Stories

Scott Wolf, community relations manager of the Coachella Valley Rescue Mission, was our speaker last week. The mission started as a faith-based soup kitchen in 1971 and has grown into an organization occupying a 43,000 sq. ft. facility in Indio. It serves over 200,000 meals a year and has space to house 225 people on a full time and temporary basis. Scott shared information about mission programs and invited all of us to tour the facility and volunteer. The mission operates on a $5 million budget and is nearly 100 percent privately funded. Also last week, we welcomed former P2P member and president Chuck Weisbart and learned he’s the Idyllwild Rotary president-elect. PETs – say this secret word at check in this week and receive three free raffle tickets! Butch Hartman was our lucky raffle winner last week and took home $2. Butch also provided more Girl Scout cookies and the lucky winners were Anita Ratchinksky, Jerry Kress, Art Fleming and Martin Kubelik.

Last week we were entertained by Carl Christman, a COD instructor who also performs at the Magic Castle in Hollywood. Carl involved club members in his Mysteries of the Mind routine and demonstrated how he can influence minds with the power of either negative or positive suggestion. Also last week, we welcomed back Sojourner Roland Catenacci from Illinois and we kicked off our YMCA swimsuit campaign. Dana Tarnow left the meeting with $475 in contributions for suits so we’re off to a great start. The suits are for third grade students participating in YMCA swim lessons. P2P will again be sponsoring area middle school students to attend PRYDE, Rotary’s youth leadership program. We’ll be sending four students this year. Sojourner Harry Helliesen pulled an Ace and took home $147 in the Rotary Raffle. We had more Girl Scouts cookies donated and Roland Catenacci, Lillian Roberts and Jim Eggers all took home boxes.

With us last week was Karen Creasey, YMCA Aquatic Manager for the Palm Desert Aquatic Center. Karen provided an update on the pool and told us about a new program to teach third graders to swim. The program consists of eight sessions and there is a need for swimsuits for many of the swimmers. Dana Tarnow will head up the effort of our club. We’ll provide suits sized 10-12 and they can’t be cotton because of the pool filtration system. You can either purchase suits yourself or provide money to Dana and she’ll do the buying. A visiting Rotarian from Normal, Illinois commented that his club purchases jackets for students but here in our beautiful desert, we purchase swimsuits! Karen also told us the Aquatic Center attracts over 110,000 visitors a year and they’re adding cabanas to the complex this year. Jerry Kress was a lucky $6 winner in our Rotary Raffle and Lillian Roberts and Sojourner Mike Wedekind won boxes of Girl Scout cookies donated by Butch Hartman.

With us last week was Rotary District 5330 Governor-Elect Rudy Westervelt and his wife Karen. Rudy led the club in an interactive workshop on leadership. Both Westervelts are past club presidents and Rudy went on to do training workshops at the district level and at PETS. One of his goals during his term as District Governor is to attract more women to Rotary and he hopes female membership reaches 50 percent. He’ll be directing a Rotary Peace Conference next year in Ontario and that event is expected to attract Rotarians from throughout the world. Also last week, Ricardo Loretta visited and announced that our valley wide Rotary scholarship fund has now reached $16,000. P2P is a donor and the scholarship will go to a student at CSUSB-Palm Desert. Jim Brock was absent last week so Butch Hartman handled the raffle and Margaret Claggett was a lucky winner of $20. Congratulations to Margaret! Buy tickets this week!

Last week we heard from Past Rotary District 5320 Governor Jim De Boom, who currently serves as interim executive director of the College of the Desert Alumni Association. The 31-year-old association provides grants, gifts and scholarships to COD students. Income for the association comes from the highly visible street fair. The fair features 300 booths and is open weekends at COD. Statewide, 12 community colleges hold similar events and COD’s fair serves as a model for those events. Nearly $10.5 million in income has come from the street fair since its inception and vendors pay $1.2 million a year in business license fees to the City of Palm Desert. Also last week, Kim Hardee announced she is coordinating another low cost animal clinic January 30 and 31 at ABC Recovery Center in Indio. She’ll have more information this week. Martin Kubelik had a chance at $93 in the Rotary Raffle but had to settle for $5. Buy tickets this week!

 With us last week was Abbie Joseph-Harrington of Eyes On Greatness. Abbie consults with a variety of small businesses, corporate sales teams and people looking to start businesses about sales techniques. She has more than 30 years of award winning sales and business experience and she gave us a very interesting talk on the importance of storytelling in successful sales. Although many of us are not in sales, we all have the need to sell Rotary so Abbie’s presentation was very relevant. Also last week, Jerry Kress promoted Born Yesterday, a play at Sun City which will be performed Jan. 23-25 and Kay Van Zandt told us that the Palm Canyon Theatre would be doing A Chorus Line with ASL interpretation on February 1. We can attend and sit in the ASL section for just $10! Palms To Pines has helped fund the interpretation of plays for a number of years. Finally last week, Sojourner Kathy Martin had the lucky ticket in the Rotary Raffle and took home $3.

Last week we heard from three of our four representatives to December’s District 5330 RYLA. The three – Fisayo, Sierra and Emerson – are Xavier High School juniors. As always, we left the meeting with renewed faith in the next generation because these students were sensational! All three were extremely articulate and all will grow to be outstanding leaders. Because of the popularity of RYLA (our camp is the largest in the country), it now been divided into two sessions. We’ll be sending three more student leaders to April’s camp. Also last week, we welcomed member Martin Kubelik back with us for his annual winter stay and he continues to maintain perfect attendance! Lillian Roberts announced that Country Club Animal Clinic will be holding an open house from 4-6 p.m. on January 22 to support Loving All Animals. She’s planning food, drink and they’ll also have dogs available for adoption! Kim Hardee started the new year off right by collecting $9 in the great Rotary Raffle.

Last week was our annual Holiday Fellowship Breakfast. We enjoyed a great buffet and Jim Brock filled in for an MIA Pres. Charley Riggs. During the abbreviated meeting, Kim Hardee reported on the ABC Recovery Center Holiday Party. P2P Rotarians contributed funds to help buy presents for some of the center’s clients. Several Rotarians read thank you letters from some of the clients and it was obvious to everyone at the meeting that this was one of the most meaningful projects Palms To Pines has taken on. Here’s just one example, “…..I can’t express to you how appreciative I am. It has been years since I was able to give and wrap presents for my son. It is truly a memorable experience for me and what I believe to be a landmark in my recovery. I forgot how special family is. How special these times and holidays are. How special the memories are and just the little things in life are. Most importantly because of your help, I have a start at having a relationship with my son again. Thank you.” –S.L.

Our annual Holiday Party took place last Wednesday evening at Desert Falls Country Club. We had great prime rib and chicken and spent an enjoyable evening of Rotary Fellowship. Chair Dana Tarnow lined up a DJ for entertainment and the DJ even managed to get Rotarians up and dancing. Quite an achievement! We ended the evening with a Holiday Raffle and Jim Brock was the lucky winner of a round of golf for four at Desert Falls and Kay Van Zandt’s ticket earned her a $100 bill in the first ever John Marman Raffle sponsored by Sojourner Jim Eggers and wife Marge. We’ve added a number of photos of the party to a photo album on our club’s website at www.p2protary.org. Check it out! We thank Dana Tarnow for her hard work in putting this event together.

Kathy Condon, a speaker, trainer and author, spoke to us last week about building relationships. In today’s connected world, according to Kathy, you have to combine social media and face to face networking to successfully build relationships. Every event is a networking opportunity and you should network at least three times a week. Kathy had some great tips for anyone in business. Also last week, we signed up to help provide gifts to children at the ABC Recovery Center holiday party and learned we’ll have another opportunity to help with Salvation Army Bell Ringing on Saturday, Dec. 20. Bell Ringing Chair Richard Karp will have a signup sheet at the Holiday Party. We also received a pitch to volunteer and donate to Rotary’s Rose Parade float project. Kim Hardee was our lucky Rotary Raffle winner and took home $4.

Palms To Pines Rotary members con-tributed over $400 to provide Thanksgiving meals to five needy families here in the Coachella Valley. Dana Tarnow, Art Fleming and Jeremy Wittie visited Stater Brothers last week and filled a pickup with Thanksgiving meals. Service Above Self!

The last minute cancellation of our speaker created a hole in our programming last week but Sojourner Gerry Kelly and member Mike Laughlin stepped up to tell us about upcoming Rotary Golf Fellowship tournaments. Gerry is active in the International Golfing Fellowship of Rotarians and the 2015 tournament is planned in Turkey April 19-25. Gerry’s Victoria, BC club will be hosting the 2017 IGFR tournament. Mike Laughlin invited all Rotarians to the 2015 United States Golfing Fellowship of Rotarians tourney planned for Hilton Head Island May 16-20. Mike also told the club about the Monterey Bay Golfing Fellowship of Rotarians annual desert event on Jan. 17 and 18. Sojourner Mike Wedekind was the lucky Rotary Raffle winner and announced he would draw the Ace of spades and then proceeded to do just that and walked away with $106!

Kim Hardee presented a program on the ABC Recovery Center last week. The center began in 1963 and has grown into an eight acre campus housing 120 clients at a time. Kim brought along Daniel M. who told us how the center has changed his life. Daniel was paroled 20 months ago and has been clean and sober since arriving at the center. Daniel has held a job for the past 17 months, the longest term of employment he has ever had. ABC holds an annual Christmas party and Palms To Pines may be involved with that. We thank Kim for bringing us a truly inspirational program! Also last week, we heard about this year’s District 5330 trip to India for their National Immunization Day. The 12-day trip is Feb. 13-24 and we’ll immunize children against polio. Donna-Lee Ekstrom won $3 in the raffle and donated it to our Thanksgiving food project.

Last week we heard from Pres. Charley Riggs about the August Sister Cities Committee trip to Ixtapa-Zihuatanejo. Taking the trip from Palms To Pines were Charley and wife Carol, J. R. and Connie Fleischner and John and Madonna Marman. Charley shared photos of the trip and also talked about the progress of the scout troop we help to sponsor. Sister Cities representatives presented the troop with $1,500—their half of the $3,000 sponsorship. J. R. Fleischner is working with a local scout troop to see if we can help to develop interaction between the two troops. Also last week, we learned that our September and October Happy Dollars totaled $622 and will be donated to PolioPlus. We also welcomed back returning Sojourners Rick Gross, Ray Roth and Mike Wedekind (who took home $7 in the Rotary Raffle).

We had a busy meeting last week! Helen Holdun, the residential coordinator for gphomestay at Palm Valley School, was our featured speaker. She told us about opportunities to host international high school students who attend Palm Valley School. Host families receive a $10,000 stipend to assist in defraying expenses for the student during the year. Thirteen host families are sharing their homes with 16 international students at Palm Valley this year. Learn more at www.gphomestay.com. Also with us last week was Louise Neeley, the Palm Desert Historical Society chair of Mini-Muster. Louise presented certificates of appreciation to the P2P Rotarians who assisted in this annual event. Anne Jackson of Calimesa was also with us and brought along a Ukrainian couple who are coordinating relief efforts in their beleaguered country. Lillian Roberts was a lucky $20 winner in the Rotary Raffle.

Priscilla H. Porter, Professor Emeritus from CSU, Dominguez Hills, was our speaker last week. Dr. Porter currently serves as director of the Porter History-Social Science Resource Room at the Palm Desert campus of CSU, San Bernardino. She gave us a brief history of the campus which is the valley’s only four year university. Last year’s freshman class consisted of 104 students and 94% returned for their second year. This year’s freshman class totals 113 students. The university is preparing to construct dormitories and expects a surge in enrollment once completed. Also last week, Kay Van Zandt reported that Young Frankenstein will be performed at the Palm Canyon Theatre on Nov. 2 with an ASL interpreter. Palms to Pines has long supported this ASL program. We also learned that we’ll again be bell ringing for the Salvation Army. The effort begins the day before Thanksgiving and will continue until Christmas. Richard Karp will have details. Butch Hartman won $8 in the Rotary Raffle.

Rotary District Governor Chehab (Shab) El Awar made his official visit to Palms To Pines last Wednesday, DG Shab was accompanied by his wife, Bricia, and Assistant Governor Ricardo Loretta. DG Shab, who has only been a Rotarian for 16 years, talked of his passion for Rotary and the importance of each individual Rotarian….”When you build a castle, every nail helps.” DG Shab recognized members John Wohlmuth, Jim Brock and Margaret Claggett with Service With Passion medallions and also honored Treasurer Art Fleming with his first Paul Harris Fellow award. Not only did John Wohlmuth win a medallion, he also was our lucky Rotary Raffle winner. His luck ran out, however, when he only managed to draw a two from the deck!

Jeff Moritz of the Fuller Center for Housing was our speaker last week. This organization works with the elderly and veteran families to help them with housing. They have rehabbed homes here in the Coachella Valley and, on Nov. 15 and 16, they’re planning their most ambitious project to date – building an entire home from the ground up in just two to three days! The home is in 29 Palms and will be sold to a veteran with a no interest loan. There are numerous volunteer opportunities on this project and there will be more opportunities for help on future projects. Also last week, Vocational Service Chair Jeremy Wittie appealed to club members for vocational service project ideas. Let Jeremy know if you liked a previous project or have ideas for something new!

With us last week was Assistant District Governor Ricardo Loretta providing us with an update on Rotary’s East Coachella Valley Health Initiative. Palms To Pines has contributed to this undertaking and Ricardo told us just what’s been accomplished to date. The initiative began three years ago when Palm Desert Rotary helped distribute food from a Thermal parking lot. Since then, Galilee Center has grown and now operates out of a Mecca warehouse complete with refrigeration and a delivery vehicle. Other projects include visiting medical teams, water filtration, education and computers. Also last week, Jerry Kress introduced his special guest Max Stern and Sojourner Rick Gross made a visit. We also learned that our September Happy Dollars totaled $241. Happy Dollars for September and October will be donated to PolioPlus. Butch Hartman was the lucky winner of $5 in the Rotary Raffle.

Our own Paul Parry spoke to us last week about divorce. Paul told us that California has been a no fault divorce state since 1969 so we no longer have to hire a private detective to catch our spouse in the act. Since California is a community property state, everything acquired during a marriage is generally split 50-50 between the spouses. The three big issues to resolve are the division of property, custody of children and support. Thanks, Paul, for doing your part to keep our marriages together! Also last week, Dana Tarnow told us our club’s annual Holiday Party is scheduled for Thursday, Dec. 11 so put this on your calendar now! Assistant District Governor Ricardo Loretta was with us and reminded us that the annual District Foundation Gala is scheduled for Oct. 25. We’ll have more information next week. Donna-Lee Ekstrom drew an Ace and took home $120 in the Raffle. She promises a donation this week!

With us last week was Dan McMahan, membership director at Desert Falls Country Club. Although we meet at the club on a weekly basis, most of us have little idea of what goes on at Desert Falls besides our meetings. Desert Falls is celebrating its 30^th anniversary this year and they have special events scheduled throughout the year to celebrate. To survive today, country clubs must offer members more than just golf and dining, according to Dan. Desert Falls has 50 to 60 events on the calendar for the coming season and many of them are family oriented. To celebrate the 30^th anniversary, Desert Falls is offering a discounted initiation fee for new members. Also last week Jerry Kress instituted a “buddy system” to encourage attendance. Members will be calling missing members to urge them to come to our weekly meetings. Butch Hartman had to settle for $20 in the Rotary Raffle. Big pot this week!

Our own Rob Strain shared photography tips and some of his favorite photos with us last week.  Although rain hampered his photographic efforts on a recent visit to Glacier National Park, Rob did make a visit to Arizona and shared some beautiful scenes from that trip. Essential equipment for good photos includes a tripod, multiple lenses, filters and a cable shutter release, according to Rob. For those of us with only pocket cameras and smart phones, Rob also covered some basic design elements needed for good photos and how to use those elements in different ways for different effects. Memorable photos result from looking for the unusual, according to Rob. Also last week, Lillian Roberts received her sponsor’s pin for sponsoring new member Kim Hardee and we learned P2P will have a booth at the Palm Desert Chamber’s Business Expo at Fantasy Springs on Oct. 2. Butch Hartman collected $10 in the Rotary Raffle.

YMCA Executive Director Rob Ballew and board member Sabby Jonathan were with us last week to promote the Y’s upcoming Y Be Fit Challenge. This event will be held on Sunday, October 12 at Civic Center Park and will feature a reverse mini-triathlon, 5K Run//Walk and a 1K Color Run. In addition to the races, the Y Be Fit Challenge will also feature a health and fitness fair, booths, activities, music and free swimming at the Palm Desert Aquatics Center after the event. Rob also talked about the many programs the YMCA offers here in the desert. The Y operates the Aquatics Center which received over 120,000 visits last year. Other programs include camps, preschool, child care and many athletic programs. Also last week, we learned that our September and October Happy Dollar donations will benefit Polio Plus. Kim Hardee was our lucky Rotary Raffle winner. Kim took home $9. We’ll have over $100 in the pot this week so make sure and buy tickets!

Last week, 14 Palms To Pines members and guests enjoyed our final Road Trip of the summer when we visited the Coachella Valley Mosquito and Vector Control District facility in Indio. Member Jeremy Wittie was our host and member Doug Walker, who serves on the district’s board of directors, was on hand to provide additional input. Jeremy did a great job of explaining the ways mosquitoes are monitored and we saw traps used in the process as well as learned about the chemicals used for control of both mosquitoes and red imported fire ants. We also toured the district’s new laboratory. The new lab will allow the district to fine tune its quality control efforts. Very informative!

CPA Richard Karp spoke to us last week about tax strategies for the coming filing period. Richard tells us he expects tax rates to remain the same although final changes to the tax code will probably not surface until the end of the year or even January of 2015. To reduce your 2014 tax liability, Richard suggests such things as paying both of your property tax installments before the end of this year, pre-paying any state tax liability prior to Dec. 31 and making charitable contributions prior to year end. Richard also talked briefly about how trusts can help reduce taxes.. Also last week, Jeremy Wittie pocketed $10 in the Rotary Raffle….just enough to provide donuts for this week’s Road Trip!

Past President Dana Tarnow, a broker with La Quinta Palms Realty, provided the club with an update on our valley’s real estate market last week. Dana reports that both sales and prices have dipped in most areas from a year ago and that days on market have gone up. Valley wide, it takes an average of 116 days to sell a home. This is the highest in over a year. Rents are increasing so our valley remains attractive to investors. Many first time buyer have difficulty competing with investor buyers. Kim Hardee was our lucky Rotary Raffle winner last week but only managed to draw a two so took home $2.

Jerry Kress, with 31 years of perfect Rotary attendance, presented a primer on Rotary for our members as well as prospective new members last week. Jerry gave us a brief history of Rotary and told us about Rotary’s first community service project—providing a public restroom in Chicago. From that first club in Chicago, Rotary has grown to over 34,000 clubs throughout the world.  Jerry is our Membership Chair this year and his goal is to see us attract one new member a month. Also last week, Kay Van Zandt was recognized for her ongoing contributions to the Rotary Foundation. She received her PHF + 4 ($5,000 donated) pin. Jerry Kress’ special guest Max Stern was our lucky Rotary Raffle winner last week. Max drew an eight and took home $8!

We had another successful P2P Road Trip last Tuesday evening when we met at Coachella Valley Brewery in Thousand Palms. A total of 21 members and guests got to sample several brews and take a tour of the state-of-the-art brewery. It’s a beautiful facility and we may plan another event there in the future. Big thank yous to program chair Lillian Roberts for making the arrangements and to Dana Tarnow for providing some appetizers to help keep us sober. Stay tuned for information on our next Road Trip! These are great events so make every effort to attend our next one.

Last week, Kim Hardee spoke to us about animal spay and neuter and low cost vaccination clinics being held in the East Valley. One of the last clinics drew over 500 people for 40 available appointments so there is a tremendous demand for services. Although the clinics are billed as “free,” they attempt to collect some monies because of the cost of bringing a mobile unit to clinic locations. In additional to spay and neuter and vaccinations, the clinics also offer micro-chipping for pets. A typical clinic can result in the prevention of 9,000 unwanted animals from being born, according to Kim. Not only was Kim our speaker last week, she was also our lucky Rotary Raffle winner. She took home $7! Our raffle pot is growing so buy tickets at our next meeting!

Last week our own Jerry Kress and fellow cast member Max Stern were with us and presented Death Knocks, a Woody Allen short play. Also last week, we had two guests—Frankie Riddle and Aurora Wilson. Margaret Claggett brought both and reports they are interested in joining Palms To Pines! Frankie works with the City of Palm Desert and is a former P2P member and Aurora is a member of the COD Board of Trustees. Both would make outstanding additions to our club. Membership Chair Jerry Kress has a goal of increasing our membership by 12 (one member a month) and we’re already on our way. Jerry has made it very easy to attract new members….simply provide him with a name and contact information and he’ll do the rest! Past Pres. Dana Tarnow was our lucky Rotary Raffle winner and took home $20. Buy tickets this week!

New Palms To Pines Rotary President Charles Riggs held a Club Assembly last week. Charley talked about Rotary and his plans for our coming year. We plan to continue many of our past projects such as our support for the Ixtapa-Zihuatanejo scouting program and also take on additional community and international projects. We’re continuing our discussion with members of the Mexicali-Industrial Rotary Club about a joint project equipping school kitchens and we’re also planning a trip down to Mexicali for the club’s annual barbecue on October 19.  In our local community, we’re moving forward with plans to supply back to school supplies and backpacks to local students and we’re looking into a hands-on project involving construction or rehab of a home for a local veteran. Another major emphasis in the coming months will be building our membership. Membership Chair Jerry Kress has some big plans for our efforts so stay tuned! Lillian Roberts kicked off this year’s Rotary Raffle by drawing a six and taking home $6!

Last week we enjoyed another successful Road Trip when 16 Palms To Pines Rotarians toured the Palm Desert Sheriff’s Station. The station is a base of operations for policing Palm Desert, Indian Wells, Rancho Mirage and the unincorporated areas of the Coachella Valley. Nearly 200 people, 160 vehicles and two dogs are based at the huge station. We toured the station’s logistics center, evidence area and intake center and also got close up looks at a typical patrol vehicle and one of the forensics vans. John Wohlmuth, P2P member and Palm Desert City Manager, was on hand and told us that the city contracts for 1.6 officers per 1,000 residents at a cost of $15 million a year. Providing the same coverage with a city-managed department would cost $25 million a year.

Pres. Dana Tarnow conducted a club recognition assembly last week. It was her final official meeting of her two terms as club president and she recognized members of her Board of Directors as well as other Rotarians who held club positions during this past year. Dana also recognized members with perfect attendance. They include Jerry Kress, Butch Hartman, Art Fleming, Pres. Dana, Jim Brock and Martin Kubelik. Jerry has 31 years of perfect Rotary attendance and Butch has 17 years! Dana bestowed gifts of wine to her board members and also distributed leftover Rotary wine to other club members….just about everyone walked away with something! Fittingly, Pres. Dana had the winning raffle ticket and won $4. She “let it ride” so buy tickets next time!

New member Jeremy Wittie provided a very interesting program on red imported fire ants last week. Jeremy is Scientific Operations Manager for the Coachella Valley Mosquito and Vector Control District and that agency has been tasked with fire ant control since 2005. Fire ants are originally from South America and were introduced to the southeastern part of the United States in ship ballast. They made their way to our area in nursery stock. The district uses bait to control the ants so call Jeremy if you get bit! Also last week, Mike Laughlin was a lucky $10 winner in the Rotary Raffle.

Last week we heard from Lisa Brock, Palm Desert’s librarian and our club’s representative on Rotary District 5330’s first-ever Vocational Training Team. The team spent three weeks in Southern India earlier this year and Lisa shared photos of the trip and told us of her experiences. Also last week, we learned our board had voted to share this month’s Happy Dollars with the Pegasus Riding Academy and will share funds collected in future months with Best Friend’s Closet and Loving All Animals. Butch Hartman was the somewhat lucky Rotarian who collected all of $3 in the Rotary Raffle.

We took our first road trip of the summer last week and visited Greenday Recycling in Indio. In addition to normal recycling activities, Greenday repurposes much of the glass product they take in. They create all kinds of garden artwork and architectural elements using a glass and concrete mixture. The Greenday folks walked us through the plant and showed us the steps required to repurpose your old Corona bottle into a garden bench or architectural column.  This was a great trip enjoyed by 15 members and guests.

Our speaker last week was Albeth Paris Grass of the Pegasus Riding Academy. Pegasus offers therapeutic riding to disabled children and stroke recovery patients at their facility off Cook street north of the I-10. They currently have riders aged four to 80 in the program. Pegasus has over 100 volunteers working with their clients and is currently conducting a fundraiser to build a covered arena so they can offer riding all year long. New member Jeremy Wittie drew an Ace and collected $201 in the Rotary Raffle. Welcome to Rotary, Jeremy!

Mary Cardas from Savory Spice Shop was our speaker last week. Mary brought along samples of a number of different spices she sells and we sampled a couple of salts, two cinnamons, bay leaves, ginger and a blend called Peruvian Chili Lime.  Mary’s El Paseo shop features high quality herbs, spices, blends, sauces, stocks, kitchen specialty items and gift packs. Another great program! J.R. Fleischner was our lucky Raffle winner and he took home $9.

Last week’s speaker was our own Lillian Roberts who showed us photos of some of the birds of south Texas. Lillian shared some of her favorite photos of south Texas birds and they were spectacular! Great impromptu program, Lillian! New member Jeremy Wittie received his red new member badge. Jeremy will earn a regular member badge after making up a meeting, attending a board meeting and participating in a club project. Jeremy also won $20 in the raffle.

Last week’s speaker was Mardi Boettcher of Desert Computer Tutor. Mardi bills herself as The Gadget Queen and offered tips on just what gadget is best suited for various applications. Mardi offers computer and gadget workshops and in-home computer tutoring. Learn more at www.desertcomputertutor.com. Also last week, Jerry Kress was our lucky Rotary Raffle winner. Jerry pocketed $10!

We had a Club Assembly last week and President-Elect Charley Riggs introduced his leadership team for the coming Rotary year. Current President Dana Tarnow has agreed to serve as club secretary and Art Fleming will continue as treasurer. Margaret Claggett will again head our P2P Foundation and Jim Brock will be in charge of the Rotary Foundation. Butch Hartman will continue as Sergeant-At-Arms and Lillian Roberts will again arrange programs. Charley’s main goal for the coming Rotary year is to have fun so it should be a great year! We also welcomed Jeremy Wittie to our club last week. Jeremy serves as scientific operations manager for the Coachella Valley Mosquito & Vector Control District as was sponsored by Doug Walker. Welcome, Jeremy! Charley Riggs won $6 in the Rotary Raffle and donated his winnings to the pot.

Last week we had several of our 2014 RYLA representatives with us to tell us about this year’s camp in Thousand Pines. District 5330 operates the world’s largest RYLA and the group had to be divided into two camps for the first time this year. Some 350 high school juniors attended each of the sessions on successive weekends.  We sent a total of seven students to RYLA this year and with us last week were Katie May, Alexis Safoyan, Amanda Bolanos and Kaitlyn Ellis. Amanda attended RYLA last year and was chosen as a counselor for this year’s session. One of our representatives summed up her experience by saying, “RYLA makes you step out of your comfort zone.”  Also last week, Pres.-Elect Charley Riggs filled in for Pres. Dana and Butch Hartman was our lucky Rotary Raffle winner. Butch took home $8. Buy tickets this week!

Kathy Peper, owner of Get Wet Scuba, was our speaker last week. Kathy has owned a dive shop here in the desert for 14 years and recently relocated the shop from Palm Springs to here in Palm Desert. Although we’re a drive away from the nearest ocean, Kathy sells and rents dive equipment, offers instruction in preparation for dive certification and coordinates dive trips for her customers. She tells us the California coast offers some of the best diving in the world. Kathy showed us an incredible video of a recent dive trip to the Philippines and answered lots of questions. Also last week, we had to bid farewell to two of our loyal Canadian Sojourners. Mike Wedekind and Anita Ratchinksky are returned north for the summer. Iowa visiting Rotarian Chuck Gustafson was a $20 raffle winner Raffle plus he won a $75 introduction to scuba certificate.

Local attorney Michael Shippee was with us last week and provided a primer on automobile insurance. He urges all of us to regularly review our coverage to make sure we don’t have an unpleasant surprise when we actually need it. Review your policy annually and adjust your coverage as needed! Also last week, we bid farewell to seasonal member Martin Kubelik. He took a moment to express his appreciation for our club and his apprehension about the situation in Central Europe. Martin, we wish you a safe summer and look forward to your return next January! We also heard about the Rotary Wine Club. The club offers a number of wine options and you can sign up and get two bottles of wine monthly. Ten percent of your payment goes to Rotary. Learn more at www.rotarywineclub.com. Sojourner Jim Eggers was a lucky $10 raffle winner.

Bob Keeran of the Coachella Valley Water District was our speaker last week. Bob gave us a brief history of the district and updated us on the district’s efforts to insure a reliable supply of water in the future. Our drinking water comes from our own aquifer and we’ve been overdrafting for years. The district imports water into recharge basins and that water is allowed to percolate back into our aquifer. A major program of the district is the use of Colorado River and recycled water to irrigate our golf courses. Currently 15 courses use recycled water, 27 use Colorado River water and plans call for shifting an additional 50 courses to recycled water in the future. Also last week, Sojourner Mike Wedekind hit it big in the Rotary Raffle. Mike collected $2 and was generous enough to donate back to the raffle fund. Big money this week!

Our first ever Palms To Pines Mega-Auction was a great success! The club raised $4,125 in just over an hour last Wednesday….a great first time effort! Professional auctioneer Max Von Wening handled the fundraising effort and many items sold for above the stated value. Thanks to the following Rotarians and Sojourners for securing donations: Jim Brock, Paul Parry, Lillian Roberts, Kathy Martin, Richard Karp, Mike Wedekind, Margaret Claggett, Louise Oppenheim, Rob Strain, Martin Kubelik, Butch Hartman, Jerry Kress and Charley Riggs. Buyers included Kathy Martin, Jim Eggers, Butch Hartman, Rob Strain, guest Daniel Trevino, Louise Oppenheim, Jim Brock and Pres. Dana Tarnow. Special thanks go to Dana Tarnow and Margaret Claggett for all of their work insuring a successful inaugural auction. Plans are already underway to make next year’s event even more successful!

Martin Kubelik talked to the club about his career as an architectural historian. A major part of that career was the study of the Villa Rotunda near Venice. Martin’s team implemented a new dating technique to date the age of bricks used in construction of this famous villa which was built in the 1500s. The dating technique is still controversial in architectural history circles but Martin and his team is convinced it is accurate. They’ve dated the start of Villa construction at 1575. The villa is extremely famous in Italy and in architectural circles throughout the world. You can find plates, wine and many other souvenirs featuring the Rotunda. Also last week, Pres. Dana was the lucky Rotary Raffle winner. Dana managed to pull a two from the deck and was generous enough to donate her winnings back to the Raffle pot.

Doug Walker and his guest Jeremy Wittie stepped up last week and gave us a great impromptu program on the Coachella Valley Mosquito and Vector Control District. Doug has been a district board member since 2007 and Jeremy is the district’s scientific operations manager. The district was started in the 1920s to control eye gnats and mosquito control was added 20 years later. Control of red imported fire ants is a more recent addition to the district’s duties. Despite being called on for a program without any preparation, the pair did an outstanding job! We’ll be planning a field trip to tour the district’s new laboratory this summer. Also last week, Jerry Kress won $4 in the Rotary Raffle.

Dave Humphrey from Coachella Valley Brewing Company was our speaker. This local craft brewery opened in August and uses state of the art equipment to produce 14 different brews. The brewery’s equipment is controlled by an iPad and they can produce 17 barrels of beer in just two hours using much less water and electricity than traditional methods. They also achieve 98 percent ingredient efficiency because of a special filtration system. The Thousand Palms brewery is open to the public and we’re planning an upcoming field trip to tour and taste! Also last week, visitor Kathy Martin officially became a club Sojourner and received her badge and John Marman scored $9 in the Rotary Raffle.

Cole Langford, owner of Palm Desert Hydroponics, was our speaker last week. Hydroponics will eventually replace much of current farming techniques, according to Cole, because it’s 90 percent more efficient. You can grow plants twice as fast, twice as big and enjoy four times the production of current methods, he says. He is currently preparing to go into commercial farming using hydroponics at a farm in Anza. His retail store, located on Highway 111 just east of San Pablo, sells everything needed to get started with hydroponics including a kit for under $80 that will give you all the basics. Also last week, Margot Serrano returned after a long absence and was presented with her seventh Paul Harris recognition pin and we learned that Jim Eggers turned 89 last week. Congrats to both! J.R. Fleischner won $8 in the Rotary Raffle.

Elsie Hewling and Janet McAfee from Loving All Animals were with us last week. Elsie is one of the directors of Pars For Paws, the group’s fifth annual golf tournament. This year’s event is scheduled for Sunday, February 23 at Palm Desert’s Shadow Mountain Golf Club. They’ve lined up tons of prizes and the event is designed to be fun for the entire family. The pair also updated us on Loving All Animal’s lengthy list of events here in the valley and talked about the group’s foster pet program. Also last week, Lillian Roberts collected $10 in the Rotary Raffle. You can’t win unless you buy tickets!

With us last week were Lance Christiansen and Ken Maddox from the California State Board of Equalization.  The BOE is charged with tax administration and fee collection with the state. The pair told us about the functions of the BOE and how audits using industry ratios are used to catch tax cheats. Cities throughout the state are losing income because of under-reporting on a variety of taxes and fees. We found it amazing just how complex our tax structure is and their presentation generated a ton of questions. Good program! This week, say the secret phrase “Ron Burton” and receive three free Rotary Raffle tickets! Also last week, Jim Brock was a last minute replacement for Pres. Dana Tarnow who woke up ill, Sergeant At Arms Butch Hartman collected tons of Happy Dollars and Sojourner Jack Daniels pocketed $7 in the Rotary Raffle.

Loretta Moss, an Indio Sunrise Rotarian, spoke to us about Volunteers In Medicine last week. Volunteers in Medicine operates a no cost clinic in Indio which provides basic primary medical and dental care to those who qualify. The County of Riverside has provided a building for the clinic and, in the last three years, 13,000 patients have been seen. Loretta talked about the ongoing need for care and pointed out that Flying Doctors makes their only United States visit each year. Patients seen by the Flying Doctors are sent to Volunteers in Medicine for follow up care. Also last week, we welcomed back John Marman and we were also visited by former member and current Idyllwild Rotarian Jean Dores. Suzy Homme was a lucky $5 Raffle winner and donated her winnings back to the pot. Buy tickets this week!

Last week Sam Cross and Larry Shanahan of Valley Crimestoppers were with us to tell us about their organization. The group offers rewards of up to $1000 for anonymous tips on area criminal activity. Since its start here in the valley, the group has paid out over $132,000 in rewards and has resulted in an estimated $18 million in recovered property and contraband and helped solve scores of criminal cases. Their hotline averages 30 to 35 calls a month and callers receive a personal code. If their information leads to an arrest and conviction, they can claim their reward. Also last week, one of our Washington visitors claimed $20 in the great Rotary Raffle!

Joe Wallace, managing director of the Coachella Valley iHub, was our speaker last week. The iHub is part of the Coachella Valley Economic Partnership and opened in 2011. Funded by grants from government and the private sector, the iHub’s goal was to attract 50 companies during the first five years of operation. To date, 24 companies have joined the iHub making it one of the most active and successful in the state. The goal of the iHub is to attract sustainable industries to our valley and to keep them here as they grow and succeed. Also last week, Richard Karp announced another day of Salvation Army Bell Ringing. We’re scheduled to Bell Ring at Ralph’s this Saturday from 10 a.m. until 4 p.m. Sign up for a shift this week. Pres. Dana won $4 in the raffle.

With us last week was Ellen Woods of The Girlfriend Factor. The Girlfriend Factor was founded in 2005 and provides grants to women aged 25 to 63 to help them achieve their educational goals. The group has provided over $240,000 in grants since the grant program began in 2007. They have helped local women studying a wide range of professions including business administration, nursing, graphic arts and public relations. The group raises grant funds with corporate sponsorships, individual donations and events. Also last week, we learned we provided great Thanksgivings to four needy valley families and we also distributed Salvation Army gift requests for local children. We’re not sure how many requests we had but they went quick! Great job!

Dr. Leonard Feld, a dentist from Indian Wells, talked to us about how a slight misalignment of the jaw can cause all kinds of problems including headaches, dizziness and ear, face and neck pain. His office treats many patients with these symptoms. Also last week, we completed our Polio Plus campaign and exceeded our fundraising goal. The total raised was $1,286. Monies raised by Nov. 30 will be matched two to one by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. Jim Brock introduced his daughter, Lisa Brock, who has been selected as a member of District 5330’s first ever Vocational Training Team. The team will travel to Southern Indian in January and focus on literacy. Lisa is the head librarian at Palm Desert Library. A La Quinta visiting Rotarian won $196 in our Raffle and donated $100 of it to our Polio Plus campaign.

Last week we heard from Lillian Roberts about her trip to Togo, West Africa, for the 9^th West Africa Rotary Project Fair. Lillian spoke of her visit and shared photos of the project fair and the country. According to Lillian, the area’s exploding population growth (over 50 percent of the population is under 18) means there are plenty of opportunities to help make a difference. Many of the proposed projects focused on providing clean water. While in Togo, Lillian also participated in a polio eradication event and delivered nearly 55 pounds of school supplies donated by P2P members. Also last week, we welcomed Sojourner Ray Roth back for the winter months and we also were happy to see Jerry Kress back with us after a health scare. (The false alarm prompted Jerry to swear off cigarettes so let’s provide a bit of peer pressure to keep in on the straight and narrow!) We also learned that our Rotary District 5330 is seeking funds for Philippines disaster relief. Earmark donations for disaster relief and write your checks to the Rotary District 5330 Foundation.

 Mike Kovack, executive director of the Loma Linda Ronald McDonald House, was our speaker last week. The house, which opened in 1996, is one of over 200 such facilities worldwide and provides lodging for families of hospital patients. According to Kovack, between 30 to 40 percent of families using the Loma Linda house are from the Coachella Valley and high desert. Almost since it opened, the house has been at capacity and they’re raising funds to add an additional 13 rooms to the 21 room facility. One easy way we can help is to collect aluminum can pull tabs. Please start collecting tabs and bring them to Rotary. Every beer and soft drink we drink can help so drink up! Also last week, it was a pleasure to welcome back returning Sojourners Mike Wedekind and Jack Daniels. It’s great to see our meeting room filling up again! Now we need more of our delinquent members back in the room! Our Rotary Raffle pot grew to $168 last week and Donna-Lee Ekstrom held the winning ticket and collected $10. Buy tickets this week for a great chance to win the pot!

November is Foundation Month and P2P Rotary Foundation Chair Mike Laughlin provided us with an update on the Foundation and Rotary’s PolioPlus program. Mike talked about ways of giving to the Foundation included an automatic payment method called Rotary Direct (see below). PolioPlus began in 1985 and Rotary is close to eliminating polio from the world. Polio was endemic in 125 countries when our efforts began and we’re now down to seeing polio common in only three countries. Also last week, Jim Brock celebrated his 40^th anniversary of Rotary membership by making $100 PolioPlus contributions in the names of four P2P members, Tracey Essex, Richard Karp, Paul Parry and Pres. Dana Tarnow. Every one of our members has contributed to Rotary Foundation and if you’d like to know how close you are to your first (or next) Paul Harris Fellow you can check your status online at the RI website. Lillian Roberts pulled a face card and collected $20 in the Rotary Raffle. Buy tickets this week!

David Wambaugh, the son of bestselling author Joseph Wambaugh, was our speaker last week. David, who is bi-polar, struggled with drug and alcohol addiction for years before seeking treatment. He is now a drug and alcohol counselor in San Diego. David told us about growing up as a bully and about how tables were turned and he became the victim of bullies. David has recounted his addiction struggles in a memoir called The Last Call and will be back in Palm Desert on Dec. 1 for a book signing at Barnes & Noble. Also last week, we welcomed back Sojourners Anita Ratchinsky of Alberta and Rick Gross of Germany. It’s great to see our Sojourners returning! Jim Brock was the lucky winner of Lillian Roberts’ donated desktop computer. Lillian donated the computer to help raise funds for her trip to the Rotary West Africa Projects Fair in Togo, Africa. We can’t wait for Lillian’s program on the trip! Finally last week, Anita Ratchinsky was our lucky raffle winner. With $151 available in the pot, Anita pulled an eight and took home $8.

Rotary District 5330 Governor Joe Ramos made his annual visit to Palms to Pines last week. DG Joe met with officers and directors on Tuesday evening and then joined us for breakfast Wednesday morning. DG Joe recognized P2P members Jerry Kress, Butch Hartman, Art Fleming and Jim Brock for their service to Rotary and presented them with “Energizer” pins. DG Joe told us about district plans and urged Palms To Pines members to donate to Polio Plus and participate in the Oct. 26-27 March to End Polio in San Bernardino. The District Governor also promoted the upcoming Foundation Gala on Nov. 16 and the annual District Conference on May 2-4. The Conference will once again be held at the Doral Resort in Cathedral City so there’s no excuse not to attend! Joining DG Joe at our meeting was Assistant District Governor Frank Peabody of Palm Springs Noon Rotary. Art Fleming was the lucky Rotary Raffle winner and DG Joe pulled a six for Art for $6. The pot will be over $150 this week so buy tickets early and buy often!

Last week we received an eye opening look at Obamacare, the Affordable Care Act. With us was Rick Liuag, an insurance broker who specializes in the new law. Rick told us that insurance costs will go up and everyone’s access to health care will be reduced in the long run. The main difficulty Seniors on Medicare will face is access since doctors will face increased patient loads and may cut back on accepting Medicare patients.  Rick says he expects many large employers to eliminate group coverage to allow employees to join the individual exchanges. Rick suggests individuals look into specialized insurance policies such as telemedicine plans, accident coverage and cancer coverage. Rick has additional information available at www.myfreeobamacarereport.com. Also last week, we learned we would not be helping with a Beer Garden during the Patriot Ride because security costs forced organizers to cancel the Beer Garden. Lillian Roberts was a lucky $20 Rotary Raffle winner and will use the money for her upcoming trip to the Rotary Project Fair in Togo, West Africa.

Daphne Jasperse and Tim Esser were with us last week to talk about CV Spin’s upcoming Patriot Ride For Our Heroes. Patriot Ride is a new event for the organization which annually produces the Tour de Palm Springs. Tim, a former P2P member, told us a bit about the history of the group and the Tour de Palm Springs which has grown to over 10,000 bike riders and over 1,000 volunteers. The first Patriot Ride will be held on Saturday, Oct. 26, in La Quinta. Tim hopes to see it evolve into an event similar to the Palm Springs ride. Palms To Pines is planning to help out at the Patriot Ride by working in the beer garden and we’ll learn more this week. Also last week, Jerry Kress told us about his next musical, s’Wonderful, s’Marvelous, s’Music, which will be held at Sun City Oct. 25-27. Also, Charley Riggs updated us on recent flood relief efforts conducted by our Ixtapa scout troop and Lillian Roberts promoted her computer raffle and the need for cash donations for school supplies for her Africa trip. Jerry Kress was a $4 winner in the Rotary Raffle.

Tracey Essex, who recently joined the Palm Springs Animal Shelter, provided us with an overview of animal welfare in the Coachella Valley. According to Tracey, there are only two open admission (they accept every animal) shelters in the valley—Palm Springs and the Coachella Valley Animal Campus in Thousand Palms. Tracey introduced Tamara Hedges, a member of the Executive Board of the Palms Springs Shelter, who explained that their facility is a progress open shelter, meaning that every animal is cared for until adoption. Also on hand was KESQ reporter Bianca Rae, who has become active in desert animal welfare groups. Bianca started “Jack’s Fund” which is dedicated to helping open admission shelters get animals adopted. The funds have been used for adoption events, fundraising initiatives and spay/neuter clinics. Margaret Claggett was a lucky $2 winner in the Rotary Raffle!

Our own Kay Van Zandt gave us a fascinating look at her “real” career last week. Kay went to work as a flight attendant for TWA in 1965 and spent 14 years with that company before moving to Lockheed Aircraft in Burbank. Kay was a sales representative for Lockheed until, in 1982, the company stopped new plane construction. She then moved to Lockheed Aircraft Services which specialized in modifying existing planes for different purposes. The company’s customers where both governments and private entities and Kay worked extensively with modifications to the C-130 and the L-1011. Some of her favorite modifications were the conversion of both of those planes to mobile airborne hospitals and extravagant modifications for heads of state.  This was a fabulous glimpse into the career of one of our longtime members. Thanks, Kay! Suzy Homme was our lucky Raffle winner. Suzy took home $5!

Palm Desert City Manager and P2P member John Wohlmuth provided us with a city update last week. Particularly exciting was the long list of new retail stores coming to our city. John mentioned Home Goods, Whole Foods, Nordstrom’s Rack, PGA Superstore, Dick’s Sporting Goods, Wal-Mart Neighborhood Market, and a number of new restaurants are in the works. These additions will insure our city continues to be the valley’s retail hub. While Palm Desert is the third largest city in the Coachella Valley (behind Indio and Cathedral City), we lead the desert in sales tax revenue. John told us that census data indicate that our city has 40 percent more homes than households meaning the city has over 10,000 second homes within the city limits. Thanks, John, for what is always a very informative update. Kay Van Zandt won the Raffle for the second straight week and once again donated her $3 back.

P2P Rotary was on the road last week and visited the Palm Desert Historical Society. Twelve members attended and were told about the history of both Palm Desert and the Historical Society by President Brett Romer. We enjoyed coffee and donuts and then took a guided tour of the society’s museum. In addition to Palm Desert historical photos and memorabilia, the museum also houses a large collection of historical firefighting equipment. This makes it very popular for school field trips and ties in with the Society’s annual Mini Muster. The historical society receives a portion of its annual budget from the city but depends on memberships, donations and fundraisers for the majority. Their biggest annual fundraiser is a Yard Sale which is scheduled this year for Nov. 9 and 10. Also last week, we learned that longtime P2P member John Marman suffered a stroke on Aug. 25. No visitors at this time but send him a card!

Butch Hartman provided another summer trade talk last week and told us about his career and what he does at Hartman Jewelers. Butch showed us some of the tools he uses on a daily basis as well as some of the custom work he provides his customers. Butch also told us how computerized wholesalers provide overnight delivery to allow quick completion of custom orders. Thanks, Butch, for the program! Also last week, Pres. Dana reminded newer members of the need for Live Scan fingerprints to comply with Rotary’s youth protection policy. P2P will reimburse you for the cost! Also last week, only one member provided the secret word to receive free Rotary Raffle tickets. Read this newsletter every week and you could also get free tickets! Louise Oppenheim didn’t need free tickets to pull an Ace and collect $143 in the raffle. She donated $20 back to P2P and also donated $20 to guest Elle Wohlmuth.

Louise Oppenheim was our speaker last week and told us about bonds and bond funds and about how to spot an investment scam. Louise recommends always checking a potential broker’s complaint record through the National Association of Securities Dealers (www.finra.org). Louise has been in the business for 23 years without a complaint.  Also last week, we learned that John Marman is planning a raffle at next week’s road trip to the Palm Desert Historical Society. The lucky winner will receive two tickets to see Willie Nelson! You MUST be present to win. Finally last week, Jim Brock and Art Fleming won the raffle for the second straight week. They donated their $2 back to the raffle pot.

Suzy Homme presented her annual travel update last week. Suzy covered a wide range of topics including security concerns, travel insurance and popular travel itineraries. Suzy says security issues can be minimized by traveling as a part of a group and suggested travelers visiting any non-Western destinations should always be in a group. She also stressed the importance of travel insurance. Your health insurance plan will usually not cover you when you’re outside the country so travel medical insurance is extremely important. Nearly 85 percent of travelers now secure insurance. Popular travel destinations are booking quickly for 2014, Suzy says, so make your plans now for next year. European river cruises, the fastest growing segment in the travel industry, remain extremely popular and there are also great values offered by ocean cruise lines. Asia, Turkey and other Middle Eastern destinations offer good travel bargains. Thanks, Suzy, for a great program! Also last week, Pres. Dana announced that several newer members will be notified that they need to be fingerprinted to comply with our Rotary District 5330 Youth Protection Program. You’ll be notified by email. Art Fleming and Jim Brock were the lucky winners of $8 in the Rotary Raffle. They let their winnings ride so we’ll have over $125 in the pot this week! Buy your tickets early and often!

Last week we enjoyed another Road Trip. Our destination was BG Bird Gardens in South Palm Desert. The gardens are at the beautiful estate of Lindi and Geno Biggi. Lindi is the founder of Loving All Animals and the Bird Gardens are a testament to that love. Our tour was conducted by P2P member Tracey Essex and she told us that there are over 60 exotic birds housed there. There are a number of flamingos and also a beautiful koi pond on the property. Our small group of Rotarians enjoyed a continental breakfast under the palapa and then embarked on a tour which included a visit to the birds’ bedroom (all are housed indoors at night) and the kitchen where staff prepares a proper diet for each animal. This was a spectacular trip!

What was to be a tag team effort between Pres. Dana Tarnow and Jim Brock last week turned into the Jim Show when Pres. Dana was pressed into babysitting duty for two grandchildren and had to miss our meeting. Jim acted as Rotarian of the Day, ran the meeting and then presented his half of a Coachella Valley Real Estate update. Jim specializes in country club communities and provided recent sales statistics for single family and condominium sales for Rancho Mirage, Palm Desert, Sun City, Indian Wells and La Quinta. Although the housing market is improving, Jim tells us that a number of factors will continue to slow recovery. Rising interest rates, a large number of underwater homeowners (over two million in California), and an uncertain economy continue to hinder recovery. The large number of underwater properties means that over 20 percent of California homeowners cannot participate in the current housing market unless they can complete a short sale. This has led to extremely low inventories in many areas of the state and has led to higher prices for that inventory. Also last week, Lillian Roberts was the lucky winner of $6 in the Rotary Raffle.

We kicked off the 2013-2014 Rotary year last week with a Club Assembly. Pres. Dana Tarnow began her second term by vowing to get it right the second time around and she introduced the other members of her leadership team to the club. Dana also recognized last year’s directors and reviewed our club’s many activities and projects and also talked about the year ahead. Our club’s board is considering adding some additional fundraising events during the coming months. Possibilities include a fashion show and a club-wide yard sale. More details will follow!

Also last week, Tyler Everhart, a financial planner who has recently relo-cated from the San Diego area, visited our club. Suzy Homme used Butch Hartman’s ticket to claim $20 in the raffle. Suzy decided to “let it ride”.

Jerry Kress, Palms To Pines Rotarian, retired high school football referee and retired leasing guru, showed us just how talented our members are last week when he shared a DVD of his recent performance in Neil Simon’s hit Broadway play California Suite. No, Jerry wasn’t starring on a Broadway stage but he was performing with his Sun City Palm Desert theater group. The DVD was lots of fun! Thanks, Jerry! Also last week, we welcomed two visiting Rotarians including former member and Past President Marleen Rogers. Marleen was visiting friends here in the desert and now lives with husband Paul in Trinity, Florida. Also with us last week was Jim Conway, current Rancho Mirage Rotary president. John Marman led us on a stroll down memory lane last week when he brought a bunch of photos of Rotary activities in our club’s early years. It was really hard to believe just how poorly some of our older members have aged! Pres. Dana Tarnow returned from babysitting duties and shared information about an upcoming Coachella East Rotary Club golf tournament at Mountain View Country Club on Sept. 16. Let Jim Brock know if you’d like to play! Finally last week, Margaret Claggett was a lucky $5 winner in our Raffle.

Last week, Palms To Pines took the first road trip of the summer with a visit to the newly-remodeled Palm Desert Library. Following a continental breakfast, we heard from Librarian Lisa Brock who told us that our local library is the second busiest library in the Riverside County library system. The library remodel included cosmetic upgrades but, more importantly, technology upgrades to bring the library into the 21^st century. The library features free Wi-Fi for patrons and the number of available computers has been tripled. The library now features a self-checkout system as well as an automated sorting system for returns. In additional to books, the library offers music CDs and DVDs of movies and popular television programs. The facility also hosts a number of regular events for children, teens and adults. Nearly 20 Palms To Pines Rotarians attended our first summer road trip. Stay tuned to see what’s on the agenda for later this month!

Our own Rob Strain spoke to the club last week about the wonders of cosmetic dentistry. Rob had prepared a complex computer presentation to compliment his talk and, naturally, we had technical issues so it didn’t work properly. Luckily, we were able to get the gist of what he was attempting to show us and we learned just what’s involved in changing a person’s smile. Rob stressed the importance of dental health….noting that most people in their 90s still had their own teeth. Rob talked about veneers and crowns and the importance of size, shape and color in crafting a new patient’s smile. Great job, Rob! Also last week, Jerry Kress continued his Rotary Minute presentations by telling us how to exploit our Rotary membership to obtain free boots….very informative, Jerry! Jerry also made it two Rotary Raffle wins in a row last week when he pulled a seven and took home $7 of Rotary money. Remember, we will NOT be meeting at Desert Falls for the next two weeks! This week, we’ll be touring the new Palm Desert Library and we’ll be celebrating Independence Day on July 3. We’ll have a Club Assembly at our next Desert Falls meeting on Wednesday, July 10.

Wow! Who knew tea could be so complex? Our own Tracey Essex, who works at Teavana on El Paseo, told us everything we could ever want to know about tea. Not only does tea offer many health benefits, but it also tastes good. Tracey told us about the various types of tea—white, green, oolong, black and herbal—and even brewed up a number of samples for members to taste. We learned about proper brewing techniques and equipment and about the importance of timing the brewing process. Thanks, Tracey, for introducing us to the fascinating world of tea! Also last week, Rotarian of the Month Jerry Kress provided us with a Rotary Minute about the Rotary Foundation and we learned that Pres. Dana is still seeking Rotarians to volunteer for a number of open club leadership positions. We also heard from a Salvation Army representative urging our club to join other valley Rotary Clubs in bell ringing this coming holiday season. We also managed to build the Rotary Raffle pot by only handing out $3 in the raffle so buy tickets this week. Finally, please plan to attend our End of the Year party this Saturday at Margaret Claggett’s home. RSVP to Pres. Dana ASAP!

With us last week were Bob Schneider of Desert Adventures and Eric Morcus of Kaiser Restaurant Group to promote Palm Springs Desert Resorts Restaurant Week. Now in its sixth year, Restaurant Week features reduced prices on participating restaurant meals and special pricing and events at many area spas, resorts and attractions. Restaurant Week dinners range from $26 to $38 per person and other participating companies offer 10 to 20 percent discounts. Desert Adventures has put together a number of “Jeep and Eat” packages featuring an evening jeep tour of the San Andreas Fault followed by dinner at several participating restaurants. Restaurant Week runs through Father’s Day (June 16) so make your reservations right away! Learn more about participating restaurants at www.palmspringsrestaurantweek.com and find out about the Desert Adventures packages at www.red-jeep.com. Also last week, we got the details about our End of the Year Party (see above) as well as learned some important event dates for the coming Rotary year.  Tracey Essex had her ticket pulled and drew an Ace to collect $71 in the Rotary Raffle. Tracey donated $20 of her winnings back to the club.

Last week we enjoyed a fascinating trek to various Inca sites in Peru. Lillian Roberts was our tour guide and she brought lots of great photos of her two week journey. Her group traveled by horseback to ancient ruins including Machu Picchu and traveled to elevations of over 14,000 feet. It’s clear from Lillian’s photos that this trip was not for the faint of heart but she brought back some amazing images of a civilization which lasted only 150 years. According to Lillian, the Inca selected their city sites for spiritual reasons because they worshipped the sun, moon and surrounding mountains. Many of their buildings were specifically oriented to capture a specific view for their religious ceremonies. Disease and the Spanish brought an end to the civilization. Great program, Lillian! Have you taken an interesting vacation and documented it with photos? Think about sharing it with club members in the coming months. These member travelogues are often some of our best programs! Also last week, we learned that John Marman’s dog Stewie did something involving fly ball and Jerry Kress was the lucky Rotary Raffle winner, collecting $3! Jerry requested a guard to accompany him to his vehicle to safeguard his cash.

We packed a lot of activity into our one hour meeting last week. Not only did we have LaVerne Rudder from the AIFS Foundation speak to us about hosting foreign exchange students but we also had PDG Helene Kalfuss from Palm Springs Rotary with us to present a program on the district’s most recent Group Study Exchange Team. The AIFS Foundation’s FLEX program brings students from various independent states of the former Soviet Union to our country to experience life in a democratic society in order to promote democratic values in their own countries. Helene told us about leading her GSE team to Southern India. While there, the team visited Rotary clubs, universities, medical facilities, museums and various recipients of Foundation Matching Grant programs. Helene says the team will be the final GSE team. Rotary is changing the program to focus on vocational service—sending representatives to share vocational expertise with people in other countries. Also last week, we recognized Carlos Garcia as the latest recipient of our COD Nursing Program grant and Art Fleming was honored for his work with the recent USGFR tournament. Tracey Essex won $9 in the Rotary Raffle.

With us last week were our PRYDE representatives. Four seventh grade boys were sponsored by our club and reported on their experiences at this annual leadership camp. Also last week, Suzy Homme returned from China and collected $10 in the Rotary Raffle. Finally last week, Palms To Pines hosted the 24^th Annual United States Golfing Fellowship of Rotarians National Tournament at the Indian Wells Golf Resort. Tournament Chair Jim Brock reports 54 golfers and 23 spouses from throughout the United States and from as far away as Germany participated. When the three day tournament concluded, Palms To Pines member Mike Laughlin was crowned National Champion!  Thanks to all the Palms To Pines members who helped out including Pres. Dana Tarnow, Rob Strain, Doug Walker, Lillian Roberts, John Wohlmuth and Charles Riggs. Very special thanks go to Art Fleming for overseeing the finances, staffing the daily Hospitality Suite and attending many of the event’s functions. Despite record high temperatures, attendees proclaimed the tournament the best event in the organization’s 24 years!

Rosemary Ortega, president of the Palm Desert Sister Cities Foundation, was our speaker last week. Palm Desert has had a Sister Cities program for 30 years and currently has two Sister Cities, Gisborne, New Zealand and Ixtapa-Zihuatanejo, Mexico. Since its inception, the Sister Cities Foundation has organized a number of programs with our Sister Cities. They’ve had an artist in residence program, student photo exchanges, lifeguard and firefighter training, mayoral exchanges and donations of public safety equipment. To date, the foundation has coordinated the donation of four ambulances and two fire trucks to Ixtapa-Zihuatanejo and trained over 1,400 public safety workers. Local public safety employees have donated their time to accompany the equipment to Mexico and provide operation and maintenance training to Mexican firefighters and mechanics. Our club has gotten involved with Sister Cities by helping to sponsor a scout troop in Mexico. Also last week, we gave away another $20 in the Rotary Mini-Raffle. Buy tickets this week to build the pot!

Ron Celona, artistic director of the Coachella Valley Repertory Theater, was our speaker last week. CV Rep is a regional professional theater and they held their first performance at The Atrium in Rancho Mirage in January, 2012. According to Ron, they like to perform “plays that make you think.” In addition to their own productions, CV Rep also brings in visiting artists for special performances throughout the year. Next up will be the Amin El Collective Jazz Band on Saturday, May 18. Next season’s line up will be announced later this month. Learn more at www.cvrep.org. Also last week, we learned that we’re again planning a series of “road trips” for the last meeting of each of the summer months. If you have an idea for an offsite meeting, please let Pres. Dana or Lillian Roberts know! We’re also looking into the possibility of holding joint meetings with some of our nearby Rotary neighbors. Stay tuned! Finally last week, the Rotary Mega Raffle reached $384 with only aces and jacks remaining in the deck. Mike Laughlin had the winning number and calmly pulled an Ace and took home the jackpot. We’re counting on Mike to do the right thing this week!

Again this year, John Marman is seeking Palms To Pines members to help out at the annual Indio Rotary Middle School Math Field Day this Saturday. The annual event takes place this year at John Glenn Middle School and, according to John, is always fun. Our members will be serving as proctors as the competitors test. John Glenn is located at 79655 Miles Avenue (between Dune Palm and Jefferson) in Indio. We’ll need to be there for the proctors meeting at 7:30 a.m. If you’d like to help out, please contact John at johnmarman@gmail.com. Join us! Also last week, we bid farewell to a few additional hardy Sojourners who are heading north for the summer. We look forward to their return when our weather cools! Finally last week, Cal McIntosh came prepared to win the Rotary Mega-Raffle. Cal knows you need to buy tickets in order to win so he purchased $20 worth and, naturally, his ticket was pulled for a one in three chance at over $300. Unfortunately for Cal, he only managed to pull a nine. We’ll have well over $300 available this week!

Riverside County Sheriff Stan Sniff was our speaker last week. Sheriff Sniff took office in 2007 and oversees 4,000 employees in the second largest sheriff’s department in the state. In addition to policing the county’s unincorporated areas, the department also contracts with 17 cities (including Palm Desert) for police services. The department also operates five correctional facilities and also provides court and coroner services. One of the biggest problems facing the department, according to Sheriff Sniff, is a change in state law which pushes state prisoners back to county jails. Deputies booked 50,000 people into the county jail system last year and there are fewer and fewer available beds for prisoners because of the change. The county had to release 7,000 prisoners early last year and those numbers will continue to increase. Also last week, Anita Ratchinsky made a farewell appearance until next winter and had her ticket drawn in the Rotary Mega-Raffle. With $312 available, Anita pulled a face card and headed to Canada with $20 American.

With us last week was Don Melvin, a docent with the Palm Springs Air Museum. Don is one of 149 volunteers at the museum and he’s a docent for the museum’s B-17, one of only 11 remaining which still fly. The museum is housed in three hangers and includes 25 aircraft, an 8,000 book library, flight simulators and static displays. The museum offers many educational programs and the next big public event will be the Memorial Day flower drop on Monday, May 27. Also last week, Butch Hartman filled in for MIA Pres. Dana Tarnow. We received a surprise visit from former Palms To Pines member Jim Blaisdell who is now a Minden, Nevada Rotarian and John Marman called for volunteers for Indio Rotary’s annual Math Day competition on May 4. We also learned that Rotary Presents brought in approximately $6,000 and that next year’s event is scheduled for February 27, 2014. One of our visiting Rotarians missed out on $288 in the Rotary Mega Raffle but did go home with $5. Odds are good this week so buy tickets!

Ricardo Loretta of Palm Desert Rotary and Dick Anderson of La Quinta Rotary were with us last week to talk about the Desert Rotary Health Initiative. The project is a broad initiative focusing on the medical, hunger, education and clean water needs of low income residents of the eastern portion of the Coachella Valley. Both the Palm Desert and La Quinta clubs are cooperating on this project and they hope to get support from Rotary clubs from throughout Southern California. The initiative has the approval of Rotary District 5330 and a matching grant application is before Rotary International. The grant will provide refrigeration units for Galilee Center, a food distribution service in the east valley. The two clubs have major plans for the area including providing water filtration systems for an estimated 100 small trailer parks with clean water issues. Also last week, one of our visiting Rotarians had the lucky raffle ticket but only managed to draw a 3. We’ll have nearly $300 in the pot this week so buy tickets! You can’t win without a ticket!

Palms To Pines Rotary recently welcomed a delegation of civic leaders from Ixtapa-Zihuatanejo, Mexico, a Sister City to Palm Desert.

Our club has been active in their area and one of our most successful projects has been the formation of a scout troop to serve the young people in their community. The visitors joined us on January 23 and presented Charles Riggs, our International Service chair and a member of the Palm Desert Sister Cities Committee, with a number of items to express their appreciation for our support. We received a framed Scout emblem for the Zihpacti troop, plaques from the provincial Scouting office and from Ixtapa Rotary as well as reports on the status of the project. The troop currently has 102 members and an additional 29 prospects. Ixtapa Rotary President Irene Juarez Martinez also sent along a letter listing other needs of the Ixtapa-Zihuatanejo community.

Last week we continued our College of the Desert update with a tour of the campus. Construction has been ongoing at the college since passage of a $346.5 million bond measure in 2004 and we got to see some of the new campus buildings during a brief tour. Our first stop was the Cravens Student Center. This LEED Certified environmentally friendly building combines numerous student services in a single location. We also visited the brand new Math and Sciences building and saw the locations of the nursing program and the Public Safety Academy. The state’s budget crisis has limited enrollment at COD during the last few years but the college’s construction projects will leave it well-positioned for the future.

September is Rotary New Generations Month and Jerry Kress, our club’s New Generations chair, talked about Rotary’s fifth avenue of service last week. All service clubs are facing declining membership and Rotary International recognized the problem by focusing on efforts to attract younger members to Rotary. Rotary is encouraging districts to form New Generations clubs which are more informal and less expensive to participate in than traditional Rotary clubs. Rotary is also focusing on recruitment efforts to attract younger members to traditional clubs. The third part of Rotary’s New Generations efforts are our ongoing youth programs--PYRDE, RYLA and Interact. Exposing young people to Rotary principles at an early age will boost membership in coming years. Jerry will be urging our club to get more involved with Interact at Shadow Hills High School and we’ll once again be conducting the Choices program at that school this school year.