In the beginning…
Deirdre Daly served as greeter.
President Michael Scar opened the Zoom meeting at 12:10 p.m. with a warm welcome.
Janet Campbell gave the Pledge of Allegiance.
Tony Thacher gave the invocation sharing a poem about peace written by Mason, age 8, from Oakemos, Michigan:
Peace smells like a fresh apple pie,
hot from the oven
Peace tastes like ice cream in your mouth,
creamy and cold
Peace looks like people working hard
Peace feels like fluffy cat fur
Peace sounds like crickets chirping
Peace
Michael thanked all those contributing to the meeting.
Guests: Bob Skankey
Therese Brown described upcoming programs.
Mr. Rotary, Bob Davis sported his chapeau from the back porch.
The Three Amigas
The Zoom Room...
Announcements
Membership meeting after today’s Zoom meeting
Members are invited to the next Education Foundation meeting Dec. 9 at 1:15 pm. Note the new time.
Cindy Frings reminded member of upcoming December birthdays, Suzanne Scar, Ren Adams and Dave Watson
Message from Lisa and Heather at Porch Gallery. They are giving the proceeds from two of the items they are selling in their gift shop – a glass and T-shirt - to our Rotary Club. See the galleries’
website for purchase details.
Catherine Lee reported on the Adopt A Senior program. Two gentlemen and four ladies are in need. She has specifics. Help of Ojai suggests gift cards from grocery stores or Trader Joes. She will send out list. Meet next Friday in OVUSD office to wrap and deliver.
Tiffany Morse made members aware of a holiday tree they have for needy families with children in OVUSD. They are requesting gift cards of any amount by December 14
th. Over 100 families have reached out for holiday assistance.
Membership Minute Question and Answers
December's 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 was 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 lead 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
Confessions and Fining
Cindy Frings conducted a Jeopardy game. The topic was our Rotary Club’s presidents.
Confessions: None
The contest had three contestants: Christine Golden, Bret Bradigan, and Cathy Yee. There will be three rounds with three questions. $10 for each question missed.
What president supported women entering the Club? – Tony Thacher
Who was the first female member of our Club? – Thea Bell
Which Rotary President is a direct descendant of Pocahontas? – Cheree Edwards
Which past president did an Irish jig with Dierdre Daly – Bill Prather
A very naughty past president in summer of 1959 ran beer into the dry counties of Birmingham. Who was it? – Bill Gilbreth
Which past president incorporated the aqua bowl into meetings to fund social events? – Suzanne Scar
Which past president opened the meeting with “Welcome to the Rotary Club of Ojai. The best Rotary Club I know”? – Deirdre Daly
Which past president had the third most profitable Taste of Ojai? – Michael Scar
Which family has the most presidents? – The Jacobs family
The tie breaking question: Bret appeared on Jeopardy. Came in 8th out of 150. On the day of filming Alex Trebek had just survived a near fatal car accident. What were the accident details? Pick up truck near Paso Robles.
Winner with the most right answers: Cathy Yee. Bret made the point that the Club is actually the winner.
Today’s Program
Renee Mandala, Exe
cutive Director Secure Beginnings.
Secure Beginnings supports local families with very young children through the pandemic and beyond with the following programs:
Abriendo Puertas
Free Diaper Bank
New Class Offerings
Ani-Bias/Anit-Racisom Initiative
Nan Tolbert started the organization in 2000. It reopened in 2007 as the Nan Tolbert Nurturing Center. Last year they rebranded to Secure Beginnings.
Research shows that positive early intervention makes a huge difference in readiness for learning. The early years are the time when a healthy sense of self is developed.
Abriendo Puertas – 10-week program for Latino families. Provides a full childcare program. Food also provided. Mariachi band came for graduation. Created a partnership with Ojai Unified. Hope to run program again in the Spring. Zoom is hard for parents of small children. Hope to do in person.
Renee cited a study from the University of Oregon concerning what is going on with families due to COVID. The study showed that when a family is stressed about meeting basic needs, the children have correlating emotional distress which affects socio-emotional development.
Free Diaper Bank - funded by Rotary Club. 700% increase since COVID. Board member have rented truck. Deirdre and Cindy in picture helping to unload diapers. Recently moved to the OVUSD office. Big shout out to Ojai Unified for partnership. Many need food as well. Those in need can come twice a month and get one pack of diaper and one pack of wipes per child in diapers. The program is in a drive through format now. Families arrive continually for about two hours. 52% from Ojai. The rest from outside the area – Ventura, Oxnard, Santa Paula. 138 children are served.
New Class Offerings – Families don’t like Zoom. They have opened up outdoor classes. Ran 4-week group at Foster Park. Picture of Adrien – early childhood educator. Helps parents see and understand children. Has a background in anti-bias work. Pictured sharing music in multiple languages.
Anti-Bias/Anti-Racism Initiative – Funded by the Ojai Women’s Fund. Early Childhood Education Pilot. Children are never too young to talk about race. Develop biases by age 3-5. Will be selecting a curriculum. Selecting several schools for the pilot.
Renee ended her presentation with a deep gratitude for the Club’s support over the years.
Adjournment:
President Michael Scar ended the meeting at 1 pm with a quote:
“There is a huge amount of freedom that comes from not taking anything
personally”.
