IT HAPPENED THIS WEEK, June 1, 2011
By The Unknown Author
After a year’s hiatus from writing The Reciprocator, I’m excited to be "back in the saddle," as it were, writing this month’s Reciprocator updates. By the end of this article, we shall see if you, my Culver City Rotarian Friends, can determine my identity.
This week Culver City Rotarians and guests enjoyed an annual favorite: the meeting at the Culver Palms YMCA. Ernie Garza and
John Black stood guard at the door and welcomed all attendees — John because he was our Grill Master cooking up some fabulous steaks, and Ernie because he, well, he likes steaks and wanted to be sure he was first in line. Allow me to "speak" frankly for a moment. We all have been hearing Linda’s indoctrination about how wonderful our club is being Club of this Year this year, and of course by extension, how wonderful she is. However, I make a motion that we nominate John Black for Spouse of the Year. Who has been a more avid supporter of the club and of Linda than her devoted husband?
But I digress. As the smell of steak and a myriad of potato/egg and regular salads filled the room, our weekly meeting kicked off. Cy could not introduce guests, however, since he is in Hawaii. I’m sure he’ll be saying "aloha" to a wave-sized fine when he returns. Also, Ann is sailing the high seas on a cruise, so we had a dearth of District updates.
But one of our most vibrant, handsome, intelligent and modest members, Christopher King, did stand to introduce his comely guest, Victoria Vertner. Apparently Chris now has a Girlfriend with a capital "G." Could it be that he is settling down? Hmmm. Joel Forman introduced his lovely guest Linda. And we met Karen Bradley who is the new Executive Director of the YMCA and a former Rotarian from Palo Alto. Additionally, our very own dynamo Diane introduced Mario, Eric, Katie and Esmara from the YMCA who all coordinate various YMCA programs.
Bill Gardner proceeded to lead us in a hearty version of the Welcome Song followed up by Phil Tangalakis stating that there were no health updates to report. Linda then stood front and center in what she called a rather "informal" meeting (a word that represents her entire Presidency, I think) and mentioned that the 2nd Tuesday of this month will be a Board Meeting. Additionally, her Board Appreciation Dinner will be the 17th of this month. Shortly thereafter, we will dethrone our ageing queen in her "Geriatric Bandit Demotion Dinner" on the 25th. Being only 28, this Reciprocator Scribe was forced to turn to the Wisdom Office to find that "Geriatric" means "Old" or something like that.
The energetic YMCA staff then spoke to us: Eric about the Junior Lakers that started with just 65 children and now has 175 participants from our YMCA. He also leads a Junior Chivas Soccer program, and stayed tuned for T-Ball and Flag Football programming as well. Katie spoke to us about one of our YMCA’s most recognized programs, Youth In Government. She also spearheads Camp Whittle and a caravan for high school students where they undergo a 10 day trip to see such cultural sites as the Grand Canyon, Sedona and Las Vegas. Finally, new Executive Director Karen spoke highly of the amazing work that Diane is doing for our Culver Palms YMCA.
The adorable day camp children then proceeded in a neat line into our lunch room and serenaded us with such favorites as The World is a Rainbow. Certainly that is a theme that we as Rotarians know well with the amazing work of Rotary International. Following their heart-felt songs, the youngsters exited and Diane spoke about some of the great changes around the Y including renovations to flooring, a new FitLinx system, new studio programs and a remodeled weight center. Membership at the Y grew by 7% this year: more than any other area YMCA. Well done, Diane! And not surprisingly, survey response questions from staff members and from YMCA members demonstrate much happiness with the Culver Palms YMCA.
Linda wrapped up our meeting a bit early mentioning some Rotary highlights from the prior week including Richard Marcus’ Boy Scouts placing 82,000 flags on the graves of every soldier at the Veterans Cemetery in Westwood. It was an amazing event, and our very own Andrew Sisolak could be seen sending scouts and their parents on missions to every corner of the cemetery. It truly memorialized our Veterans with beauty and respect.
Before we all headed out of the door, President Linda presented Diane and Karen with the large check from our Foundation for $5,000. We continue to honor our support for the wonderful work that the Culver Palms YMCA does for our local community.
Until next week, Rotarians and Friends . . . can you guess the identity of this week’s Reciprocator author?