Club Meeting: March 12, 2025
Editor: Diana Monge
Meeting called to order by President Cathy Calabro
Flag Salute and Invocation by Joe Dobbs
Introduction of Visiting Guest: Carlos Palencia retired inagurated consultant who is interested in becoming a member; guest of Jim Lisi. Linda Matthews a Santa Barbara sister-city rotary member sharing information about a foreign exchange program; a guest of Cathy Calabro. Robin Palmquist, wife of our newly invocated member Phil Palmquist.
INTRODUCING OUR NEW MEMBER
- PHIL PALMQUIST -
Phil Palmquist is a CPAgraduate of Westmont college, where he met his wife Robin Palmquist. He recieved his MBA from Cal State LA and began his career by becoming the second partner of the then sole office of Hocking Accountancy prompting for his position as co-founder of Hocking Denton Palmquist (HPA) Accountantcy. Palmquist was a member of the Rotary Club, Montecito for over 25 years and served as their treasuer consecutively for 5 years. He has also served as a board member for the Westmont College alumni board, Westmont College Parents council, Santa Barbara Rescue Mission, the Children's Museum, and Villa Majella. Phil was able to share his excitment in becoming an active Rotary member as his step down in Montecito was due to his cancer diagnosis, which he described to be the toughest part of his life. Fortunately Phil is now a cancer survival who is feeling well and is excited for this new journey.
FAMILY SERVICE AGENCY
Santa Barbara County
Two represenatives of the Family Service Agency, who were Lisa Gosdschan's guest, shared the programs and services that the agency offers. De Rosenberry is one of the Senior Services Program directors who presented the objective of the agency is to help seniors and their caregivers through various services and resources. In order for a caregiver to qualify they must be a non-paid caregiver. All seniors 60 and older qualify. Emmanuel Verduzco is a project coordinator within the Family Service Agency of Santa Barbara and presented the PEARLS project which has the initative to promote and encourage active rewarding lives. They are able to promote this life style by introducing various life skills through workshops and other community oriented events. PEARLS addresses loneliness, isolation, and depression with continous evaluation as it coaches problem solving skills through community linkage intiatives such as the formation of socials and recommending community resources. The Family Service Agency of Santa Barbara is able to connect to seniors and their caregivers with vital services, to learn more about the services they offer visit their website:
https://fsacares.org/
CRAFT TALK:
MARTI CORREA DE GARCIA
Marti Correa De Garcia started as a book keeper and was in charge of the pay roll at a trucking company which led her to be apart of teamsters union where she held a teamster title for ten years and up to this point she collects $132 monthly from that union retirement. Marti came to Santa Barbara with the idea that she would be married soon after 1978 but her and her husband Gil Garcia were busy constructing his architecture company, that they never had the opportunity to plan a wedding. Gil and Marti concemenated their marriage in 1983 with the encouragment of their priest as he established a date for their wedding without their knowledge. Along with the establishment of her husband's firm, she was also able to become an entrepenuer of some sorts as she was introduced to the idea of investing in a tire shaving machine where she was able to establish a contract in Orange County and Los Angeles County. Eventually, she sold her company off and got involved in the Federal Communication Commision, FCC, who had a license to build a new station within Santa Barbara. Marti along with two of her colleagues applied for a permit and after 13 years they were able to get it approved and they were able to establish the station KPMR which stands for Patricia Marti and Ruth. Patricia and Ruth are the two colleagues that helped her establish the station. Marti describes how they were unable to put the station up until they had the tower on broadcast peak, when they recieved a permit that approved its construction her husban Gil was able to build them the tower. They held the station for 15 years and then sold it to Univision which is still broadcasting on channel 15. Marti thanks her husband for all his support over the years.
Santa Barbara/ Toba Japan Sister Cities Student Exchange Program
Seeking applicants ages 13, 14, or 15 for a summer student exchange program between Santa Barbara and Toba Japan. This program has been in existence for 30 years. If you are interested or know of a person within that age group that might be interested, please let me know. Here are some additional details:
4 students from Santa Barbara and 4 students from Toba, Japan exchange residences for about 18 days in the summer - late July, early August (depending on travel arrangements, 9 days in each city, starting in Santa Barbara) As a participant, a family would host a studnt from Japan, and thn the child from Santa Barbara would stay with that family during the Japan leg.
Activities are planned for students in both cities where students experience the culture, sights, and histories of both cities while staying with a host family.
Please reach out to Sally Hamilton for more information:
SB/Toba Sister City Exchange chair
e-mail: sallyshamilton@gmail.com
phone: (805)-453-1558
OPPORTUNITY DRAWING
Carlos Palencia won the Berry Man Gift Certificate. Joe Dobbs pulled the red marble and recieved a monentary donation for his luck.
ANNOUNCEMENTS
Next Rotary meeting 3/26/2025 meeting will be held at Mulligan’s Café at the Santa Barbara Golf Course and our Guest Speaker will be Dave Huber.
Thank you to everyone who attended our St. Patrick's Day social/ Polio Plus Fundraiser at the GALA. It was an amazing event where a portion of the drink and food sales went towards the polio plus foundation. Additionally, we hosted an opportunity drawing allowing for various individuals to claim prizes. We also had an interactive ice breaker BINGO that enabled for group conversation. The first two people to fill the whole card were able to claim a prize. Overall a successful night, a special thank you to the GALA for hosting our event.
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