Weekly eBulletin - December 4, 2013
eBullitin by Bill Paul
(REDONDO BEACH) December 4, 2013 -- President Karen banged the gavel bringing the weekly luncheon meeting of the Redondo Beach Rotary Club to order.
Today's Greeter, and Invocation was presented by Nicholas Sandoval, followed by Wayne Bradshaw who led us in the flag salute.
Karen introduced guests and visiting Rotarians including Nora MacLellan of the Westchester Rotary Club, Connie Siegel of the Harrisburg (PA) Rotary Club and Amy Harahan of St. Cross Giving Tree.
Meals on Wheels were provided today by Scott Fellows and Wayne Bradshaw. And last week, on Wednesday when the club was dark, Scott Young and Chantel King handled MOW duties.
A sad note about the Family of Rotary. Rotarian Gordon McRae was found dead in his home earlier this week. Gordon was inactive in the club at the time of his passing, but he is well remembered. For many years Gordon was active in the Redondo Beach business community and held the master lease at the Redondo Pier.
President Karen Weigel and Scott Fellows gave a final update about last week's UCLA/USC Tailgate luncheon. More than 340 people attended the event, and approximately $2,500 (after expenses) was raised and will donated to each of the five South Bay high school athletic programs. "Five years ago when we started this luncheon we only raised $800 to $900," said Scott, "so we've grown quite a bit."
Scott also announced that two members of our club were winners in the football pool. The game ended with a 35 to 14 victory by UCLA over cross-town rivals USC. Ron Day correctly picked (probably guessed, is more like it) the score at the end of the 1st quarter and Rolando Andrade won for his guess about the 3rd quarter score. Both Rotarians won $100. Torrance Mayor Frank Scotto won the grand prize, $200, for guessing the final score. Altogether the football pool raised $1,000 with half going to our club and half back to pool winners.
Guest Amy Hanrahan of St. Cross Church in Hermosa gave a pitch for volunteers to assist in the annual St. Cross Giving Tree program. Volunteers are needed for Wednesday, December 18, immediately after next week's club luncheon, to deliver boxes of food to struggling families in the South Bay. "We've identified 57 families that need assistance, and Rotarians will help deliver to 11 families in Redondo Beach," she said.
Past-president Terry Bichlemier stood in for Donna Dawick of Cheer for Children and accepted the club's donation of $500 to assist the Cheer for Children's holiday program. Volunteers are needed to prepare toys for the Holiday Party for children in the special needs program at Washington Elementary School on December 16 at 9:30 a.m. Rotarian Dieter Thomas has offered to play Santa for children this year. With his white beard reaching below his neck it is likely he will pass muster as the "real thing" this year. A few years ago when Colette Paul, our then-president, played the role of Santa, one youngsters was overheard to say, "You're a woman. You're not a real Santa." Hmmm.
Karen reminded members to bring donations, gift cards or cash to next week's luncheon for the Santa for Senior project. Contact Gayle Albin-Bailey for more information.
Not to be outdone, Rotarian Jeff Weigel reminded members of the club's public relations project, asking them to log in to their Facebook accounts and "like" the Redondo Beach Rotary Club's Facebook page. He distributed reminder cards with the URL: https://www.facebook.com/RedondoBeachRotaryClub.
President Karen exercised presidential privilege today and cited Jeff Weigel (yes, her husband as has been noted before in this column) as the October Rotarian of the Month. She cited Jeff's tireless work on the water project in faraway Fiji. She also named Scott Fellows as the November Rotarian of the Month for his work on the USC/UCLA Tailgate luncheon.
Raffle Ticket: Wayne Bradshaw's number was called (again!) but alas, no green marble so ten bucks consolation prize.