January 8th 2026 (Jan. 07, 2026)

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Rotary Club of Thousand Oaks

Here's what Happened at the January 8th Program

--------------------------------------------------------------------UPCOMING PROGRAM -

January 15th-Club Assembly

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President

Darin Arrasmith

President-Elect

Michelle Nash

Past President

Pat McCoy

Secretary

Rich Folsom

International Serv

Vicki Arndt

Community Service

Ean Kleiger

Vocational Service

Sara Collins

Public Relations

Nancy Wohl

New Generations

Victor Hayek

Family of Rotary

Monica Murrietta

The Rotary Foundation

Laura Conway

Club Administration

Michael Pruner

Executive Treasurer

Chris Steele

Executive Secretary

Jeff Borenstein

Peace Chair

Mike Ladd

Program Chair

Dominic Pino

Member Birthdays

Nate Harimoto

January 1

Jacqui Irwin

January 3

Ean Kleiger

January 5

Fred Lindberg

January 6

Michael Pruner

January 6

Tanya Caligiuri

January 8

Patricia Jones

January 12

Jeff Borenstein

January 22

Martin Anderson

January 23

Marissa Buss

January 28

Anniversaries

Ken Warner

Laurel Warner

January 17

Dominic Pino-Happy Cup

2025-2026 Rotary International Theme

Ken Kossoff- Fine Master

January is Vocational Service Month

Thought for the Day

Joke of the Day:

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MANDATORY PARTICIPATION EVENTS FOR ALL THOUSAND OAKS ROTARIANS:

CHILI COOK-OFF- May 3, 2026- SEE MARISSA BUSS

WINE FESTIVAL-June 14, 2026- SEE DAVE MASCI

STREET FAIR -3rd SUNDAY in OCT 2026 SEE CRYSTAL EVANS

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The Thousand Oaks Rotary Club is proud to be a Peace Builder Club.

President Darin (former Board Chair of Manna) introduced Anthony Linquata, Exec. Director of Manna

Guest Speaker- Anthony Linquata (Rotarian and Exec Director of Manna)

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Seven Areas of Focus:

Promoting Peace and Conflict Resolution
Fighting disease and treatment
Providing clean water/sanitation
Saving Mothers and Children
Education and Literacy
Growing Local Economies
Protecting the Environment

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President Darin Arrasmith Opened the First Meeting of 2026

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President Darin welcomed 'the best Rotary Club in the Universe" to the first meeting of 2026. Saying it was nice to be back together again after a two-week hiatus. He let everyone know that it was "Bubble Bath Day" and that tomorrow was "Nat'l quitters' day"- when most people quit the New Year's resolutions they made.

Laura Conway then came forward for the inspirational moment. She thinks it is inspirational how Rotarians manage to transcend their differences and come together for the greater good. She said, "none of us have to be here, we choose to" and she loves that Rotarians also choose Service above Self. "We have a lot of work to do, but we will do it together, that is the only way we can get it all done".

After the Pledge, Vicki Arndt led the room in God Bless America.

Gary Siegel then introduced the guests at the meeting: guests of Laura Conway-Vic Abrunzo and Peter Heermo and Rich Sauer (all are hoping to become members) , guest of Matt Lallo-his wife-Teresa, guest of Keith Wintermute- his wife-Jody.

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Laura Conway Inspirational Moment & Pledge

Vicki Arndt God Bless America

Gary Siegel

Guest Intros

Karen Albuam working on this year's Rotary Rose Parade Float. Picture taken by Patricia Jones who also worked on the float.

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HAPPY DOLLARS: Cup carried by Dominic Pino

David Masci thanked all of the Rotarians that attended the memorial service for his mom- Barbara Masci.

Jeff Borenstein put in a dollar to welcome back Robert Cabral to the meeting who hasn't been in several weeks.

Karen Albaum said she enjoyed decorating the Rotary float for the Rose Parade and encourages anyone to do it. She had a lot of fun and thanked Patricia Jones for having her participate.

Tanya Caligiuri put in $100 happy dollars to commemorate her 82nd birthday. She shares a birthday with Elvis Presley (who would be 91 today) and David Bowie (who would be 79).

Paul Dryman thanked David and Felix Masci for the lovely service for Barbara, but said he gained 5 pounds from all of the home baked cookies.

Keith Wintermute was happy to see so many guests at the meeting today who were wanting to become a member.

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David Masci

Jeff Borenstein

Karen Albaum

Tanya Caligiuri

Paul Dryman

Keith Wintermute

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Fine Session: Ken Kossoff was the fine master and said with all of the unrest in the middle east he was going to ask questions about Iran.

Jeff Borenstein -whose government in Iran was overthrown in 1979? Answer-Mulla Mustafa Babzani Right

Paul Dryman- who led the 1979 Revolution? Answer Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini- Wrong

Sevak K -what was the shortened name of the secret police? Answer Savak- Right

Martin Anderson- what is teh name of the current Iranian regime that enforces moral codes etc.? Answer- BASU Right

Vicki Arndt- what president retaliated against Hezbollah for the 1983 bombing that killed 241 marines? Answer Reagan Right

Chris Lamia- who has done a better job of killing political opponents? Answer- Ayatollah Khomeini. Wrong

Herb Gooch - what % of mosques in Iran have closed in the past 15 years? Answer-60% Wrong.

Ean Kleiger- what it the most significant group supporting current unrest in Iran? Answer- Merchants Wrong

Laura Conway- who wat the first female Prime Minister in Iran? Answer- it was a trick question, there has never been a female Prime Minister. Wrong

Monica Murrietta - Women, Life Freedom, is a slogan, what part did it play. Women's Rights- Women no longer had to wear the head dress. Right

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Jeff Borenstein

Right

Paul Dryman-Wrong

Sevak K- Right

Martin Anderson Right

Vicki Arndt Right

Chris Lamia Wrong

Herb Gooch Wrong

Ean Kleiger Wrong

Laura Conway Wrong

Monica Murrietta Right

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Bulletin Help Needed

Looking for a couple Rotarians to share in preparing the weekly bulletin. Duties include taking weekly meeting notes and/or entering the Bulletin in Club Runner. Training will be provided. If interested, please contact Susan Murata.

susanmurata9@gmail.com. (805) 390-0027

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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.

See Susan Murata for Membership Information

susanmurata9@gmail.com

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SERVICE ABOVE SELF.....Things to do and/or help in our Community..

New West Symphony- Happy 25th Birthday America-featuring Rachmaninoff and Gershwin. Sunday January 25,2026

Tijuana- Humanitarian Trip to provide Hearing Aids for children- January 16-18 See Vicki Arndt for details

T.O Rotary Economic Forecast-Friday February 6th CLU Info is on the home page of the Thousand Oaks Rotary website

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PROGRAM: President Darin introduced fellow Rotarian and Executive Director of Manna- Anthony Linquata

Anthony said a normal month of collecting food for Manna results in about 22,000-25,000 pounds of food, but a recent outreach collected over 100,000 pounds of food. Last year they saw a 15% year over year increase in people needing help and this year a 22% increase.

Manna's motto is to provide dignity to those when they need it most. They partner with other non profits in the area, providing food for James Storehouse, they work with Senior Concerns to provide information on seniors who are food insecure. They work with Gold Coast Veterans who have identified 73,000 more veterans in need of help.

Manna is working with Amazon to develop a program to deliver food to those who are not able to come to the facility to pick food up.

Manna receives all of their support from grants and community support. They do not get any government subsidies.

California is in danger of losing it's federal funding, so this is going to cause an even greater need for people who are food insecure and won't have government support.

If you want to help, The Manna website has a list of the top 10 items they need the most.

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It Takes a Village to Run our Rotary Meetings.....Thank you to those who helped.

Club Administrator: Mike Pruner

Greeters:

Guest Introductions: Gary Seigel

Pledge/Inspirational Moment: Laura Conway

Song: Vicki Arndt

Happy Dollars: Dominic Pino

Fine Session: Ken Kossoff

Photos: Rich Folsom

Note Taker/Bulletin: Notes and Bulletin Susan Murata

Tech Support- Ean Kleiger, Trevor Tyloch

Sgt. At Arms: Jason Corey, Steve Stanley

Check In Table: John Bradley and Nancy Wohl, Marc Feigen

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PAST PRESIDENTS

58-59 Don Odell

59-60 John Heywood

60-61 Marv Burrow

61-62 Ross Duskin

62-63 Roy Mc Comber

63-64 Paul Pace

64-65 John Conlon

65-66 Carlos Scuria

66-67 Merrill Darling

67-68 Phil Ozab

68-69 Wm Vanderwann

69-70 Alvin J Hotz, Jr.

70-71 Ben Cranmer Jr

71-72 Glenn Goodwin

72-73 George Vasliff

73-74 Henry Still

74-75 John Tuel

75-76 Kenneth Hanson

76-77 David Huang

77-78 William Haas

78-79 Felix Masci

79-80 Harland Jones

80-81 Dave Wender

81-82 George Gibb

82-83 Norman Nagel

83-84 Bill Peterson

84-85 Mike O'Bierne

85-86 Marv Sosna

86-87 Fred Ferrarni

87-88 Doc Needham

88-89 Kenneth Roberts

89-90 Jeff Borenstein

90-91 Dennis Gillette

ROTARY CLUB T. O.

91-92 Merv Kopp

92-93 Tom Glancy

93-94 Hugo Roche

94-95 Brian Back

95-96 Tony Kourounis

96-97 Dick Wieler

98-99 Judy St. John

99-20 Mike Gonzales

00-01 Neil Scribner

01-02 Bob Biery

02-03 Harry Selvin

03-04 Rick Lemmo

04-05 Doug Tapking

05-06 Kathy Hill

06-07 Pete Turpel

07-08 Vicki Arndt

08-09 Martin Anderson

09-10 Keith Parks

10-11 Frank Corrigan

11-12 Richard Williams

12-13 Susan Murata

13-14 Carol Freeman

14-15 Nate Harimoto

15-16 Mike Murphy

16-17 Robert Bianchi

17-18 Tim Weaver

18-19 Karen Furnari

19-20 Herb Gooch

20-21 David Stowell

21-22 John Bradley

22-23 Paul Dryman

23-24 Patricia Jones

24-25 Pat Mc Coy

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