ROTARY REMINDER
January 13th, 2017
Shining through a brief respite in the welcome rains, the Rotary Club of Ojai held its twice-annual Club Assembly, where we heard our club leaders detail the progress on the programs and projects at the mid-point of our Rotary year. With President Bill Gilbreth's impeachment effort stalled out on various technicalities, it was a good time to catch up with the club’s deeds of derring-good-doing.
Greeting us with able amiability were Rod Owen and Sandy Buechley, while Randy Roth looted our lucre at the sign-in desk.
Rod then led us in the pledge, while Bill Weirick invoked Albert Einstein’s spiritual quote: "My religion consists of a humble admiration of the illimitable superior spirit who reveals himself in the slight details we are able to perceive with our frail and feeble minds.”
Sgt.-At-Arms Matt Clement received a shout-out for his tireless work to set up the room. Ginger, our equally indefatigable banquet server, was also acclaimed.
Visiting Rotarians
• Michael Scar
Guests
• Special guest Brian Huber
• Jamie Bennett
• Chris Bjornstedt, Lerie’s daughter
Announcements
• The Ojai Valley Museum is organizing a Jubilee Picnic on April 8th at Libbey Park to celebrate the 100th anniversary of Ojai’s founding.
• STEPS conference will be held Jan. 28th at Cal Lutheran, and will include three programs from our Rotary Club, with Kay Bliss and Pradeep Kapadia included.
Sad news from Lerie. Long-time former club member Jock Van Dyke died this past Tuesday, Jan. 3rd. Lerie will keep us apprised of the date of his memorial service, which will be held in March.
Capo di tutti Capo Wm. Gilbreth, Esq. got the proceedings started with the anecdote about the geographically challenged Italian pilot, who told the passengers, “The bad news is that we’re hopelessly lost. The good news is that we’re way ahead of schedule.”
Treasurer:
First up was Don Reed, whose treasuring skills has lofted the club to unprecedented levels of prosperity. The club has, since July, raised $30k in income, against expenses of $22,500 for operations. The Avenues of Service has brought in 65,500 in income, which, with expenses of $23,500 has netted $38,500, which will be available for community grants.
The Ojai Education Foundation has three board members leaving after serving their six-year maximum consecutive terms - Dietrich Schmidt, Dr. Fauvre and Marty Babayco, who has served as chair for the past 5 years. New directors are returning veterans John Russell and Tony Thacher, with Suzanne Scar making her first appearance on the august body. Bill Hatch, Colin Jones, Jeff Loebl, Terry Twichell and Bill Prather round out the board, with ex-officio reps Bill Gilbreth, Mike Malone and Nathan Koehler filling out the roster.
The plan for 2017 is to give out from the endowment of $4.25 million (!) 21 scholarships of $3,000 each, and 4 scholarships of $2,000 each for two-year schools. The big, shiny prize this year is a four-year grant of $20,000 annually, $80,000 total, for the inaugural Wilson Family scholarship.
Youth Services:
In the absence of chair Kay Bliss due to a family emergency, caballero sin caballo Gilbreth presented the facts that the committee was coming off successful events last, including the continuing Career Day with Nordhoff seniors, and the debut Career Day with freshmen at Nordhoff.
Vocational Services:
Colin Jones gave a purposeful and heartfelt address on the state of the committee, which is meant to tap into the club’s resources of caring, competent professionals to provide guidance and mentorship for others.
The club sponsors Boy Scout Troop 504, and Jones announced that Johnny Johnston (former Eagle Scout) would be taking an active role as a liaison. Plans are also to continue the Portfolio project under new leadership since the driving force of the effort, Larry Beckett, is leaving the club (sad).
The big new effort was going to establish a program similar to the Simi Rotary clubs in which the club pairs up people (of all ages) who need either to find a job or get out of a dead-end job with skills training. This could be in numerous fields, such as nursing or welding, which lead to in-demand, high-paying, meaningful jobs. Some of these courses are very inexpensive, given the life-changing impact - $900 total for a two-three month program.
International Services
Chair Mike Weaver led us on a world tour with all the club’s projects, under the motto “If you can dream it, you can do it.” The Bosnia global grant of $70k which the club administers is going well. It supports an entrepreneurial effort in rural Bosnia to help a group of women grow, process and market sun-dried tomatoes. A group of club members met with the group this past year and our club flag flies proudly outside their offices.
The $77,000 Ghana Street Girls project is nearing completion, and the Drs. Skankey- and Gross-led medical mission to Roatan, Honduras continues. The club will also administer a district grant to a girls’ school in Prashanti, India to provide them with laptops. The Tibetan Aid mission, led by Nathan Koehler, also moves along. Planned projects include further global grants in Niger.
Club Services
The intrepid Matt Clements gave hearty shout-outs to all the hard-working people who keep the club’s engines purring, such as Finemaster Dr. Bruce Brockman; Patricia Anderson with programs; Mike Malone and Janet Campbell with Taste of Ojai. Party planners include Bob Davis, Betsy Watson, Judy Gabriel and Deirdre Daly.
Community Services
Nathan Kaehler ran down the long list of club projects, from the Community Grants administered by Betsy Watson, which gave out $23,500 to 22 local organizations; Dr. Fauvre’s Living Treasures and Fourth of July Freedom Run; a new program of $1,000 to Help of Ojai’s nutrition project; and our new program, the Matilija Junior High School Pavilion Project.
Membership
Betsy Watson said, "You can ask me questions about joining, leaves of absence, attendance, or our newest option: Family memberships! Right now we have 77 active members and 10 honorary members. Our membership committee does most of the work. Please join me in thanking them for their wisdom, experience and guidance: AL West, Jack Jacobs, Lerie Bjornstedt, Ian MacLean, Jenny Owen, Sandy Buechley, Dave Watson, Colin Jones and Marc Whitman. Family memberships are on the rise. If this is a fit for your family, let's talk about it!”
President-Elect
PE Mike Malone presented his slate, which takes office July 1, 2017:
Treasurer - Don Reed
Club Services - Betsy Watson
Community Services - Nathan Kaehler
International Services - Mike Weaver
Vocational Services - Colin Jones
Membership Chair - Marc Whitman
Editor - Dr. Carl Gross
Community Grants - Kay Bliss
Secretary - Michael Scar
… and … (drum roll) …
President-Elect-Nominee - Deirdre Daly!
With that recitation of deeds, the club was dismissed into the Ojai afternoon.
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