Last week we heard from Lisa Weaver, owner of Dickie’s Barbecue Pit in Rancho Mirage. Since the start of the pandemic, Lisa has been donating food from her restaurant and collecting food items for people in need in the East Valley. Her restaurant has served over 3,200 meals to first responders and she has held four food drives to date. She is planning another drive for Christmas and has added toys to her list of needed items. See has selected the occupants of several trailer parks in the Thermal/Mecca area and is seeking enough food and toys for 60 farm worker families. Palms To Pines will be joining this effort and we’ll have complete information at our December 2 meeting. Also last week, we welcomed Sojourner Rick Gross back to our meeting. Rick joined us from Denmark! It was great to see Rick and it’s always great to get an “on the scene” update on Coronavirus from our Sojourners. Thanks Rick!
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Palms to Pines Rotary Club
Palm Desert’s Morning Club
Palm Desert's Palms to Pines is a unique and fun Rotary Club. We invite you to visit us and share the experience. We emphasize the fellowship that is a vital part of the Rotary experience and it is the First Objective of Rotary. Our motto is "Service above Self".
Rotary is a volunteer organization of 1.2 million business and professional leaders who have committed to give back to their communities and the world through "Service Above Self".
Palms to Pines Rotary Club is part of one of the oldest and largest service organizations in the world. We invite you to come and join the fun of weekly fellowship, the joy of contributing to our local community and the excitement of lending a hand to people. The projects undertaken over the years have been many and varied. Drawing from a base of experience within the business community Palms to Pines Rotary club has been able to have an influence that reaches around the world.
With us last week was Tony Marchese, co-owner of Trio Restaurant and co-founder of CV Harvest Box. At the beginning of the pandemic, Tony and Mark Tadros, an east valley grower, saw a need to provide Coachella Valley residents with fresh produce delivered directly to their homes. Their plan would also help growers who normally served local restaurants by provided them with a new sales outlet. CV Harvest Box now supplies weekly produce boxes as well as a number of “add ons” to nearly 300 customers. Available add ons change frequently but some of the current products include mushrooms, apples, berries, pasta, cookies, coffee and olive oil. Harvest boxes are delivered on Fridays and customers can choose to order once or to subscribe to weekly, by-weekly or monthly deliveries. Harvest boxes start at just $35. Tony provided Rotarians with a promo code for a $5 discount on a delivery. Simply go to the Harvest Box website, www.cvharvestbox.com and enter promo code “Rotary” when you place your order.
With us last week was Chuck Weisbart, Rotary District 5330 community service chair. Chuck is a former Palms to Pines member who currently belongs to Idyllwild Rotary. Chuck talked to us about the importance of hands-on projects for the health of a Rotary club and says community service provides the greatest opportunity for clubs to get new members and keep existing members. Projects offer members a great way to help improve someone’s life and build camaraderie among Rotarians. Every service project, Chuck says, should be assessed every year to prevent them from becoming “old and musty.”
With us last week was Mike Rosenkrantz, board president of Palms To Pines Parasports. Joining Mike were board members Mike Porter and Jerry Alcorn. Palms To Pines Parasports is a new organization seeking to provide sports and social opportunities to people with disabilities. There are very few activities currently in the Coachella Valley and this group plans to change that. Any sport can be adopted for the disabled and they are currently providing wheel chair basketball and cycling. Many more activities are in the works. According to Mike, there are currently no adaptive sports programs offered in Riverside so his group is also offering programs there. They plan to actively reach out to disabled veterans as well. Our club will be working with Palm Springs Parasports to come up with possible future volunteer and community service opportunities so stay tuned!
Last week, we learned we’re still looking for a location to project our End Polio Now logo on the evening of October 24 – World Polio Day. We also heard about Rotary’s new PolioPlus Society. A pledge of $100 per year to PolioPlus will earn you membership. An application is included with this week’s newsletter email.Laura Ahmed from Cathedral City Rotary joined us last Wednesday to talk about World Polio Day and Rotary’s new PolioPlus Society. Laura is our district’s PolioPlus Chair and she reminded Rotarians that October 24 is World Polio Day – a day to call attention to Rotary’s long-time efforts to eliminate polio. Laura also promoted the Rotary Foundation’s brand new way to recognize PolioPlus donors. Pledge just $100 annually to PolioPlus (which we all should be doing) and you’ll become a member of the new PolioPlus Society. You’ll receive a certificate and label pin to recognize your pledge. Please contact Foundation Chair Kay Van Zandt for additional information. Palms To Pines hopes to once again promote World Polio Day with another End Polio Now projection. Last year we projected the message on the side of the McCallum Theatre and this year we’re working on another site for the projection. Stay tuned!
Jennifer Castell with St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital was with us last week to promote the hospital’s second annual Dream Home Giveaway. Tickets priced at $100 will go on sale in January and they hope to better the $775,000 raised last year. St. Jude’s has raised over $500 million and given away over 600 houses over the past 30 years. Cancer remains the number one cause of death in children but the survival rate has increased fourfold since St. Jude’s opened in 1962.
With us last week was Rebecca Ruffing, program director of Joslyn Center. The Center has been in its current location since 1983 and serves 2,200 members aged 50 and above. Even with the pandemic, the Center still manages to offer some 85 virtual programs per week. The Center continues to provide Meals On Wheels to area residents and also still has its food pantry available. A televised fundraiser for Joslyn Center is scheduled for October 3 and this year’s Health Fair will be a drive-through event on October 14.Jim Brock provided us with his annual desert real estate update last week. Jim shared August sales statistics with members. Jim’s bottom line: Because of low inventory and higher than normal demand, now might be an excellent time to sell and, if you’re thinking of buying, you might wait a bit to see just how much distressed sales increase because of the pandemic. Also last week, it was announced that Kay Van Zandt has completed an update of the club roster. It will be sent to members. Please review and report changes and corrections!
With us last week was PDG Ricardo Loretta. Ricardo told us about a Global Grant project which is actually close to home. West Shores High School at the Salton Sea is Riverside County’s poorest school and the grant will provide funds to improve the school’s computer lab, purchase laptops for students and provide technical support for the equipment. Ricardo is seeking unallocated District Designated Funds for the project. Our club’s board has approved donating our club’s unallocated DDF funds totaling $483 to the project.
Jim Brock provided us with his annual desert real estate update last week. Jim shared August sales statistics with members. Jim’s bottom line: Because of low inventory and higher than normal demand, now might be an excellent time to sell and, if you’re thinking of buying, you might wait a bit to see just how much distressed sales increase because of the pandemic. Also last week, it was announced that Kay Van Zandt has completed an update of the club roster. It will be sent to members. Please review and report changes and corrections!
With us last week was Paula Simonds, new CEO of the Family YMCA of the Desert. Paula shared with us how the YMCA has been forced to modify or eliminate programs as a result of the pandemic. The end result is they are now only able to serve a fraction of the number of children as they served before the pandemic. Fundraising has also been affected. Their Y Be Fit fundraiser is virtual this year. Participants pay $20 and have 20 days to run, walk, cycle or swim 20 miles. Learn more at www.ymcaofthedesert.org.
Last week we talked about Pres. Kelli’s vision for Service Above Self. She reviewed the projects listed above and we also talked about how we’re planning to spend our annual Rotary Foundation District Designated Funds. According to Charles Riggs, our International Service chair, our club has $612 available this year for local projects. Your board has designated this money and our August Happy Dollars to Galilee Center. We had a total of 10 participants last week. Please plan to join us this Wednesday morning at 7:30 a.m.
Last week we heard from Past District Governor Rudy Westerveldt who brought us up to date on his ongoing dedication to peace. Rudy helped host a Rotary International Peace Conference in Ontario during his year as district governor in 2016 and he has gone on to help found the Rotary E-Club of World Peace as an offshoot of the conference. Worldwide, Rotarians help create and maintain peace through a variety of programs including service projects, grants, friendship exchange, vocational training teams, international conventions, Rotary Fellowships, Rotary Action Groups and Rotary Peace Fellows. While the concept of world peace can seem a bit abstract to many Rotarians, clubs within our district are working on peace projects at a local level including suicide prevention, human trafficking, bullying and spousal abuse. Rudy also told us that District 5330 has a Peace Fellow candidate this year. If selected, the candidate could receive a grant of approximately $75,000 from Rotary International for advanced peace studies. Rudy invites us to visit the Rotary E-Club of World Peace on Tuesday evenings at www.rotaryeclubofworldpeace.org.
Last week we took a virtual tour of the Humane Society of the Desert. Pres. Kelli visited the nine acre site Wednesday morning and member Kim Hardee, the Humane Society of the Desert president, led us on a tour. This no kill shelter is home to over 80 dogs and more than 40 cats. Adoptions during the pandemic have been brisk. Most of the animals are strays or have been picked up from other shelters. This was a great tour….thank you Kim and Pres. Kelli!
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