Stories

Greetings - 

LA5 helped organize an amazing volunteer opportunity with A Place Called Home (APCH).  

This is a Family Event that LA5 participates in annually and provides direct assistance and holiday fun for families in need. Volunteers were able to help provide assistance in the following areas: event setup, facilitation and breakdown, craft/activity stations, ushers, photo booth, load, unload and organize gifts and more. 

Malibu Rotary President, Julian Alexander jumped at the opportunity to trek across Los Angeles and volunteer at this amazing event.  He felt it was very rewarding to give back to the community during the holidays and help LA5 with their annual project.  

The event was a huge success and the Malibu Rotary Club looks forward to participating next year! 

Happy Holidays, 

Malibu Rotary 

The next  regular meeting of the Malibu Rotary Club will be  a joint meeting including the Malibu Rotary Club and the Pepperdine Rotarct Club  in person on Tuesday, September 12 1:00 pm in main Pepperdine Campus  Faculty Dining Room, Room TCC 112. 

Malibu Rotary Club President-Elect Binaca Torrance  introduced film producers Pete Allman (L) and Alex Ayzin (R)  who showed excerpts of their video “The Winds of Freedom” at the Malibu Rotary Club meeting May 31 2017.

Pictured  above (L to R) moderator Pete Peterson, Dean Pepperdine School of Public Policy addressing  Malibu City Council  Candidates: Jennifer deNicola, Skylar Peak, Carl Randall,  Laureen Sills,  and Jefferson “Zuma Jay” Wagner.   The  Malibu Rotary Club  sponsored the special Malibu City Council Candidates Forum Wednesday Oct 19 in the Pepperdine University Fireside Room   in front of about 70 people.  

The  forum  was open to the public.   Six  candidates were running to fill to fill three Council seats that  were currently held by Joan House, Skylar Peak, and John Sibert. The city election would be part of the General Election on November 8.  

Winners of the 2016 Malibu Rotary Club Middle and High School Singing Competition--Top Row High School Division Winners Maggie Valdman, Isabella Haagen, Claire Anneet and Cat Evers---Bottom Row Middle School Division Winners Gina Marcellino, Alina Rose Armstong and Scarlett Steinberg

The 2016 Malibu Rotary Club Middle and High School Annual Singing Competition was held January 27st at Raitt Recital Hall at the Pepperdine University campus in Malibu. 15 singers from Amy Loch's Malibu Middle and High School choral classes  competed for six prizes awarded by the Malibu Rotary Club.  
 
Three winners in the Middle School division and four winners in the High School division were announced  and cash prizes of $200, $100, and $50 were  awarded the night of the event to the first, second, and third place finishers in each division. A tie for third in the High School Division meant their were 4 awards given instead of 3 in that division, for a total of 7 awards given in all.  Winner of the High School Division, Maggie Valdman,  was sponsored by the Malibu Rotary Club to compete in the Rotary District 5280 Art, Dance, Music and Speech Competition  held March 5th at Loyola Marymount University where a where she competed against 23 instrumentalists and vocalists in the Los Angeles area Rotary district.  She was the top vocalist and 2nd overall in the music competition, winning the $500.00 2nd place prize.  Previous winners in the Malibu Rotary Singing competition have done well in the District competition,   The 2009 Malibu entrant Katlyn Conners placed 2nd in the district and the 2015 Malibu entrant Isobel Anthony placed 3rd. 

The 2014 Annual Malibu Rotary Club Middle and High School Singing Competition was held in Stauffer Chapel at Pepperdine University on January 16 This year music professionals Claudia Zahn, Sara Levy, Julia Holland judged a dozen entrants and the top 3 contestants in the high school division and the middle school division were awarded cash prizes of $250 for first, $150 for second, and $100 for third place in each division. This year there was a tie for third place in the middle school competition and there were 7 cash awards given. Music chosen by students ranged from opera to Broadway show tunes. The singers are all students of Amy Lock's choral classes at Malibu Middle School and Malibu High School. 

 Pictured:The three winners from Malibu High School -Back Row: Left to Right: Jade Bates (3rd place), Maggie Valdman (2nd place, Isobel Anthony (1st place) Judges: Claudia Zahn, Sara Levy, Julia Holland Malibu Middle School Winners-Front Row Left to Right: Ava Daikeler (1st Place), Gina Marcellino (2nd place), Claire Anneet (3rd place tie), Ava Kotler (3rd place tie). 

The Malibu Rotary Club again sponsored the Thanksgiving Dinner for Homeless  on November 21st at Webster School  the week before Thanksgiving in conjunction with the SOS group (Standing On Stone), which serves weekly dinners there along with other services.  

Voluteers in kitchen (above Left to Right):

Anne de Brouwer, Cindra Raineri, Maggie Luckerath, Martha Templeton, Bill Wishard, Griselda Espinoza, David Zielski, David Espinoza, Hubert Luckerath, Crystal Soufer (picture by Frank Lamonea)

Maggie chaired event for Malibu Rotary Club and supervised the kitchen crew.

On his visit to the Malibu Rotary Club on August 22, 2012, Rotary District Governor Lew Bertrand gave Visionary Awards to three members of the Rotary Club of Malibu.  The three recipients of the awards for 2012-13 are Maggie Luckerath, John Elman and David Baird. The awards were given to members of the club who provided "insight into means of providing humanitarian service, encouraging high ethical standards in all vocations and helping to build goodwill and peace in the world."

Like Rotary Club of Malibu on facebook

Luci Prosapio is a Pepperdine University senior  History and International Studies student who was chosen by Rotary District 5580  to be the beneficiary of a Rotary Foundation Ambassadorial Scholarship to work on a Masters in Development Studies at  Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University in Port Elizabeth, South Africa.  

When Malibu Rotary Past President William Wishard signed up, along with 110 other District 5280 Rotarians, to go on the trip to Ecuador to visit the various humanitarian projects that clubs in the Los Angeles area had contributed to in that South American country, he knew it would be an unforgettable experience, but he did not know how great it would be.

Bill said that Rotarians often talk about their "Rotary Moment," when they realize what Rotary is all about.  For Bill, he experienced that moment and more.

Malibu Rotary Club voted to send $500 to the Rotary Club of Pontiac Michigan to help build and install BioSand Filters in Santo Domingo De Los Colorados, Ecuador. As was noted by Carol Cousineau, who, along with husband Ron brought the project to our attention, after installing the first BioSand filters in Ecuador, "That money would be matched by the next District Grant, which we have been assured we will get. So, for instance $500.00 would become $750.00.

was so impressed with Rotary's commitment to Polio eradication and the importance of the current last push effort "End Polio Now" campaign that she decided share her passion with others. She is pictured here presenting an End Polio Now cap to Chris Bauman, who was presiding over the Malibu Rotary Club meeting for Holmes Osborne

The need for clean water and sanitation is staggering in Ecuador, a country of 14 Million people. Water borne diseases are the major cause of deaths and illnesses in the young population. Infant mortality is 21.35 deaths for 1000 live births. There are few cities with adequate water supply and none with sanitation. The vast majority of the population does not have access to clean water. BioSand filters offers hope to poor families who get water from shallow polluted wells or rivers and streams and must spend a significant portion of their daily earnings to boil their water.

At the Malibu Rotary Club meeting of April 15 Dr Richard introduced fellow ER doctor Lawrence Stock, MD, who lives in Malibu. Among other awards and accomplishment Dr Stock was awarded Volunteer Clinical Faculty Teacher of the Year, voted on by the resident doctors at Harbor UCLA Medical Center, a teaching hospital for the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA. Harbor UCLA Medical Center is a trauma center and one of Los Angeles County's Public Hospitals. It is easy to understand why he was given this honor when one learns about Larry's dedication to, as Rotary puts it, "Service Above Self." He not only saves lives in the emergency room, but he teaches others the skills he has learned.

When Don Schmitz built his home in the hills near the Corral Canyon area of Malibu he was told by the fire department that he was so isolated from the main roads that they probably couldn't help him in case of fire. Don, who is a consultant in land development and permit processing, didn't let that stop him. He put in his own water tower, sprinkler system, and has his own fire truck. During the Corral Canyon fire the fire department used his water to help fight the fire in the surrounding area. As he watched the fire spread the thought occurred to him that if there was a water and sprinkler system in place along the Santa Monica Monica Mountains, fires which seasonally threaten the Malibu area could be thwarted before they created fire storms and the resulting damage.
 

It is unusual for one university to produce Rotary Ambassadorial Scholars in consecutive years, but Pepperdine Dean Emeritus and Malibu Rotarian David Baird is proud that Pepperdine University can boast producing  five Rotary Foundation Ambassadorial Scholars in five years.  Last December we were able to meet Amy Joehlin-Price who was the 2007-2008 Rotary Ambassadorial Scholar sponsored by the Malibu Rotary Club and District 5280  to study public health at the Malawi College of Medicine in southeast Africa.  She now is at Ohio State Medical School.  When Braden Mogler, who was a junior at Pepperdine University asked  Dean David Baird about applying for a Rotary Ambassadorial Scholarship to study public health in a Spanish speaking country he recommended Braden apply through the Rotary Club in his home town of Mankato, Minnesota, rather than through the Malibu Rotary Club.