On Sunday, April 23 our members enjoyed meeting members of the community and sharing information about climate change provided by our very own Rotary Club of Calabasas member and Climatologist, Jorge Vazquez. Attendees received packages of wildflower seeds to plant as well as bags filled with a small terra cotta flowerpot with a surprise bag of seeds inside. Recipients loved unveiling the “mystery” seed types which ranged from cucumber seeds to daisies. We also enjoyed spending time with Mayor David Shapiro who will be a featured speaker during an upcoming Rotary Club of Calabasas noon meeting.
On Saturday April 16, 2023, the Rotary Club of Calabasas collaborated with other Rotary clubs in District 5280, family, friends, Interactors, and Rotaractors to help decorate and fill canvas "sweet cases" as well as assemble bicycles for the organization "Together We Rise." The organization's vision is to improve the lives of children in foster care so they feel cared for. This project will provide foster kids with personalized canvas duffel bags for their belongings instead of having to use trash bags and assembled bicycles to help them get to school with a little more independence.
Our Rotary Club of Calabasas was pleased to sponsor Calabasas High School student, Ashi Bhatia, in the visual arts category during the Rotary District 5280 Pageant of the Arts on Saturday, April 15. Ashi created a vibrant painting, titled “The Crab Trap,” that she describes as reflecting how people trap themselves in thoughts. Her artwork summary states: “Similar to the crab mentality, students today focus more on preventing others from reaching goals they themselves can’t achieve instead of putting in the work and effort required. In doing so, they isolate themselves from the beauty that already exists around them, essentially trapping themselves. In this competitive world of instant gratification, we have a duty to better and help each other while enjoying every moment in our wonderful journey as students.” We look forward to seeing future art pieces created by this talented young artist.
Calabasas Rotary Club sharing the Holiday Spirit..
The Calabasas Rotary Club recently participated in the Calabasas Jolly Trolley Holiday tour. The Club’s own Todd Gurvis dressed up as Santa! The Rotarians decorated the trolley, handed out goody bags and helped take photos of the children. Fun times for all.
Calabasas Rotary Club in Action
The Calabasas Rotary club recently donated 22 Thanksgiving Holiday Meal Gift Baskets to needy families in Calabasas/Agoura area. Calabasas Rotarians had fun shopping, decorating, and delivering the festive baskets to Veronica Esqueda, Family Engagement Specialist in the Las Virgenes Unified School District. Happy Thanksgiving!
Rotary Club of Calabasas volunteers at the West Valley Food Pantry on the second and fourth Wednesday of every month. We volunteer to pack bags of food that feed the hungry in our community. The West Valley Food Pantry also offers services to the homeless.
District Governor Olivia, First Gentleman Robert and Chief of Staff Alex Parajon visited the Rotary Club of Calabasas at the Sagebrush Cantina on Tuesday, October 25th. After an informative Board meeting of sharing our club activities and focus, we were greeted by the music of the Sets of Nine live band, run by President Daniele’s father! And, can they play! We were inspired by DG Olivia’s speech and listened intently to her initiatives for her term with much interest. We recognized three members for achieving their next PHF levels, and the DG awards were received by - MacGyver award went to Sally Goya, Most Active Rookie award to Natasha Estrada, and Most Imaginative award to Dante Lorenzana. Congratulations!! The evening ended with Rotarians dancing to the music played by Sets of Nine. What a wonderful evening this was to celebrate with District Governor Olivia and COS Alex!!!
The Calabasas Pumpkin Festival was a wonderful event for the Rotary Club of Calabasas. We enjoyed our day with our members, friends, family and the community. This year we focused on being environmental conscious, so we provided resuable aluminum beer cups, included 'snacks' for the munchies, and we partnered with the Las Virgenes Municipal Water District to provide paper cups for water during the 'hot' day. Thank you to 8one8 Brewery for joining us in the Beer Garden, Dante Lorenzana for the donation of Costco pumpkin pies!! Thank you to all our volunteers who spent the day in the booths at the event!!
The Annual Calabasas Pumpkin Festival is happening this year! This has been our annual fall festival where we meet, greet and celebrate with the community. You can not celebrate a fall festival without pumpkin pies! We will be selling 'pumpkin pies' whole and by the slice. We will be hosting the Beer & Seltzer Garden again this year. Our featured brewery is 8one8 Brewing Co in Canoga Park. They will be offering a selection of beers, including a fall season brew! This year we will be including 'hard' seltzer, and the infamous Pumpkin Beer.
This is our fall fundraiser to help provide funds to support the needs in our local community. Come join us, have a slice of pumpkin pie, and visit us at the Beer and Seltzer Garden!!
On Saturday September 17th, one those wonderful sunny days when you absolutely KNOW why you live in Southern California, not too hot, not too cold, the Rotary Club of Calabasas members wended their way to Cisco’s Restaurant in Thousand Oaks. There we spent a fun filled afternoon, listening to our Club President Daniele’s father and his band, 'Set of Nines', playing music that WE all knew the words to, and the beat had our toes tapping and even some souls up dancing! The food was great, the drinks too and we were even joined by our wonderful Assistant Governor, Senior Assistant Governor Glenn Gomez!
It was a very special afternoon, and we cannot WAIT to do it again! For those of you who missed it, you REALLY did miss a treat! As soon as we know where they are playing again, we will let you know so you can get it on your calendar!
Congratulations Rotary Club of Calabasas!
We received the Rotary Citation for the 2021-2022 Rotary year from 2021-22 Rotary International President Shekhar Metha. We received this recognition from Rotary InternationaI based on our demonstration to a commitment to achieve Rotary's goals, which ultimately helps strengthen our Rotary clubs and to positively shape our future in our local communities and globally.
Once again, congratulations Rotary Club of Calabasas!!
Once again, congratulations Rotary Club of Calabasas!!
On Saturday September 10, 2022, the Rotary Club of Calabasas collaborated with 12 other Rotary clubs in District 5280, family, friends and the community to help with decorating canvas duffel bags and assembling bicycles for the organization 'Together We Rise". The organization's vision is to improve the lives of children in foster care, who find themselves forgotten and neglected. This project will provide foster kids with personalized canvas duffel bags for their belongings instead of having to use trash bags and assembled bicycles to help them get to school with a little more independence, and the experience of just being a kid.
Thank you Rotary Club of Greater Van Nuys for the invitation to join in this heartfelt family project event.
At our Tuesday September 6, 2022 meeting, we were honored to welcome two visitors from The Greater Conejo Valley Boys and Girls Club, CEO Mark Bargaason and Area director Leslie Lemus. CEO Mark shared a lot of the history of the Boys and Girls Club, from its humble beginnings, to where it is now, providing both before, and after school care to children with working parents. A safe place to go, where they complete their homework, and not only learn social skills but also additional educational skills. Area Director Leslie shared with us some of the success stories, of returning Boys and Girls Club alumni, who return to share their time and skills and then go off to college and return to share THEIR own successes! Those stories warmed our hearts and we were thrilled to be able to present a Community Grant check for $4,000.00, to be used at the four Boys and Girls Clubs in Calabasas. This money will go towards improving the educational programs being provided at the clubs.
We have also learned of other volunteer opportunities for our members at these sites, and will be exploring those in more detail.
We have also learned of other volunteer opportunities for our members at these sites, and will be exploring those in more detail.
Joined by our very own member and Mayor of Calabasas Mary Sue Maurer, a group of us got together for an evening of fun, food, fellowship and may I say it again FUN!! We also had the joy of meeting the brand new member of the Estrada’s household their lovely new pet! So well behaved and affectionate little dog!
We all met up for the last in the Sun Sets Concert Series at Calabasas Lake to listen to, and to sing along with of course, the Surf City Allstars who performed a tribute to the music of the Beach Boys and Jan & Dean! Aaah – I think it took us all back to those “Surfing USA” days!
It was a beautiful evening, surprisingly even got a little chilly, and we heard our Mayor announcing her last ever concert as Mayor and a member of the City Council! We are so very proud to have her as a member of our Club! WHAT a joyful evening!
Our members were honored to attend the Mayoral Breakfast honoring Mayor Mary Sue Maurer, and a Rotarian of the Calabasas Club. The Calabasas Country Club is a beautiful setting for an early breakfast among friends in the community. We learned more about our Mayor Mary Sue Maurer and the contributions she has made to the community of Calabasas through those who worked alongside her. When Mary Sue spoke the power was out and so was her powerpoint... but the Mary Sue way .... she presented with a smile, humor and her paper notes. Thank you Mary Sue for your many years of service to the community ... with the City Council and as a Rotarian!
Members of the Rotary Club volunteered at Operation Gratitude in Chatsworth. What a wonderful opportunity to spend the evening stuffing teddy bears that will be given to the children of deployed military service persons. Teddy bears provide a sense of comfort while a military parent is away. We were also given a container of paracords to re-braid, if any members are interested. These paracord 'survival' bracelets provide a military or first responder with a tangible, lasting expression of gratitude. They are included in Care Packages and can be used to save a life in an emergency situation.
Our Rotary Club of Calabasas members worked closely with the Lost Hills Sheriff Station to remodel the existing Comfort Room located on the premises as our District 5280 Community Grant project. The tranquil environment affords individuals who are victims of domestic or other forms of violence, children who have been removed from their homes, or those who have lost loved ones in local tragedies to have access to clean clothing and personal care items. Additional comforting items such as small teddy bears for children to keep, personal blankets, and even new pillows with pillowcases sewn by our club members for children who will be entering foster care are organized for easy access.
The Lost Hills Sheriff Department, including a Watch Deputy, several Sheriffs, and trustees, assisted in preparing the room, from painting the walls to affixing new light switches. The furniture was replaced, including the purchase and assembly of a new couch, storage cabinet, and child table with matching stools. A new smart television and a DVD/Blu-ray player were also purchased and installed. We were also fortunate to get help from a retired LASD Sheriff, Kenney Keyes, who owns Carpet Savers Carpet Cleaning. He was proud to have his company assist in this important project.
We are grateful to Calabasas Mayor Mary Sue Maurer for her support and the City of Calabasas for providing additional funds. A big “thank you” goes out to Captain Jennifer Seeto for helping our club to unveil the new Comfort Room and for her commitment to serving the community.
We are also very proud that one of our Rotary Club of Calabasas members, renowned artist Angie Whitson, donated two beautiful original oil paintings for the room. A new plaque adorns the wall to note the partnership between the Rotary Club of Calabasas with the City of Calabasas.
Our first meeting of the 2022-2023 Rotary year under the leadership of President Daniele. President Daniele shared with the membership her leadership team and her goals for the year. Thank you to PDG Jay Saltzman and his wonderful wife Fern for joining us. PDG Jay installed the 2022-2023 Club Board, and was our guest speaker. He shared interesting information - 'Did you Know...Fun Facts of Rotary' which prepares us to play Rotary Trivia. Looking forward to an exciting Rotary year of new friendships, new service opportunities, and Rotary growth. Have a wonderful year, President Daniele!!
City of Calabasas July 4th Fireworks Celebration at Calabasas High School. Some of our members spent the day volunteering at this celebration event...and I believe we enjoyed the fun just as much as the kids and their parents. We spent the day helping the kids with arts and crafts, activities, listened to music and enjoyed the dancing. What a wonderful day to celebrate with our Calabasas community!
Our annual Rotary at the Bowl event happened this year! We were all excited to be out with our Rotarian friends across the Rotary District 5280. This year's entertainment featured Steve Martin, Steep Canyon Rangers and Martin Short....such a fun night!! We were all rolling with laughter in our seats. Since this was the celebration of July 4th, we saluted our military services, and we were mesmerized with the fantastic fireworks show to end the night.
Thank you Rotary Club of Calabasas for a wonderful Demotion / Celebration Party. I was honored and truly enjoyed the year as Club President. Our successful year happened because of our club members' support and teamwork! We did this together! Thank you to our Rotary friends for joining us...we loved having you all there to celebrate with us. Thank you Sherry for opening her home, Manny, Bette and Daniele for the fun hawaiian golf theme!! I love the President Award!!
The Rotary Club of Calabasas held their Fireside Chat on April 12th at the beautiful home of Angie Whitson. What a wonderful evening of fellowship, fun, laughs and learning a thing or two about Rotary. It was great to see our newest members, and interested potential members joining us. We are excited to welcome our new Rotary family members...who have already stepped up to lead events and projects. We love our members!!
City of Calabasas Bunny Trail Jr. April 9th at the Juan Bautista De Anza Park in Calabasas. The Rotary Club of Calabasas volunteered to pack 350 bags of candy for the event. We also volunteered on the day, at the photos with the Bunny Rabbit, Bunny Trail, and handing out candy. What a fun community event to watch the children hunt for eggs, face painting, an obstacle course and enjoying the petting zoo.
It was a beautiful warm Sunday to be out in nature. The joint Peace Committee of Calabasas and Woodland Hills arranged this event that we spent the morning touring the Malibu Creek Park with Docent Eduardo Estrada. We also heard the history of the tribes Tataviam and Chumash in our local area from a member of the tribe....Alan Salazar. There is history of the area including the famous backdrop of many movies and TV shows for the past 100 years. Thank you to our Peace Committee for arranging this wonderful day and our speakers who educated us on the history of our neighborhood park.
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