/learn-role/president 

Jim Zuur told us about a trip he and his wife, Mary Ellen took with 2 other couples to South Africa. They started off doing wine tasting in the wine tasting region north of Cape Town where they also toured an African Penguin Colony. 

From there, they went to Polokwane where they were treated to a BBQ by the local Polokwane Rotary Club, which is the smallest rotary Club in the district but the one that raises the most money! They do this by offering unique South African Safari trips. Funds raised by these trips helps fun the SILOE School for the Blind. Jim played a wonderful video of children from that school singing. They might not have the gift of sight, but they sure have the voices of angels! 

At the Kruger National Park, where their safari began, they saw countless animals up close and personal. An elephant even passed right in front of their vehicle! They stayed at Kings Camp in Timbavati, a private game reserve. Timbavati means"the place where something sacred came down to Earth from the Heavens," and refers to the rare white lions of Timbavati. While there, they stayed in a room where the Prince of Saudi Arabia had stayed. At Kings Camp they were allowed to go off road. While exploring the area they noticed a leopard up in a tree feasting on its most recent “kill”, an Impala. At one point some hyenas gathered at the base of the tree, hoping for some scraps. The Leopard decided to show them what he thought of them and urinated on them. The hyenas left. But, the leopard’s party was short-lived when a lion approached. Knowing he met his match, the leopard took off, leaving his prey behind. Never one to miss the chance at a free meal, the lion got up on his hind legs, stretched the 20 or so feet to where the impala was sprawled on a branch, and got him down. You don’t fool with lions! 

Jim also talked about seeing a whole pack of painted dogs, a rare sight and how the people on the safari was encouraged to spread dung all over them to protect against insects. Hmmm. 

The Rotary Club of Polokwane offers these South African Safaris as their major fundraiser. Safaris cost around $4300-$5000 for a 10 day trip. If you are interested in more information, contact Charles Hardy, PO Box 821, Bender Park, Polokwane, 1713, So. Africa. Email Charles@mweb.co.za 

Thank you Jim for a wonderful presentation and for presenting us with a banner from rotary Club of Polokwane. And a special thank you to Mary Ellen who provided some really amazing photos from their trip. 

Andrew Boyd-Goodrich began by telling us that he has first-hand knowledge of the good that is done at Fig since his son works there. Being able to learn skills while earning a paycheck has been a life-changer for him. 

Andrew then introduced Program Manager, Erin Lawrence and Leslie, a host server at Fig. Before coming to Fig, Erin worked as a special education teacher in Templeton and was also a member of the Broad Street Brawlers Roller Derby Team. In addition to attending classes at Cuesta, Leslie also has her own greeting card company! 

Courtney’s House was founded in 2012 as a nonprofit resource center and began by offering social and enrichment activities for adults with developmental disabilities. Job coaches support the interns as they learn a variety of skills and provide training opportunities that allow for a wide range of future employment opportunities. Having these individuals working in a setting where they work with the public helps to build awareness that people with disabilities can go out to work in the community. 

Fig is a full service restaurant in Templeton that is open from 9-3 Mondays through Saturdays. 

Janet Meyers introduced newly appointed SLO County Undersheriff, Jim Voge, a Cambria resident. 

Jim told us a number of things about his career: 

• He grew up in So. California and in 1969 worked as a student cop while attending junior college. He was paid $2.53 an hour. 

• He has worked in Venice, South Central L.A., Watts and Hollywood Vice. 

• His most embarrassing moment was his 4th day out of the Academy while showing a classmate his clamshell holster he accidentally shot off his gun. 

• Most famous people he ticketed for speeding: Singer, John Denver and Race Car Driver, Bobby Unser. 

• The most inspiring person he ever met was UCLA Basketball Coach, John Wooden. 

• Most difficult assignment was Hollenbeck working gun suppression on New Year’s Eve. 

• Funniest call he responded to was from a pregnant lady whose husband was away. She was sure someone was breaking into her house but it wound up being a monkey on the roof! 

• He is most proud of bringing Tip A Cop to Cambria. 

Jim reminded us that everyone needs to lock their cars and their house. While Cambria is still relatively safe, we have had instances of break ins. So, better safe than sorry. 

PE Mary Ann Carson began by telling us about this year’s PETS (President Elect Training Seminar). The focus for 2019/20 Rotary year is “Rotary Connects the World” and the overriding message of all the speakers at PETS was PEACE. Peace in the world will be achieved through education and Rotary is uniquely situated to help.

Mary Ann played a video of a presentation given by Mattias Sundholm, with the United Nations Security Council Counter Terrorism Dept, and U.N. Dept. of Peacekeeping Operations. He has worked all over the world, utilizing his 4 fluent languages to further strategic world

communications. In the video, he told us that ISIS bragged “Once every village had an idiot. It took the internet to bring them together”. While there is no silver bullet to resolve the problem, technology experts are working to thwart the use of the internet to promote terrorism. Most terrorist organizations, such as ISIS are afraid of educated girls which is why it is so important to bring education to girls around the world.

The second speaker was Paul Chappel, an international peace educator. He emphasized that people with passion and purpose have survived concentration camps and other horrible

conditions but that well-fed but purposeless, alienated and disenfranchised people are the ones who become terrorists and mass murderers and create violence in the world. He praised

Rotary’s “purpose”. If you ever have a chance to hear him speak, please do, He is amazing!

Our second presenter was someone we all know well, Deepa Biswas. Through PACE and the Piyali Learning Center, Deepa has poured every privilege back into the hands of the most vulnerable yet valuable members of society—girls.

Deepa began by showing us a heartbreaking video of a young girl being sold into slavery by her father. You can view the video, JABA from PACE Universal here: https://

 vimeo.com/283140103. It is definitely worth taking a few minutes to view this if you were not able to attend Friday’s meeting.

Every 7 seconds a child is forced into marriage. 700 million have been married before the age of 18. 62 million

girls world-wide have no education and 2 million a year are sold for sex. And, it is not just in third-world countries. The Central Coast has become a hot bed for human trafficking.

Deepa firmly believes that when you “teach a girl, you feed a village.” Our club       was proud to present Deepa with a check representing the sponsorship for 2 girls. A sponsorship of $375 pays for one year of school supplies, uniforms, education, meals and healthcare.

“Working together to change the face of  trafficking and extreme poverty.”

Janet Meyers introduced our speaker, Kevin Drabinski. Kevin has been the CEO of the SLO food Bank since 2017. Prior to that, he served as the senior representative for the CA Assembly office serving San Luis Obispo and Northern San Luis Obispo Counties. He is a 30 year resident of SLO County. 

Kevin began by telling us that food is elementary to human life. Kevin and his twin were the youngest of 7. He has memories of sitting around the dinner table with his family. His dad grew up during the depression so he did not take food for granted. He believes that, If we can get food into a household, it could result in families sitting around the dinner table just like his family did. 

The SLO Food Bank began 30 years ago and they now have a 20,000 foot warehouse and have 5,000 volunteers. They are connected to 77 non-profits that distribute food. They feed 30,000 households a month. Neighborhood food distributions are free to income eligible participants, open to the public, and located in every community in SLO County. Santa Rosa Catholic Church is a SLO Food Bank distribution center and the Feed the Hungry program at the Vineyard Church is able to purchase food from the Food Bank, at a much reduced cost. 

During the government shutdown, government employees who lost paychecks became eligible to receive assistance from the food bank. Coast Guard members stationed in Morro Bay were in a position where buying food became almost impossible. A number of residents stepped up and with their donations, no Coast Guard member was turned away. 

They distribute food to the homeless on a regular basis. Many homeless do not take advantage of some of the services available (like shelters, etc.) because they are suspicious. But, after 7 to 9 times having a volunteer show up with food at a homeless encampment, they begin to trust the volunteers and many have finally agreed to check out some of the services. 

He told us about Glean SLO, a volunteer program that rescues excess produce from local backyards and farms. Since 2010, Glean SLO has rescued over 1 million pounds of produce in San Luis Obispo County! 

The SLO Food Bank depends on donations to its 501(c)3 nonprofit organization. Their website is www.slofoodbank.org where you can get information on donating, volunteering and advocating. 

Thank you, Kevin, for a very important and interesting presentation. 

Jim Major, Barbara Bronson Gray, Tom Gray and Beth Yudovin introduced themselves as representatives of a volunteer group wanting to put a pool in Cambria. They began with a few trivia questions: Where and when was the first concrete pool built? Answer: in 1916 in Texas. What is the oldest swim stroke? Answer: the breast stroke. Who was the first woman to swim the English Channel? Answer: Gertrude Ederle.

Beth Yudovin told us that her late husband, David Yudovin, was a marathon swimmer and, when they first moved to Cambria, they used to swim in the pool at Cambria Pines Lodge. Since that was closed down, there is really no place in Cambria to swim except at the Shamel Park pool which has very limited availability. The group would like to see a new pool that could be used for exercise, water safety classes and possibly even for a high school swim team. The original plan of putting the pool at the high school fell through so they are now working with the SLO County Parks Department to build a new pool with showers on the south side of Shamel Park. The pool would be a 6 lane lap pool with an area set aside for exercise and water safety classes. Tom Gray explained that the group has begun the process of applying for a 501(c)3 because, if approved, the project will need to be funded from private sources. The estimated cost will be $3-5 million.

The area currently housing the pool would be turned into a grassy area that could be used for picnics, games, etc. A survey sent out recently received 752 responses, 70% of which were positive.

If you would like more information about Cambrians for Aquatics and want to hear more about their plans, contact Barbara by phone at 805-927-5176 or email her at bbgray@sbcglobal.net.

Note: the area that currently houses the pool would be filled in and planted with grass. The existing playground would remain untouched.

The new pool would be built on the opposite side. It It will be heated and protected from the wind in some manner.

Auctioneer Bob Kasper made quick work of auctioning off the delicious cakes, cupcakes and cookies brought by our local Interact Club. There was something for everyone! Some of the cakes brought in an insane amount of money while most of us were happy to bid $10-$20 for a cupcake or cookie. All in all, a total of $5,630 was raised for Interact! There were some really happy kids! 

Sue Robinson introduced our presenter, JOEL I. CEHN (pronounced: Cain) who is a native of Waterbury, Connecticut. He is still working (part-time) as a physicist measuring environmental pollution. (Can’t seem to retire!). Joel lives in Cambria and serves on the boards of the Joslyn Center and the Unitarian Church. He has written and spoken extensively on exposure to radiation and its effects, among other topics. His presentation to the club is titled, “Patriotism During Wartime-A brief history of the anti-war movement”. 

While most equate anti-war movements with conflicts such as Viet Nam, Joel took us back to early anti-war movements in the U.S. 

The Revolutionary War 

Revolutionary War began in 1775 between Great Britain and its Thirteen Colonies which declared independence as the United States of America. The majority of British settlers were against going to war against their mother country. Native Americans did not want to participate in a war where they would be fighting side by side with the colonists who took their land. King George needed Loyalists to fight for the British and some colonists agreed to join the Brits against the Colonies. One of those was the illegitimate son of one Founding Father, Benjamin Franklin. 

The American Civil War 

The American Civil War was a war fought in the United States from 1861 to 1865. While there was not much of an anti-war movement in the South during the Civil Wat, it was alive and well in the North. Most of the factory owners in the north depended on the cotton grown in the south for their livelihood so they were reluctant to back a war against the very people who were providing them with cotton. Dock workers were also against the war for the same reason. And, Irish and German colonists did not want freed slaves coming to the north and take their jobs on the docks. When the draft was instituted, anti-war advocates took to burning buildings instead of draft cards. 

World War I 

The United States initially remained neutral, although by doing nothing to prevent the Allies from procuring American supplies whilst the Allied blockade effectively prevented the Germans from doing the same, the U.S. became an important supplier of war material to the Allies. Eventually, after the sinking of American merchant ships by German submarines, and the revelation that the Germans were trying to incite Mexico to make war on the United States, the U.S. declared war on Germany on 6 April 1917. Needless to say, German Americans were reluctant to join a fight against their home country and Irish Americans, who hated the English also did not want to be involved. 

Thank you Joel for a very interesting presentation. 

District 5240 extends from North of Kern County, East to China Lake and South to Thousand Oaks. As of July, there are 72 clubs with a total of 3,249 members.

DG Sandi explained that she does not do her job alone. She has a wonderful staff consisting of Jacque Jans, her “Chief of Stuff”, Scott Phillips, Chief Operating Officer and, Melinda Westfahl, who handles the District calendar and scheduling. She, by the way is Mike Griffin’s sister. As DG, she reports to John Matthews, RI Director and RI President, Barry Rassin. A bit of trivia: John Matthews, who is retired from COSTCO, told her that parking spaces at COSTCO are wider than most other parking lots because the shopping carts are so much wider than others. Who knew?

Sandi puts a lot of emphasis on club retention. We have to be a club people want to be a part of. She also encouraged everyone to consider attending the 2018 District Conference in Bakersfield on October 5-6.

At the end of the presentation, President certificate showing a donation of $500 to Polio Eradication

President Mike’s Step Down Party

Everyone turned a wee bit Irish in honor of our departing president. Our

club’s motto was on full display throughout the room: If it ain’t fun, it ain’t Rotary! And there was no lack of blarney in the room!