Prayer – Clinton Trimmer

Flag Salute – Doug Pierce

 

Clint, along with his wife Megan, are the Corps Officers for The Salvation Army in Bakersfield. As Corps Officers, they oversee and direct the church and the social work of The Salvation Army for our community. Clint and Megan have been officers for ten years and have two sons, Lincoln (7) and Wesley (3).  Clint holds a BA in History, an MA in Museum Studies, and an MA in Theology, as well as his commission (ordination) from The Salvation Army. When not working, Clint enjoys hand-tool woodworking, fly fishing, and spending time with his family.

 

Steve Sanders hosted Russ Bigler CALM Board Chair

 

Juan Bustamante hosted Jennifer Contreras with EXP Reality

 

Visiting Rotarian Stephanie Sanchez with Twilight Rotary

 

Sheryl Barbich reminded the club of the origins of Holiday lights 20 years ago.

 

Justin Salters shared that his 5-year-old is now riding with no training wheels.

 

Clinton Trimmer shared that there is still time to sponsor a table for The Salvation Army’s Red Kettle Kickoff on Wednesday, November 15, at Salty’s BBQ (White Ln.)

 

Jeff Gutierrez, Ashley Sodergren, and Juan Bustamante attended the district conference held last weekend. The conference was well attended, with around 400 people, and consisted of good breakout sessions that were interesting. Juan made a connection with the club from Mexico. Comments were made about the positive reputation our club enjoys within the district.

 

Nick asked for people to sign up for meeting participation spots.

 

 

Jeff Gutierrez introduced the presentation by sharing how the California Living Museum has lived up to its initials CALM. The zoo was one of the few places he could always bring his son with autism and never have to worry. Jeff then proceeded to introduce Meg Maitland, the Director of CALM, who presented the zoo’s twenty-year master plan.

 

Meg started her presentation by reminding the club that Bakersfield, as the ninth largest city in California, deserves a great museum to match our great city. The master plan is meant to give Bakersfield the zoo it deserves while continuing to be the only zoo in the state that specifically focuses on California’s native animal and plant species.

 

The zoo has plans to replace the current entrance with an Entry Plaza, which will include a café, a new gift store, a new administration space, and a ticketing /guest services area. As part of this renovation phase, the current gift store will be turned into an education center. To help maintain the zoo’s focus and commitment to education, there will also be a dedicated student entrance, which will prevent students from having to cross the parking lot to enter the zoo. The entry plaza will be part of the first renovations expected within the next seven years.

 

The CALM Wildlife Rehab Center will also see major upgrades as part of the plan. The new space will allow for new cages, more support buildings, and indoor animal enclosures. Accompanying the expanded facilities will be a new kitchen to prepare food for the animals and housing for interns who will be part of the CWRC staff.

 

Extending past the current decade, the zoo plans to build a 15,000 ft event pavilion. Install a browse field, which will allow visitors to cut clippings to feed the animals native California plants.  The expansion will include areas for tule elk, bison native to California, white-tailed deer, and wolves. 

 

The projected cost of the project is $140 million, which comes to $7 million per year for the life of the plan.   Meg is confident that Bakersfield will support CALM and as a result will have the zoo our fine city deserves.