Our next meeting on January 26th will be held at Monte Vista School, 1220 4th Street and NOT at the Best Western Posada Royale!!!!! The starting time will still be 7:00 AM. See you all there!
January 19, 2023
2022 - 2023 Rotary Theme
President Laura welcomed Guests and Members to the meeting.
Laura then relayed a recent event that she wanted to share with us. She had received an email from the Rotary Action Group for Peace asking if we were a PeaceBuilder Club. This person was based in London. Laura responded and said we were and gave them our PeaceBuilder committee member's names (John Baxter, Eric Kaufman, Cindy Jacoby, John Tolson, Larry Borovay and Daniel Jordan). After thinking about it, Laura then sent a follow up email letting them know that we are also an International City of Peace and, as part of that, we were sponsoring a Peace Project with the placement of the painted rocks at Corriganville. This London-based person was very interested in hearing more and in the course of that exchange Laura mentioned the YES! program. The YES! program really got this person's attention saying it was fantastic, especially in light of the fact that Rotary was in need of more programs for youth in general. A call has been arranged between London and Laura and Dorina Timbol to further discuss YES!. And out of all of that, our Club's PeaceBuilder program will be highlighted in a world-wide Bulletin that will go out to over 100,000 people!
In regard to YES!, there will be a planning meeting at 3:00 PM on Thursday, February 16th at the Simi Valley Police station. The meeting will include law enforcement, school administrators, and Rotarians. All Club members are invited.
Laura ended by thanking Cindy Jacoby for all of her help and support in the creation and distribution of all of the flyers we receive.
Please be sure to download the ClubRunner App. It provides access to everything Rotary and is extremely helpful in keeping up with what's going on with the Club and contacting other Club members. A link to the App is provided at the end of this Bulletin.
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Bob Bibb lead the Invocation this morning with a great tribute to President Ronald Reagan.
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Flag Salute
Corey Baker lead us in Saluting our Flag this morning, a Flag that represents the greatest nation on earth.
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Vince Dulcich welcomed our Guests this morning and we had quite a few. They included Ms. Teresa Koep (with Simi Sunset Rotary), Ms. Paula Miller (with Simi Sunset Rotary), Ms. Samantha Jordan (Daniel's daughter visiting from Cal State San Marcos), Mr. Amar Nadig (a Special Guest of Arun Sharma), Ms. Penny Jordan (a Special Guest of Jake Finch), Ms. Flo Trapani (with the City Chamber of Commerce), and Mr. Todd Johnson (with the City Chamber of Commerce).
Teresa Koep, left and Paula Miller
Samantha Jordan with Daniel
Amar Nadig, left with Bob Bibb. Not sure how Bob got into the picture.....
Penny Jordan
Todd Johnson and Flo Trapani
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Deb Davila, right, here with Cindy Jacoby, was our Greeter this morning.
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John Baxter talked further about Simi Valley being designated an International City of Peace. Below are some slides he shared with us explaining what the Mission and Vision of a City of Peace is. John feels that our designation will be the spark that ignites the desire for other Southern California cities to also seek this designation.
Laura mentioned that she received a call from Art Fisher, the Peace Director for District 5240 saying that he had heard about our designation and wanted to know how it was achieved. He wants to share the International Cities of Peace website with the District. Art ended the conversation by saying that our Club was HOT!
Here's a link to the official announcement. Our portion of the website will be finalized on Monday, January 23rd.
SIMI VALLEY, CALIFORNIA, UNITED STATES: INTERNATIONAL CITY OF PEACE
We welcome Laura Berger and John Baxter as well as the citizens of Simi Valley, California in the United States as they establish their town as an International City of Peace. The City is 40 miles from downtown Los Angeles and home of the Ronald Regan Presidential Library. Their challenges as well as their vision, mission and goals for furthering a Culture of Peace in their community are below.
John Baxter
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Kailey Craig announced that our Family of Rotary event on February 11th has been POSTPONED! The good news is that it has been RESCHEDULED to Saturday, April 22nd. It will be a Potluck Dinner at the Berger's with more details to follow. So SAVE THE DATE for Saturday, April 22nd.
Dorina Timbol and Anni Sumby announced a Fundraiser for the Club to be held at The Junkyard.Dorina and Anni have put an interesting twist on Karaoke calling it KareYucky where you can pay your way out of having to sing. It will be held in the Junkyard's Garage with a Speakeasy twist meaning you will need a password for access and only 50 participants can attend. SAVE THE DATE for February 4th. They are hoping to raise $5,000 and are looking for four $500 sponsors. They have Bill Klepper and GigabitNow (Thank You Alyssa Potter!) lined up as sponsors so far.
Here's a link to the website to sign up for reservations. Thank You Eric Kaufman for putting the website up!
And apologies to Steve P. It's not Shania Twain he likes to sing to, it is anything that Brittany Spears has done. Also, rumor has it that Corey Baker is putting his Boy Band back together again and will be starting his worldwide tour at this event, a Must See (and Hear).
Anni, left, Eric and Dorina
Larry Borovay gave us an update on the Ensenada Cruise. He has 22 people signed up so far so please let him know if you're interested.
Following is an email from Larry's contact and some details from Larry.
Email from Larry's contact:
I have a group set up for the March 17-19 weekend. Pricing for a category 8D balcony based upon double occupancy is as follows:
Cruise - including taxes and fees: $516.20 per person.
Insurance - $65 per person.
If it is one person in the room, the rate would be $104.20 less. Additionally, I will add $25/stateroom onboard credit.
Note that this is the most that a person would pay for the cruise for that category stateroom. When someone commits, I price the room out with the current promotion to see if there is a better rate, and we can apply that. If they want a different category, then we can price that out, too, at the current rate. For example, today the rate would be $33/person less. Insurance is based upon the cruise rate and could vary too.
Here is the kicker - in order to be sure that you have these staterooms held in the group, we need names and deposits by DECEMBER 14, 2022. The deposit of $50/person is nonrefundable. The final payment is due January 2, 2022.
A note from Larry:
Our goal is to have lunch with some of the Rotary Members (Club Rotario Ensenada Centenaria) and to visit one of their projects.
We will be boarding the "Carnival Radiance" on Friday March 17th at 5:00 pm in Long Beach and will be at sea on Saturday, March 17th.On Sunday, March 18th we will arrive in Ensenada at 8:00 am and will depart at 5:00 pm. We will arrive back in Long Beach on Monday, March 19th at 7:00 am.
Larry Borovay
Remember that we will be placing the Simi Smiles rocks at Corriganville on January 21st at 10:00 AM. The exact location of the placement is still being discussed but SAVE THE DATE for this fun event.
This is a 60 pound+ rock about 20 inches long that Sophie Klepper painted. We'll need help placing this one!
Here are 140 of the over 400 rocks that will be placed.
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No wedding anniversaries this week.
No Club anniversaries this week.
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“The most worthwhile thing is to try to put happiness into the lives of others.”
– Sir Robert Baden-Powell
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Jake Finch previously gave us an update on the Gift Card program she initiated with the Club last March. These were the Gift Cards that were donated to help Simi Valley school kids and their families in need. Jake gave us some stark statistics. She said that there are 214 children in K-12 that are homeless here in Simi with 58 of those in High School. In addition, there are 63 Foster Children, 27 of whom are in High School.
The good news is that, since last March, 115 Gift Cards have been donated totaling $4,875 with $1,850 of that being disbursed to those in need. Over $3,000 of that amount was from our Club alone! Our Club is AWSOME!
More help is always appreciated Jake said and that while Gift Cards to Kohls and Target are helpful, she said that she's also looking for Gift Cards to stores like Aldi and Smart & Final as well.
Annika Sumby, Executive Director of The Samaritan Center of Simi Valley, talked to us this morning about the homeless census count that will be conducted nationwide on Tuesday, January 24th. This effort helps to
obtain a snapshot census of people experiencing homelessness in Ventura
County and allows our community to gain access to state and federal funding.
Volunteers canvass the community in pairs and collect survey data by
interviewing homeless persons. A smart phone or device will be needed to
access the online survey. Volunteers must be 18 years or older and have
the ability to walk distances in designated locations. Your
participation is welcomed. Please visit www.volunteerventuracounty.org to learn more and to volunteer to assist.
Bill Klepper asked that this flyer be posted. See Bill for details. His email is:
Please note that two of the honorees and the EMCEE are Club members!
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Anni Sumby, Executive Director of The Samaritan Center of Simi Valley, gave us an overview of the Samaritan Center this morning. She emphasized that it's not a shelter and that their goal is get people housed and fed. Food is distributed every Tuesday and Thursday at 10:00 AM and they arrange for night time shelter in the winter with various churches in the area. She said the volunteers were amazing at the Center and shared some volunteer hours along with other information in the slides above.
She ended by reminding us that the county is still in need of volunteers to count the homeless in Simi. If you are interested, please meet at the Center this coming Tuesday, January 24th.
Nazlin Kanji, left, talked to us about SCORE, a wonderful organization that assists entrepreneurs is setting up and running businesses. The slides above that she reviewed gave us all a very thorough understanding of what SCORE is all about. An interesting point she brought out was that 70% of their clients are women.
When the secretary adds a new member to our roster, you will receive an automatic email that gives you your login ID and a temporary password so that you can access the web site (ClubRunner). This gives you the opportunity to upload a photo and enter a permanent password. You can go to the public portion of our website (no login required) and see the calendar, list of officers, birthdays, past bulletins, etc. The link to the public portion of our website is:
There is a phone app that can be downloaded to your phone; everyone should have that app on their phones. You will have to download the app and then log in the first time. After that, the login portion is not required.
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Please remember to bring a friend or an acquaintance to our next meeting. This is a GREAT way to grow our membership!
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Our next meeting will be held at Monte Vista School, 1220 4th Street and NOT at the Best Western Posada Royale!!!!! The starting time will still be 7:00 AM. See you all there!
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