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In the beginning
Bill Prather started off the meeting with the following statistic “21 million Americans are afraid of Friday the 13th—but apparently no Rotarians !”
Bruce Hanson lead us in the Flag Salute
Fern Berishman shared the following Inspirational Moment by Mary Eilien Distin (2/9/24)- “You never really know the true impact you have on those around you. You never know how much someone needed the smile you gave them. You never know how much your kindness turned someone’s entire life around. You never know how much someone needed that long hug or deep talk. So don’t wait to be kind. Don’t wait for someone else to be kind first. Don’t wait for better circumstances or for someone to change. Just be kind, because you never know how much someone needs it.”
There were no visiting Rotarians today.
Clinton Haugan introduced Paul Jenkin as a guest, and recipient of the Bob Skankey Service Above Self award
Cathy Yee and Dierdre did set up
Sue Gilbraith gave out sweets for Valentines day
Cindy Frings and Christine Golden were greeters
Fining was done by Gary Liptak
Roving Mic was handled by Patricia Gates
Reminder Reporter was Renee Halbrook
Reminder Editor was Randy Roth
Al Wests needs support for Arbor Day. Potential volunteers should contact him soon.
There will soon be sign ups for 2 upcoming lunch mobs on 2/27 and 3/13 –to restaurants that support Taste of Ojai. Please sign up next week!
Bob Eisler – requests nominations be sent to him for the Fred Clapp ethical business award. The winner must be a non-Rotarian – they will have their photo in OVN and a receive a plaque.
Mock Interviews are coming up in April (need 42 volunteers)
Bret Bradigan shared some fun historical facts about Valentines Day:
3 valentines vignettes
Emperor Claudius II banned soldiers to get married. Brett quipped he was a soldier and they could never get dates anyway.
Valentine was awaiting execution, and somehow cured the jailer’s daughter of her blindness, and then he gave her a note “From your valentine” before his execution
Geoffrey Chaucher believed that 2/14 is when birds choose their mates.
Victorians started the tradition of letters, notes and valentines blessings. There used to be 2 types of valentines, the sweet love letters we are used to, and also “vinegar valentines” which included lists of things they didn’t like about a person. Both kinds of valentines were cut into heart shaped and then pinned on their jackets, which created the phrase “pin your heart on your sleeve”
When Jacques Van Dyke was president of Rotary he brought in a divorce attorney. Which is how Rotary celebrates Valentines Day
Clinton Haugan presented the Bob Skankey Humanitarian Award, which honors an Ojai Valley resident whose life reflects service to community. Bob finds the best in people and reflects it back to them.
Paul Jenken briefly worked as an engineer before dedicating his life to the Ventura Surfrider Foundation , an international environmental organization, as a campaign coordinator. The Surfrider Foundation supports local beaches, coasts and watersheds. He is a member of the Surfers Point working group . He also has worked hard on the Matilija Dam ecosystem watershed committee which is trying to remove the Matilija Dam in Ojai. He handed out new bumper stickers with the classic scissor artwork , to support removal of the Matilija dam.
Paul received a check for $2000 and a Paul Harris Fellow Pin.
Dave Watson encouraged greater participation in set up and take down for upcoming meetings
Katherine Lee encouraged everyone to donate blood at the van outside.
Leslie Bouche and Kay Bliss provided a quick update and slide show about their two week trip to India, including a slide show of the inauguration of the top floor of the Prashanti International School , and new diesel generator, in Puri India.
Kay Bliss told us of her work on the Odiyana Project based on 3 acres in Ruksin Arunacahal Pradesh which is on near the north Eastern border of India. The project targets Tibetan refugees in living India and includes building and reinforcing a medical building, temple, and library, and a diesel generator. She enjoyed participating in the Farmer’s New Year celebration. Unfortunately, due to some concern about bad press regarding misunderstandings with local law enforcement, the global partnership is currently on hold, and our Rotary club will be focused on smaller scale projects going forward. They would like help building public toilets.
Special thanks to David Watson as Tech Support
Gary Liptak lead us in fining :
confessions – Fern Berishman shared that 2/13/26 was the 41st anniversary of her being clean and sober
Kelly Rasmussen will become a grandmother in August
Bill donated $50 for so many people complimenting his shirt
Cindy Fringes introduced the speakers:
Richa Ahuja Badami was mentored by Leslie Boucher.
She was born 26 years after the partition Pakistan and India, which took place in 1947.
Her grandparents were part of one of the largest forced migrations in history. Due to the Religious Partition all Muslims were forced to move to Pakistan and all Hindus were forced to move to India. Many people died, and many more were uprooted. Her family lost all their land and most of their possessions and had to start over in India.
Her Grandmother was a great inspiration . She worked every morning and night as a headmistress and teacher, and a badass. She once walked to parliament and gave a petition to the prime minister . Richa had 2 brothers, one older and one younger. She met her husband when she was 4 years old, but it was not an arranged marriage. Richa was inspired by her mom, who worked as a Classical dancer, to have a career in the arts. Richa was a successful movie actress in India.
She has 3 daughters, Ananya who is a student at NYU , Ashe who attends Oak Grove School, and Renna who attends Vassar College.
Richa currently runs a local acting school for teenagers. She plans to pursue more fine art as time allows.
Joe Cesena – carpooled with Cindy Frings to 4 different schools in Ojai.
Joe was born and raised in Mexicali, Mexico across from Imperial County. He has 5 siblings .. His father was a US citizen who decided to bring his family across the border and raise them in the United States
His sisters currently live in Spain, Panama and Redondo beach.
Joe attended private catholic elementary school and then public middle and high school. He especially enjoyed learning about business development.
Joe was a good student, played all star baseball and was a good runner. He played high school baseball and basketball. Joe enjoyed business and history. In high school he worked as a sales clerk at Ace hardware.
Joe received a BA from SDSU in business administration and finance. He met Gabriele, his wife, through his sister Anabel. They were married within a year. After an 8 year honeymoon in south Pasadena, they had 3 boys
As their family grew, they looked for a larger home where they could raise their family and also do remote work.
They looked at several communities and finally landed on Ojai, after doing a driving trip here.
They moved to Ojai in 1999. Their children attended Monica Ros through Thacher and Villanova. Joe enjoyed coaching his children’s various sports teams.
His children attended Middlebury and Dennison colleges
Lucas lives in SF does AI infrastructure
Mias works in real estate
Mathias is a forestry technician
Gaby works as a real estate agent at Berkshire Hathoway.
Joe has expertise in manufacturing design, process, layout. He does business to business sales , and teaches trainings in smart products technology.
Joe loves camping at Jalama beach, trips to Germany, and the beautiful beaches of and Pura Vida of Costa Rica.
Joe is currently between jobs, and enjoys volunteering with the food pantry, doing food safety compliance, and office metrics.
Bill Prather ended the meeting with a quote from Charles Schultz:
“All you need is love but a little chocolate now and then doesn’t hurt”
