Today's Meeting
May 1, 2025 - Bakersfield Symphony Orchestra Focuses on Music Education
Stories
|
|
Today's SpeakerToday's speaker is water evangelist Greg Chick. Greg is a Rotarian from The Ramona Rotary Club. He works alongside the Global Water Works, a 501c3, to help bring safe drinking water to areas where they still carry water back to their village. Many villages need to carry water three to four kilometers back to their village. Greg designs the system then teaches them how to build the infrastructure to passively harvest water from gutter systems and store in storage tanks. These are simple to install structures, and the supplies can be found at any hardware store. We learned how the seemingly simple structures to install can be life changing to these rural communities. They are taught maintenance of their water system and purification. These tanks, which can store 1000, 2000 or 3000 gallons are installed alongside a structure. Rainwater is collected from gutter systems from the roof and filtered before entering the tanks. The W.H.O says the average person should have 3.1 gallon per person per day for drinking and cooking needs. You can learn more about this work by visiting www.globalwaterworks.org  |
Today's Speaker - Chris Scottie Our speaker this week is Chris Scottie. Chris owns Discover Tehachapi Tours and is an avid beekeeper. Chris is also the president of the Tehachapi Tourism Commission. Today Chris spoke with us about the art of beekeeping.Chris brought with him the tools of the trade. While many beekeepers will dress in full coveralls, Chris prefers a beekeepers jacked. He put it on and showed us how the jacket is designed to keep him safe from bee stings. Which is a good thing since Chris is apparently allergic to bees, Yikes! We learned that bees are feral and cannot be trained. It’s the beekeeper’s job to keep the bees happy so they don’t want to leave. The European honeybee is the only bee to produce honey on scale. They are not native to North America and can have as many as 120K bees in a colony. They are great pollinators. Honeybees store honey to eat during the winter, they do not hibernate. We also learned a lot about the queen bee. A queen can lay from 1000 to 1500 eggs a day. They cannot defend themselves or feed themselves. They are dependent on their hive to take care of them. Bees are defensive, not offensive. Unlike African Bees they will not attack unprovoked. Honeybees will die after they sting so they are motivated not to attack. If they come to you, just remain calm, they are just looking and will move on. Chris offers his pure unprocessed honey seasonally at Simply Perfect Gifts in Tehachapi. |
Anya Norton - New Member Induction New Member Induction: A new member was inducted into the club this morning. Anya Norton was sponsored into the club by Jerry Munson. Anya and husband Bill moved to Bear Valley Springs in 2019 and boy has she been a busy bee. To get to know her new neighbors she started a Potluck group. It has grown to 50 people and in order to continue growing she may be starting a second group. She is also a member or on the board of the BVS Cultural Arts Association, the BVS Wildlife Coalition, and The Astronomy Club and is a hot air balloonist. President Jennifer Palakiko provided Anya with her new member kit and welcomed her officially into the club. |
Rotary Helps Kids SOAR |
Expanded Literacy Project CompletedRotary continues efforts to stimulate an early interest in reading and this year expanded it's efforts.  |
RYLA Attendees Report
This year's Rotary Youth Leadership Awards (RYLA) attendees shared their four day camp experience at a recent Rotary meeting. They all expressed heartfelt thanks for the opportunity to learn and grow at RYLA in April. A majority of our club's annual charitable giving is directed to youth activities and this year we invested $2,500 to send deserving students to the camp. Leadership training has a wonderful payoff in developing talent to lead our local Interact Clubs at THS and Valley Oaks HS and it promotes good citizenship and community service in the youngsters. Pictured here, left to right, are Max Morelos, Daisy Andrade, Brandon Birka, Steven Whelan and Club President Chris Naftel.  |
Rotarian Talks to Rotarians
Our regular weekly meeting on May 9th turned out to be something special. Zack Scrivner, Kern County Supervisor and Tehachapi Rotarian, gave a wonder talk on "The State of the County". Zack once again demonstrated his grasp of the key issues facing our East Kern area and how plans are unfolding to meet community needs. Like Rotary, Zack is a supporter of programs service veterans, animal shelters and economic development. He's been instrumental in fixing County financial challenges and in leading Kern County to being one of the most financially sound counties in California. Zack is shown below with Tim Trujillo who was filling in for Chris Naftel who was out of town.  |
Tijuana Orphanage Visit Planned
Kara Robbins, orphanage Director came all the way from Mexico to make a presentation at a February Rotary Meeting. It was great for club members to meet her and hear an update on the Kid's Home that we support. The name of the home has changed to Casa de Sanacion, which translated means Healing Home. We're planning a visit to the home soon and welcome Rotarians to make the trip with us. So let Chris, Tim or Judy know if you'd like to come along. We'll probably drive down that on a Tuesday morning and return the following day. We'll take donated goods and make a shopping trip in Tijuana to help resupply the kids cafeteria. Here's a photo of Chris giving Kara a TRF donation in her honor during her visit.  |
Wine Pairing Fun
It was a night filled with good friends, fine wines, and food to be long remembered. The Rotary Club's annual Wine Pairing Dinner and Fundraiser was again a sellout, with nearly 120 guests attending Saturday at The Shed restaurant. Dinner ticket sales, along with a wine pull and silent auction of more than 40 enticing items, led to a successful fundraising evening. Chef Mano Lujan and his staff prepared a full four-course dinner, carefully pairing each dish with an individual wine from the Boisset Collection of fine wines grown in Napa Valley. Wow, was it yummy and tasty! All this fun led to good funds. Over $8,000 was raised to provide Community Service projects for our area. The many beneficiaries of the projects include Senior Citizens, Youth in our town, and Tree Planting at Brite Lake. |
Tijuana Children's Home Visit Rotarians from our club and the China Lake club visited Casa de Sanacion, (formerly Ninos de la Promesa). We met the new director and staff and learned about the repair and rebuilding of the home for abandoned kids. Casa de Sanacion translates to Healing Home. If you're interested in coming along on a future trip to visit the childern's home contact Chris Naftel or Tim Trujillo for trip details. We're looking forward to now working with Kara Robbins who'll be moving the home forward.  |
Bike Raffle Pays Off
This year's Gran Fondo Bike raffle (opportunity drawing) was a hit. Pictured here is the happy winner, Chris, husband of ticket buyer Laura Haight. Not pictured here is the $800 + that Rotary raised to support our Community Service Projects. Congratulations to Chris and Laura Haight.  |
Rotary Supports Coats for Kids!.jpg) With winter weather upon us we think about our local kids and how they'll handle 'ol man winter. Pictured here is Rotary club president Chris Naftel presenting a $500 check to the Salvation Army's Sandy Chavez. She heads up the annual Coats for Kids drive to ensure the neediest kids in town have a warm new coat to wear when the weather turns. Last year Sandy's talent in procurement was able to obtain 50 new winter coats with our donation. Thanks Sandy!
|
Rotary's Citizen of the Year Award |
Rotary Wine Pairing a Big Hit
Amid an adventurous crowd of diners, the annual Rotary Wine Pairing Fundraising Dinner was held Saturday night at the The Shed in Tehachapi. The wine was from the vineyard of Minassian-Young in Paso Robles. The food portion of the four-course culinary adventure and pairing was the creation of Tehachapi Chef Mano Lujan, who created appetizers of brochette on naan bread, Brussels sprouts and pork, with octopus and celery. There was a soup of Japanese Oxtail and bokhoy, and a salad of of jelly fish with cucumbers and coriander. The above was paired with both a 2015 Tannat wine and a dry farmed Zinfandel known as 2016 Tarantula. For the main course a 2016 Zinfandel was paired with wild boar and elk, along with garlic mashed potatoes. Side dishes included eight grain rice with duck and a vegetable side dish of chard with golden raisins and pine nuts. Dessert was vanilla ice cream served with a light topping of balsamic vinegar, along with jalapenos and applewood smoked bacon. Silent auction items were plentiful and the bidding active. All proceeds go to fund the various activities that the Rotary Club of Tehachapi supports in the community. |
Rotary Wins Rose Parade Award
For the second consecutive year the Rotary entry in the Pasadena Rose Parade was awarded the "Princess Trophy" for the best float under 35 feet in length. Pictured here is the winner "Planting the Seeds of Service" as seen on New Year's Morning. Congratulations to the Rotary Districts in southern California who sponsored this wonderful float!  |
International Project Results in New Dinning Decor.jpg)
Photo of kids at Ninos de la Promesa children's home in Mexico enjoying a meal at one of the new tables with new chairs provided by Rotary. The project was a joint effort of local area clubs, including Tehachapi, China Lake, Bakersfield Breakfast and Indian Wells Valley. .PNG) |
People of Action
Want a brief video overview of what Rotary is all about? Paint the following URL then click on it to check us out: h |
Charlie's Long Ride to End Polio
To Tehachapi Rotarians, I want to thank you for your generous support of my Ride to End Polio and the support of your club. I finished successfully but along the way I made a wrong turn and rode 117 miles instead of 106 so you got some bonus miles out of me. Over a hundred Rotarians rode in the Ride to End Polio on November 18th in Tucson and raised over 6 million US dollars for Polio eradication. You and the members of the Tehachapi Rotary Club were part of making that history through your generosity. Your support is helping to end Polio worldwide forever. We are so close now that any day could be the last day that any child will suffer again from Polio. Thank you again.  |
District Governor for 2020-1021 Announcement
On a recent Saturday, interviews were held for the position of District Governor for 2020-2021. In accord with our District and Rotary Bylaws, we are pleased to formally announce that the Nominating Committee selected Deborah Linden from the Rotary Club of San Luis Obispo. Deborah has a rich resume for both Rotary and her Vocation in Public Safety as follows (click on Read More below). |
Welcome to the Rotary Club of Tehachapi
· Annual Ladies Tea – This spring event provides scrumptious desserts and tea for those ladies wishing to dress up and socialize at Wood's Pavilion. · Youth Service – We sponsor and support the Interact Clubs of Tehachapi High School and of Valley Oaks High School. These groups are designed to provide our youth with leadership, good citizen training, and completing community projects throughout the school year. Rotary provides opportunities for high school Interact students to attend Rotary Youth Leadership Awards (RYLA) camp each year. The four day immersion in leadership training and citizenship building takes place in Ojai each April. A few weeks before, KernYES is held at the Taft Fort. KernYES is a one-day leadership experience. · Literacy Project – The club provides a special personalized story book to kindergarten kids at all Tehachapi Unified Elementary Schools. The book gives the children a fun start with reading and helps them develop an interest in education. · Breakfast with Santa – In conjunction with other local service clubs, we host the annual Breakfast with Santa for the children in our community. We serve beverages, pancakes, and sausage. We also create an opportunity for a free picture with Santa. · International Projects – Each year the club selects a project to assist people in a foreign country. Our most recent project has been the support of Global Water Works, a rainwater harvesting system that is providing clean water to thousands of people in Africa. Our Rotarians have also traveled to Tijuana, Mexico, to help at an orphanage. We've raised funds in association with the Thousand Oaks Rotary Club to provide a Van for the Orphanage. We are also participating in a Global Grant for polio eradication. In 2021, we organized a community benefit concert that raised $12,000 for Ukraine refugees. · Community Support – Throughout each year the Tehachapi Rotary Club takes the initiative to assist locally wherever possible. We have supported victims of devastating wildfires. We support the Salvation Army’s ‘Coats for Kids’, aided their back-to-school clothing and shoe drives, and we participate in their Christmas bell-ringing. We started the 12 Days of Christmas food drive that has supported hundreds of local residents in need. Vocational support - One day each month, Rotarians skilled in sewing teach a 3-hour class to those interested. While serving our fellow citizens, the Tehachapi Rotary Club embraces the concept of fellowship and good fun. Our activities include regular social events where we come together to celebrate our friendships and our successes. Our club is made up of business, professional and community leaders. |
Ninos de la Promesa
The Rotary Club of Tehachapi has helped support a home for needy children in Tijuana, Mexico, for the last several years as our International Service Project. During our visits south of the border we've been joined by Rotarians from the China Lake Rotary Club and the Bakersfield Breakfast Rotary Club. Together, we provide essential needs for the home, Ninos de la Promesa. Among our contributions to the home were a new washer and dryer (they do nearly 100 loads of laundry daily), new go-to-school backpacks for all the kids and regular cartloads of groceries and kitchen supplies. It’s rewarding to be there and to see the immediate results of our service. The kids and home managers are always so pleased and thankful for our visits. Most of the kids have come from the red light district of Tijuana, where they have been seriously neglected and sometimes abandoned to fend for themselves. Ninos de la Promesa provides a clean, safe environment for them and ensures they attend school and church activities. Giving to these kids not only improves their lives but improves the lives of us who help them out. For more information about this project or about Rotary, please contact Tim Trujillo, at tim-trujillo@earthlink.net |
Wine Pairing a HUGE Success! |
Paul Harris Fellow Award |
Rotary Club of Tehachapi 
