Patricia Anderson served as greeter.
Past President Cheree Edwards (subbing for President Michael Scar) opened the Zoom meeting at 12:10 with a warm welcome.
Don Reed gave the Pledge of Allegiance.
Mike Weaver gave the invocation, sharing a poem by Wendell Berry where the poet seeks the solace of nature and feelings of peace and freedom are experienced and articulated:
The Peace of Wild Things
When despair for the world grows in me
and I wake in the night at the least sound
in fear of what my life and my children’s lives may be,
I go and lie down where the wood drake
rests in his beauty on the water, and the great heron feeds.
I come into the peace of wild things
who do not tax their lives with forethought
of grief. I come into the presence of still water.
And I feel above me the day-blind stars
waiting with their light. For a time
I rest in the grace of the world, and am free.
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Cheree thanked all those contributing to the meeting.
Guests: Bob Skankey, Miriam St. James, Stella Day
Therese Brown described upcoming programs:
On Dec 18, Sean Reed will present the Nordhoff HS LIVE Club. We will be dark on Dec 15 and Jan 1.
Announcements
Mike Weaver announced that two students will be recognized by their teachers and school as having met the 4-Way Test and will be our Peace Ambassadors.
Don Reed announced the Bill Weirick and Jack Jacobs will join the Education Foundation.
Kathy Yee welcomed any interested walkers to join the walking group on Wednesdays & Sundays
Nathan Kahler urged everyone to make their contributions to the Rotary Foundation this month if they have not already done so.
Catherine Lee asked members to make donations to the “Adopt-A-Senior” program—HELP of Ojai suggest gifts gifts cards from grocery stores or Trader Joe’s that may be brought to the OVUSD office.
December Membership Minute
The Membership Committee asked the following question ... What led you to Rotary and why did you decide to join?
Frank Finck: I had not been in Ojai longer than a week when Nic Frank and Sheila Cluff started to pitch Rotary to me. I was not familiar with it at all. My over-riding interest in youth education led me to join under the sponsorship of Sheila.
Member of RCO since 1996
Ren Adam: I wa
s led to Rotary in Lompoc, back in the mid-70s, primarily because a lot of the businessmen I worked with at my newspaper were Rotarians, and I liked them and how they did their business. In addition, being a Lompoc native, I knew many of the Rotarians through my life experiences with them, which was also a major attractor. Rotary was men only at that time, which was kind of a drag, as I found myself embarking on bachelorhood. On the other hand, the Lompoc Club meetings were at night (6:30 to 8), after which many of us played poker, or visited. My experience in Lompoc Rotary led me to join three subsequent clubs ... Breckenridge (CO), Leavenworth (WA), and finally Ojai. Each has been a fulfilling and rewarding experience.
Member of RCO since 2007
Dr. Fred Fauvre: When I got to town my neighbor, Dr. Richard Booth, took me to a meeting and shortly after that asked me to join. This was a chance for me to meet other professionals in town, and hopefully spread the word that I was a new doctor in town and available to see new patients. All the people I met there were very respectable and seemed important and I joined up at first opportunity. I'm very glad I did.
Member of RCO since 1976
Cindy Frings: What led me to Rotary was the recommendations of friends, Frank Finck and Janet Mahon. I was involved for many years in the Ojai Art Center, volunteer, board member, Art in the Park chair for 20 years and board president as well as the various school events that I helped with while my sons were in school. My kids grew up and my last event was the Villanova golf tournament which I chaired for 4 years. I left the Art Center a few years ago and took a break because I was traveling so much for work. I missed community involvement and decided to give Rotary a try… I haven’t regretted it.
Member of RCO since 2019
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Ojai Rotary Humor
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Confessions and Fining
Greg Webster had a fun and great confessions and fining session! He added to our club coffers as many tried to outwit him…in the words attributed to the great Joe Lewis, “You can run, but you can’t hide…”
Today’s Program
Diane Soini--Hiking the Sierra Crest Trail
Diane was born and raised in Santa Barbara and grew up hiking the local trails.
She has backpacked all over the place, including the Los Padres National Forest, the Sierras, the Pacific Crest Trail from Mexico to Canada, the Wind River Range in Wyoming, a section of the Continental Divide Trail traversing Glacier National Park, and the Khumbu Trek in Nepal. She runs the website Santa Barbara Hikes and she also plays fiddle and mandolin with the Glendessary Jam and manages the Glendessary Jam website.
Diane was 44 when she invented the route through the Los Padres National Forest from Santa Barbara to the Pacific Crest trail, and then she hiked it. She returned to hike it ten years later.
She explained that to hike a long-distance trail like the PCT, you need to carefully plan logistics—you must have a good list of towns along the way and know what a amenities they have, and then need to pack and send yourself resupply boxes along the way to post office boxes.
She learned how to dehydrate her own food, and learned how to put together the best gear, sometimes creating her own.
To document her journey, she took pictures and films, created journals, and combined them into YouTube videos.
For Diane, the personal value of hiking is that she feels adventurous and independent—a full and complete person who gets to make all her own choices and follow her own intuition.
Thank you, Diane, for sharing your amazing adventures with us!
Adjournment
Past President Cheree Edwards ended the meeting at approximately 1 pm and will look forward to seeing all next week for the final meeting of 2020!
