President Betsy Watson led the club with the flag salute and Marty led the invocation.
The meeting was called to order and President Watson thanked Sean McDermott for leading the Pledge of Allegiance, Mary Babayco for leading the invocation, Larry Wilde for Fining, Carl Gross as Photographer, Cindy Frings as Greeter, and Haady Lashkari as Reminder Editor.
Visiting Rotarians and Guests
Guests we
re welcomed: Theresa Bulk-Richards
On this date in history
On This Date…Feb 4, 2004, Mark Zuckerberg launched Facebook from his Harvard dormitory room. In 2020 FB had about 1.7 billion users/month and added over a billion in 2021!
Announcements:
This will be the last ZOOM only meeting. Next week’s meeting will be at Boccalli’s. We will be celebrating Tara Coble Majestic Vineyard at Boccali’s: $10 per lunch. The following week we will return to having meetings at the Acquinas Center.
Bob Skankey Humanitarian Award, Yolanda Flores
Yolanda Flores, Recipient of the Dr. Bob Skankey Humanitarian Award – 2022
The Rotary Club of Ojai’s Dr. Bob Skankey Humanitarian Award honors an Ojai Valley resident whose commitment to our community has had a positive impact on lives for many people, and who reflects values of service and goodwill. It honors “unsung heroes” who do things to make a difference for people in our Valley.
The award is named for Dr. Bob Skankey, a longtime member of our Rotary Club, who besides delivering most of the babies in Ojai Valley for decades, steadfastly encouraged youth through his volunteer activities in church, Boy Scouts and the community.
As a world citizen, Bob has improved women’s health in many developing countries, especially by creating a midwife training program in Niger that has significantly reduced maternal mortality among nomad women. Whether at home or abroad, Bob exhibits the same respect and courtesy to all people and shows genuine interest and enthusiasm about their lives. Bob finds the best in people and reflects it back to them, so they feel better about themselves and can be more positive towards the people around them.
This year’s recipient of the Dr. Bob Skankey Humanitarian Award is Yolanda Flores.
Yolanda is an outstanding advocate and leader in the Spanish-speaking community.
Yolanda worked with principal Javier Ramirez to form COPA, a parent education group for Spanish-speaking parents with kids in the Ojai Unified School District.
Before Covid, it met quarterly to provide education and information that will help parents navigate the system and help their kids succeed in school and in life.
Javier Ramirez was the first Bob Sankey Humanitarian Award recipient. When we spoke with Javier about Yolanda’s tireless involvement with COPA, he said she was absolutely the right person for the award. Mr. Ramirez referred Kay to Socorro Madrigal LCSW, a Spanish-speaking psychotherapist in Ojai, and Renee Mandala, the director at Secure Beginnings. Both had similar stories about how important Yolanda was in introducing Spanish-speaking participants to their programs.
Socorro described Yolanda as the "consummate advocate for the Spanish-speaking community." She is the “go to” person if someone needs housing, an advocate for Spanish-speaking parents needing to deal with the schools, find resources, etc. For five years Socorro and Yolanda have co-facilitated a Women’s Support Group for Spanish-speaking women who don’t have health insurance but need counseling. Yolanda recruits and reaches out to people in need. Socorro told Kay that if she were to stop practically any Spanish-speaking person in Ojai and asked them if they knew Yolanda Flores, they would tell her that she was the person who had helped someone they knew who needed help.
Yolanda was also instrumental in getting Spanish-speaking families to utilize the resources of Secure Beginnings, such as the Diaper Bank and other parenting-support programs. When in 2019, Yolanda was an active participant, natural leader and organizer who helped promote the program in the Spanish-speaking community. Once again, her natural leadership and organizational ability were invaluable in making this program a success.
For a few years Yolanda was an Honorary member of Rotary Club of Ojai after working tirelessly as a parent volunteer with Maggie Cerminaro to provide equipment for a physical fitness program at Matilija Junior High School. When Kay was Youth Services Director, she was on the youth services committee, and gave Kay invaluable feedback and energetically supported projects, so we know how persuasive and valuable she is as an advocate and an ally.
This is why we are so delighted that Rotary Club of Ojai has selected Yolanda Flores to receive the Dr. Bob Skankey Humanitarian Award this year.
Sue Gilbreth presented the award to Yolanda Flores.
Mike Weaver presented the RCOEF Annual Report (attached).
Tony Thacher honored Rotary Past President Roger Myers.
John Roger Myers
March 25, 1941 - January 18, 2022
Roger Myers grew up in Nebraska, where he attended a one-room schoolhouse and went on to become an honor student, winning the high school state championship in the 100 yard dash. He attended the University of Nebraska, where he played both offense and defense on the Cornhuskers’ football team. Upon graduation, he served a tour of duty in Vietnam, rising to the rank of Captain.
Anne and I were first introduced to Roger by his first wife, Joanie, at an Ojai Valley School alumni gathering in San Francisco where he was attending Hastings Law School while we were grad students at Cal Berkeley.
After passing the bar, they moved to Ojai and he served as a Deputy District Attorney in Ventura under the legendary Woody Deem who taught many young lawyers their courtroom craft.
In 1971, he and Monte Widders founded the law firm that still bears their names, and later Roger was elected as president of the Ventura County Bar Association, eventually receiving the Ben Nordman award for community service, the County bar association’s highest accolade.
Roger was dedicated to community service where his quiet demeanor and Midwest values came to the fore. He served on the Ojai Unified School Board, the City’s Parks and Recreation Board and many other local organizations.
He joined our Ojai Rotary Club in the early ‘70’s and served as our president in 1979-80. He wrote Anne and my first wills and honored me as a Paul Harris Fellow at his piratical themed Jolly Roger demotion party, put together by football rival members Cal Wadsworth (Ohio State) and Bill Pugh (Michigan). Aiming to please, we all admired the red Cornhusker toilet seat he had in his home, much to Joanie’s chagrin. Roger was part of the committee that put together our Rotary Club of Ojai Educational Scholarship Foundation. He edited and filed the Foundation’s By-laws and Articles of Incorporation.
When he moved to the beach in Ventura and married his second wife and colleague, Kathy Stone, he remained active in that community—helping to start a morning Rotary Club, founding two local banking institutions as well as Ventura County Stand Down which provides homeless veterans and their families with needed services. He and his associates were instrumental in helping many with their losses from the Thomas Fire.
Although most of you never got to know him, you should be proud to be part of an organization that has had forbearers of the stature of John Roger Myers.
Marty Babayco announced that he and Kay will continue to hold the Rotary Focus Groups. Please do sign up if you haven’t already.
Confessions & Fining:
Dr. Bob Skankey confessed he was celebrating his 91st Birthday!
Mike Weaver announced that his birthday is tomorrow.
Cheree Edwards announced the birth of her 1st grandchild, Karina
Larry Wilde went on to fine members on “meaningless trivia”.
Lori Hamor, is the Executive Director of Food for Thought Ojai since 2010 after working as both a Program Director and a Volunteer for the organization beginning in 2004.
Lori grew up in Ventura County and returned with her family to move to Ojai in 2000.
Lori is dedicated to recognizing the people who grow our food and to passing those lessons down to each generation. Lori and her husband Grady have two daughters who attended Ojai Unified from K-12. One daughter is an undergrad at UC Berkeley and their older daughter is a 2L at UC Davis School of Law.
In addition to Food for Thought, Lori has served on Meiners Oaks School PTA, Nordhoff Parent Association and Ojai Unified's Guiding Coalitions for both Environmental Stewardship and Diversity, Equity and Inclusion.
Food for Thought (FFT) was organized by a group of concerned parents, educators and growers who first came together in the spring of 2002 to improve the nutritional status and food awareness of children in the Ojai Unified School District (OUSD).With the help of our committed staff, board, volunteers and donors, our program has helped to raise awareness of the importance of healthy childhood nutritional practices, and the integral role of agriculture in our community, encouraging students to reconnect to the land and environment that sustains them.
FFT has developed five inter-related program components with associated curricula that integrate California State Academic Standards. These program components are: 1) nutrition education, 2) garden-based learning, 3) agricultural literacy through farm field trips, and 4) advocating for fresh, local, seasonal produce in all school meals. The fifth and newest component, the “5Rs” (reduce, reuse, recycle, rot and rethink!) focuses on minimizing the ecological footprint of the OUSD by minimizing landfill waste, reducing use of toxic chemicals, efforts to conserve energy and water and paper and other resources.
FFT also conducts a number of free community events, including “Films for Thought”, a series of films on sustainable agriculture, food, and environmental concerns. FFT’s comprehensive program was the fourth farm-to-school program to develop in California, was one of the first to be listed as part of Slow Food USA’s “Slow Food in Schools” program and handbook, andhas served as a model for a number of other school districts. There are now hundreds of similarprograms across the United States.
In 2006, FFT became a registered 501(c)3 nonprofit organization. The combined skills and expertise of its current Board of Directors includes farming, environmental science, education, nutrition, accounting, business, medicine, gardening, and law. To sustain our efforts, FFT relies on foundation grants, fundraising events, and individual contributions in addition to the dedication of our board, staff and volunteers.
Closing Quote/Final Thoughts:
President Watson ended the meeting with a quote:
“You are what you eat, so don't be fast, cheap, easy, or fake.”
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