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Magic in Giving and Serving

by Don Jung

Coby McDonald led the flag salute and gave us the thought of the day. President Lisa Hemmat -Lupercio introduced the guests, and then had Dave Boochever speak about the Richstone after-school tutoring program. She asked each member to sign up for 1-2 tutoring sessions. President Lisa then told us that the Rotary Reads program has been filled up and asked that members send pictures. She also announced that Magic in Giving will be back at the Hermosa Comedy & Magic Club on May 18. 
 
Don Jung then spoke about the Year of the Dragon, as the Chinese New Year’s celebration started last Saturday. The club provided fortune cookies, and Don provided fortune fish to see who in the club is passionate. He invited everyone to attend the Chinese New Year’s parade in Los Angeles on February 17th and the spectacular night-time parade in San Francisco February 24th.
 
Incoming President John Acker announced his full board for the upcoming year that includes President-Elect Cedric Tuck-Sherman, Treasurers – John Rhind & Matt Peck, Secretary – Kelly Stroman, Programs – Nina Patel & Mike Jenkins, Membership Chair – Bruce Greenspon, Sergeant-at-Arms – Jason Hearne & John Ranaudo and Audio-Visual – Bryon Bos & Duke Winser plus numerous other positions too lengthy to list completely.
 
Our distinguished District Governor, Makiko Ogihara Nakasone, then inducted our two newest members, John Bartlett and Audra Platz, to our group with the customary handshakes.
 
President Lisa then introduced our guest speaker, Christina Pascucci, who spoke about her Emmy-award winning days as a journalist.  She discussed numerous stories she covered: from mental illness to surviving isolation in the Artic, eagle hunters in Mongolia and diving for sharks, but the highlight was her meeting with the Dalai Lama in India.  Her passion for human rights includes work on the homeless crisis and foster care issues. She spoke about what she could accomplish as our United States Senator and answered numerous questions on a long range of campaign topics from the audience.
 
Tom Jeffry won the raffle wine drawing, and Dick Chase was unlucky on the cash raffle.