Sue Robinson introduced our speaker, Suzanne Kennedy, who was the driving force behind the creation of the Cambria Education Foundation. Suzanne has lived in Cambria since 1988 with her husband Jim Cunningham. They raised their two children, Mackenzie and Connor.

Suzanne started off by telling us that both her children went through RYLA and she is very grateful to Rotary for giving them that chance. She then went on the explain that CEF was founded in the parking lot of the middle school by 4 parents who were concerned about cuts in the State budget. After working for about 12 months, they were granted non-profit status. Through numerous fundraisers, they were able to give grants to teachers, support field trips and science camp as well as other projects.

Unfortunately the Cambria Education Foundation (CEF) has had to dissolve due to lack of volunteers but they have been fortunate to receive the support of the Cambria Community Council assist in providing grants to teachers in the Coast Unified School District. In an effort to streamline the grant process and provide the most efficient use of volunteers, the education grants will now run through the Council. CEF will transfer all current funds to the Council in support of education-related requests. Anyone who has supported CEF in the past is asked to now send their donation to Cambria Community Council and indicate that you would like the donation to go towards education.

One of the hardest things CEF had to give up was their annual end of the year party honoring those teachers who are retiring. They are hoping one of the non-profits in town will pick it up. (Hint, hint).

Suzanne was asked about the t-shirt she was wearing which had a “We Are One” logo on it. She explained that every student at Santa Lucia Middle School will be reading the book Refugee by Alan Gratz, a compelling story about three refugees from three different time periods in history. It ties in with the school-wide theme “We Are One”.

DG Loretta Butts told us about how she met Julius and learned about his goal to help the children of Uganda. She also told us about Jim Fee, the American who joined Julius to create the Achon Uganda Children’s Fund. Jim, unfortunately, was killed on a cycling accident in 2013. His wife, Angela Fee has continued working on the fund and joined us today. Loretta also introduced John Brant, author of The Boy Who Runs.

Julius Achon grew up in a small village, Awake, 40 miles northeast of Lira in northern
Uganda. At age 12, he was kidnapped by the Lord’s Resistance Army, a militant coalition
that rebelled against the Uganda government, and was forced to become a child soldier. Three months later, He escaped and a year later entered and won his first official race, which earned him a place at the district championships in Lira. To get to the stadium 42 miles away, he had to run for six hours, barefoot, because he didn't own a pair of shoes. The following day he won the 800m, 1500m and 3000m.

Shortly thereafter, Julius returned to school and began running. His talents landed him a scholarship in 1990 to attend school at Makerere High School in the capital city of Kampala. At age 17, having attracted the attention of several Ugandan sports officials, he was entered in the 1994 World Junior Championships in Portugal, and ran the 1,500. He won the race, wearing shoes for the first time in competition and bringing Uganda its first World Junior gold medal. His performance caught the eye of John Cook, an American track coach who brought him to George Mason University in Virginia on a scholarship.

Julius went on to compete for Uganda in the 1996 and 2000 Olympic Games, both times serving as captain of the Ugandan Olympic team. While training near his village in 2003, he encountered a
group of orphans and couldn’t help but take them into his home. He created the
Achon Uganda Children’s Fund to help the many children orphaned in northern

Uganda. A year later he found out his mother had been shot. Because there were no medical facilities nearby, his mother bled to death four days after being shot. Julius realized that if there had been a hospital she could have reached, she might still be alive. So, he built the Kristina Health Center, named after his mother. The fund has since raised enough money to add a full-blown maternity ward to the center.

We were proud to present Julius and Angela Fee, CEO of the Achon Uganda Children’s Fund, with a check for $1,750 for the Kristina Health Center. The club also collected $1,000 towards the purchase of an ultrasound machine for the maternity department he is adding to the hospital.

Janet Meyers introduced today’s speakers, Claudia Harmon Worthen and Frank Widmann. Claudia and Frank are pursuing Dark Sky Certification for Cambria.
We were inspired by the International Dark-Sky Association (IDA), the leading organization combating light pollution worldwide, to pursue certification for Cambria as an International Dark Sky Community. IDA is the recognized authority for night sky protection and has taken the lead in identifying and publicizing the negative impacts of artificial light at night on human health, wildlife and the environment as a whole.

Claudia and Frank encouraged us to:

• Buy approved outdoor lighting. The IDA Fixture Seal of Approval provides objective, third-party certification for lighting that minimizes glare, reduces light trespass, and doesn’t pollute the night sky.

• Support our effort to win a coveted Dark Skies Community designation. Dark Skies communities adopt quality outdoor lighting ordinances and undertake efforts to educate residents about the importance of dark skies. IDA designates Dark Sky Places following a rigorous application process requiring applicants to demonstrate

  robust community support for dark sky protection and document designation-specific program requirements. IDA works with certified places to promote their work through media relations, member communications, and social media. A Dark Sky Places designation helps enhance the visibility of designated locations and foster increased tourism and local economic activity.

  Cambria would become only the second California community to win the designation and the first on the coast. enhance the visibility of designated locations and foster

CUHS Principal, Scott Ferguson, began by telling us that one of the prime goals for CUHS this year is to instill spirit in the students. He showed us the t-shirts that were given to each student at the start of school (thanks to the Boosters) and all are asked to wear them every Friday. He then introduced Andrew Crosby, Athletic Director, Math Teacher and Football Coach.

Andrew told us that this year the football team is getting off to a very slow start (0-3 record),
losing their first game 41-0. They have only 5 returning players and 7 of the team

members are freshmen. The team spirit last year was very low but there seems to be more excitement this year. Last year they wound up with a 5-4 record (2nd in the League). With Assistant Coaches Charlie Casale (40+ years of experience) and Trevor Neer (starter all 4 years in high school) along with help from Michael Young (10 years in the NFL) and Mark McKay (starting QB at SDSU), he is confident they will be building a winning team.

Students are saying that this year feels different. They are proud of their school and for good reason: The Cyber-Security Club is ranked 2nd in the state; FFA raised 17 animals and earned $54,000; CUHS placed 2nd in the county in Mock Trial; exceeded the standard in English in 2017 (73.69% compared to a county average of 61.62%); exceeded the standard in Math (41.38% to 35.13 for SLO County); 2017-18 League Champs in volleyball, girl’s basketball, baseball and softball.

Dennis White introduced his long-time friend, Bobby, telling us that he was the first person to start the community Thanksgiving Dinner in Cambria. He said that his job description is compassion.

Bob started off by telling us that he moved to Cambria in 1974 when Cambria was made up of ranchers, farmers, hippies and retirees. He recently started the Estero Bay Kindness Coalition after discovering that, in the Estero Bay area a large percentage of children are beneath the poverty level. These children receive free or reduced meals at their schools. For the most part, the school cafeteria is their primary source of nutrition all week. Unfortunately, many children go an entire weekend with little or no food with any nutrition.

In 2017, the group committed to filling 12 backpacks each week for students who were otherwise not going to be eating on the weekends. By the end of the school year, they were filling 40 backpacks each week. Each backpack includes breakfast, lunch and dinner, along with snacks, juice and milk, to help bridge the
gap over the weekend. This year, they have teamed up with the Cambria Connection to provide similar backpacks to students at Cambria Grammar School where 70% of the children are below the poverty level! And they are hoping to start a program where these same children can receive the backpacks during the summer when they are not getting lunch at school. They are calling this program Got Your Back.

Bob is asking for help to fight childhood hunger. Donations can be made to Cambria Connection (put “Got Your Back” on your check). To sponsor a child for a week, it is $12; for 1 month, $48; 1 semester, $228 and, for an entire school year, $456. They also accept donations of food including healthy cereal, evaporated milk, canned fruit, dry fruit, canned vegetables, canned chicken, tuna, beef, peanut butter, jelly, instant rice and boxed juice.

Thank you Bob for such an informative presentation.

DG Sandi Schwartz presented Monty & Julia with a Major Donor Level 1 Award and People of Action Awards to Bonnie Cameron and Linda Sherman.

Bob Putney introduced Fire Captain, Emily Torlano who has been with the Cam- bria Fire Department since 2000. She received her paramedics license in 2004 and was promoted to Captain in 2015. She has a Bachelor’s Degree in Fire Safety Administration and is working on her Masters in Organizational Leadership.

Emily began by introducing Michael Castellanos, a Cambria native and Engineer with the Department. Engineers are required to be certified fire fighter as well as Emergency Medical Technicians (EMT’s). She also introduced Reserve Fire- fighter, Leo Salas.

The Cambria Fire Department was established in 1886 and is the 2nd oldest in San Luis Obispo County. In addi- tion to fighting fires, the department provides advanced life support, ocean and cliff rescue, hydrant mainte- nance (there are 460 of them) as well as rescuing people locked out of their cars, changing batteries in smoke and CO2 detectors and fire weed abatement. The Department recently lost a grant that enabled them to hire additional personnel but they are working on a new grant.

Training requirements have gotten much stricter. There are fewer people willing to be reserve firefighters (part- time) or volunteers because they are required to complete 1700 hours of training. As a result, there are only 12

reserves on the books.

Emily also reminded everyone to register with NIXLE to get community alerts and notifications. To register, simply text your zip code to the number 888-777. She also brought Cambria Area Fire Evacuation Plan brochures for anyone who would like one.

When asked why so many personnel respond to 911 calls, Emily explained that the fire engine must be “at the ready” in case of emergency so the 3 personnel assigned to each engine need to stay together. She also advised anyone noticing cars parked in such a way as to block access to a street, to contact the fire de- partment. They will send someone out to have the car(s) moved.

Fire hydrants need to be maintained on a regular basis because they can rust making it nearly impossible to operate. In an emergency situation, every minute counts so it is important that hydrants be maintained, although maintaining 460 hydrants is no easy task.

We actually went past our usual ending time because it was such a great presentation and there were so many questions. Thanks to Emily and her crew for taking the time to tell us about the Cambria Fire Department.

Janet Meyers introduced our speaker, Anne Wyatt, executive director of HomeShareSLO, a housing policy planner and former County of SLO planning commissioner. Anne enjoyed life in Cambria while operating the Bridge Street Inn from 1997 to 2011.

Anne began by telling us that HomeShareSLO is a local non-profit that facilitates home
share matches between those with an extra room and those looking for affordable
housing. The organization was started in 2017 as a service to seniors living alone in San
Luis Obispo County. There are over 11,000 single seniors in the county and probably just
under 500 in Cambria alone. The average income for single senior women is $1100 a
month. The program helps to share the ideas of home sharing, brings people and rooms together and performs extensive background checks on renters. A minimum income is required for home seekers and there is a multi-part matching process. Why home share? Besides the extra income, it can provide companionship, security, community building and likely allow you to stay in your home longer. For more information, go to www.HomeShareSLO.org.

It was a very interesting presentation. Thank you Anne.

Janet Meyers introduced Michael Bradley, Chief Executive Officer of the California Mid State Fair. He is a 4th generation Californian and provides a unique combination of fairs and exposition management, non-profit leadership and business development; he’s de- veloped an extensive background in agriculture and hands-on experience in marketing and community relations. Most recently he has directed the Arizona National Livestock Show in Phoenix as the CEO.

Mike told us that the Fair began having entertainment in 1969 with Buck Owens as the
first artist. This year’s entertainment will include some of the biggest names in the industry including Luke Bryan, Demi Lovato, Faith Hill and Tim McGraw, Eric Church and Pitbull, to name a few.

50% of attendees come from outside a 50 mile radius and 440,000 people attend annually. Because of this, it was decided to adopt a new slogan, “America’s Favorite Fair”.

The mission of the California Mid State Fair Heritage Foundation is to preserve and enrich the heritage of the 16th District Agricultural Association and showcase agricultural industries to the community; to offer support to the 4-H and FFA projects and create agricultural education opportunities; maintain a standard of excellence in the facilities and create capital improvement opportunities and to serve as an arm of the California Mid-State Fair that can accept charitable donations. A new building, the Paso Robles Pavilion, is a 100,000 square foot building which was a gift from the Heritage Foundation. The building will only house events related to the Fair and agri- culture, but can serve as shelter during natural disasters.

One of the main goals of the Fair is to give kids a learning experience. Many under the age of 40, according to Mike, believe milk comes from the grocery store. California produces more food than Iowa and Texas combined. Future Farmers of America (FFA) is the largest single youth organization in the country with over 85,000 students in California FFA clubs alone!

At the end of his presentation, Mike advised us that 2 tickets to any non-sold out performance, either for the 2018 or 2019 Fair would be donated to out club! Than you Mike!

RYLA GRADUATES

Cambria Rotary Club RYLA coordinator Jane Howard began with a brief overview: RYLA stands for Rotary Youth Leadership Awards. CUHS Counselor Cheryl Seay helps with student selection, alerting students to application deadlines and arranging interview dates and times. Most students are juniors when they apply and attend. This year there were 5 juniors and 1 sophomore from Coast Union H.S. RYLA is conducted for 4 days at Camp Yomah in Ojai. Cristel Chesney, Laudon Rowen and Elaine Beckham drove the students to and from the camp. Jane praised the leadership of the camp: Darin Arrasmith is the chairperson and our own Nancy McKarney is his very capable administrator. Jane brought Tim Carr up to the podium to be recognized as the 2018 Most Outstanding RYLA

Counselor. About 250 attended RYLA this spring, April 19-22. Five RYLA graduates attended the Rotary luncheon. Student Testimonies about RYLA:

ZACK AZEVEDO---He was worried about a specific student ending up in his cabin. As it turned out, this particular student was a terrific person and lots of fun.

TORI EHLERS---She learned that 20 seconds of confidence such as smiling to someone can be life changing. In her Diversity class she learned that everyone was unique, and she learned how to reach out to fellow students.

FIONA CLOWARD---She learned that it was physically impossible to complete the obstacles of the Ropes Course without relying on, and having trust in, your fellow students. She learned that it was important to take the time to listen to other students’ stories. And she learned not to give up on her

dreams.

CESAR HERNANDEZ---He felt shy about mixing with new people at first. He tried to hang out with his friends the first day. But by the evening of the first day he found himself bonding with some new friends on his color team and in his cabin. He learned from Camp Director Darin to “take off your cool card” and be yourself. Cesar especially enjoyed the goal setting class and will use the notes he wrote in his binder. He concluded that the four days of RYLA were the best time of his life.

EMMA SISON—Emma said she could describe RYLA in one word---REFRESHING Emma admitted that she started at camp with a bad attitude. At first she worried that no one she knew was on her color team or in her cabin. But then she bonded with two new friends who are still in communication. She was sad to return home from RYLA, but realized a responsibility to share this inspirational experience with those who did not attend. She felt that the RYLA experience can bring out your “inner leader”.

Congratulations to the 2018 RYLA Graduates!

PRESENTATION: BRINGING MEDICAL CARE TO CAMBRIA

Janet Meyers introduced our speakers, Dr. Laurie Moyer-Mileur, a Registered Dietician and research professor at University of Utah School of Medicine and Barbara Bronson Gray, Vice President of Cambria Community Healthcare District, registered nurse and managing editor at WebMd, among other accomplishments.

Laurie began by telling us that she is legally blind (then proceeded in telling a few blind jokes (we need this lady in Rotary) and was recently approved for a guide dog. She explained that the process of getting medical care to Cambria was a 6-step process:

#1 Define the need: It was determined that Cambria, San Simeon and the surrounding area are medically underserved. For our population of 7500 people 4-6 full-time caregivers are needed. 80% of respondents to a survey on healthcare said more options are needed.

#2 Options Available to Meet Needs: When the Community Health Center was approached about providing more medical personnel, the result was actually a decrease of 2 doctors. Dr. Gong only works 4 days a week and Dr. Dave Griffith provides house call services only for severely ill, immobile patients. So we reached out to Tenet and Dignity Health.

#3 Infrastructure: Tenet agreed to provide services but needed space. First Physicians Partners signed a lease with John & Renee Linn for the full downstairs portion of the medical building on Main St. 

Permits have been pulled and a September opening is planned.

#4 Expect Resistance: Barbara told us they were surprised when they met with resistance, saying “what doesn’t kill you makes you stronger”. She told us of someone who actually contacted First Physicians Partners urging them not to come to Cambria.

#5 Expect Problems: The original site selected for a medical facility was the old Heritage Oaks building but that did not work out. After signing the Lease with the Linn’s, the permit process was held up due to a new computer system slowing down the process.

#6 Communication: It is important to keep everyone up to date, listen to their stories and focus on the end zone. The new facility will have a full time doctor plus staff, will have extended hours and Saturday hours to accommodate working people. There has recently been interest in setting up an Urgent Care facility her also.

Thanks to both Laurie and Barbara for this interesting and important presentation and for all the work they have done to bring healthcare to Cambria.

Bob Kasper stepped up to be the auctioneer for the Interact Bake Sale. John Ehlers bought a strawberry cake for $150 and donated it back to sell again. Otis re-gifted a chocolate and vanilla cake he had bought for $100. Chris Cameron and Cynthia Neer joined together to purchase a cake with lots of candy for $150. Laudon Rowan bought a cake for $110. Michael O’Sullivan bought a Mexican chocolate cake for $200. Joan Broadhurst bought an orange cake for $210. Miguel Sandoval bought a vanilla and chocolate cake for $120. Socorro Simons bought a $400 chocolate strawberry cake which she donated to O s. The top buyer of the day was Christel Chesney who bought a carrot cake for $450 and four cupcakes for $100.0 each. Gerry Porter reported that over $3500 was earned for the Interact Club from this bake sale.