Eric Ryan opened the zoom meeting at 7AM. Janet Napier came early to introduce our speaker, Johrita Solari.
Johrita lives in Orange County, but she told us she previously lived in Isla Vista, while her husband was attending UCSB. Deb Linden, our District Governor, joined the meeting and told us she was also a UCSB alum., and now lives in Orcutt. Karen Kawaguchi shared with us that she grew up in Orcutt, attended Righetti High, and participated in a District Interact Team, in District 524 (which is what District 5240 was called at that time).
Johrita further told us that she grew up in the Salinas Valley area where her father was Warden at the Soledad Prison and it was mandatory that he and his family live at the prison. They lived in a Quonset hut and inmates at the prison were their gardeners, caring for their lawn.
Joanne told us that many years ago there was a “Manners for Females” class that was mandatory. Jim Ruh told us that he remembers years ago that young women at his Denver law firm took classes on how to dress properly for court appearances. Janet told us that, when she worked at the YMCA of Metropolitan Los Angeles years ago, she was required to wear skirts, not pants for work. Joanne told us there was a skirts rule also; however, since she worked in a penal institution she was able to wear slacks. Johrita told us that at one time, years ago, her husband had to attend a table-setting and scarf folding class. Karen told us that she used to teach scarf folding to women who had undergone cancer treatment, giving them confidence.
Joanne shared with us a funny story about folding a Sari, which involved Stuart pulling on her folds, and then Joanne getting help with her sari from another woman. Karen mentioned a Kimono undergarment that has complicated folding, that could come unwound. Someone commented on how wonderful yoga pants were!
Eric mentioned that it was exciting to be able to see Rotarians from around the world in the virtual environment. District Governors no longer had to drive so far to visit all the clubs in their districts. Johrita mentioned that the Regional Board meetings will most likely not go back and will continue to be virtual.
Scott Burns asked Deb Linden to give a brief explanation of Clubs, Districts and Zones for our soon to be newest member, Angelique. Deb explained that all the “magic” happens at the individual Club level. Our Sunrise Rotary Club is one of 71 Clubs in District 5240. Our District is in Zone 26. Luz Maria is a past District Governor (2009-10) and she recalled visiting all of the Clubs in our District. She enjoyed seeing how each Club was able to impact lives worldwide.
It was noted that Eric Ryan, our current club president, has been president for an entire virtual year – a first! Hannah, our President Elect, will be our youngest Club President. Hanna said she was 32 years old. Bill Abel said he is also 32! He said it is the 32nd anniversary of his 39th year.
Call to Order: President Eric called the meeting to order at 7:29 a.m. The flag salute was led by Christine Holland; Hannah Rael gave the invocation and Jody Dolan Holehouse provided the raffle prize which was won by Scott Burns.
Announcements: Eric reported that Group 8 will be doing a Cold Springs Trail cleanup this Saturday, May 8 at 9:00 a.m. at the trailhead. It is limited to 10 people; let Kim Fly know if you want to participate. The District Foundation Recognition will be held virtually this Friday, May 7 from 6:00 – 7:00 p.m. The District Awards will take place on June 25th and Directors are requested to send in their awards criteria.
Induction: Hannah Rael, President Elect and Membership Director, inducted Angelique Davis who has been involved in various community organizations, such as Old Spanish Days board of directors and the Courthouse docents. She works for Invoka, a techie company but she has been working from home because of the pandemic. Her background is in marketing and public relations. Her husband was El Presidente at Fiesta last year.
2021/22 Board of Directors: Hannah introduced her board of directors, as follows: Secretary/P.E. Judith McCaffrey, Treasurer Dennis Johns, Club Service Scott Burns, International Service Janet Napier, Community Service Ellen Chase and Tina Ballue, Vocational Service Joanne Orenstein, Public Relations Karen Kawaguchi, Fundraising Jim Ruh, Youth Service Kathleen Rogers, Membership Sandra O’Meara, Events Diana Washburn, Speakers by committee.
Membership Survey: Hannah has so far received 24 responses to the membership survey. Oscar won the prize. Results will be tallied and reported in due course.
Committee Reports
Club Service: In Judith’s absence, it was reported that the Lovers Loop hike scheduled for May 22 has to be rescheduled. The first happy hour social event in person will take place on May 20th at 5:30 p.m. at The Mill, Haley and Laguna streets; there’s an outdoor courtyard; order from the winery or brewery. Parking there is challenging.
Community Service: Sandra reported that a $3,000 donation will soon be made to Showers of Blessing to purchase women’s socks and underwear for homeless.
Public Image: Karen reported that we have three stories in the District newsletter on the website.
Vocational: Scott reported that we are finished with the Spark events for this Rotary year. There is a request out to the head of the physics department at U.C. Berkeley.
Foundation: Frank reported that we are almost finished with pledges. We are short 9 club members for 100% donations to The Rotary Foundation’s Annual Fund, six of whom are long-term members and three are new members.
International Service: Janet reported for Oscar that we are planning to purchase an auto refractor for the Nueva Vida Clinic in Nicaragua to replace their old one that has broken down. We have transferred our club’s contribution to the Aquaponics Global Grant into the special bank account and are requesting the other contributing clubs to forward their donations to TRF.
Johrita Solari
Program: Janet Napier introduced our speaker, Johrita Solari from the Rotary Club of Anaheim and Vice President of Rotary International. The format of the meeting, question and answers, was explained.
Johrita said the RI Board of Directors has been addressing how to reinvent the business of Rotary. They have met more times virtually than before the pandemic when they met in person. They are now more nimble and can move faster. They have embraced change. What doesn’t work virtually is friendships and relationships.
When asked how the reduction in travel and the cancelation of two Rotary conventions has impacted the finances of RI, Johrita said the RI board shifted $7.5 million to The Rotary Foundation. The board is looking at how it can cut costs to bring down expenses, for example in the area of travel for different levels of leadership.
When asked if the RI Board really does the work or if the General Secretary and staff of RI do the work and it is rubber stamped by the board, Johrita said the staff are brilliant. They make recommendations and sometimes the board accepts them and sometimes not. It is a team effort.
Rotary begins and ends in the clubs. Clubs are seeing the benefit of a virtual component; they can have a more robust group of speakers. The dues structure has changed by being virtual.
When asked about Diversity, Equity and Inclusion, we were told there is a course on DEI at the Rotary Learning Center. The DEI committee at RI is working with an outside consulting firm. DEI means different things in different countries. Valerie Wafer heads up the committee. She is next year’s Vice President.
Although Rotary has recently adopted the Environment as a 7th Area of Focus, it is not new; environmental issues have been included in Global Grant requests for a long time. There are even cause-based clubs on the environment.
The infrastructure in place to address polio has been used to address COVID-19. There have been only two cases of the wild poliovirus this calendar year: one in Afghanistan and one in Pakistan. The new Nova vaccine has been designed to fight the polio-vaccine derived virus.
Regarding women in Rotary leadership, having a woman President of RI in 2022/23 has been well received. Next year’s RI board will include 8 women and 9 men.
Regarding the partnership with Toastmasters, Johrita said it is working well for those clubs that are taking advantage of it. Some are doubling up on meetings: half Rotary/half Toastmasters. But a lot of clubs are not reaching out.
Regarding Rotaract, Johrita said that their members will start paying dues in 2022.
Adjournment: Eric thanked Johrita, told her a nameplate will go into 30 dictionaries for 3rd graders, and adjourned the meeting at 8:30 a.m.
