Chuck introduced Youth Services Chair, Cynthia Woodruff-Neer who welcomed everyone to our Celebration of Sen-iors and clarified that she was not talking about our membership. We were lucky to have students from Coast Un-ion and Leffingwell via Zoom to honor and celebrate our RYLA graduates and our scholarship winners. 

Cynthia touted the work of Youth Services reminding us that our club raised $4100 for Interact in a virtual bake sale! In-teract voted at their last meeting to make donations to Doc-tors Without Borders, St. Jude’s Hospital, the World Wildlife Fund as well as local organizations such as ECHO and Camp Ocean Pines. Our club also funded the first ever Peace Essay Contest. All the 3rd graders received the book “Dreamers” and we are sponsoring a volleyball camp at the Middle School this summer that will be taught by high school students and paid for by our funding. 

Christel Chesney is replacing Jane Howard as the leader of RYLA. Christel introduced this year’s RYLA graduates who attended via Zoom due to COVID. She congratulated them and told them she hoped their RYLA experience was something they will always remember. 

Cynthia told us there were 35 graduating seniors from both CUHS and Leffingwell. From the graduating classes, Ro-tary received 16 scholarship applications from CUHS seniors and 2 from Leffingwell students. Donna Crocker, Paula Porter, Heidi Santos and Cynthia interviewed the students and selected 8 scholarship winners, weighing their aca-demics, extra curricular activities, written essays and personal interviews to reach their decisions. 

Leffingwell graduate, Joey Acevedo, was unable to join us but Principal Justin Gish told us that Joey will be attend-ing Full Sail University in Florida to pursue a degree in music production. 

Michelle Acosta will be attending Cal State Fullerton to major in Communications and Public Relations. 

Chrystal Fabela will also be attending Cal State Fullerton, majoring in Criminal Justice and minor in Computer Sci-ence. 

Samantha Fabela is excited to be going to UC Davis to study Political Science with plans to go further into the immi-gration system and see where that takes her. 

Jonathan Jewell will be majoring in Computer Science at Cal Poly and plans to work towards some internships in order to gain experience while attending school. 

Viviana Nunez was unable to attend but Mary Stenbeck, counselor at CUHS, told us Viviana is headed to UC Berkley majoring in Business. 

Jasmine Pena, who hopes to join Rotaract when she gets to the University of Notre Dame where she will be major-ing in Political Science. 

Zachery Stephenson will be going to UC Berkley this Fall. He plans on majoring in Business, but, since he does not have to declare un Junior year, he is leaving his options open. 

The Cambria Community Council transportation system, known locally as “The Cambria Community Bus” provides local door to door service for seniors (persons over 60) and disabled persons within the Cambria-San Simeon area. Multiple stops are not only allowed but encouraged. All rides are free. A dispatcher answers the dispatch phone between 9am and 11am Monday through Friday. If you call outside these hours, you may leave a message. Persons needing a ride must call the dispatcher 1 (805) 927-4173 at least one day prior to the scheduled ride. Each bus is equipped with a cell phone to assist in schedule adherence and process any additions or deletions to the daily schedule. The service operates one bus locally on weekdays, Monday through Friday, between 8am and 4:30pm. 

A second bus makes a day trip to San Luis Obispo on the first and third Tuesdays of each month. This second bus also makes a trip to Paso Robles and Templeton on the second Tuesday of each month. These out of town trips are used primarily for shopping, however, Medical appointments have priority seating. Both buses are ADA equipped. Drivers will provide assistance if necessary for riders entering and exiting the bus as well as transporting packages and groceries into the rider’s home. All drivers are volunteers from the community and again, all rides are free. 

The Cambria Community Bus always needs volunteer drivers. There are no special license requirements. A prospective driver needs a valid Class C license (this is the most common license) and a good driving record. Training will be provided and takes about 8 hours with most of that time being hands on behind the wheel in the bus. Drivers determine their own driving days and whole and half days are available. It is a wonderful way to give back to our community! 

If you want to volunteer to drive or just need more information about driving, call Warren Gay at 1 (805) 927-1147 or Tony Church at 1 (805) 927-1442. 

1. Elaine Beckham                           7. Patty Griffin
2. Bruce Howard                              8. Nancy Carr
3. Mike Griffin                                 9. Linda Sherman
4. Otis Archie                                  10. Christel Chesney
5. Janet Meyers                               11. Shari Long
6. Donna Crocker                           12. Roger Robinson

Bruce Howard asked if anyone had any idea how many Americans were infected by polio. The answer: a quarter of a million. He then asked if anyone know who the first doctor to administer a polio vaccine and the year he did it? It was Dr. Jonas Salk in 1954. Finally, does anyone know the name of the competing doctor who did a live virus? His name was Albert Sabin. 

In 1978-79 Rotary started a program in the Philippines to eradicate polio. It was only conducted in the Philippines and was a 5 year project. It was the first Health, Hunger and Humanity (3H) Grant that Rotary did. About 6 million children were immunized against polio, at a cost of about $760,000. The funds for 3H Grants come from your Annual Fund donations. So, everything related to Polio started with the Annual Fund. In 1984 Dr. Albert Sabin spoke to the Rotary Convention and commended rotary on the wonderful job they did in the Philippines. He said, if you guys were really good, you would take on the world. RI figured it would cost around $125 million to eradicate polio world-wide. About a quarter of a billion dollars was raised by Rotary through the Annual Fund. When we started the program, there was over 1,000 new cases in the world per day. Today we have had just 2 cases of the wild cases of the polio virus so far this year. About 19 million people today don’t have polio today because of our efforts! Please keep up your support! 

Kenneth L. Decroo truly believes you must live a life worth writing about. Before he became an educator and consultant for universities and school districts, he worked in the world of research and wild animal training in the motion picture industry for many years. He holds advance degrees in anthropology, instructional technology, and education. He lives and writes in the San Bernardino mountains of Southern California with his wife, Tammy. When not writing and lecturing, he loves to ride his BMW adventure motorcycle down the Baja peninsula to beaches and bays without names. More about his adventures can be found on his blog, http://bajamotoquest.com 

PE Patty Griffin started the presentation by asking everyone to submit a photo of themselves in the ‘70’s for our April contest. Patty then said, even though it is not the favorite part of her job, she is coming to us again asking for support of our next fundraiser, Ping Pong Palooza by encouraging friends and family members to purchase ping pong balls. If you are on social media, consider posting about the fundraiser. 

What were you doing in the summer of 1971? 

Patty: Loaded her horse along with 10 others into a rundown trailer and rode to King City to participate in a mini-rodeo. 

Dr. Joe: Spent the summer at the Jersey Shore as he did every summer. 

Joan: Took the bar exam and found out she passed it, went out to celebrate with friends and met her husband! 

Sue R: Rented a house in the Hamptons with friends and spent every weekend there. 

Bob K: Since he was 4, he was living in Buffalo and probably playing in a sandbox. 

Ed Pearce: Retired from Cuesta after 38 years. 

Cynthia: Was 11 years old got her first passport for a trip to Japan the next year. 

Mike G: In his 2nd year at Humbolt State. 

Dennis R: Just finished first year teaching, Linda was planning their wedding while he was sailing with a friend. 

Shari: Graduated high school, packed everything she owned into her Triumph Spitfire and moved to Cayucos. 

Otis: Baled hay for the first time but showed up the first day in shorts and a t-shirt. 

Linda S: Took a canoe trip on the Wisconsin River before beginning graduate school. 

Gerry P: He and Paula and their joined her parents in Newport Beach. Paula & her dad would make fresh fish and scrambled eggs for breakfast every morning. 

Mary Ann: Worked in Yellowstone Nat’l Park for the summer then took a road trip to CA with friends. 

Nancy M: Gave birth to a beautiful baby girl. A week later moved from Ventura to Oceanside. 

Christel: Was mother to a 6 mo old boy, her husband was just promoted to Captain in the Army and headed to the National Security Agency in Washington DC. 

Bob P: Had just finished sophomore year at Napa HS and spent 2 weeks at Whiskey Town Lake in No. CA, hiking, skiing and dirt biking. 

Judy S. Was mother to a big furry cat named Pierre who got skunked. She took the cat into the shower and poured tomato juice all over it. The cat hated her after that. 

Steve O: We adopted our oldest daughter Nicole. 

Janet: 1971 was a bad year because her mother passed away in July. 

Roger: Moved to Marina Del Rey, bought a Pinto and went to Europe. All this on $12,000 year. 

Chuck: Was 15 yrs old growing up in Pittsburg, took a vacation in Stone Harbor, NJ. Every night they would listen to the Pittsburgh Pirate games on the car radio. The Pirates won the World Series that year. 

Rick Low: attending Cal Poly, inner tubing down the Nacimiento River with large bottles of wine. 

Julie: Got involved with a local theatre group at Penn State working on You’re a Good Man Charlie Brown. 

Elaine: Was a 25 yr old single lady living in London sharing a flat with 4 others. Was a bridesmaid 4 times. 

Nancy B: Moved to San Diego from Connecticut where her twin brother was trying out for the SEALS. 

We are a Strong club...The Best Rotary Club in the World! We have accomplished, as a unit, an immeasurable amount of good for our friends, neighbors and so many of those in need here and around the world. Our Members are of all persuasions, talents and abilities that work in unison towards common positive goals. And we have all had the benefit of creating new friends and close relationships through the course of our Rotary actions. Having said that.... Attrition happens. It just happens for so many obvious reasons, no need to list. Strong clubs can dwindle all too quickly. To stay strong we need to work at adding new members to fill the gaps created by loss and to help keep the energy flowing so we can remain productive and beneficial to our community and the world. With that said... I want you each to remember how you were introduced to Rotary and some of your most enjoyable Rotary experiences. It can be a good time you had or a particularly satisfying experience. Nancy McKarney: was introduced to Rotary in 1988. The N. Hollywood Club named her a member before it was technically required. She became a member of Cambria Rotary in 1994. One memorable experience was taking a cruise to Puerta Vallarta with a whole gang of club members and being served paella by a group of Rotarians. 

Christel: Socorro Simons brought her to the club, and, as it turns out, all her best friends are members of Rotary now. She didn’t have mush of a social life in Cayucos because, where they lived, was mostly vacation rentals. Her most memorable experience was hanging out with the kids at RYLA where she was a counselor. 

Pres. Chuck: was introduced to Rotary back in Pittsburgh when he was a young attorney. He was encouraged by the older attorneys in his office to join and, quite frankly, he did not enjoy any of the meetings he attended. He thought, “who are these people singing songs and doing the pledge”. When he moved to Cambria in 2004, he was invited to a Rotary meeting and fell in love with our club specifically. 

Linda Sherman: she was introduced to Rotary in 2016, right after her husband passed away, by Joan Broadhurst. Shortly thereafter, Socorro knocked on her door and told her that she was coming to Rotary with her the next day. One of her most memorable experiences is what she is doing right now. She is restoring the history of our club going back to 1971. It has become quite an incredible project. 

Otis: Rotary actually sponsored him when he was in college. The Snyder Rotary Club even gave him a small stipend that really helped. His most memorable part is the fact that we are really his family! He still gets teary eyed when he thinks about the reception the club threw for him and Joe. 

Chuck DeVroede: In 1982 he was approached by Jim Siegel (?) from Cambria Electric. He felt he was too busy with his business but kept being approached by people asking when he was going to come to Rotary. He especially enjoys the comradery. 

Sue R.: This guy kept running around. He had a mustache and walked with a cane and he talked me into joining Rotary. What she loves and really misses the new member orientations where everyone lets their hair down and has a good time. But we will be doing it again. 

Dick & Bonnie: Bonnie moved to Cambria first and got started in Rotary because she had a business and wanted to give back. Dick’s sponsor was Bonnie. He had been a member of the Moorpark Club before moving to Cambria. His most memorable time has been in his role as Sheriff. 

continued 

John Lindsey is a media relations representative and marine meteorologist for Pacific Gas and Electric Company at Diablo Canyon Power Plant. He has worked for PG&E for more than 16 years. He has forecasted weather and oceanographic conditions along the Central Coast of California for over 30 years. His forecast can be heard every morning on 920 KVEC radio. He writes a weekly column that appears in Tuesday's edition San Luis Obispo Tribune. He also writes a weather forecast that appears in Sunday's edition of Tribune, Santa Maria Times, Lompoc Record and Santa Ynez Valley News. 

He is on the Board of Directors of the Point San Luis Lighthouse Keepers, Central Coast Aquarium, PG&E Veterans’ Employee Resource Group and the Lost at Sea committee. 

Prior to working with PG&E, he was a marine meteorologist and research scientist with Tenera Environmental. He served in the U.S. Navy for over 24 years. He attended Santa Rosa Junior College, California and Cal Poly in San Luis Obispo, California. He successfully completed the U.S. Naval Aviation Meteorology and Oceanography Program at Naval Air Station Pensacola, Florida. 

He currently lives in Los Osos, California and is married to Trisha. They have two children, Chloe 23 and Sean 17. 

If you are interested in current weather information, John told us that he keeps weather information up to date on his Twitter page (twitter.com/PGE_John). Or if you have any questions for him, his email is jcl5@pge.com 

Ben Higgins is the Director of Agricultural Operations for the Hearst Corporation, where he oversees two properties on California’s Central Coast – the 83,000-acre Hearst Ranch in San Simeon and the 73,000-acre Jack Ranch in Cholame. Hearst is the largest agricultural landowner on the Central Coast and the largest single-source producer of grass-fed beef in the nation, selling over 1,000 head of grass-fed-and-finished animals to Whole Foods Market annually. 

Prior to joining Hearst in 2013, Higgins served as Executive Vice President of the California Cattlemen’s Association, appointed by President George W. Bush as State Director of USDA Rural Development in California, and was Director of Government Affairs for Mainstream Energy Corp. He also has a significant history of community involvement, via local economic development organizations, agricultural trade organizations, Cal Poly San Luis Obispo, local 4-H/FFA clubs and more. 

Higgins resides in San Simeon with his wife Rochelle and daughters Audrey and Mary. 

He was asked to speak today about the Sebastian’s building in Old San Simeon. The building was originally constructed in 1873. It is actually a building constructed from 2 separate buildings that were previously our at San Simeon Point. He told us about the plans to bring the building up to code while keeping the original layout. Once the permits are issued, the first thing they will do is raise the building and put in a new foundation. Right now the plan is to turn it back into a market likely with some “grab and go” food options. The tasting room will remain where it is, in the old Hearst warehouse. Plans are in place to install a kitchen and provide lunch and dinner options. 

San Luis Obispo County Sheriff Ian Parkinson was sworn into office on January 3, 2011. Parkinson's career in law enforcement in San Luis Obispo County began when he joined the Morro Bay Police Department in 1984. He transferred to the San Luis Obispo Police Department in 1988, where he rose to the rank of Captain, second in command of the department. 

The Sheriff began by telling us that they were able to clear out the Highway 1 and Cambria Drive homeless encampment just prior to the rain. The encampment filled up to about 6 feet of rain so a number of lives may have been saved by evacuating that area. 

This has been a very interesting year with COVID and our lives have been changed in many ways. We have all been on a roller coaster. There have been many changes to how it is dealt with. Deputies still have to be on the street and make contact. The jail has done a great job keeping the incidence down. 

We had 3 deputy involved shootings within a 4 month period which is unprecedented for our county. In all 3 cases, the suspect was killed and in 2 cases 2 of the deputies were shot. Both deputies suffered significant injuries with one being shot in the jaw and the other shot in the leg. He was pleased to report that both deputies are doing well and will hopefully return to the job soon. The downside of these events is the mental toll it takes on the deputies and the families of those injured. And the taking of a life can be difficult to deal with. 

Crime is up, but major crimes in January are down. There has been a increase over the past year in burglaries, theft, and property crimes possibly caused by the economy and/or the mass release of prisoners from county jails. Domestic violence has been consistently up every month likely due to the COVID lockdown and the economy. 

On the Cambria front, the biggest issue has been the homeless. Especially during fire season, it is imperative that encampments be taken down as quickly as possible. Luckily, Cal Fire has been very quick in pulling the trigger to get aircraft from Paso in the air, many times arriving before the fire engines can get there. 

When asked who we can contact if we see homeless entering deeply wooded ravines, he encouraged us to call the Coast Station at 805-528-6083 and ask to speak Cmdr. McDonald or one of his sergeants. They are anxious to know about any homeless in heavily wooded areas because of fires. Some of these are well hidden and hard for the Deputies to locate. 

ROTARY CLUB 

Dr. Joe, filling in for Chairperson, Paula Porter who was without electricity at the time, thanked the club for the opportunity to do a presentation about the Peace Committee. Joe said they are taking baby steps and getting their stride this year and part of that is to have programs where we have discussion topics. In the interest of predictability in this time when so much is unpredictable he gave us an overview of what we will be doing. First we watched a short video about peace. You can watch this excellent video at: 

https://youtu.be/6vuXEvhua1A . 

We then broke into groups to answer the following question: During the past week, what are some ways you have worked to create peace within yourself and/or with others. After each group met, one person was selected to share one of those peace cultivating practices with the rest of the club. After all the groups have shared, we reflected on some common themes that emerged. 

Group 1: Kate Perry shared that her mom died September 17th and theirs was a less than ideal relationship. She has been struggling with what will never be when it comes to that relationship. There is no small thing when it comes to being mindful about yourself and cultivating peace and being at peace. 

Group 2: Janet Meyers said that their group talked about the need for patience. Patience is so important to having peace in your life. We all find ourselves in situations where we lose our patience but we have a choice to be patient or not. To be respectful or not. To be kind or not kind. Being aware of that consciousness is very important. 

Group 3: Otis Archie talked about the importance of listening. By listening, people are being heard and by being heard, stress is relieved. 

Group 4: Julie Jenkins discussed the need to take personal responsibility for ourselves or where we are. While we have no control over what the other person is doing, we have control over what we are doing. Also, cancelling out some of the voices that come out through Facebook and other social media and instead finding your own worth. 

Joe finished by reflecting on the one theme he picked up on and that is “Slow down”. Paula added that peace really is an inside job. 

Soren Christensen became Hearst Ranch Winery’s winemaker in 2014. His expertise hails from working with some of the best vineyards in Paso Robles. While at Hope Family Winery, he worked on the winemaking team crafting Cabernet-based wines for Treana and Liberty School and later worked with the Rhône-variety based Alta Colina Vineyard. 

Hearst Ranch Winery owners, Jim and Debby Saunders are in a partnership with Steve and Barbara Hearst. The main tasting room is in San Simeon but they also have a second one in Paso. 

Soren first met longtime grape grower Jim Saunders some 20 years ago, when he was tasked with sampling grapes prior to the 2000 harvest. The fledgling cellar-hand became fast friends with the Saunders, who was selling his grapes to top wineries at that point. “Jim offered insight and expertise that I took to heart, so it was an easy decision to join his team,” Christensen said. “Making wine worthy of carrying the Hearst name is no small task. I am honored to join their team and will strive to exceed expectations as I embark on this new journey. 

Soren told us that a new food purveyor, Field to Table, has just signed on to provide food at the San Simeon tasting room. 

We were so pleased to have the officers of this year’s Interact Club join us. Presidents Jasmine Peña and Sami Fabila; Vice Presidents Viviaña Nunez; Secretary Crystal Fabela and, Social Media Director Caiden Kennedy. Treasurer Violet Wills was unable to join us. 

Each of the Interact students told us why they wanted to be involved in Interact (see their presentation attached to this email). 

We were told that during the week of November 2-6, the students will be celebrating World of Interact in a rather creative way. 

Member Monday (11/2) and they will introduce the officers to the student body and encourage everyone to join. 

Take Action Tuesday (11/3) they will be encouraging the community to take action by voting, participating in projects that benefit the community such as community clean up. 

Around the World Wednesday (11/4) our local Interact club will be connecting with a club from another area (country) via video. 

Thankful Thursday (11/5) they will be showing appreciation to their advisors (but don’t tell them It is a surprise). 

Fundraise Friday: Interactors will be selling baked good on campus. 

We were also reminded of their Fun Run/Walk Fundraiser. For more information on how you can participate or donate, go to https://runsignup.com/Race/CA/Cambria/InteractFunRunWalkCambriatoSantaBarbara 

Mike di Milo is the Education Coordinator and holds a Bachelor of Science from Cal Poly in

Natural Resources Management. He leads field trips and is involved in coordinating all of

the recycling education program activities for the IWMA. Mike has over twenty years of

experience in developing and administering school education programs. Mike, along with

his staff do 900 recycling programs to both children and adults throughout the county.

This was a very interesting presentation and we all learned a few things we did not know

such as food scraps can be turned into compost and electricity if we put them in our green bins. (See the

flyer attached to this email for more info).

For more information about the county’s waste management program, go to: https://www.iwma.com/

Craig Collins is a retired USAF officer and also a retired pilot of Continental Airlines. He came from a military family, his father retiring after 28 years of active USAF service. Craig attended the US Air Force Academy, graduated and was commissioned in June 1969. He completed pilot training in July 1970 and follow-on F-4 training in July 1971. His first operational assignment was at Da Nang Air Base, Republic of Viet Nam, where he flew 222 combat missions and amassed 379 combat flying hours in the F-4 from Jul 1971-July 1972. His post Viet Nam assignments were at Homestead AFB, FL and Nellis AFB, NV. He separated from active duty in Oct 1978 and began flying commercially for Continental Airlines. He was furloughed in October 1980 and re-entered the military as an F-4 pilot in the Air Force Reserve and later as an F-16 pilot with the same unit in Austin, TX. In 1985 he was recalled from his furlough with Continental and continued his airline career until his mandatory age 60 retirement in 2006. He simultaneously continued his Air Force Reserve career until his retirement in June 2007, having served in the military for 36 years. 

Scott was born and raised in Santa Barbara, California and when he’s not working, he enjoys spending time with his dog, hobbies such as Amateur (Ham) Radio and photography, many outdoor activities and giving back to the local and international community through his involvement with the Rotary Club of Goleta Noontime, where he has been a member since 2013 and served as club President in 2016-17. He is a member of the Paul Harris Society, is a Multiple Paul Harris Fellow (PHF), Major Donor to The Rotary Foundation and Bequest Society Member. Scott served as Rotary District 5240 Communications Director in 2015-16 and was awarded "The Quiet Rotarian Award". He served as Assistant Governor for the Rotary clubs in Goleta, Santa Barbara, Montecito and Carpinteria area in 2017-18, Rotary International District 5240 Chief Oper-ating Officer in 2018-19 and currently serves as Rotary Zone 26 Assistant Public Image Coordinator (ARPIC), Rotary District 5240 Administrator, PRLS Director and member of the Board of Directors for the Rotary Dis-trict 5240 Charitable Foundation. In 2022-23, Scott will serve as Rotary District 5240 Governor. He has also served on several local non-profit boards over the past 20 years. 

Scott gave us some great information about how to avoid being a sitting duck to cybercriminals! You can see his entire presentation at https://www.synergyinc.net/rotary-cybersecurity-resources/