Weekly Bulletin - December 5, 2012
Posted by David Whitehead
on Dec 10, 2012
written by Bill Paul
(REDONDO BEACH) December 5, 2012 “The Redondo Beach Rotary Club is in the upper five of all clubs in Zone 26 in annual giving,” said Rick Mendoza, chair of the District 5280 Foundation team. Rick, a member of our club, was our luncheon speaker today. He noted that “98% of donations (to the RI Foundation) come back to the (local) community due to volunteer work and use of the money. Here in District 5280, fully 58% of Rotarians contribute to the Foundation whereas worldwide only 26-28% of Rotarians give.” He urged any non-givers in our club “to give at least $10 per year” to the Foundation.
As usual, our meeting was busy and fast-paced. We hosted five visitors: Dawn Bayer and Miguel Valencann of the Molina Foundation, Bill Soper of St. Cross Episcopal Church Giving Tree, David Brmpasic of the Ban of the West, and Rotarian Connie Siegel.
President Nancy Campbell asked for volunteers to to play the role of Santa for the Police Department’s Santa Sleigh on December 13. She also asked volunteers to assist with our annual Cheer for Children activity in which the president of our club plays Santa. This year’s Santa will be Nancy. She also reminded us the club would deliver food to needy families immediately after next week’s luncheon; she expects we will deliver to 37 families.
Finemaster Steve Aspel warmed to his task today: Ron Day and Dave Whitehead were fined $25 each for having birthdays (editor’s comment: a fine for another birthday is certainly better than the alternative); Karen Weigel $10 for having joined Rotary on December 4, 2004 (Steve evidently reasoned that was pretty close to today’s date); Rolando Andrade, same rationale for having joined our club on December 10, 2010 (Rolando is a Rotarian from Bowling Green, Ohio where he served as club president); Ali Adham $20 for something or other; Ernie O-Dell, Redondo Beach City Treasurer, $50 for having announced his retirement from city employment; Terry Bichlmeier $20; Chat Campbell $50 for owning a Toyota Highlander, and Colette Paul $50 for going to Matt Kilroy’s home 2 days early to plan this weekend’s Christmas Party. Go figure!
Past-President, Terry E. Bichlmeier announced the unveiling of The Molina Foundation’s newly wrapped van. Our club is “working on the District 5280 Adopt-a-School Literacy program” and the van is how books will be delivered to disadvantaged students in local elementary schools.Terry saw photographs of “some amazing vehicle wraps” on vans on the Web site of a graphics company that he works with. “I thought how important it is to make a good impression for Molina and Rotary when we visit local schools and how excited the kids and teachers would be to see a cool van pull up to giveaway our books.” Terry said he brought the idea of creating a wrap for Molina’s van to the foundation’s leadership and to the board of the Redondo Beach Rotary Club. “This past fall our board agreed to find the money to share the cost even though it was not in the budget,” he said. The Molina Foundation leadership agreed to the idea too.
At the conclusion of today’s luncheon a ceremony was held in the parking lot of the Bluewater Grill & Restaurant unveiling the van. The Molina Foundation commissioned a Harbor College art student to create the design that includes books taking off in flight that transform into birds. The Rotary logo was integrated into the design and appears prominently on the vehicle. Terry was joined by Dawn Bayer of The Molina Foundation in the unveiling ceremony. The van was pressed into service right away on December 8th assisting in delivering books to 3,000 needy families in South Central Los Angeles." Click here to view photos of the van.