Cambria Rotary Club Information
Welcome to the BEST Rotary Club in the world!
You can email us at cambriarotaryclub AT gmail.com
Cambria

Service Above Self

We meet In Person
Fridays at 12:00 PM
San Simeon Lodge
9520 Castillo
San Simeon, CA 93452
United States of America
Hybrid Meeting Schedule: Friday Lunch is at Noon & Zoom feed opens at 12:15 prior to the meeting opening. Cambriarotaryclub@gmail.com 805 769 4749

THE ROTARY CLUB OF CAMBRIA IN PERSON EVENT COVID 19 POLICY

The Rotary Club of Cambria continues to follow San Luis Obispo County Health requirements and recommendations regarding COVID-19. In keeping with ever-changing circumstances and therefore Public Health recommendations, our club will continue with hybrid (Zoom and in person) meetings, as well as continue to recommend that all members be vaccinated (including boosters). However, proof of vaccination will no longer be required for in-person attendance for members or guests. Further, our club strongly recommends that all in-person attendees, whether vaccinated or non-vaccinated, wear masks when indoors and not actively eating or drinking. Thank you for your patience and consideration.``
 
This policy is subject to change at any time as the situation changes. 
Signage at check-in will also reflect this policy and any changes in this policy each week
 
 
ROTARY CLUB OF CAMBRIA
4th OF JULY BOOTH
Speakers
Mike Griffin
Jun 02, 2023
“for What It’s Worth” tales from the Pawn shop
Donna and Julian Crocker
Jun 09, 2023
Cambria Cadence Poetry Out Loud
RON PERRY
Jun 16, 2023
Music history
AWARDS NIGHT SS
Jun 23, 2023
President Elect Bob Kasper
Jun 30, 2023
PETS and next year
Bruce Gibson
Jul 14, 2023
TBD
Heide Santos
Jul 21, 2023
Egypt Land of the Pharaohs
Aaron Linn
Jul 28, 2023
TBD
Dr Kate Perry
Aug 25, 2023
TBD
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News Updates

 

Bob told us that he was asked to speak with us today because many people are wondering how our very rainy winter might affect this year’s fire season. We live in a Mediterranean climate where we go for long periods of time without moisture which increases our fire risk. Many of our area native and invasive plants, shrubs & trees are used to going long periods without pre-cipitation. Many contain resins, sap and other materials that help them survive long periods without rain, however this also adds to how intensely they burn. 

What does 2023 look like? It is all about four variables: 

 Fuel (we have plenty of that, and much of it is old) 

 Weather (hot, dry weather, hi temps, low humidity, dry winds) 

 Topography (we can’t change that, we live in an area that is ripe to burn) 

 Fire starts ( one of the few things we can try to reduce..) 

 

Typically, Cambria & the North Coast are not in prime wildfire season until late August through December. That doesn’t mean we cannot experience a wildfire. 

A slide show attached to this newsletter gives us some excellent information on how to protect our homes and what to do IF we are faced with a wildfire. We are so grateful to Bob for brining his 35 years of expertise to our club. 

 

Mark Ober told us that this year 50 students submitted essays. A committee of Donna & Julian Crocker, Lo-rienne, Nancy McKarney, Cynthia Woodruff-Neer and Mark took on the task of reading all the essays and deter-mining the winners.. 

At the 7th grade level, Jaqui Cruz submitted the winning essay explaining how the 4-way test would have helped her in dealing with an “irritating younger brother. Jazlyn Bautista’s second place essay explained how the test would have helped her make better decisions and be more respectful. Third place winner, Arabella Feldman-Milliken essay earned third place. She explained how the 4-way test would help her to be more compassionate. 

For the first time, 11th graders were asked to submit essays. Condee Seed turned in the first-place essay conclud-ing that the 4-way test is a helpful resource in being a thoughtful friend and family member. Second place win-ner, Adair Ponce wrote about how the 4-way test helped him to prevent escalation of an argument. Two essays tied for third place. Zahaira Melendez explained how being able to ask the four questions in the test helped “better improve the mindset while also valuing the process of making a decision that won’t have a terrible out-come”. Brandon Diaz Solis submitted the other third place essay about a disagreement he had with a teacher. Because he followed the 4-way test, he took time to let the problem solve itself rather than getting into a confron-tation with the teacher. 

Congratulations to all the students who participated in this project. 

 

Bob told us that he was asked to speak with us today because many people are wondering how our very rainy winter might affect this year’s fire season. We live in a Mediterranean climate where we go for long periods of time without moisture which increases our fire risk. Many of our area native and invasive plants, shrubs & trees are used to going long periods without pre-cipitation. Many contain resins, sap and other materials that help them survive long periods without rain, however this also adds to how intensely they burn. 

What does 2023 look like? It is all about four variables: 

 Fuel (we have plenty of that, and much of it is old) 

 Weather (hot, dry weather, hi temps, low humidity, dry winds) 

 Topography (we can’t change that, we live in an area that is ripe to burn) 

 Fire starts ( one of the few things we can try to reduce..) 

 

Typically, Cambria & the North Coast are not in prime wildfire season until late August through December. That doesn’t mean we cannot experience a wildfire. 

A slide show attached to this newsletter gives us some excellent information on how to protect our homes and what to do IF we are faced with a wildfire. We are so grateful to Bob for brining his 35 years of expertise to our club. 

 

Rotary Youth Leadership Awards (RYLA) is an intensive leadership experience organized by Rotary clubs and districts where young people can devel- op leadership skills while having fun and making connections.  The event offers courses not often found in the regular curriculum teenagers are offered. These courses include diversity training, public speaking, team building, leadership funda- mentals, goal setting, leading a meeting, character & ethics, facilitation, fellowship and creating good habits. The retreat offers a mix of indoor and out- door activities. Very talented keynote speakers are

invited to come and teach, motivate and inspire our youth to become great leaders and to do great things. Cam- bria Rotarian Nancy McKarney serves as the Senior Administrator and club members Tim Carr and Jane Howard both served as counselors.

This year our club sponsored five Coast Union juniors to attend RYLA. They were chosen based on their leadership potential to attend RYLA. Olivia Klemstein, Ashley Klemstein, Adair Ponce, Dane Volz and Sean Schalk joined 190 students from high schools in Rotary’s District 5240 at Camp Ramah in Ojai. At our meeting on Friday, we were

pleased to hear about the student’s experiences. Adair told us that after attending RYLA,“I see leadership differ- ently. Ultimately my goal is to bring what I’ve learned back to Coast Union and any community I’m part of”. Ash- ley said “if I hadn’t come here, I wouldn’t understand the breakdown steps of how to be a leader and how I can positively impact my community”. Olivia described it as “a crazy fun experience I will appreciate forever”. Dane credited the friends he made there for teaching him so much about the world, life and himself. Sean told us that RYLA “has been a blessing. I have learned so much about being a leader and using my unique skills and talents to help my community”.

 

Local experts say human trafficking impacts thousands of people in California every year and warn this crime could surge during Super Bowl weekend. Most victims of human trafficking are forced into sex work between 11 and 14 years old — lured in with drugs and expensive gifts. Many remain trapped for years, or even decades. 

Marianne Jackson, a human trafficking survivor, said she was a sex worker for more than eight years and she shared how she broke free. “I was on the street and I did-n’t have anywhere to go, anything at all,” Jackson said. “I got talked into getting into this lifestyle. It was portrayed as something really glamorous and empowering, but it was nothing like that at all.” 

Jackson said her trafficker went to prison for murder, but it still wasn’t easy to leave sex work behind. 

“I was able to break free from my trafficker, but I kept doing it on my own because that’s how I knew how to sur-vive,” Jackson said. “These girls really aren’t out there by choice. Whether they have a pimp or don’t have a pimp, like I said, it’s all about survival.” 

Now she works for Magdalene Hope, a local group that serves and rehabilitates victims of sex trafficking. 

“My daughter-in-law went to church one day and they were talking about Magdalene Hope and how they helped girls get out of the sex industry,” Jackson said. “When I first got into the program my four front teeth had been knocked out by a guy. We got a grant to fix my teeth and now I have my smile again. It was a free program. They provided everything for me. My life changed completely, it’s a blessing.” 

 

Jane Howard introduced our speaker, John Weiss and told us that he joined the Rotary Club of Morro Bay in 2001. He is a Past District Governor (2017-18) and Club President (2009-10 & 2011-12). 

John has created and presented Membership seminars since 2010, was a PETS instructor on “Engaging Members” for 4 years. He personally sponsored over 60 new members to his club, helped charter the Eco-Rotary Club Morro Bay, Morro Bay High School Interact Club and the San Luis Obispo Rotaract Club. 

John’s wife Christine is a great partner who was a Charter member of the Rotary Club of Morro Bay—Eco. Together they have 5 adult children ages 33 to 44. 

John served as a working Governor with retail and professional electronics stores in Morro Bay, San Luis Obispo and Paso Robles. Many members of his staff have been with the company (founded with father in 1978) and industry to 20-35 years. 

John plays basketball, golf and walks when possible in between Rotary functions, church, family and work. 

He is a cancer (Stage 4 adrenal Cortical Carcinoma) survivor having been diagnosed a month before serving as Dis-trict Governor in June 2017 and continues to get monthly treatments and constant monitoring. 

 

INTERNATIONAL SERVICES: Julie Jenkins gave us an update on the works of the International Committee. The main purpose of International Services is to promote peace and understanding. So far this year the following donations were made: $1,000 Compass Zambia; $1,200 Whisper & Thunder; $924 + a $780 District Grant to Lor-des Meade in Uganda; $825 Grace Center in Zambia; $1,000 committee donation and $1,000 member donation to Turkey & Syria Earthquake Relief; $1,150 Water for Honduras; $2100 San Miguel de Allende (empowerment for women); $500 Arco San Pedro for a 7th grade classroom; $800 Roses of Mbuya, Uganda to purchase sewing ma-chines for young mothers; 4 Committee and 1 Private scholarship for girls to attend PACE in India; $1,000 to Shel-ter Box. A copy of the slide show will accompany this email. 

NEAL JENSEN FOUNDATION: Dennis White and Mike Griffin announced that the Neal Jensen Fund is now at almost $700,000! They also told us about an exciting new project. Thanks to Andrew, a 4 acre parcel at Cam Ocean Pines where we will be planting 38 trees: one for each club member who has joined the Neal Jensen Fel-lowship. Greenspace has agreed to help us by telling us how to plant and space the trees. 

YOUTH SERVICES: Cynthia Woodruff Neer told us that Luanne Kittle will be co-chairing Youth Services next year! Thank you Luanne. She also announced that there will be a reception at Camp Ocean Pines from 4-5 on June 7th to honor this year’s scholarship winners. 8 students will be awarded scholarship this year. And, for the first time, one of the students is a home-schooled student. RYLA is coming up and we are sending 8 students who will be attending our weekly meeting on May 5th to tell us about their experience. On May 12, we will be hearing from the 4-Way Essay Contest winners. And, plans are that there will be an Interact Club at the Middle School next school year. More information about that will be forthcoming. A copy of the slide show Cynthia presented is attached to this email. 

TRF: PP Chuck told us that everyone in out club donated $50 a year to Polio Plus and $100 to the Annual Fund. This is possible because funds raised each year from fundraisers such as VIVA, go to the Cambria Rotary Founda-tion. 25% of those funds stays in our Foundation while the remaining 75% funds go to our Avenues of Service which includes TRF. The portion that goes to TRF is used to make the donations in each members name to Polio Plus and the Annual Fund. The 25% that remains in the Foundation grows due to dividends. A link to the slide show that was shown during this presentation will be in the email with our newsletter 

 

Lorienne began her introduction with a quote from Rosalynn Carter, “There are only four kinds of people in the world: those who have been caregivers, those who are currently caregivers, those who will be care-givers, and those who will need caregivers.” She then welcomed Karen Ortiz, Director of Development and Tamra Mariott, Development Manager. We learned that The Longest Day is the day with the most light — the summer solstice. On June 21, thousands of participants from across the world come together to fight the darkness of Alzheimer's through an activity of their choice. Together, they use their crea-tivity and passion to raise funds and awareness for the care, support and research efforts of the Alzheimer’s Association. For more information about The Longest Day, go to alz.org/TLD. 

Currently, more than 690,000 people in California are living with Alzheimer’s disease, and over 1.12 million family and friends are providing care. 

The Alzheimer’s Association, California Central Coast Chapter provides free edu-cation programs, support services and care consulta-tions across the counties of San Luis Obispo, Santa Bar-bara and Ventura counties while also supporting critical research toward a cure. 

 

CUHS English Teacher, Ogo Agbo read the 3rd Place Essay from senior Emily Reed who could not be with us due to illness. 

Patricia Acosta, also a senior, submitted the 2nd Place Essay. Patricia will be attending Boston College on a QuestBridge Scholarship. 

Declan MacKenzie, a sophomore, received 1st place honors for his essay. Declan was home-schooled in Viet Nam, where his family lived due to his father’s job, until last year when he relocated to Cambria and enrolled in Coast Union. 

 

Joni Kirby has enjoyed sharing many of her personal life’s moments through “untrainings” for over thirty years. She is passionate about reminding other that their happiness is always carried within their inner heart space. Joni cur-rently lives in Cambria with her fur babies, Love and Faith. 

“Our lives are full of satori moments—powerful snippets of time that, when recognized, invite us to awaken, become aware, be present, and find enlight-enment.” “Through inspiring personal stories and wisdom acquired over time, Joni Kirby teaches us that we do not need to be trained to be. Instead, she encourages us to live as Rylan did—awakened, dancing, and celebrating life in the mo-ment. As she leads others on the satori journey of reawakening, also known as Rylan’s untrainings, she reminds us of who we are deep inside, to love, live, and learn in the moment, to laugh often, to re-member that all is well because we are one, to embrace the joy that is always with-in, to breathe in the space of stillness between thoughts, and to intentionally plant our life’s garden—all while embracing the beauty of life.” Joni’s book, Satori Moments, shares anecdotes and wisdom intended to inspire any-one interested in finding their way back to their true selves and the I-ness within and it is available on Amazon All proceeds are donated to Dr. Loh’s Childhood Cancer Research

em Munro has devoted his life and career to improving educational opportunities for dis- advantaged people across Canada and abroad.

He is presently a Director of Amarok Society, a registered Canadian charity that provides education programs to the very poor in Bangladesh. As Gem told us, Bangladesh has the poorest of the poor and th worst of the worst. In the words of the Turkish Ambassador to Canada, “Of all the countries I have visited in all my travels, only Bangladesh made me cry”.

This was an excellent presentation. You are encouraged to visit their website: http:// www.amaroksociety.org.

 

Estero Bay Kindness Coalition started in December 2017, when founder Bobby deLancellotti met with the principal at Del Mar Ele-mentary school in Morro Bay, CA to inquire about how he could serve the most vulnerable students during the holidays. The princi-pal connected him with 10 families. Bobby bought them 2 gifts each: a fun gift, a practical gift, and a $100.00 gift card to a local su-permarket. In January, the principal sent Bobby a letter thanking him for the impact the gifts had on the families. She also informed him that 64% of the students at Del Mar were living at or below the poverty line. This broke Bobby’s heart, so he decided to do some-thing about it. 

In March 2018, he started Got Your Back, a program that helps feed kids over the weekends, providing 2 breakfasts, 2 lunches, 2 dinners, healthy snacks, fruit, milk, and juice to each kid enrolled. The kids in this program rely on “hot/reduced lunch” at school to eat during the week and would often go hungry on the weekends. By June 2018, Estero Bay Kindness Coalition was serving 48 students with Got Your Back. The following school year, it jumped to 8 schools and over 200 students in the SLO Unified School District. During this time, our organization became a nonprofit 501 C-3. By the 2019 school year, we were feeding over 200 children in 8 schools. 

When the Covid-19 pandemic hit and schools closed their doors in March 2020, Bobby met with local principals to get connected with some of the most vulnerable, food insecure families in the SLO Unified School District. 

The Estero Bay Kindness Coalition went from feeding school kids on the weekends to feeding whole families for the week, virtually overnight. 

To meet the needs of the families referred to us by 1 of our 8 partnered schools, we created Bags of Love, a program that delivers 3 bags of groceries per week to 164+ families in the greater Estero Bay area. The bags of groceries consist of healthy, protein-rich breakfasts, lunches, dinners, snacks, juice, milk, and fresh, local produce. During this time, we also created Sunshine and Seed, a new and gently used kids clothing collective where kids can shop for free. 

When schools reopened in 2021, we reimplemented Got Your Back, sending kids home with healthy meals and snacks to eat over the weekends. 

The Estero Bay Kindness Coalition has built a team of over 80+ volunteers, 2 team leaders, and 2 food pantries. They are currently partnered with 8 schools, 41 for-profits, 18 nonprofits, and 10 churches 

Lorienne asked us “What does vocation mean?” It is, she explained, the action or result of calling or summoning, and derived senses. Your vocation in life is where your greatest joy meets the world’s greatest needs.

Lorienne then asked us to think about what, as a child, you wanted to be when you grew up. How surprised would that child be to discover what you actually wound up doing. And think of one or two skills you have developed that would delight that child.

Thank you for an interesting discussion, Lorienne. 

 

Interact Club members plan various fundraising activities so they can raise money to donate to causes select-ed by the Interactors. In previous years, the club has donated to such causes as high school scholarships, Camp Ocean Pines, HART, Feeding America, Doctors Without Borders, St. Jude’s, Skate Cambria and FFRP. This year we were joined by Interact members President Violet, Ave, Oscar and Robert and their Interact Advisor, Ayan John-son. 

The Annual Interact Bake Sale is always one of our favorite meetings because the baked goods the students make are auctioned off and, invariably bidding wars break out as auctioneer Bob Kasper uses humor to encourage high-er and higher bids. It is just another example of our motto: “If it ain’t fun, it ain’t Rotary”. 

At Friday’s meeting, there were a lot of laughs, we got to enjoy some delicious baked goods and the 2023 Interact Bake Sale raised almost $4,500! 

Our very brave and amazing President took a deep breath and started telling us the story of her bumpy road to stroke diagnosis and recovery. One week before she left for a long- awaited trip to Africa, Christel told us she was in her garden wearing tall garden boots. She noticed she was tripping and blamed it on the boots. But, the next day the same thing happened. She also noticed there was a change in her handwriting but didn’t think a whole lot of it.

On May 19th, she was at the airport, reading to board for her trip to Africa when she
could not find her credit card and was feeling confused. In Africa, she wore tennis shoes
most of the time and foud herself tripping again. Two days in a row, while eating dinner,
she felt like she was choking and had trouble catching her breath. When she returned home on June 3, she still found herself tripping and her handwriting seemed to be getting worse. On July 3rd, she was diagnosed with COVID for the second time and was quite sick. After recovering from COVID, she noticed she was having trouble keeping dates straight.

On that Friday, she was preparing to come to our meeting but she started feeling hot and her speech was slurred. After talking to both Patty and husband John, who both verified that she WAS slurring her words, she decided it was time to get checked out. She contacted a Neurologist from Cedar Sinai who told her to get to the emergency room. But, in typical Christel fashion, she made John drive her to Cambria so she could give Sue the purple shirts she had ordered for the Board before he took her to the hospital in Arroyo Grande. In the ER, she was told that she had a Transient ischemic attack (TIA or mini stroke). An MRI confirmed that she did have a stroke and it was centered on her cerebellum which is why her speech, coordination and swallowing were affected. She even lost 65% of her hearing.

Strokes can be caused by a number of things, Christel told us, including high cholesterol, which she had, hormone replacement therapy, which she had been on for far too long and COVID, which she had twice. Once she returned home, she went through speech therapy, occupational therapy and physical therapy. But, her biggest challenge was fighting the feeling of helplessness and depression. It was a long, hard road but, she said, all the cards and flowers helped her through it. “I am healing and recovering”, she said. And, she warned, if you no- tice any changes in mobility, speech, vision, get to an emergency room. If treated withing a few hours of the onset of symptoms, medications can be administered that can possibly reverse the damage.

Dr. Kate added that considering the amount of time Christel waited from the onset of symptoms, she is amazed she is doing so well. “Better to be wrong in an ER”, warned Kate. TIA’s are a precursor to a stroke so it is imperative that you get medical attention as soon as possible to avoid a full-blown stroke. Kate also recommend going to Sierra Vista if you are experiencing signs of a stroke and go to French if you feel you might be suffering from a hear attack.

We are all so glad you are back, Christel and thank you for sharing your very difficult story.

While waiting for Bob to collect his notes and make it up to the stage, Christel asked him, “Bob, when your mom had you, were you late?” Bob responded by telling the story of the night his sister was born. His mom went into labor at about 11:00 on a Saturday night. His dad was speeding her to the hospital but took a detour to a liquor store. When his mom asked him what he was doing, he responded that the liquor stores are closed on Sundays and there are games on. When they finally got to the hospital, the doctor told Mrs. Kasper that, if she had a fourth child, she needed to get to the hospital sooner. Now you know where Bob gets it from!

Bob told us that he would be starting all his meetings off with a joke. Today’s joke was “What do you get when you cross a shark with a cow?” Someone yelled “What happens?” To which Bob responded, “I don’t know but I would- n't want to milk it”.

Bob announced that Viva will be held on April 29th at Camp Ocean Pines. It will begin at 5:30 with a champagne reception on the deck overlooking the ocean. Tickets are $100 each and there are cabins that can be rented for $175/night. The theme for this year is Spring Fling.

We will have an online Silent Auction again this year but people will have a chance to bid on the Silent Auction items during Viva. There will also be a Live Auction and a Wine Pull. Judy Schuster told us that we will once again be doing the Grand Raffle featuring a choice of 8 travel experiences. Tickets will cost $50 each and all members will be given 5 tickets to sell.

Please consider donating to the Silent Auction. In the past, we have auctioned off baskets for gardeners, paint sets, Italian food basket, sport baskets, jewelry lovers basket, pet basket, wine baskets, etc. We also need wine for both the wine pull (wines values at $25 & up) as well as re- ally good wines for the wine cooler that will be part of the Live Auction.

For the Live Auction, we are looking for vacation homes, experiences, theme dinners. More in- formation will be coming.

Also, Bob announced that there will be a party at Sea Chest. Unlike previous events, Sea Chest will only be donating the venue, not the food. But there will be food and wine and musi

Luanne introduced Bob and told us that he spent the majority of his career as editorial page editor of The San Diego Union-Tribune. Prior to that post, he was an associate editor of U.S. News & World Report in Washington where he served as White House correspondent, congressional correspondent and Pentagon correspond- ent. He has been a much sought-after commentator, providing regular political analysis on PBS's ”NewsHour with Jim Lehrer,” and appearing frequent- ly on National Public Radio's ”All Things Considered”

and ”Weekend Edition.” He has numerous writing accolades including the George Washington Honor Medal awarded by the Freedom's Foundation of Valley Forge, the Scripps Howard National Newspaper Award, the William Randolph Hearst Award and the California Newspaper Publishers Association Award.

Bob is also the author of a book on California History: Franciscan Frontiersmen, How Three Adventurers Charted the West which is available on Amazon.

 Thank you Bob for a wonderful presentation. We all learned a number of things we did not know about our area of the world.

Sherry Sim (District Governor elect for 2024/25) introduced our “Loud” District Governor. She
told us that Scott joined the Rotary Club of Goleta Noontime
in 2013 and served as the club's 30th President in 2016-
17. During his year as club President, the club was #1 in the
district for per capita giving to The Rotary Foundation annual
fund. Scott has served Rotary District 5240 as Communications
Director in 2015-16, Assistant
Governor in 2017-18, Chief
Operating Officer in 2018-19, District
Administrator in 2019-20,
President of the Rotary District
5240 Charitable Foundation and
PRLS Director in 2019-21, and is
serving as Rotary District 5240 Governor in 2022-23. He is the district's
youngest governor. In addition, Scott has served as an Assistant
Rotary Public Image Coordinator for Zone 26 in 2019-21.
Scott is a Multiple Paul Harris Fellow, Paul Harris Society Member, Major Donor Level 2, member
of the Bequest Society, PolioPlus Society, and a District 5240 Triple Crown Donor Charter member.
In addition, Scott is a PRLS and Master PRLS Graduate.
Christel told us about meeting Scott for the first time when she attended PETS. She was so impressed
with him that she said, “I’m going to take you home!” Because of this, Scott began his
talk by congratulating our club on being the first club he visited that he actually brought security
to.

 

Don Maruska engages people around the world to take climate action and have fun doing it. Since 2003, he has brought together people from scientific, environmental, business, government, and community organizations to boost awareness, actions, and advocacy for steward-ship of natural resources. 

Don’s new book, “Solve Climate Change Now: Do What You Love for a Healthy Planet” includes stories and examples of Rotary Clubs and community groups working together to make a difference. As a mem-ber of Rotary San Luis Obispo de Tolosa, Don has earned a President’s Special Recognition Award and a District Governor’s Award for his climate action leader-ship. He’s delighted that Rotary International has awarded collabo-rating Rotary Club’s “Day of Service” recognition for their results. 

Earlier in his career, Don founded and was CEO of three Silicon Valley companies, earning a National Innovator Award. Now he’s a Master Certified Coach helping others succeed. Don is also author of “How Great Decisions Get Made” and co-author or “Take Charge of Your Tal-ent.” He earned his BA magna cum laude in government from Har-vard and an MBA and JD from Stanford. 

Major publications including Fast Company, Inc., and Entrepreneur have quoted Don for his expertise. He has also appeared on over 30 radio and TV stations across the country. Businesses, nonprofits, government agencies and community organizations enjoy his inspiring keynotes and productive workshops delivered both in person and online. 

A copy of Don’s presentation is attached to this email and his book is available on Amazon 

 

Thanks to Miguel and Judy, who met with each of the 19 families to find out what the children wanted and needed for Christmas and came up with a detailed list. These two are amazing! 

21 Rotarians agreed to be Secret Santas to the 43 children living in the Oceanside Apt. 

Once again, an anonymous donor purchased a pair of shoes for each of the children. Once again, thank you, thank you, thank you. 

Valerie Ratto had the students in her confirmation class at Santa Rosa Church write a note to each of the par-ents, in Spanish, telling them that they are appreciated. What a great idea, Valerie. 

When Del Clegg heard me promoting the Secret Santa project and hearing that 10 or so kids that were still waiting, he offered to give me $200 to purchase gifts for those children. Well, club member did step up and, in record time, all the kids were covered. Nan-cy Carr had suggested that we purchase gifts for the children in Head Start in Cambria. I asked Del if it would be ok to use the money he gave for Secret Santa to buy sweaters and stuffed animals for the little ones at Head Start. Needless to say, he was all for it! Not only that, but he gave us a 10% dis-count on the Cookie Crock gift cards that will be passed out to the Oceanside Apt. and Head Start families. Is there any wonder why Del was recently honored with a Legacy Award from Camp Ocean Pines? 

Thanks to Karen and her helpers, we had a fun evening at the Holiday Party. Everyone was in a festive mood and seemed to be enjoying themselves. The poinsettia centerpieces were auctioned off with the proceeds going to Polio. A total of $175 was raised! The each table was asked to sing a holiday song and everyone happily participated. We heard holiday songs, Christmas carols, a Hannukah song and, yes, “Take Me Out to the Ballgame” by you know who. 

 

Dennis Frahmann is the director of the Cambria Film Festival as well as the treasurer of its parent organization, the Cambria Center for the Arts. Now in its sixth year, the Cambria Film Festival is dedicated to showcasing independ-ent films from around the world. The Festi-val’s theme is romance, romantic comedy and the complexities of love. Since its incep-tion, the festival has brought hundreds of films, dozens of filmmakers and a broad array of film lovers to this community for an annual festival held in early February. Dennis became involved with the Festival in its first year to help with its marketing and became its lead after the death of its founder, Nancy Green

Since retiring and moving to Cambria in 2013, Dennis has been active in the Cambria Scarecrow Festival, served two years on the county’s grand jury, and has written four novels. Prior to retiring, Dennis was the chief marketing officer for Sage North America and be-fore that vice president of advertising at Xerox Corporation. He has a masters in journalism from Columbia Uni-versity and a bachelors in philosophy and English from Ripon College

 

Branna Still joined the SLO Food Bank team in June 2020 and is excited to be a member

of a phenomenal organization that offers relief to those who are finding themselves

in the most challenging situations.

Branna was born and raised in Missouri. After graduating high school, she studied at

the University of Missouri—Columbia (MIZZOU) while also serving in the US Army Reserve.

After a year-long deployment overseas and a six-month course at the Defense

Language Institute, she graduated from MIZZOU with a duel degree in International

Studies and Business, emphasis in Marketing. After living in a few different states and

working in various for-profit roles, Branna shifted her career in 2014 to fundraising

and community development for the American Cancer Society. After four impactful

years serving Monterey County communities, she followed the sunshine and landed in

San Luis Obispo. Branna was honored to join the Woods Humane Society as the Development

Manager and, after a month, her family grew by adding a sweet canine

stray found in Paso Robles. As the “normal day” in the life flipped upside down amid

the global pandemic, an opportunity to help those at risk of hunger came forth, and she was excited and grateful

to become part of the solution. Outside of work, she enjoys spending time with her family and fur babies, listening

to music, enjoying the great outdoors, and traveling the world.

Branna told us that 26% of households in SLO County do not earn enough to afford an essential cost of living and

1 in 6 children may experience food insecurity in the US this year! The SLO Food Bank serves over 31,000 individuals

each month. 28% are children and 25% are seniors. Community Service Chair, Sandy Cha, was pleased to present Branna

and the SLO Food Bank with a check for $500 to help families and individuals

during this holiday season.

Membership: Chairman Roger began by reminding us that our club thrives because

of its members. For various reason, some members have to leave the club and it

is up to every one of us to help to fill the void. We need to identify friends, neighbors,

family members that should be Rotarians but are not. Bring someone who may be interested

to lunch. We will take care of them from there. The District 5240 Membership

Committee has suggested that clubs send weekly letters to new members welcoming

them, explaining the Basics of Rotary, Avenues of Service, TRF and more. We

have begun that process and have sent the 1st 8 letters to each of this year’s new members, The letters will be

available for viewing on Box.com if you are interested.

Community Service: Sue filled in for Chairperson Sandy. She told us that Sandy specifically wanted to

thank all the members of the committee (listed on the attached slide show). This year, we have a little over

$15,000 to fund Community Service projects. Projects we normally fund fall into the following categories: Activities

for local youth, programs for families in need and assistance to other non-profits in Cambria and San Simeon.

But we need eyes and ears out there to let us know what needs there are in our community. So, if you know of a

project or if you would like to join our committee, contact Sandy or any committee member.

Peace Builders: Chair Paula told us that the District awarded our club with Peace

Builder status last year. Our focus is promoting peace and we will be having one speaker

each quarter as well as a peace quote at each meeting. We also sponsor a Peace Essay

Contest with high school seniors. Our biggest project is the Peace Pickets. The original

thought was that we would have 20 or 30 pickets to place around town. We wound up

with 105 pickets painted by students! Our goal this year is to have an additional 100 and

we are hoping to get artists to paint some to use as a fundraiser. We were recently honored

at the Pinedorado Parade where members marched with some of the Peace Pickets

that local students painted. Our committee members are Janet, Julie, Nancy McKarney, Joe, Otis, Gerry, Kate

and our newest member Shari McLean. We meet on the 1st Thursday of each month at 10 am on Zoom if you

would like to join us. Also, PDG Rudy Westerfield has established an E-Club of World Peace. If you would like

more information, let Paula know.

Neal Jensen Fellowship: Chairman Dennis White told us that Mike and Patty put together a group of

people to discuss the future of the Neal Jensen Fellowship which started over a decade ago with inspiration from

Neal Jensen, Mike Griffin and Bruce Howard among others. It is similar to the funding arm of the Paul Harris Society

and is designed to raise funds for our club endowment. Over $80,000 has been raised since it’s inception.

Committee members Valerie Ratto, Luanne Kittle, Linda Sherman, Joan Broadhurst, Miguel Sandoval and Miguel

Hernandez are working on a clear vision and direction for the future. One possible project that has been

discussed is planting a tree each time someone joins the Circle. If all of us could look 20 year out and see the potential

of an endowment that could really help the community, can you imagine what it could look like?

 

Paula was born Glendale Ca. in 1952. She moved to Africa in 2003, Mwandi Village in 2005 to concentrate their efforts on building homes for those most in need in the village, With the help of volunteers, they have built 199 

homes. They have been involved with education since 2007. Donors have sponsored over 35 

students through colleges many of them now have good paying jobs and a future. There are 9 

still in college and are always looking for sponsors to help. In 2017 they started working on a 

community school we started classes in 2019 and now have over 300 students from pre school 

through 4 th grade. 

In October 2020, Paula and her daughter formed a 501 c-3 American corporation, Compass Zambia, 

to help support Home For Aids Orphans. Survival and growth all these years has been 

fueled by volunteers coming to work on the projects. With covid this went away leaving them 

vulnerable, the new corporation has given us a much-needed boost and allowed them to continue 

working on the school, as well as to keep the staff employed. Paula took that time to finish writing a 

book about my life called Wings on My Heels- a life unraveled – By Paula Van Zyl. All proceeds 

go to Compass Zambia, to help Home For Aids Orphans. 

This year volunteering has picked up and they are again working in the village. But the school 

remains the most important aspect of our organization. They need to continue building as they 

have no place for the 5 th grade students. 

Paula joined the Rotary Club of Livingstone in 2009 served as Secretary for 2 years 2011-2013 

President 2013-2014 International Projects chair 2014 -2022. In June 2022 she resigned from that 

club and joined Mosi-oa-tunya Rotary club in Livingstone. 

Paula and Matt, her business partner since 2007 live in Mwandi most of the year. She returns to the US 

every year to raise funds and awareness as well as to visit my family. 

Chuck explained to us that TRF is the non-profit arm of Rotary International

and fundraises and supports efforts of RI around the world (Polio eradication,

healthcare, education, ending poverty, etc.). Charity Navigator has rated The

Rotary Foundation with 4 stars for 13 consecutive years!

Rotarians can designate where they would like their donation to go (see

attached graphic “Your Check to rotary—Who Do I Write it to and Where Does

it Go” attached to this newsletter). Half of the donations to the Annual Fund Share come back to our club in

three years in the form of grants. The other half goes to urgent projects around the world. Our goal is for everyone

in the club to donate $100 a year to the Annual Fund Share and $50 a year to Polio Eradication.

In 1988, Rotary launched the Polio Eradication project. At that time, there were 1,000 cases of polio per day,

350,000 each year in over 25 countries where polio was endemic. Over 20 million people are not paralyzed today

due to the efforts of Rotary. That is equal to the total population of New York State!

Attached to this newsletter is a TRF Information sheet and Rotary Direct form that you can complete to make

monthly, quarterly or annual donations to The Rotary Foundation.

There will be a “post-Rotary-meeting” follow-up to our TRF panel discussion on October 28th, a Q&A session

for interested members,

to answer (as best we

can) member questions

about the Annual Fund,

Polio Eradication, TRF

Endowment, and the

seven areas of focus.

This will be immediately

after the meeting on Friday,

November 11th, at

1:30PM. Stay as long as

you’d like, and no commitment

for any further

actions… the intent is to

answer member questions

about The Rotary

Foundation, again, as

best we can.

Laurie passionately believes that everyone deserves to have

a fun, meaningful life. A Harvard-educated Jersey girl, she is

the close advisor and coach to country and state leaders,

mayors, education and business pioneers, and other top

movers and shakers worldwide. Starting as an inner city high

school teacher and the youngest

principal in Boston, Laurie became

disillusioned with the state

of public education and spent

two decades spearheading a

global school reform movement, founding and directing an internationally

acclaimed charter school nonprofit and helping thousands of

education and other leaders to start and run successful organizations.

Laurie received graduate and undergraduate degrees in education,

psychology, and world religions from Harvard University, where she

also taught quantum physics. An avid world explorer and former Outward

Bound wilderness instructor, cultural exchange guide, and service-

learning leader, she has traveled to 60 countries and 40 states

and speaks five languages. She is a master practitioner in over two

dozen body/mind/spirit wellness techniques, including intuitive coaching.

While successful on the outside, by her late 30s, Laurie felt empty and exhausted on the inside.

She decided to try a nontraditional approach to get perspective on her life, unexpectedly writing

a book while fasting in the desert on a vision quest. Her book, The Road to Shine, is receiving all

5 stars on Amazon and has been featured on nationwide media. The sequel, The Road to Joy, is

pending publication shortly.

After her quest, Laurie quit her workaholic job, broke up with Mr. Almost, and dedicated herself

to a new education path, helping people find the courage to live lives they love and be happier,

more effective leaders. Anyone seeking to be their truest, best self or who wants to help their

communities or the world is someone she is honored to learn from and serve.

Laurie’s website is https://shineyourlight.life 

Deepa Willingham, residing in Lompoc, CA, is a naturalized citizen of the United States,

was born and brought up in Calcutta (Kolkata), India where she obtained her primary

(under the stewardship of Mother Teresa, who was her teacher), secondary and undergraduate

educations in Kolkata and graduate degrees in the US. Prior to her entrepreneurial

endeavors in the energy sector, Rotarian Willingham served as the Administrative

Director of Ancillary Services in the

hospital industry.

Deepa is an active Rotarian and served as the District Governor for Rotary District 5240 in 2010-2011. She is the

Past President of the Rotary Club of Santa Ynez Valley, being named the Rotarian-of-the-Year during her year as

President and has been the winner of many humanitarian awards including the winner of Santa Barbara’s ‘Gutsy

Gals You Inspire Me Award’ in 2013; one of the “Women of Action” Honoree at the White House in 2014; Time

Now – Global Amazing Indian awardee from the Times of India in 2015; one of three Inspiring Women of Action

at World Bank’s celebration of International Women’s Day in Washington DC, 2016; and the recipient of

the 2018 United Nations Association (UNA) Peace Prize.

She is an ardent believer of the principles of Rotary and therefore, actively participates in recruitment and retention

of Rotary members. During her year as Club President, she added 12 new members to her club, she chartered

a new club, and she helped her daughter – Rotarian Reena Howmiller - establish a community based Rotaract

Club in Santa Barbara. PDG Deepa believes that PEACE is not just the absence of war. It is for us to actively

create a lack of poverty, injustice, non-human environment, and hopelessness for our fellow citizens.

Thus, in her dream to create peace, she founded PACE Universal – www.paceuniversal.org, an US not-for-profit

organization spearheading programs that are eradicating poverty, injustice, non-human environment/condition

including trafficking through the education of girls and women, providing adult education/vocational training/

micro-loans and upgrading the living conditions through holistic village rehabilitation. It is her aspiration to make

the first PACE Learning Center be a model for duplication around the world on our pathway to peace.

 

Tony’s job title is Head of Planetary Science Formulation which means he leads teams coming up with ideas for the next two decades of exploring our solar system. Tony hold a Bachelor’s degree in Mathematics and a Ph.D. in Astrophysics, both from the University of Manchester in England. He is a Fellow of the Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engi-neers for his work on radar observations from space and is a 35 year veteran at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena. 

Tony was inspired by Neal Armstrong and his predecessors at JPL. explained that his job is to look at new mis-sions. He treated us to a slide show that will be attached to this newsletter. You could hear a pin drop during his presentation. It was fascinating and I am sure we will be asking him back to update us on what is happening in our solar system. 

To the tune of Charlie’s Angels, Linda (played by Heide), Patty (played

by Janet) and Christel (played by Rick) came onto the stage to tells us about

their memories of Patty’s Presidential year.

Retro Patty (played by Dr. Joe) told us that is was her 6th birthday and her mom gave her

a diary as a birthday gift. “Dear Diary”, Patty wrote, “I dream of going to California, becoming

President of Rotary, marrying a tall, handsome man with a moustache, I’ll have lots of

dogs and a pottery shop. And, my best friends Linda & Christel will be with me.”

Mature Patty (also played by Joe): “Well, Diary, it’s been many years

since I’ve written. I married the man of my dreams, I am a successful potter, I’ve been President

of Rotary. So, what’s next? It’s time for me and my friends to just have fun!”

Enter Rotarians dancing to “Girls Just Wanna Have Fun!”

Patty was then treated to messages of love and congratulations from her sister,

“Congrautlations. We are so proud of you”; Her son told her “aside from being a

great President you have been a wonderful mom”. Co-President Christel thanked

her for getting us over every bump in the road and promised to see us in a few

months.

PP Chuck presented Patty with a Rotary Citation, awarded by Rotary International to recognize

clubs for all they do throughout the year. Only the best clubs are recognized and, out of 70 clubs in

our District, only 7 received the honor for the 2021-22 Rotary year.

Patty told us she was blown away! She said she has such gratitude to all for our resilience, friendship

and hard work. “You guys, we made it!” she exclaimed.

Such a fun meeting. Special thanks to our honorary director and choreographer, Otis for another

great job!

A Celebration of Patty

 

Hailed by 805 Living magazine as the Maestro of California’s Central Coast, Brian Asher Alhadeff has been Artistic and General Director of Opera San Luis Obispo since 2011. He is also the Artistic Director and Conductor of the Lompoc Pops Orchestra, and Principal Conductor of State Street Ballet and Civic Ballet San Luis Obispo. An internationally celebrated conductor, Alhadeff was Artistic Director and founder of the Hradec Kralove International Summer Opera Festival which took place in the Czech Republic, and also conducted the Albanian premier of Howard Hanson’s Symphony No. 2 with the Albanian National Radio and Televi-sion Orchestra. Guest conducting highlights in-clude Marina Del Rey Symphony, Phoenix Symphony, Tulsa Ballet, South Florida Opera, Long Beach Opera, Ballet Tucson, Bourgas Opera Ballet, and Pra-gue State Opera Ballet and Chorus, in addition to many other orchestras and opera companies throughout the U.S. During the COVID-19 pandemic, Alhadeff and OperaSLO commissioned the first entirely produced “virtual” opera: Quarantine The Opera for OperaSLO’s Children’s Summer Opera Camp, in addition to conducting and co-producing the first complete virtual production of a standard repertoire opera with or-chestra; Puccini’s Suor Angelica, alongside Valley Opera Performing Arts and Mission Opera. Alhadeff studied conducting at the Peabody Conservatory and Janacek Academy of Music. A California native, Alhadeff holds a Bachelor of Arts from Loyola Marymount University, Masters of Music from California State University of Los Angeles, and Doctorate of Musical Arts from UCLA 

 

Lorienne moved to Cambria in 2010 and was hired as Cambria Chamber of Commerce Director in July 2021. Be-ing a champion for the environment, she was pleased when the Chamber re-ceived a California Green Business Network designa-tion. 

Lorienne encouraged everyone to get involved or attend Hospitality Night on the 1st Monday in Decem-ber from 3-7. The Chamber Board is working on some fun happenings for Hospitality Night this year. 

She told us how much she values the Chamber volunteers who greet visitors daily in the Chamber office. 

Cambria Magazine will be available online this year in addition to paper copies which will be hitting hotels, restaurants and businesses. 

Thank you Lorienne for an informative presentation and for the wonderful job you are doing as Chamber Director.

 

 

 

PDG John Weiss introduced our speaker, Gary Stoner who he has known for a number of years. He told us that Gary called him one time to find out about the Lions Club. After explaining that, while the Lions are a great organization, Rotary is the club he should join. Gary, John explained, was born in Paradise, Alaska and is a master auto mechanic. He has a passion for Grizzly and is life motto is “It is in giving that we receive.” 

Gary told us that he was tasked with finding a local charity and discovered Grizzly. The most common misconception, he explained, is that the program is court mandated and that those attending are criminals or juvenile delinquents at best. In order to be eligible to attend, one must be 15½ - 18 years old, a legal resident of the United States and California, be credit defi-cient or At-Risk of dropping out of high school. Students must be free from any serious involve-ment with the law and have no felony convictions. Students must also be drug-free or willing to be drug-free. It is a 100% volunteer program. 

Grizzly Youth ChalleNge Academy is a quasi-military operated by the CA National Guard in partnership with San Luis Obispo County Office of Education. Grizzly is a free 5½ month residential leadership academy for students seeking to gain valuable life skills, up to 70 transferable high school credits and a second chance at life. Grizzly Youth Academy’s mission is to intervene and reclaim and lives of 16 to 18 years old at-risk high school students; to produce program graduates with the values, life skills, education and self discipline to succeed as productive citizens. 

For more information about Grizzly, check out their website at www.grizzlyyouthacademy.org. 

 

Grizzly Academy 

 

Greg McGill is the founder of Honor Flights of the Central Coast. Greg was born and raised in Templeton and moved to Bakersfield in 2007 to play college football. He then started working for Kern County Fire Department and that is when he learned about the Honor Flight pro-gram. Greg went with Honor Flight Kern County as part of the medical staff on their inaugural flight. After going on a second flight, Greg was inspired to extend the Hon-or Flight program to the central coast in 2013 as a way to give back to the community he was raised in. Greg currently resides back in Templeton with his wife and he works as a fire fighter at the Camp Roberts Military Base

As part of Greg’s presentation, we were treated to a clip from Cambria brothers Kyle & Carlos Plummer’s 2016 documentary about a group of 21 World War II, Korean and Vietnam veterans who were flown to Washington D.C. to see their memorials. A DVD of the documentary can be purchased at Tour of Honor DVD Movie | Honor Flight Central Coast California (honorflightccc.org) 

 

Randy Schwalbe and his wife Mary have been full-time residents her in Cambria since 2010. They bought a small cottage in Lodge Hill in 1996 and contracted Rick Low to design a craftsman-style home to replace it, a first for Rick. Then they hired Mike O’Sullivan to build it. 

Randy has directed musicals since the 90’s, both in various theaters in Southern California and here at CCAT and Coast Union High School. How he has taken the helm for the Annual Follies, a part of the Pinedorado Days celebration. 

Randy has been retired now for ten years after spending 30 years as the Lean guy at Boeing Satellites in El Segundo, CA. However, he started out as a high school band director after earning a Bachelors of Arts degree in Music Education from UCLA. How’s that for a career path? Randy and Mary are active members of the Unitarian Universalist Community of Cambria and enjoy weeklong back-pack excursions high up in various mountain ranges. 

 

Sandy Cha told us that Bruce grew up among the long-gone orange groves of Southern California, where he met and married high school sweetheart, Lorna. After completing his physical therapy training CSULB, they embarked upon a journey into the Central Valley to start a business and build a family. For thirty years they endured the discomforts of Fresno’s climate by taking day trips and short getaways to the nearest coastal retreat available, and thus, Cambria be-came evermore dear to their hearts.

When Lorna’s mother retired in 1997, deciding to see the property in Anaheim that had been her home since birth, Lorna and Bruce introduced her to Cambria and helped her make the transition to her second “Shangri0la.” Bruce and Lorna purchased their first home in Cambria in 2005, across the street from Lorna’s mom, with the help of a hard-working rookie realtor named Bob Kasper. They divided their time between their two homes for the next several years until they could completely come home to their dream in 2011.

Bruce has served in an executive capacity for non-profit organizations for over forty years. In Cambria, he en-joyed his many years on the Board of Directors for FFRP and he served as environmental representative for NCAC for four years. He is currently treasurer for “Canzona Women’s Ensemble” in SLO, where he enjoys collaborating with Lorna’s artistry and love of music. He is also president of CAN, where he works to combine his many years of experience as a home health physical therapist with his loving neighbors who have so long served to meet the basic needs of out neighborhood.

Bruce explained that CAN provides locals with badly needed medical supplies, such as wheel chairs, walkers, etc. when they suddenly find themselves in need. In addition, CAN has a list of volunteers who are willing to drive residents to medical appointments any-where in the county. Currently CAN does have plenty of medical supplies but they are definitely in need of drivers. If you would be willing to volunteer, you can contact CAN at 927-5673. No special licensing is required, just a willingness to help a neighbor in need.

 

Otis introduced our speaker as a man he has known for over 33 years and someone who has been an inspiration to him and hopefully to many of us in the club. 

Dr. Joe began by asking us to bring up a memory of a time on the beach. Imagine the sound of the ocean and maybe the seagulls. Imagine taking a handful of sand and letting it slip through your fingers. Joe explained why it is both fun and healthy for us to play in the sand: When we’re engaged in sand play, we’re in control of our “world” – no one else is! 

. Thank you Joe for reminding us that we are never too old to play in the sand. 

 

Barbara Owen is an international expert in the areas of women and imprison-ment. Most recently, her work in SE Asia centers on implemtation of the Bangkok Rules and other human rights protections for imprisoned women. A Professor Emerita of Criminology at California State University, Fresno, she received her Ph.D. in Sociology from UC Berkley in 1984. Prior to returning to academia, Dr. Owen was a Senior Researcher with the Federal Bureau of Prisons. Along with Barbara Bloom and Stephanie Covington, she co-authored the policy initiative, Gender-Responsive Strategies: Research, Practice, and Guiding Principles for Women Offenders (National Institute of Corrections, 2003). She also serves as a Senior Advisor to the Thailand Institute of Justice and on the Advisory Board of the Safe Alternatives to Segregation II initiative with the Vera Institute of Jus-tice. 

Dr. Owen currently volunteers with Friends of the Elephant Seals in San Simeon and is working toward illustrating her interviews with women serving life terms. 

Barbara told us that there are 200,000 men in State prison but only $12,000 women. And, women are sentenced to State prison for crimes such as shoplifting (3-5 yrs) and marijuana (5-7 yrs). Men are sentenced to State prison for much more serious crimes and almost never for crimes like shoplifting and marijuana. 

 

Brynn Albanese is a well known Central Coast violinist who has performed over a dozen times on the PACSLO stage as Concertmaster and Soloist. She was also a member of the “iconic” band, Café Musique, for twelve years. 

She has since left the full time big stage to pursue Certification as a Therapeutic Music Practitioner and End of Life Doula (a nonmedical professional trained to care for a terminally ill person’s physical, emotional, and spiritual needs during the death process). She is the founder of Pneuma Melodies and, in the fall of 2022, Brynn will be pre-senting to our local hospitals, care centers and memory care centers. Her goal is to implement regular musical programming through the hiring of an onsite trained and certified therapeutic musicians as an integral part of the daily culture of our facilities. Ther-apeutic Music uses the science of sound and is complementary to conventional allopathic medicine, providing live one-on-one thera-peutic music at the bedside promotes im-proved quality of life during treatment and the healing process. Brynn told us how she takes this service one step fur-ther while sitting with the patient, she provides healing music with her one of a kind Bass Native American Flute which she played for us. 

During Brynn’s visit on Friday, she accompanied the music video of “Imagine” on her violin and treated us to Moon River and a rousing rendition of music from Moulin Rouge which had many of us clapping our hands and tapping our feet. 

 

2021-22 Community Service Committee Recap: Community Service Chair, Sue Rob-inson presented a slide show highlighting all of the ways our club contributed to pro-grams benefitting out community. She thanked the committee members for their work this year and encouraged anyone interested in serving on Community Service next year to contact 2022-23 Community Service Chair, Sandy Cha at scmumper@gmail.com. A copy of the Community Service presentation can be viewed at Community Service recap.pptx 

 

 

2021-22 International Service Committee Recap: International Service Chair, Julie Jenkins told us that the International Service Committee chose the following pro-grams to fund this year: Home for Aids Orphans, Whisper & Thunder, Lords Meade, Grace Center, Kristina Health Clinic, Saving Little Hearts in Romania, Oxygen Gener-ating Systems to India, Pace Universal and Shelter Box. Julie thanked Nancy McKarney for putting together the slide show that highlights the many accomplish-ments of the International Service Committee. The slide show can be seen at: https://www.dropbox.com/s/emjhoy3seskivmq/JuliesPresentation.pptx?dl=0 

Is there any doubt we are People of Action??? 

 

Emma Wharton, who could not be with us due to a recent COVID diagnosis, is a junior at CUHS and has been in-volved in FFA for over 5 years. Emma raises pigs and is a part of both her chapter and sectional officer team. Out-side of FFA, Emma plays volleyball, is secretary for her school’s GSA, and enjoys spending time with her friends. 

Elizabeth Reed is going to be a senior this year and has been active in FFA all three years she has attended high school. She has competed in numerous FFA speaking competitions, raises cattle and has a rabbit breeding busi-ness at the high school. She has also taken on many lead-ership roled at the chapter, sectional, and even state level. Outside of FFA, she loves to spend time with her family, including her dog, Max, and loves to work with her grand-ma, Bambi Fields. 

Elizabeth explained that this year she decided to show a steer again and a Californian rabbit meat pen. Her steer, Peter, is a black Angus cross that she bought from Miller Bros Cattle. She works with her steer for hours every day walking and show practicing to prepare him the for fair. She has also continued her rabbit breeding business and has gained more experience and confidence in running a business and being part of the livestock industry. She will take three of her kits, baby rabbits, to the fair as a rabbit meat pen who will then be sold if they are in the top four meat pens. 

Elizabeth hopes someone will consider purchasing one of her animals or donating to her projects so she can continue her rabbit breeding business and raising animals in the future. The California Mid State Fair will be holding the livestock auction at the Pavilion on Saturday, July 30 at 8 am. There will also be a virtual platform to do add-ons, which are donations through the Fair. 

You can see a copy of Elizabeth and Emma’s presentation at https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1DYls_I0k2JCD7shIc2EI-Om33rcgGQi0__qpHU6ODV4/edit?usp=sharing 

 

Coast Union FFA 

Elizabeth Reed 

Youth Services Chair, Cynthia Woodruff-Neer gave a quick recap of what Youth Services accomplished this

year. Interact raised $6,000 and made donations to numerous programs such as Doctors Without Borders,

American Cancer Society and Ukranian relief. The 4-Way Test was expanded this year to include the high school. The 1st place essay winners at each level went on to the District level and were awarded 3rd place. W sent 7 students to RYLA this year. Books were donated to all 3rd grade and 5th grade students this year. A summer Volleyball Camp is being set up with high school students doing the coaching thanks to funding from our club.

Scholarship Winners: There were 57 graduates from CUHS and Leffingwell this year and 54 applied for schol- arships. 36 from CUHS and 10 from Leffingwell applied for Rotary scholarships. Donna Crocker, Paula Porter and Cynthia reviewed the applications and, based on their academics, extracurricular, essays and interviews, selected 10 students to receive $1,000 scholarships and 3 students to receive $1,100 Service Above Self Schol- arships in honor of Sue Oberholtzer.

Alexandra Aguilar will be attending Cal Poly majoring in Political Science with the goal of becoming a Public De- fender.

Emmy Johnson will be attending Santa Barbara Community College majoring in Biology and hopes to become teacher.

Marlem Cambron will be attending cooking school with the goal of becoming a chef in one of Cambria’s resta rants.

Alexander Mercado was accepted at Cal Poly where he will be majoring in Civil Engineering.

Emiliano Pena will also be attending Cal Poly majoring in Aerospace Engineering.

Shaidy Placencia is headed to UC Davis to study Neuroscience.

Isabella Weaver will be at UCSD studying Political Science with a possible minor in Creative Writing.

Sue O. Service Above Self Scholarships were awarded to:

Jannah Al Defaaei who will be attending UC Davis majoring in Applied Chemistry.

Jonathan Cleave will be studying Business at Cal Poly.

Lisi Happel with be working towards becoming a doctor after majoring in Chemistry at UC Berkley. Congratulations to all!

Greg Mora is the senior manager for individual philanthropy at Direct Relief.

He talks to donors across the country about Direct Relief’s work. He has been

at the organization for 5 years and has traveled to Puerto Rico, El Salvador,

Honduras, and Mexico to build partnerships with local health organizations on

behalf of Direct Relief. Prior to Direct Relief, Greg consulted non-profits on corporate

engagement strategies for the protection of natural resources in Costa

Rica. He has over 10 years of non-profit experience in volunteer management,

program development, and philanthropic initiatives. Greg has a BA in Political

Science from San Francisco State University.

Direct Relief works in the U.S. and internationally to equip doctors and nurses with life-saving medical resources

to care for the world’s most vulnerable people. In 80+ countries. More than 650 tons of medical aid and

$14.7 Million in direct financial assistance has been provided to Ukraine since the conflict began. A copy of Greg’s

presentation is attached to this email. Thank you, Greg, for letting us know about this wonderful organization

Bob

Kasper

Introduced, Juli Amodei, recipient of the 2021-22 Vocational Service Award. In addition

to owning her own business, she is the mother of two children, David and Ava. He

told us that Juli moved to Cambria in 2010 and has been active in many community

projects including leading the charge to build the Skate Park. She is also n the board of

Pros, President of the CUHS Booster Club and was recently elected to the CUSD Board

of Trustees. Bob announced that a brick will be placed at the Skate Park in her honor

in recognition of her many accomplishments.

Juli told us she was honored and humbled to receive the Vocational Service Award,

She explained that she puts her energy into causes that help our children. But, she said, more work needs to be done

Vocational Service Award

 

 

Bob told us that, thanks to the brainstorming sessions of the Cambria FireSafe Focus Group, Cambria, with its aging forest of shallow-rooted, native Monterey pines, is an official FireWise Community, which means those brainstorming ses-sions are paying off in terms of town-wide readiness and education, available grants and other benefits. However, local fire experts and homeowners already are worrying about and trying to take actions to make their town safer. 

Bob has been a major player in this effort with his background as former Cambria Fire Chief and is currently the FireWise USA Representative for Cambria. We are thankful that Bob took time to put together a presentation for our club on how to be better prepared in the event of a wildfire. 

You can access Bob’s Power Point Presentation at Wildfire in the North Coast How can we be better prepared .pptx . Thanks Bob for helping us protect ourselves and our property against wildfires. 

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ROTARY: MEETING GREAT PEOPLE AND MAKING A DIFFERENCE

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The Rotary Club of Cambria wins
 
The District Award for the Best Medium Size Club
 
Huge thank you to Bruce and Jane Howard for accepting the award on the club's behalf
 
The bell comes home for a year! Congratulations to all the members of the Best Rotary Club in the World!
 
A very special thank you to President Patty and her leadership throughout the year
and to Chuck Foerster, our awards chair for the year.
 
 
Upcoming Events
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