District Governor Ricardo Loretta made his official visit to our club last week. DG Ricardo was joined by his wife Jennifer and he told us his Rotary story. He was a member in the 80s but never really became a Rotarian until he moved to the desert and joined the Palm Desert club and began volunteering for projects at Galilee Center in Mecca. While you don’t need to be in Rotary to volunteer, according to Ricardo, Rotary provides the volunteer opportunities. This Rotary year, Ricardo wants clubs to focus on improvement and growth. More than half of the 62 clubs in our Rotary district lost members last year and Ricardo wants to turn that around this year. Ricardo also told us that our own Charley Riggs is one of his Assistant Governors this year and he told us about a planned Holiday Fiesta in Palm Desert’s Civic Center Park on December 8 and a planned multi-district project in Mexicali in January. His Rotary Foundation Gala is planned for November 3. District Governor Ricardo recognized members Jim Brock and Margaret Claggett for their service to P2P and he presented Pres. Richard Karp with a replica of the Rotary Foundation's 100th anniversary bell provided by a 1,000 year old Italian company.

Nearly a dozen Palms To Pines Rotarians enjoyed our second Summer Social Breakfast at Cup’s Café last Wednesday. With no formal speaker, club members simply socialized and enjoyed breakfast. We did talk a bit about how to use some of our district-designated Rotary Foundation monies and the board will come to a final decision on how those funds are spent in the coming weeks. We’re scheduled to be back at Cup’s Café for breakfast on Wednesday morning, August 15 so make plans to join us! This restaurant has a great menu and we’re helping a young couple pursue their American dream! Also, stay tuned for another Road Trip in September. We’ll provide complete details once we have them!

We enjoyed our first Road Trip of the summer last Wednesday when we visited new member Kerim Gokce’s Kuzu Rug. Kerim grew up in Istanbul and he says rug merchants had poor reputations and he wanted nothing to do with the business. He immigrated to this country and has now been in the rug business for over 20 years! There have been big changes to his industry in recent years. Consumers are no longer willing to pay high prices for high quality rugs and large companies in India and China now produce good rugs at a fraction of the price. Kerim is currently conducting a moving sale and plans to move his shop to a location next to Bristol Farms. The new shop will feature mostly samples instead of finished rugs and rugs will be made to order. Thanks, Kerim, for hosting us and giving us great insights into your business!

We held our first Summer Social Breakfast last week and our small group enjoyed great Rotary Fellowship. We collected Happy Dollars and Pres. Richard announced that the funds collected will continue to be dedicated to our planned children’s book program. Margaret Claggett reminded Rotarians that we are collecting backpacks and school supplies to donate to Coachella Valley Rescue Mission. The next time you’re out shopping, buy some supplies for children who could use our help! Since the majority of attendees were P2P Board members, we went ahead and held our monthly meeting. We decided to hold a new member orientation meeting on June 27 and we are seeking fundraiser ideas. Margaret made it three raffle wins in a row and took home $5.

Although we failed in our attempts to see Jerry Kress naked last week, we did manage to induct the world’s two newest Rotarians. District Membership Chair Chuck Weisbart came down the hill from Idyllwild and we welcomed Chris Shippee and Kerim Gokce into Palms To Pines Rotary. Chris is a sales director, coach and mentor with Mary Kay Cosmetics and was sponsored by Margaret Claggett. Kerim is the owner of Kuzu Rug at Country Club and Monterey and Kay Van Zandt was his sponsor. We welcome you both and look forward to working with you! Also last week, we learned that Kim Hardee was selected as CV Weekly’s Most Interesting Woman of 2018 and the honor included a $700 donation to her charity Coachella Animal Network. Margaret Claggett was our lucky Rotary Raffle winner and took home $20.

Kim Hardee was our speaker last week and told us about the founding of her Coachella Animal Network (CAN). Low income people in the East Valley were (and continue to be) cited for failing to obtain licenses, vaccinations, and spay and neutering of their dogs and receive huge fines as a result. CAN offers low cost services to those individuals and, since 2013, over 4,500 animals have been spayed/neutered in her monthly clinics. Each clinic costs approximately $4,500 to operate and Kim relies on donations to make it work. Kim’s efforts have led to her nomination as one of CV Weekly’s 10 Most Interesting & Influential Women in 2018. The women nominated will be honored at a Thursday evening event at the Hotel Zoso in Palm Springs. Attendees will have the chance to vote for their favorite nominee and that individual’s charity will receive a cash donation. Make plans to attend and support Kim! Charley Riggs was our lucky Rotary Raffle winner last week and collected $20.