Stephanie opened the meeting with a moment of silence. Words can not even begin to express the sorrow we feel for the unimaginable loss these families have suffered. May God be with them now and always.
Stephanie brought the meeting to order and following are her comments:
This morning is a special meeting for all of us and one that we look forward to each year because it is when we get to celebrate some incredible young people who have dedicated themselves to working hard to prepare themselves for their future and their education and how they are going to positively impact the world, and we get to present them with the Rotary Club of a Simi Sunrise scholarship to help them on their life journey.
Before we get to honor and celebrate our students, I would like to take a moment and pause for each of us to reflect on the innocence that was lost on Tuesday at the elementary school in Uvalde, Texas. We will never make sense of this selfishly motivated atrocity and will never understand the reason why someone would do this horrible act to innocent lives, but we can commit ourselves to finding ways to avoid this from happening again in the future. Please join me in a moment of silence to honor those lives that were lost and the lives that were impacted by this tragic event…..Thank you!
Today is a fun filled agenda that limits my time to entertain you…
This weekend is our Happy Face Music Festival and People Power is loaded with talented volunteers. Please be sure to arrive with plenty of time to check in at the Volunteer Check In Area and get your volunteer wrist band and shirt. And if you can stay to help break down the event and have not already signed up to do so, please contact Kailey and me and we will add you to the list.
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Arun Sharma lead this morning's Invocation. Welcome back Arun!
Harry VanDyck lead the Flag Salute.
Jesus Torres welcomed our Guests this morning, all of whom were our Scholarship recipients and their family members. Looks like Jesus is trying to unseat Fernando as best dressed......
Zoom was our greeter this morning.
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President Kathryn Scroggin
It was another packed agenda this week with our Annual Scholarship presentations. President Kathryn opened by welcoming all of the Scholarship recipients and their family members to our meeting. She thanked the Scholarship Committee (Cindy Jacoby, Harry VanDyck, Dan Gesell, Karen Thompson and Stephanie Shannon) for all of their hard work in reviewing the numerous applications and making the hard choices.
Kathryn then addressed the recipients by taking note of the challenging times these graduates have had to face in their school careers. These students not only met those challenges, she said, they surmounted them with Hope, Confidence and Optimism. They truly give one hope for the future.
Kathryn's weekly quote is from Teddy Roosevelt. “Believe you can and you're halfway there."
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John Baxter, second from right, with Natalia Ginnetti, the third place winner, and recipient of $100, in the Elementary Division of the Four- Way Test Essay Contest. Also with her are her proud parents.
Our Club is the only one in Ventura County that sponsored a student who placed in the competition.
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A previous Guest, Leila Thayer-Malone, announced a Walk to End Alzheimers coming up in October and left us a flyer below. See Martha Macker if this is of interest to you.
Leigh Seaton has arranged another Blood Drive on June 16th during our regular meeting. Please see Leigh to coordinate times.
And Leigh said that an arrangement has been made to credit the blood donated to Ayden Denne to help in his recovery. Yet another good reason to donate.
Ayden Denne
Leigh Seaton
Kathryn announced the following Club Meeting Schedule for all of June;
- June 2nd - In person at the Best Western.
- June 9th - In person at the Best Western.
- June 16th - In person at the Best Western comprising of a regular meeting and joint Board meeting with the incoming and outgoing Boards. Leigh is also organizing a Blood Drive during this meeting.
- June 23rd - In person at the Best Western.
- June 30th - Dark.
Please remember Jake Finch's requests for Gift Cards. Her two requests had to do with, one, helping out the Simi Valley Unified School District students that are in need of assistance. School District resources have been stressed to the limit and help is needed to replenish those resources. That help can come to the District in the form of Gift Card donations for gas, groceries, etc. at places like Target and Walmart. $25 and $50 Gift Cards work best.
Jake's second request was more directed. Jake said that the District had just enrolled their first students, 8 and 14 year old girls, who have fled Ukraine with their mother. The family came here with basically the clothes on their back so are in need of everything. Gift cards to Kohls and Target would be very helpful. As an update, Jake said that an account has been set up and help has been coming in. But more is needed as more refugees from Ukraine have arrived here in Simi with school age children.
If you can help out, please reach out to Jake.
Also, a big shout out to Jesus Torres, who is providing legal services for these refugees pro bono. Providing a great example to us all!
Jake Finch
It's Show Time this Saturday folks!
Good Luck to everyone involved. Let's knock it out of the Park!
Kathryn remarked that the Team Ginny Team remains strong, powerful and committed to finding that donor for Ginny
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There was no Guest Speaker today due to our Scholarship presentations. Simi Sunrise awarded $16,000 to the following 21 graduating seniors.
Savi Bhim presented the Savi Bhim Scholarship to Sarina Linn, a dual Scholarship winner.
The schools and their students were recognized in alphabetical order.
Harry VanDyck with the Simi High School recipients
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Caught him smiling!
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Our meeting next week, June 2nd, will be held in person at the Best Western. See you there!
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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! And the guest's breakfast is taken care of.
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Rotary Club Finder Need to find a club to do a makeup? Or find out where Rotary clubs meet while you are traveling? Click here to access the Club Finder page on the RI website.
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