The meeting started at twelve ten by President Joe Hay. Invocation: Bill Lever, Flag salute: Ron Eaves, Song: Ed Tomlinson, Greeter: Jeff Johnson.
President Joe got all misty-eyed about Tom Cruise’s Top Gun movie shot on May 16, 1985.
Juan Bustamante brought five guests including his mother and grandmother to celebrate his birthday and Doc Irvin brought Katie Barton from BCSD.
Sheryl Barbich introduced our newest member, Kelly Youngstrom, a Ridgecrest graduate who went on to Wharton business school and worked for Kohl’s in the Midwest for ten years. She and her husband, Dr. Ed Youngstrom, moved back to Bakersfield eight years ago and Kelly is now director of operations at Kern Venture Group.
Good News:
Steve Rodrigues was on his way to attend his daughter’s graduation from BHS.
Program
Jordan Kaufman introduced our program, Esther Schlanger and her associate Shelly Bright from the Chabad Jewish Community Center in Bakersfield. Esther , MFT, is co-director of the Chabad Jewish Community Center.
Schlanger grew up in Brooklyn in a Hasidic community and knew one of the most influential rabbis in the Hasidic movement. The Hasidic movement was started in the 18th Century by the Baal Shem Tov, who introduced concepts that focused on the joy of faith.
The Center located in the old Laurelglen tennis club has recently completed collection of 6 million buttons commemorating Holocaust victims of World War II. These are displayed in the Center’s public garden. This two year project is designed to keep the memory of these victims and to educate children about the Jewish community.
Esther related her family’s losses and finds it necessary to combat holocaust denial with personal experiences. She displayed a German passport issued to her grandfather who managed to escape to the USA in 1941. The worse danger today is indifference and silence. She is very concerned with the spread of antisemitism in our colleges and is striving to offset the publicity and promote the truth.
Spoke Guest Editor:
Jeff Johnson
Jeffrey graduated from Stanford University with a degree in Mechanical Engineering and a Masters in Business Administration. He served in ever increasing positions of responsibility with two Fortune 500 companies – Merck and FMC corporation. He founded an agricultural machinery manufacturing company which was listed in the Inc Magazine Group of the 100 fastest growing privately held companies in 1980. He later headed a computer data base information service for California agribusiness formed as a joint venture by three California newspapers in Bakersfield. For 13 years he was director of a small business development center in Bakersfield providing advice and counsel to small businesses in Kern, Inyo and Mono counties. Currently he is the principal in a management consulting firm, JLM Associates, specializing in small to medium size businesses.
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