In the Beginning…
Under cerulean skies, Rotarians and Guests assembled and were called to order by President Wendy.
Jack Jacobs led the Pledge of Allegiance and Kelley Rasmussen gave the Inspirational Moment:
Spring Equinox 2025:
Thursday (March 20) marks the start of the spring season for the Northern Hemisphere and fall in the Southern Hemisphere, with the arrival of the vernal equinox.
What are equinoxes?
During the vernal, or spring equinox, the amount of daylight and darkness is nearly the same in length. (The word equinox comes from the Latin “aequus,” meaning equal, and “nox,” meaning night.)
On this day, the sun appears directly above the Equator at noon.
Equinoxes occur twice a year, in March and in September, and are the only times when both poles are sunlit at the same time.
What happens to Earth on an equinox day?
Equinoxes reflect the time of the year when the day and night are of equal length.
On all other days, the Earth’s axis is tilted either towards or away from the sun. This impacts how the light and the warmth of the sun are distributed across the hemispheres.
During the equinox, the Earth’s axis and orbit align just so that both hemispheres obtain an equal amount of sunlight.
The Earth tilts at an angle of 23.5 degrees on its axis relative to its plane of orbit around the sun. As the Earth orbits the sun over the course of a year, different places get sunlight for different amounts of time.
An equinox occurs at the moment when the Earth’s axis doesn’t tilt toward or away from the sun. Someone standing on the equator on an equinox can observe the sun passing directly overhead. Additionally, equinoxes are the only two times a year that the sun rises due east and sets due west.
For centuries, people have celebrated the vernal equinox. At the ruins of Chichen Itza, the ancient Maya city in Mexico, crowds now gather on the spring (and fall) equinox to watch as the afternoon sun creates shadows that resemble a snake moving along the stairs of the 79-foot-tall Pyramid of Kukulkan, also called El Castillo.
On the spring equinox, the snake descends the pyramid until it merges with a large, serpent head sculpture at the base of the structure. While the Maya were skilled astronomers, it’s unknown whether they specifically designed the pyramid to align with the equinox and create this visual effect.
After a sumptuous repast of fettucine al fredo, the meeting was recalled to order.
Visiting Rotarians and Guests—Welcome to all!!
Bruce Boushe
Tracey Tarlow
Larry Kennedy
Rob Smith
Mia Smith
Former DG, Jack McClenahan from Ojai Rotary West.
Thank-Yous to…
Many thanks for the hours of service to the Club.
Setup and Tech Crew—Bill Prather and Kelley Rasmussen.
Greeter—Rod Owens
Flag Salute—Jack Jacobs
Inspirational Moment—Kelley Rasmussen
Fining—Bob Eisler
Roving Mic—Sue Gilbreth
Reminder Newsletter Editor—Carl Gross
Food Service—Jayne Cruise
Announcements
Bob Eisler announced the Portfolio Review Day will be 8:30 to 10:30 AM on Thursday, 1 May and Friday, 2 May at the NHS Grynmanisium. Still needs two volunteers on Thursday and one on Friday.
Bob also announced that nominations for the Fred Clapp Award will end March 31st. Candidates are local non-Rotarians who exemplify the ideals of Rotary.
Dave Watson announced the scholarship awards day will be May 16th.
Living Treasures nominations for 2025 will end March 29th. To vote, go to the Treasures website at RCOLT.org and vote or written forms are available.
We need volunteers for the July 4th fun run. Please let Taundra Roddick or Sue Gilbreth know if you can participate.
Remember, this next Friday is our Social at Ojai Roots starting at 5 PM. New chef, good reviews on the food.
Upcoming Programs…
April 6th—Lanny Kaufer on Social Justice
April 11th—Past-President Kay Bliss will present the NHS Interact Club and the LIVE Club Bake sale Auction.
April 18th—Shauna Mistrell on Emerging Visionaries
April 25th—Arbor Day. Off-site. TBA
May 10th—Shred and E-Waste Day
June 26h—Demotion Party at Boccali’s
Museum Moment
President Wendy presented examples of Samplers and sewing. The Ojai Museum has a new exhibit of fiber art.
Fining—Bob Eisler
Larry Beckett and Judie announced 66 years of wedded bliss.
Fining dealt wth front page news articles.
A fine time was had by all.
Deirdre Daly introduced our speaker, Nan Drake.
Public Relations and Governmental Affairs, Harrison Industries
Nan was born in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and raised in Long Beach, California. She moved to Ventura in the mid-’70s and quickly became active in the community. In 1982, she was named president of the Assistance League of Ventura County. She was then elected to the Ventura City Council in 1984, and she also sat on the board of the Ventura Regional Sanitation District, which owns and operates the Toland Road Landfill in the Santa Clara Valley.
Appointed in 1985 by former California Gov. George Deukmejian to the Los Angeles Regional Water Quality Control Board and became chair. She was also appointed to the California Integrated Waste Management Board in 1989 and worked to establish programs to implement AB 939 and also was honored to chair the meeting that permitted Gold Coast Recycling to become a MRF.
After returning to Ventura she founded Nan Drake and Associates, an environmental consulting firm, and worked with the Harrison on implementing AB 939 in all of its Cities and took part in the company’s initiation in 1993 of a three-barrel system – servicing trash, recycling and green waste and continues as their Director of Public Relations and Governmental Affairs. She remains a consultant to Harrison partner’s Gold Coast Recycling and Agromin. And is working diligently to implement educational programs about the benefits to the environment recycling food waste.
In her more than 40-year record of public service in Ventura County, Nan has served as chair of both the Ventura and Santa Paula chambers of commerce and as a member of the Carpinteria Chamber board. She also is a longtime board member of the Economic Development Collaborative's EDC and sits on the board of the Ventura County Economic Development Association (VCEDA) and was awarded the highest honor the Carl Lowthrop Leadership Award. She was also a board member of the Fillmore Association of Businesses.
In addition, she served on Ventura County’s Job Training Policy Council, Private Industry Council and Workforce Development Board, and she’s served on the advisory committee of the Ventura County Regional Energy Alliance. And a 2x President of the Assistance League of Ventura County,
Among her many honors, Nan has been a Top 50 Women in Business awardee for 13 consecutive years; the Ventura Chamber’s Citizen of the Year in 2017; and Livingston Memorial Foundation’s Mother of the Year in 2019. Nan is the proud mother of Peter A. Drake, a senior vice president of Bank of America in Los Angeles and the top producer in commercial real estate for the United States.
Nan holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in history and political science from California State University, Long Beach.
Ms. Drake spoke of the key legislation re: landfills and waste.
SB 1383, California's Short-Lived Climate Pollutant Reduction Strategy, aims to reduce organic waste disposal by 75% by 2025 and recover at least 20% of currently disposed edible food for human consumption by 2025.
The California Integrated Waste Management Act (AB 939, Sher, Chapter 1095, Statutes of 1989 as amended [IWMA]) made all California cities, counties, and approved regional solid waste management agencies responsible for enacting plans and implementing programs to divert 25% of their solid waste by 1995 and 50% by year.
She outlined the above legislation and the great job Harrison and Sons has done to work toward those goals.
She ran two videos about the existing waste management systems.
Service is Everything (from E. J. Harrison website)
Harrison Industries provides residential, commercial and industrial trash and recycling collection services to 90,000 customers in the cities of Ventura, Camarillo, Ojai, Fillmore and Carpinteria; unincorporated areas of Ventura County; and the Channel Islands Beach Community Services District.
Founded in Ventura in 1932, the company started with a single truck driven by E.J. Harrison, who hauled his Ventura neighbors’ trash to local dumps for 75 cents a load. His wife, Myra, helped to start and run the business, and it has remained a strong and thriving family enterprise. Today it is run by three generations of Harrisons, including E.J. and Myra’s sons: Myron and Jim.
With a singular commitment to customer service, Harrison in 2022 commemorated 90 years in business the same way it began – seeing to it that the people relying on our services are completely satisfied.
It has grown into a broad task. As the trash service industry has expanded and evolved over the decades, our services have likewise shifted to aim above all else toward recycling. Today, all of our services are focused on landfill diversion and environmental stewardship. All of our customers are now provided the opportunity to recycle over 20 different materials, including glass, metal, plastic and paper products as well as organic waste. In 2022, we launched an ambitious food waste recycling program for all of our customers, as part of a statewide mandate to reduce climate-damaging methane gas emissions at landfills.
Harrison Industries has been at the forefront of California’s recycling movement for the past three decades. Due in large measure to the unique partnerships Harrison has established with the Gold Coast Recycling & Transfer Station and Agromin, as well as with the cities and unincorporated areas it serves, all of our franchise clients are meeting the challenges of Senate Bill 1383 and other state legislation.
We continue to live by our motto of “Service is Everything” and by always “doing what’s right” – for the communities and customers we serve, for our employees and for our planet.
Nan, thank-you for a timely and informative talk.
Recommendations
Fern Barishman recommended Night Agent series on Netflix.
Tony Thacher recommended Rules of Civility, a book by Amor Towles
REMEMBER—NEXT FRIDAY IS AT OJAI ROOTS.
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