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. 

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 

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. 

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 

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 

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. 

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. 

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??? 

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!

Janet Meyers explained that today was “Senior Ditch Day” so the students were unable to attend

to read their essays. However, their essays are attached to the email with this newsletter. Janet did read the guidelines for the essay as presented by their teacher:

Using your open-ended questions, your research and the power of inquiry from last week’s unit, develop an ess on the topic of “Peace”.

How can the power of peace help us channel our moral fury in constructive ways? Discuss this excerpt from The

Art of Waging Peace:

“When people tell us about a truly unjust problem they are having, the moral fury within us can erupt like a bur ing flame. A flame is calm, but it is also intense. It is soothing, but also fierce. The flame of moral fury can be calm and soothing to those treated unjustly, while intensely and fiercely opposing the forces of injustice”. 

Moral fury is an emotion, and people with empathy and conscience often instinctually feel this emotion when they witness injustice. This is a good thing. But moral fury is not a strategy. It is not a plan or roadmap for over coming the root causes of injustice. When people criticize activists for being outragted by injustice and trying to solve problems with emotions rather than reason, we should keep in mind that feeling moral fury about injustic is not the problem, and the world would be better off if more people felt outraged by the injustices that so man ignore. Instead, the problem is when people mistake the emotion of moral fury for a strategy. Moral fury is fue that can propel a strategy toward practical solutions for reducing and ending injustice.

Peace is not the absence of war but is a state of mind: individual or collective, peace is social, cultural, political, and economic harmony, Peace can also be seen as a way of being and a way of living. Intellectual dialogue should be among civilizations and should empower the youth of today. Therefore, use the prompt(s) below and support your ideas with concrete proposals to the questions at hand. But also recognize the number of existing obstacles for the realization of a true culture of peace.

In this essay, you will develop the following open-ended questions:

1. What does the word “peace” mean to you and how does one promote peace in one’s community?
2. Do you think humans are naturally peaceful? Why or why not?

1. How can the power of peace help us channel our moral fury in constructive ways?
2. How can you promote peace within your community?

Mark Ober told us that it was his privilege to work on

the 4-Way Test Essay project. He thanked Whit Donaldson,

Middle School Language Arts teacher and

Laura Weaver, CUHS English teacher for encouraging

their students to participate. This was the first year

that the high school participated and, even though it

was a voluntary assignment, 18 students participated.

He also thanked Donna and Julian Crocker, Lorienne

Schwenk and Nancy McKarney for reading all 43 essays

and selecting the 6 winners. It was not an easy

task! The students had to expose themselves by telling

about mistakes they have made and how they

might have done things differently had they known

abut and followed the 4-Way Test. Each student did a

commendable job. When the students were reading their essays, you could hear a pin drop in the room.

These kids sure made us proud.

The winners from the Middle School were: Kevin Merced, 3rd place; Weston Gustafson, 2nd place and,

Dereck Quintero, 1st place. At the high school, the winning essays were Ethan Wade, 11th grade, 3rd

place; Shanyra Cardenas, 11th grade, 2nd place andSean Schalk, 9th grade, 1st place. Ethan Wade was unable to attend because he was at RYLA

Janet Meyers told us that we were here to celebrate Suzette

Morrow, art teacher at Santa Lucia Middle School and Coast

Union High School. Suzette holds a Bachelor’s and a Master’s

degree in Fine Arts and has been teaching for 30 years.

Suzette told us that students 10-18 years old in her art classes

participated in the project. As part of the curriculum, they discussed

what peace is and what peace means to them. Students

were then asked to design a picket with that in mind.

Some chose to design their pickets with scenes that they see as

peaceful while others used animals to show how different species

get along.

Suzette thanked Rotary for the opportunity to participate in

this project saying that Rotary has contributed more to the student’s

education by getting them engaged in school and creating

a culture for our school and community.

Paula Porter, on behalf of the Peace Builders Committee presented Suzette with a

certificate of appreciation and announced that the committee made a gift to the

Rotary Foundation in her name and presented her with a Paul Harris pin.

Mark your calendars: We will be honoring and congratulating the students for their

outstanding work promoting art and expressions of positivity and celebrating art

teacher, Suzette for her outstanding lesson plan and guidance at a Peace Picket

Kickoff Celebration on Saturday, April 9 from 11 to 1 at the Cambria Historical Museum.

Suzette told is that the students and their parents are really excited about

this since they have not had a public showing or their artwork for a couple of years

due to COVID.

Paula also told us that the Peace Pole on the stage is from their home and, if you are interested, you

can purchase one online at PeacePoleProject.org.

Thanks to Suzette for what most of us thought was one of the best presentations we have had in a long

time. And thanks to the Peace Builder’s Committee for a project that is getting tons of attention all

around town and beyond.

Pres. Patty told us that she sat with Heide for about 3 hours putting together the slide show and she learned so much about this amazing woman. Some words come to mind: resilience, creativity, determination, curiosity. 

Heide told us that her family was from Berlin and had to escape during the Russian invasion when their home was destroyed. Heide’s mom took her older sister Hel-ga (14 years older than Heide) and sister Doris (10 years older) to Marienbad, a town on the border of the Czech Republic and Germany where, shortly after, Heide was born. Heide’s mom was dealing with health issues at the time so older sister Helga basically raised Heide. 

When she was 4, her family returned to Berlin to reunite with her father. He was an amazing man who served in WWI where he was shot 8 times and was exposed to mustard gas. They lived in a small town where her dad was in charge of a camp for Russian soldiers. At the time, there were only women in town because the men were off fighting so the fields could not be planted. He had the Russian soldiers plant the fields so the women would have food, which they shared with the soldiers. He also used to ride around on his bike collecting pinecones from which he collected the seeds so the forest could be replanted. He also collected apples and pears during the summer, had them made into juice so children would have access to fruit in the winter. 

Sadly, when Heide was 10, her dad passed away leaving her heartbroken. To help her take her mind off the loss of her father, she was sent, by train, to school in Sweden where she got to see the Alps and experience live in another country. When she was 12, she returned home and the family relocated to the larger town of Hano-ver where Heide could receive a better education, learning both English and French. To help with expenses at the time, her mother would rent out rooms in their house to students from Turkey. One of the students was a boy named Engin. After he returned to Turkey, he sent a letter to Heide and her mom inviting them to visit he and his family in Turkey. Engin came from a large family who had a beautiful home and a large ranch. Heide and her mom were treated like family while they were there and 4 years later, she and Engin married. They moved to Munich where Heide was first exposed to computers. She read about classes being offered and read-ily took them and became quite good at computer programming. Engin always dreamed of moving to the Unit-ed States. At the time, the wait for a German to immigrate was years. However, since Heide was born in Mari-enbad which at that time was part of Czechoslovakia, she was considered Czechoslovakian and was issued a visa. After spending some time in Rochester, NY, Heide finally came to California. 

Thanks for a very interesting presentation, Heide. We look forward to hearing more about your amazing life. 

Bruce started by talking about peace and ab out Ukraine. In 1950, shortly after World War II, some German and French Rotarians met in Strasbourg with a goal of building peace and under-standing. Together they made a gamble to emerge from tragedy through intelligence. What re-sulted from their talks was Rotary’s first-ever Intercountry Committee, or ICC. Jane Howard is the first ICC Chair for our District and also the National ICC Chair for United States/India. The US/Ukraine ICC was set to be chartered 2 weeks ago but the war has postponed that. However, Belgium/Ukraine ICC and French/Ukraine ICC are mobilizing to send money and supplies to Kyiv to assist the steady stream of refugees leaving Ukraine. Rotary has boots on the ground. It is because of Rotary members world-wide who, through their membership, have helped in this effort. 

Bruce presented Paul Harris Awards to Otis Archie (PH+4); Rick Auricchio (PH+4); Bob Kasper (PH+7); Nancy McKarney (PH+8); Mark Ober (PH+1); Dennis Rightmer (PH+2); Linda Sherman (PH+5); and, Tom Tierney (PH+1). 

Bruce reminded us that it is because of generous donations to Polio Plus that we have gone from 1,000 cases of Polio a day in the early 1980’s to 5 cases world-wide last year and 2 so fat this year. 

Gerry Porter introduced Erin Groble, The Rotary Foundation Planned Giving Officer, via Zoom. Erin explained that Gifts to Rotary's Endowment ensure that future Rotarians will have the resources they need to design and implement sustainable projects year after year. For more infor-mation about the endowment fund, go to rotary.org/legacy. You can also view Erin’s Power Point presentation attached to this email. She can also be contacted by email at erin.groble@rotary.org. Thank you Erin for speaking to us today and for doing it with very little notice! 

Gerry also welcomed, for the 3rd time, Ken DeCroo, author of the Almost Human series of books. Ken recently finished his 3rd book in the series, Becoming Human, a story about when three families are viciously massacred in the forest of the Pacific Northwest, and three young girls disappear, Dr. Ken Turner and his colleagues sus-pect the hybrid creatures they discovered in the jungles of Africa who were kidnapped by shady government agents. They find themselves back in pursuit of the half-human, half-chimpanzee creatures, and their missing colleague Dr. Melon. Their quest begins, at risk to their careers and reputations, in the little town of Willow Creek and the surrounding Trinity Forest where the mythical bigfoot is said to roam. Who or what will they find? Ken agreed to visit us in person on one of his next trips to the West Coast. 

A total of 14 baked goods were entered into this year’s Bake Sale. Interact President Lisi Happel, Vice President Caiden Kennedy and Secretary Emmy Johnson along with Faculty Advisor Ayan Johnson presented a slide show of all the creations. Auctioneer Bob Kasper joked and cajoled until every baked good was sold. In the end, a total of $5,770was raised for Interact. The student’s slide show is attached to this email for those who could not attend. Be prepared to have your mouth watering when you see some of these creations! 

Danny Community Relations Coordinator Danny Danbom knows a thing or two about loss. In her young life, she has been the primary caregiver for her grandfather, her grandmother, and her own mother in their final months—each suffering from their own degenerative illness. "Watching their decline gave me the courage and the confi-dence to speak about illness and death," she said. "That's a trait most people struggle with." With a Bachelor's degree in Recreation & Hospitality Management and a stint in the finance industry, Danny (short for Danielle) brings a wealth of knowledge and a sincere desire to be of service to her current position at Sydney Creek. "l want to be the advocate our community needs," she said. "It's my pleasure to articulate who we are, what we do here, and how we might help." 

A copy of Danny’s Power Point Presentation is attached to this email. 

Danny COMMUNITY RELATIONS COORDINATOR 

The Village at Sydney Creek 1234 Laurel Lane, San Luis Obispo, CA 93401 

(805) 543-2350 | (805) 543-1948 

Sydney Creek Lic. #405800577 Garden Creek Lic. #405800467 

Danny Danbon, Sydney Creek Memory Care 

Each table was asked to discuss how to bring peace into family gatherings during the holidays especially during

COVID.

Nancy Bennett reported that her table discussed not talking about COVID or politics.

Elaine Beckham suggested being more like Rick Low (ha ha) but ended by saying that her table suggested that

we just listen.

Shari Long told us that her table suggested checking in with yourself. Be grateful for what you have; be kind

to others; communicate.

Jane Howard relayed a situation in her own family where she and her sisters got together for the normal holiday

dinner but one of the brother-in-laws is not vaccinated and nobody wanted to sit near him. It made for a

very awkward evening. The group had plans to meet again the next night with their 97 year old mother and

they were concerned about putting her at risk. So they told the brother-in-law that they love him but just

can’t have him there. It was very hard.

Paula ended the discussion by reminding us to love ourselves and understand that there are differences. Janet

added that we are the Family of Rotary despite our different nationalities, religions, political leanings.

She then wished us a Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukkah, Happy Kwanza.

Dr. Alex and his wife, Dr. Casey Erickson are the owners and practicing veterinarians at Cambria Veterinary Clinic. After relocating to the Cen-tral Coast in January 2016 and purchasing Cambria Veterinary clinic, we could have not felt more welcomed into a community that truly adores their pets. We are committed to high quality medicine and patient care, and also believe that you should have a doctor for your pet that you trust to offer you guidance and options in caring for your 4-legged fami-ly member. We are hard-working, honest and compassionate when it comes to advising you on anything from preventative care to difficult end-of-life decisions. 

Dr. Alex grew up in Los Banos, California and could be found cleaning kennels and helping out at his father’s vet clinic from a young age. Following in his father’s footsteps, he attended Kansas State University for his undergraduate studies and then graduated from UC Davis Veterinary School in 2008. During veterinary school, his studies focused both on farm animal and small animal medicine. After graduating he moved to Sonora, California, at the base of the Sierra Nevada Mountains where he practiced at a busy small animal veterinary clinic for 8 years. Alex has addi-tional continuing education training in small animal dentistry and ultrasound. 

Dr. Alex told us that dermatology is the number one reason pets visit their veterinarian and, here on the Central Coast, there is no shortage of allergy triggers.