Sue's story for the September 10 Bulletin

 

Clusters of Kona Deep water bottles served as table centerpieces on Monday morning, but Rotarians, as always, headed to fill up coffee cups and chat with friends. Why the water bottles? Read on.

 

The meeting started on a somber note, as an emotional Bill Bloomfield shared thoughts and personal memories of Senator John McCain, “the great American we lost on Sunday.” “Senator McCain stuck to his principles, almost always, regardless of the consequences,” Bill remembered. As he finished his tribute with these words -- “To the end, Senator McCain was still trying to teach all of us, including the current president, how to be an American.”  -- we rose to honor the legacy of the Senator from Arizona.

 

Numerous visitors joined us, including Cedric Tuck-Sherman’s son Alex, Erin Rothner’s daughter Hailey, and two potential new members. Kathleen Terry urged us to join the Friendship Circle bowling team which meets from 9:30-11 Tuesday mornings. President Ken Deemer and Cedric Tuck-Sherman, joined by their wives, stepped outside the bubble for a movie night at the Hollywood Cemetery. Mark Lipps told us about the Young Entrepreneurs Academy, sharing stories of these 6^th through 12^th grade innovators, many of whom donate their profits to community causes. We supply six scholarships for the academy to disadvantaged youth and participate in a CEO panel. Tim Hageman is selling hot-cold mugs to benefit the Explorer program, for kids considering law enforcement careers. (Dick Chase immediately purchased one.) Vinny Fazzino is exploring interest in a spring home-building trip to an orphanage in Tijuana.

 

Moving on from sweat equity to financial equity, Dave Peters awarded Paul Harris pins to Erin Rothner +1, Steve Lore +1, Mike Matthews +4 and Ian Jackson +5.

 

Young entrepreneurs would gain knowledge from our speaker, Patrick Turpin, a self-described “recovered investment banker,” Manhattan Beach resident and consumption entrepreneur. Turpin looks for opportunities for innovation in “mature” categories of food and beverage, frequently to the concern of friends, he added. Noticing a lack of progress in snack foods for consumers looking for healthier alternatives, he and a partner launched popchips, a popped potato chip.

 

He then moved on to another BFY (better for you) product, Kona Deep bottled water. This water originates in a current off the coast of Hawaii, is desalinated and bottled. Per Turpin, it can compete with bottled water in the “pure” and “performance” categories. Turpin fielded a number of questions including: How does a potato pop? What do you do with the salt (after the desal process)? Where is the water sold locally? “How can you reduce the amount of plastic used?”

 

As we head into the Labor Day weekend, we can explore what BFY (better for you) means to us. In the case of Manhattan Beach Rotarians, I believe it means gathering for social events (the final Concerts in the Park), participating in community projects (Habitat for Humanity) and lending our talents to our club in ways too numerous to mention.