Acorn Newspaper Article showing Thousand Oaks Rotary's Tree Decorators Monica Murrietta and Susan Murata. Decorating contest for Hospice of the Conejo's Festival of Trees.
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Pat Pres.-Pat Mc Coy, President Elect-Michelle Nash and her husband Shannon-making sandwiches this week for Harbor House.
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MANDATORY PARTICIPATION EVENTS FOR ALL THOUSAND OAKS ROTARIANS:
CHILI COOK-OFF- May 2026- SEE MARISSA BUSS
WINE FESTIVAL-June 14, 2026- SEE DAVE MASCI
STREET FAIR -3rd SUNDAY in OCT 2026 SEE CRYSTAL EVANS
President Darin opened the meeting welcoming everyone to the best Rotary Club in the Universe and then invited Dorothy Sullivan to come forward for the Inspirational Moment and Pledge.
Pledge and Inspirational Moment: Pres. Dorothy's message was in the spirit of Thanksgiving and Gratitude, stating that "happiness doesn't make us grateful, it's gratefulness that makes us happy".
Song: after the Pledge, Michael Ladd led everyone in "America"- (My Country Tis of Thee).
Guest Introductions: Victor Hayek came forward to introduce guests-Past Pres-Skip Roberts, C.V. Rotarian-Sheri Groenveld. Also- Alex Reviakin, Alexandria Pappas, Mateo Juarez & Rondi Gutherie
Susan Murata let everyone know our club will be supporting the Holiday Angels Gifts for kids in the Big Bros/Big Sisters program. We will be passing out names, and their gift 'needs/wants' at the December 4th meeting.
Monica Murrietta reminded everyone that the T.O. Rotary Club Christmas party is coming up and you need to let her know right away if you're coming
Karen Albaum has Holiday Cards on the tables and wants everyone to sign the cards which will be giving to local seniors in our area.
Special Presentation. $ 5,000 Donation to Harbor House
International Committee Chair-Vicki Arndt called Sheri Groenveld to the front. Sherri is a member of the Rotary Club of Conejo Valley and also the Executive Director for Harbor House. Vicki presented her with a check from a District grant that the Thousand Oaks Rotary Club applied for in the amount of $5,000. Sheri gratefully accepted, saying the check will be used to purchase beds for newly housed kids struggling to get back on their feet.
After the check presentation, Vicki told everyone what an incredible giving and generous person, Sherri is and that she does so much in the community to help people. Vicki then presented Sheri with a Paul Harris Fellow Award for her efforts.
Here are your BOARD of DIRECTORS CANDIDATES: Voting will take place at the December 4th Rotary Meeting.
Karen Albaum- has been a member of T.O. rotary for just over 2 years, sponsored by Karen Furnari. She currently helps with lunch making for our local residents, collects the signed books from our speakers and delivers them to a local school, hosts fireside chats, and poured beer at the chili cook off. She schedules Rotarians for happy dollars, has been a greeter multiple times and is getting up the courage to do an inspirational moment. She is honored to be considered for the board position.
Karen Furnari-Joined the TO Club in 1994 and has always been a passionate and involved member. Past club positions include- current member of the Rotary Choir, Club Vocational Chair 2005-2006 and Past President 2018-2019, she was Co-Rookie of the year 1997-1998 and Co-Rotarian of the Year - 2003-2004. Karen has also served in positions at the District Level. She was District Vocational Chair 2005/2006 and Assistant Governor for District 5240 -2020-21. She would be honored to serve again.
Jessica Sassalos: joined Rotary to honor a request from her mother, who passed away last year. She believed deeply in giving back to the community and loved everything Rotary stood for. However, after becoming an active member of this club, Jessica has discovered why Rotary resonates with her personally. Her commitment to Rotary rests on three core values: Collaboration - Compassion - Trust - She would be an honored to continue this legacy of service alongside the members of this club
David Masci has been a proud member of the club for 28 years. He has served on the board of directors 4 times. David has several leadership roles in the club, including Foundation Chair, Major Events Oversight Chair, Wine Festival Chair, Founding Member of the Degenerates, LLC, and Chalk Boy for the Street Fair. David is a Major Donor, Member of the Paul Harris Society, and in the Bequest Society (and if you do not know what those are, he will gladly explain them to you because he believes in the Rotary Foundation). He would be honored to serve again.
Carol Schreiber has been a member of the Rotary Club of Thousand Oaks for over 20 years. She has served on the board during the presidencies of Keith Park, Martin Anderson, Nate Harimoto, and Mike Murphy. She has also served as Area Director for Ventura County Special Olympics and Sports Training Coordinator for Special Olympics Southern California. For 26 years, she has been a volunteer coach for the local Special Olympics Swim Team. She has been active with all three Rotary fundraisers as an early-morning Street Fair Chalker; operator of the Chili Cook-off Sponsor Tent and Special Olympics liaison for our Wine Event. She is honored to be part of the Thousand Oaks Rotary Club and looks forward to supporting its efforts.
Nelson Buss has been a member of the Thousand Oaks Rotary Club since 2016, joining as a residential realtor. He is a 36-year resident of the Conejo Valley. Nelson joined the Club after nearly a decade of crewing the BHMC chili booth at our annual chili cook off. He and his sister, and fellow Rotarian Marissa, have chaired the Chili Cook off for many years. Nelson briefly served on the board as the Youth Director during Pat McCoy’s Presidential year and enjoys working with the teenagers and will be honored to serve again.
Anthony Linquata, for more than three decades, has built his life around the belief that "service is not something we do when we have extra time: it's something we make time for because it shapes who we become". He is currently the Executive Director of the Manna Conejo Valley Food Bank. He is applying to the Thousand Oaks Rotary Board not because he needs something else on his plate, but because he believes deeply in the power of this community, and because Rotary's values mirror his own: service, leadership, fellowship, and doing the right thing when no one's watching. He would be honored to serve on the Board and stand shoulder to shoulder with leaders who care as deeply about this community as he does.
Dominic Pino is a Financial Advisor with Edward Jones. He is Southern California native and is proud to call Ventura County home. He joined the Thousand Oaks Rotary club in March of 2024 and has had an absolute blast since joining the group. He is currently program chair for the 2025 calendar year. In addition to the Rotary Club of Thousand Oaks, Dominic also enjoys working with other organizations dedicated to fostering good in our community. Dominic finds joy in engaging activities such as playing chess and exploring the beautiful Los Padres wilderness that surrounds his home.
Fine Session: -Laura Conway was the Fine Master- In honor of November being Foundation Month, Laura asked questions about past T.O. Rotary projects made possible by the Foundations Annual Fund/District Designated Funds. Saying that money that was donated to the Annual Fund three years ago, came back to the Rotary Club of Thousand Oaks in the form of District Designated Funds for the projects in her Fine Session. Laura showed a video about the Tijuana hearing aid program recipients and passionately encouraged Rotarians to donate to the Rotary Foundation Annual Fund- Any amount will help.
Keith Wintermute- How many dental patients have received care as a result of our club's funding of dental equipment for the Conejo Free Clinics dental Clinic? Answer- 4,000. Right
Sara Collins-what is the survival rate of the patients who have been cared for through the Castor Limon Cancer Hospital equipment donated by the Rotary Club's project? Answer ??-Right
David Masci how many patients have been seen in the Malawi Clinic that the TO Rotary club's grant provide diagnostic equipment for? Answer 45,000 Right.
Keith Wintermute put in 20$ in honor of his Granddaughter's successful back surgery.
Vicki Arndt had an announcement dollar for the next trip to Tijuana to provide hearing aids for children. It will be 1/16-1/18. Cost per person is $350 (covers transportation, hotel, etc.)
Nate Harimoto reminded everyone about last weeks program for K-9 for Warriors and encouraged everyone to donate to help pay for the next.
Dave Wender put in $100 happy dollars to commemorate his son-Tim's graduation from paramedic school, and then told Vicki, if Martin Anderson goes to Tijuana-just leave him there.
Michael Ladd said there were pictures of the 2025 Tijuana trip in the District 5240 newsletter this month.
Martin Anderson put in a happy dollar to say he was glad/proud to be in the club with Laura Conway and Dorothy Sullivan.
Susan Murata had a 'told you so' dollar to say, she was out of town last week and no one was available to take notes and do the bulletin..... so no bulletin last week. She encouraged people to help, saying it is not that difficult.
Sevak K thanked his Economic Forecast committee for the great work they are doing. and said they are looking for sponsors.
Felix Wang said there are programs out there to take notes and download them, so anyone taking notes for the meetings might find it easier to use one of those programs.
Looking for a couple Rotarians to share inpreparing the weekly bulletin. TDuties include taking weekly meeting notes and completing the bulletin in Club Runner, It takes a couple hours to complete the bulletin. Training will be provided. If interested, please contact Susan Murata.
PROGRAM: Rotarian Crystal Evans and newly hired Athen's Services, Community Relations Manager introduced the speakers from Athen's Services- Alexandria Pappas and Mateo Juarez.
Athen's Services is a family-owned business that has been operating in California for the past 65 years. They currently service 50 southern California communities with over 2.3 million clients and over 2,000 employees. They currently have a 15-year contract with the city of Thousand Oaks.
Now, over 8.8 million tons of plastic waste flows into the ocean every year. With their state-of-the-art facilities and processes they are working towards Zero waste. Their mantra is Reduce, Reuse and Recycle.
They talked about the importance of recycling your Organic Waste which now constitutes approximately 48% of what Californians are throwing in landfills. Organic Waste emits 20% of the state's methane.
There are several California bills AB 1383 which are being approved to mitigate the disposal of waste. Including banning the use of Styrofoam and plastic utensils.
Organic waste includes Food, containers that come from nature, and more. There is more information about proper composting on the Athens Website link to the left.
Darin asked them to stay after their talk in case anyone had any questions, he also had them sign a book that will be donated to a title one school in our area.
BECOMING A ROTARIAN IS A MEANINGFUL EXPERIENCE....
Invite a friend, family member, colleague to join Rotary.
Encourage Them to Be Part of Something GREAT!!!
Why wouldn’t you want them to be part of an organization that feeds the hungry, cures the sick, provides education to women and children, provides clean water and sanitation. And now is taking on the environment.
