President Laura welcomed Club Members, Zoom participants and Guests.
Laura then gave us an update on the status of the Peace initiative she's been coordinating. She spoke with a Dr. Vicky Radal who is a conflict resolution specialist steeped in Peace activities and who helped the City of Los Angeles become an International City of Peace in 2014. She was a speaker at the 2020 Peace conference and is a Redondo Beach Rotarian Woman of the Year. Dr. Radal leads a team of 18 people who do presentations regarding Peace Initiatives and has agreed to participate in the upcoming program Laura is coordinating with Alison Sutherland. If you recall, this program involves getting high school students from Simi Valley interacting with high school students from Wales (Alison's part) and discussing sensitive teen subjects.
Dr. Radal's program is along the lines of the Dale Carnegie course, “How to Win Friends and Influence People”. One of the core ideas of Dale Carnegie is that it is possible to change other people's behavior by changing one's behavior towards them. Dr. Radal's team will provide a 90 minute presentation regarding the Pillars of Peace and how peace can be measurable: the economics of Peace. The title of her presentation is "Peace Language for Discussion on Delicate Topics and will part of the Wales/Simi Valley interaction. This is being planned for June 3rd from 9 AM to 10:30 AM. More details to follow.
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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Steve Munday lead the Invocation this morning with a parable about the uniqueness of each one of us and what we individually contribute to society. Well said Steve!
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Flag Salute
Josh Persky, left, lead us in Saluting our Flag this morning, a Flag that represents the greatest nation on earth.
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Alyssa Potter welcomed our Guests this morning, including Ms. Chisako Liebich, Mrs. Linda Martel (wife of our speaker), Ms. Bailey Kline, Mr. Anil Garg (past District Governor), Ms. Gina Truncale and Ms. Jennifer Swenson (CEO of Simi Adventist Hospital).
Chisako Liebich with John Tolson
Linda Martel
Bailey Kline, left, with Alyssa Potter
Arnel Garg, left, with Steve P.
Gina Truncale, left, with Anni Sumby
Jennifer Swenson
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Steve Munday was our Greeter. Steve was a busy guy this morning.
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Amir Nadig was inducted as our newest member this morning. As mentioned previously, Amir was already a Rotarian before he became a Rotarian.
Amir and his family line in Oak Park and he is an IT specialist with a degree in Computer Science and an MBA from UCLA. In his spare time, Amir runs a food pantry here in Simi Valley that feeds 60-70 people a day. In addition, he coordinates the efforts of over a hundred high school students tutoring online over a hundred elementary school children in need of scholastic help. In describing Amir, Arun said it best by quoting a portion of a Henry Wadsworth Longfellow poem, A Psalm of Life:
Lives of great men all remind us
We can make our lives sublime,
And, departing, leave behind us
Footprints on the sands of time;
Welcome to Simi Sunrise Amir, we are humbled by your membership.
Amir hiking with his family
Amir with his wife and two daughters
Left to right, Arun Sharma, Amir Nadig and Laura.
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Three of our newer members received their permanent badges from Laura this morning. Left to right, Anni Sumby, Laura, Alyssa Potter and Sylvie Guerin. Congratulations!
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Larry Borovay had invited Lisa Eidman to talk to us previously about some of the details of the cruise. Lisa is the travel agent coordinating the cruise. Lisa gave out some pointers in regard to whether or not you needed your passport - you do - and suggested carrying a copy of it with you and putting the original in the safe in your room. If your passport isn't available, your driver's license and birth certificate will suffice.
Following is an email from Lisa and some details from Larry.
Email from Lisa:
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 and Lisa
Kailey Craig had announced earlier 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.
Steve P. and Larry Borovay talked about the upcoming Happy Face Music Festival on May 27th. The Festival will be held from 1 PM to 7 PM at Rancho Santa Susana Community Park and will have an 80's theme. Tickets will go on sale soon at which point Steve will be looking for help with obtaining sponsorships. Stay tuned....
YES! is scheduled for October 21, 2023! Dorina Timbol is leading the charge for YES! across the District and is asking that sign ups start early. This YES! program will be bigger and better than last year (which will be hard to do!) with discussions happening with, among others, the Simi Valley Chief of Police and the Simi Valley Unified School District Superintendent. One theme this year will be humanizing the police.
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The Rotary Club of Moro Bay has established a mechanism to fund Rotary Club Ankara, Turkiye which is currently leading the charge to bring aid to the victims. They will collect our donations through Rotary International and use the funds exclusively to aid those in need in the earthquake ravaged areas.
$1,000 will be donated by our Club to the Earthquake Relief Fund in Turkey and Syria. And, earlier, Laura had received the Notice below regarding Disaster Relief and asked that it be distributed:
A reminder about Herschel Berger's previous announcement regarding how Club funds will be allocated this year. As previously noted, this year will be the first since Covid hit that our Club has the ability to allocate funds to local organizations and activities. Herschel is heading up a committee to best decide just how this allocation should take place. A link to an application form in this regard has been created - see below. Please print out the form and forward it to the organization for them to fill out and submit to Herschel Berger at:
The last day to submit names for allocation is March 31st.
A copy of the 3 page Allocation Application form is shown below as well.
Herschel Berger
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No Wedding Anniversaries this week
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“Nothing is more important for the public welfare than to form and train our youth in wisdom and virtue.”
– Benjamin Franklin
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This notice was handed out at today's meeting.
A note from Mary Paseta regarding the Rotary Youth Exchange:
Subject: Mar 25 - 26, 2023 - Youth Exchange Workshop at Grand Vista Hotel
Hi Laura,
I would like to share an announcement regarding the Youth Exchange Orientation that will be held at the Grande Vista Hotel in Simi Valley on March 25th-26th.
We need Rotarians to host inbound student and Rotarians. I will be hosting 6 students at my house.
It would be nice if you and all involved with the Youth Committee could stop by the hotel to see what the Orientation is all about and to meet all of the Rotarians involved with the Exchange Program (SCANEX). In our last Orientation in February the District Governor from LA stopped by to visit. I'm not sure if you would like to extend the invitation to our District Governor since this is being held in Simi Valley (great points for committee awards ).
It would be great if we could share this video with all:
Mary Paseta said this program needs to be promoted. Prior to covid, there were 24 exchange students involved. This year there are only 8, with just 4 from our District. Please get involved if you can!
John Tolson announced that our Club will again be involved in the 13 Souls Memorial Run. Last year we had a booth and John asked for someone from the the Club to lead the charge this year. The words weren't even out of John's mouth before Sylvie Guerin shot her hand up to volunteer. Thank You Sylvie!
John Tolson
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.
Bill Klepper asked that this flyer be posted. See Bill for details. His email is:
David Martel is an avid and advanced gardener who lives on an acre and a quarter of property in the Santa Rosa Valley. He has honed his skills and techniques over many years of practice. He enjoys experimenting with different cultivation methods and grows a wide range of exotic plants and flowers . He is an active member of his local gardening community and loves to share his knowledge with others. David frequently participates in workshops and volunteers at events. Gardening, for David, is not just a hobby, it is a way of life that brings joy, relaxation and a sense of accomplishment.
David talked about raising vegetables, fruits, and herbs using raised beds and greenhouses on his property. He uses sustainable methods and practices water conservation. He also raises bees as well. His greatest pleasure he says is eating food that he raised and knowing exactly where it came from.
Jennifer Swenson, CEO of Simi Valley Adventist Hospital, shared a video with us this morning. It was a retrospective of the impact that the Covid pandemic had on the hospital and the community. Jennifer said that this was the first public showing of the video. Various hospital administrators, doctors and nurses were interviewed and it was very emotional. Thank You Jennifer for giving us all an insight into went went on behind the scenes while the pandemic was raging. She left us with the knowledge that, coming out of the pandemic, she is confident that the hospital can handle anything that Covid throws our way in the future.
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 on February 23rd will be held at The Best Western Posada Royale starting at 7:00 AM. Looking forward to seeing everyone!
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