Holiday Sing-a-Long Ends 2025
by Don Jung
Santa Claus Cedric opened the meeting with words of inspiration: “In moments of
deep darkness, Hanukkah reminds us to respond not with fear, but with light. And
in Christmas, we’re reminded that light grows brightest when it’s shared through
generosity, kindness and goodwill toward all.”
The program showed the list of Rotarians who did the Sandpiper Holiday Baskets, the Santa Sleigh and the Mychal’s Place Santa Stroll. On December 17, 15 Rotarians will assist at the Older Adults Luncheon at the Joslyn Center (see photos below).
The traditional Christmas sing-a-long started with Paul Allman and his wife Sharon Grandinette, Rick Farrell, Bryon Bos and Dave Harris as the house band leading the singing of “Deck the Halls” and other classic holiday carols. Then Bryon introduced the Mira Costa chorus which sang six holiday tunes with enthusiasm and got a standing ovation.
The house band played “Rockin’ Around the Christmas Tree” and then Bryon
sang an emotionally moving version of one of his Christmas originals. Joel Ruben then played a song and talked about the history of Hanukkah and the lighting of the menorah.
The house band then played “Jingle Bells” and had the audience participate in
“The Twelve Days of Christmas,” with verses describing President Cedric’s first six months as president. They concluded with “Feliz Navidad” and thanked all the hotel servers for their year of service.
Larry Johnson donated a copy of Paul’s book, The Journal: Memories of Addis as the raffle prize, and Dick Chase was the lucky winner. No one won the cash raffle prize this week.
We will be dark for the next two Mondays, and our next meeting will be January 5.
For more meeting photos, go to SmugMug.
We Wish You Happy Holidays
by Editor
If you want to volunteer at the MB Older Adults Luncheon, you need to be fast. The slots fill quickly, and, as we know, many hands make light work. Our job -- plate and serve multiple courses, clean up, and fill special requests. The popular menu, catered by Lisa Hemmat-Lupercio's Lido di Manhattan, included Caesar salad, roast beef, fingerling potatoes and green beans, and, a new addition, pecan pie. It was ample and delicious. But not all Rotarians were volunteers; spotted in the crowd of 200 were MB Rotarians like John Hugunin enjoying the festivities. For more luncheon photos, go to SmugMug.
Riding on the MB Santa Float is another annual tradition, especially for our president and family. This year President Cedric Tuck-Sherman was an elf and his wife Gretchen Stipec was Mrs. Claus. Numerous other Rotarians helped Santa bring joy to children, parents, grandparents and grandchildren (including Rotarian grandparents Charlie and Weezie Steinmetz and Jim and Christine McFarland). Volunteers were invited to Tarek Shaer's home to continue the festivities. For more Santa float photos, go to SmugMug.
Once again, we teamed up with the Hawthorne/LAX/Lennox Rotary club to package and distribute food, toys and books to 40 families in the area, identified by their local schools as needing our help. Just 15 minutes from where live, families live in garages and other tiny living spaces tucked behind houses. The multiple bags for each family include fresh and ample groceries, and I will tell you from personal experience, the families are thrilled to get them. Thank you to Hawthorne/LAX/Lennox Rotary for providing me with some of my favorite Rotary moments, and a special thanks to Rotarian Jean Maldonado for these photos.
Once again, I want to thank our Community Service directors Rita Crabtree-Kampe and Nancy Vrankovic for making these opportunities for service possible.
SCHEDULE CHECK (click to calendar)
|
|
|
|