IT HAPPENED THIS WEEK, August 10, 2011
By Chris King
Don’t miss me too much, Rotarians friends. But this will be my last Reciprocator Duty for a while. As I write that, I’m thinking to myself, "maybe I shouldn’t say that," because you never know when you’ll be called on to fill in. . . but, suffice it to say that I have enjoyed detailing our club news over the last few months.
Back to business, then! This last week, Rotarians and Guests enjoyed Kobe Burgers and Pasta while Dannie Cavanaugh led the invocation, Bruce stood and delivered on the pledge and John Cluff showed some originality in choosing "American the Beautiful," as the Patriotic Song.
We had a nice number of guests this week including Kate Rosloff from LA5 (as announced by Jim Machado). Please do join us, Kate! We would love to count you as part of our membership! We had a celebrity at our meeting as current Westwood Club President Ed Jackson joined us. He announced that our club is in walking distance from his home! You can’t beat that. Lanay Richardson, in her last, last, last time as a guest joined us and is already doing a great job of enhancing the visibility of our club. She brought her son, Andre, to the meeting. Andre is a senior at Hamilton High School. Also, she brought Dianna who is the Rotaract President at Santa Monica College Rotaract. Welcome, Dianna!
Craig introduced our two wonderful exchange students, Kenjirio and Saho. Hopefully all of our members have been able to interact with these wonderful two young people. Of course, Joel Forman (see, Joel, no "e" this time) had his perpetual guest Linda with him. And Joe Davidson brought his lovely wife Suzie. With the introductions complete, Clint Ehlers led us in the Welcome Song, which caused Lanay to crack a huge smile followed by gales of laughter.
Ann had a very somber health update about Joyce Matsuyama. Her cancer has now spread into her brain, and she is in hospice care. Joyce and Bobby: you’re wonderful people and our hearts and prayers are with you. Also, Clint’s step-mother passed away, so our heart goes out to you and yours as well, Clint.
In other health-related news, Richard Marcus is having an MRI to check the status of his cancer. He’s also lost 5 pounds! We’re in your corner, Richard. And Andy Weisman had a kidney stone, although we’re fairly certain that it has passed, since Janet saw him at lunch in downtown Culver City. Hopefully she didn’t see him at lunch last Wednesday or Ann may have to enact some Budgetary Measures to remind him when we meet. Linda Black announced that after getting mad at John and pushing him down the stairs (kidding), he bruised his ribs. So John has to take it easy and let them recover. All the best to John and Andy, too.
Announcements included yours truly announcing the Fishing Trip. There will be a Lures of the Past Poker Tournament this year! $20 buy-in and one-time $20 re-buy. I’m sure our treasury will be the beneficiary of some of those funds in one way or another. Also, we’re selling tickets for the pancake breakfast. They cost $5, and $4 of the $5 goes directly to our club. Additionally, if you would like to have your business card ad on the placemats I will need all business cards by the end of the meeting this coming Wednesday.
Because I was selling the pancake breakfast tickets, I missed announcements from Keith, Clint and Craig. So please check with them for updates on the District/whatever Clint was announcing/Exchange Program, respectively.
And of course the one fine this week went to someone who works so very hard for this Rotary Club and who volunteers his time each week writing the Reciprocator. . . yes, none other than, oh! Chris King! But having Editorial Privilege this week, I will take the time to mention why I was fined. Channels 9 and 5 interviewed me for participating in the Campout to End Homelessness in Venice a few weeks ago. About 100 people camped out in front of the fire station on Venice to bring awareness to homelessness and to help ameliorate it. As a member of the Culver City Homelessness Committee, I went down and camped out with another friend of mine. There are over 50,000 homeless people in the Greater Los Angeles area, so I was happy to pay $100 to our treasury to bring some additional awareness to the issue. Please do contact me for more information.
One of the most proud moments that we as Rotarians can have then occurred as Chuck Perelman stood to induct our newest member, Lanay Richardson! Lanay was previously a Rotaractor. Clint is her sponsor. Her main area of interest is in community service, and we know she will make a big difference for our club and our community in that area. Using his skills acquired at his past prom experiences, Clint proudly pinned the Rotary Pin on her shirt, then Ann presented her with two plaques, and Linda Black had a commemorative coin for her as well. Welcome aboard, Lanay!
Our meeting then moved toward our speaker, and Carmen introduced Karen Longhurst from the Merrill Lynch Trust Department. She spoke about "The New Tax Law Changes and Dynasty Trusts." She’s a Bruin, which makes her awesome. In addition, she has over 20 years of experience in various trust departments, and she’s been with Merrill for 16 years. For some fascinating information on ways to maintain wealth in your estate, speak to her or Carmen about Delaware Trusts: a critical way of taking advantage of tax benefits before laws change in lieu of the budget debates.
Joel sent us on our way with some wisdom citing Isaac Newton’s Law of Inertia: a body at rest tends to stay at rest and a body in motion tends to stay in motion. Unlike political inertia, Rotary has been a stalwart in leading humanitarian causes and effecting change throughout the world.
Until next time, Rotarians and Friends. Goodnight and good luck.