Patricia Teague-Anderson greeted everyone as they arrived online. She encouraged Rotarians to share their childhood summer stories, especially of summer camps. It was a great way to start the new Rotary year.
This was the first meeting of President Michael Scar who did a great job.
Jack Jacobs lead the Pledge of Allegiance
.
The invocation was by Suzanne Scar.
Thank you to them both, and to Tara Saylor for facilitating the Zoom meeting and to Wendy Barker for being this week’s Reminder reporter.
Guests
Greg Webster had a guest, his insurance agent
Candice.
Fining and Confessions
Ren Adam got things rolling with confessions. He collected from Greg Webster who admitted to road rage.
Larry Beckett and Ren Adam had connections with Dewees family.
We are happy for Nathan Kaehler, Patricia Teague-Anderson, and Sid Cohn for off spring graduating or doing well in other ways.
We cheered for Colin Jones who organized a quick parade on July 3rd.
Bret Bradigan whose podcasts are doing great, most recent of which is an interview with Eric Goode, creator of Tiger King (Netflix). To access his podcasts,
click here or download on your phones.
Announcements
There was only one announcement, by Sue Gilbreth. She is working on 5th Friday it sounds wonderful. On July 31st there will be a drive in movie at Nordhoff High School. It’s $25 per car. The gate opens at 7:30pm with 2019’s Peanut Butter Falcon playing at 8:30pm. More information will be forthcoming.
Message from our District Governor, Deb Linden
Welcome to Rotary Year 2020-2021! The new year is certainly starting out differently than any of us could have imagined. You, our District 5240 members, have faced challenges and hardships that changed the very way we have been doing business. You have created new ways to serve your communities and to come together as clubs. I believe this experience will forever change the way we live Rotary.
2020-2021 Rotary International
President Holger Knaack’s theme this year is
Rotary Opens Opportunities. He selected this theme long before the COVID-19 pandemic, but it is so appropriate now. We have the opportunity to re-examine and re-create how our clubs operate, how we do our fundraisers, how we serve our communities, and how we engage our current and future members. Please take a few minutes to views this short (4 minutes) video message for our clubs from RI President Holger:
Holger Message to Clubs
As we begin this new year, our focus will be on:
- Growing Rotary, including:
- Expanding our membership by starting new, innovative clubs
- Making sure we are taking care of and retaining our club members.
- Encouraging clubs to attract and retain members through service projects, large and small.
- Click HERE to review the new 3-year District 5240 Membership Plan.
- Supporting The Rotary Foundation - OUR Foundation - including:
- Finishing the fight against Polio by organizing fundraising events and awareness campaigns for the Rotary Polio Plus fund. Click HERE to read how the COVID-19 pandemic has impacted Rotary’s Polio efforts.
- Encouraging donations to The Rotary Foundation (Polio, Disaster Fund, Annual Fund) with the $52.40 Challenge (more info on this in August).
- Supporting Rotary’s Peace efforts through the Peacebuilder club and Peace Scholar programs.
- Enhancing our Rotary Brand, including:
- Focusing on our member and visitor experience at our club meetings so everyone feels welcome, valued, and engaged.
- Branding our Rotary efforts through media presence, social media, signage, and other creative ways to raise awareness about Rotary.
- Enhancing our community impact by branding our community service projects. Click HERE to learn about public image grants available through the District Charitable Foundation.
As we continue the important work of Rotary, every Rotarian in every club must make sure we hold the basic tenants of Rotary in our hearts and reflect them in our actions. We need to consider how we conduct ourselves in our clubs and in every aspect of our lives. Rotary recently released a powerful statement which applies to all of us:
The Program: Club Assembly
Then it was on to our Club Assembly. Bret Bradigan, chair of Vocational Services started off. It is a very busy Avenue of Service working on grants, Rotary Readers (more volunteers needed!), Living Treasures, Rotary Work Day, Arbor Day, Fit Kids Ojai, Martine Luther King Jr. Day in Libbey Park and the Adopt a Senior holiday program.
Tara Saylor chairs Vocational Services. Ongoing projects include the Fred Clapp Business award, Matilija Folder Project, and helping our local Boy Scouts. She has plans for three new projects too. A community wide mentoring program to be developed this year, a Rotaract Club at Cal State Channel Islands, and a workshop series in several areas including financial literacy for high school students, small business development, and regenerative tourism.
International Services is chaired by Leslie Bouche. We are sponsoring major projects in three countries this year. In Niger, working with the Nomad Foundation, our projects are to supply school desks and benches, and midwife training. India’s Preshanti International School is in need of emergency food distribution as well as more desks and benches to cope with COVID19. Our newest project is a district grant in Ghana to help young moms with housing and vocational training.
Michael Weaver is the new chair of our Peace Committee. They work with many of the other Avenues of Service, award two student awards per month during the school year highlighting restorative justice, and educate Rotarians about peace here and abroad.
Jack Jacobs chairs our Membership committee. He reminded us it’s the biggest committee in the club because we are all members of it, and should all consider who we can welcome into Rotary. We especially need energetic new members. It will be a challenge due to the pandemic. Another thing the Membership committee does is take care of existing members.
Club Service is in Betsy Watson’s hands. Fellowship is key to club. This committee includes the Reminder editors, Fining, Taste of Ojai, 5th Friday, PR and the Family of Rotary. Please let Betsy know if you’d like to be a greeter, pledger, or invocator.
New Treasurer Deidre Daly let us know that we can begin using PayPal on the club’s website very soon. We can use it to pay our dues or fines.
Last but not least, Suzanne Scar is our Secretary. She’s served in this capacity twice before but lots of things have changed. Weekly attendance is just one of her many duties.
President Michael seems to be settling in just fine to his new job, with the new normal. He mentioned that our meeting today was a good glimpse at what we do. Going forward he will really try to keep meetings to one hour. We are a vibrant club with lots of things to accomplish.
Final Thoughts...
He ended the meeting with a statement by Norman Vincent Peale:
The life of inner peace, being harmonious and without stress, is the easiest type of existence.
