Judge David O. Carter

By Lisa Grajewski

U.S. Federal judge David O. Carter spoke to the Irvine Spectrum Rotary on Wednesday, December 23. Judge Carter, who has been involved in an Orange County case questioning President Obama’s citizenship, explained that the power to remove a sitting president from office resides with Congress, not the judiciary.

Judge Carter then spoke about his recent visits to Afghanistan and the state of the US military in that region. He stated the Taliban has created a rift with the communities of the region by using the area as shelter. Judge Carter also discussed the precarious situation with the intelligence agency of Pakistan, vis-à-vis possible breaches in security for the U.S. Due to a pending trial, Judge Carter had to make his talk brief, but offered to return and speak about other topics of interest.

Judge Carter received both his bachelor's degree and his law degree from the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA). After graduating from college, Carter accepted a commission in the United States Marine Corps and was promptly ordered to Vietnam where he received, among other awards, a Bronze Star and Purple Heart for his valiant service in Vietnam. In addition to the Obama case, Judge Carter has been involved with other interesting cases such as the Mexican Mafia trials (United States v. Fernandez, et al), Anna Nicole Smith (In re Marshall), Aryan Brotherhood Trials (United States v. Mills, et al) and Gay-Straight Alliance (Colin ex rel. Colin v. Orange Unified School District).

Irvine Spectrum Rotary welcomes three new members

Membership Chair Toni Thomas welcomes three new members to the The Irvine Spectrum Rotary club. From left above, Diane Parriott, Lisa Grajewski, Toni Thomas, and Randy Woods.

Run for the Wall - Bob Yaap

Bob Yaap gave his craft talk to the Irvine Spectrum Rotary club last Wednesday. Bob, who was one of the founding members, had the distinction of giving the inaugural craft talk when the club began. An entrepreneur, Bob has owned several businesses, from Burger King franchises to Great Pacific Securities, which he started in 1990.

A graduate of the United States Military Academy at West Point, Bob flew helicopters in Vietnam, loosing 19 of his classmates. He has since gone on to support U.S. veterans by getting involved in Run for the Wall, a motorcycle ride from California to the Vietnam Memorial in Washington, DC.

According to the website, “Run For The Wall recognizes the sacrifices and contributions made by all veterans who have served our nation. Veterans of recent conflicts and those currently on active duty are especially welcome to join us as we ride for those who cannot.”

Bob shared pictures and stories of the cross country ride that he took with his good friend, a Vietnam veteran, who lost his leg in the war, and 800 hundred other veterans, friends, family members and supporters of service members involved in past and current conflicts.

What Matters Now

Click below for some thoughts about the coming year.

Thanksgiving with Marines

by Tim Wolin

We participated in the Marines' Thanksgiving that Rick Topping proposed. It was great. I think my family enjoyed it more than the marines. My son and I picked them up early in the morning. The marines had MREs for breakfast, so we immediately went to breakfast (again). Later my wife put out a huge Thanksgiving dinner.

We ended up on the phone with both of their families (Texas and Missouri) and all exchanged contact info.

We are excited about next year as well.

This was a cool email from one of the Marine's moms:

I love this pic! Thank you so much for sharing it with me. It's so nice to know there are families out there that are looking out for our boys when they are away from home on holidays. God will certainly bless you for that!

Thank goodness for those women that enjoy cooking! I know Justin and his friend really enjoyed a good home-cooked meal. Please thank your wife for that.

If you take any more pics today please don't hesitate sending them on to me.

I'm going to send this pic to everyone on my email list!

Be sure and look us up when you pass thru. We will always have a place for you and your family here @ our home.

Thanks and God Bless!

Sandy

OCTA

by Mody Gorsky

The Spectrum Rotary Club presented a check of $1,000 to Allison Burnigham in support of her walk for breast cancer.

Sarah Swensson and Eileen Padberg from Orange County Transit Authority (OCTA) provided some education on the upcoming Metrolink increase in 2010. The link will increase service between Fullerton and Laguna Niguel.

OCTA is working with cities where enhancements are taking place to allow for safety measures. Cities along the route, such as Irvine, which has two locations to be enhanced, are being informed of details behind the pending construction.

A surprising amount of the public (80%) is unaware of train crossing safety. As a result of the research that came up with this figure, OCTA has teamed up with Operation Life Force to put together an awareness campaign focusing on: education, engineering and enforcement.
OCTA is going to schools to educate children about crossing tracks safely, and working with community leaders to build awareness.

In addition, local law enforcement will issue citations to those not follow train safety laws, emphasizing the importance of safety laws in place. “Forty five percent [of drivers] speed up to get through gates closing; 20% stop on the tracks and 7,000 pedestrians neglect to look both ways when crossing [the tracks]” Says Sarah Swensson.

OCTA is working with communities and businesses near the tracks in order to help them understand how the changes will affect their cities and businesses. One of the strategies will be to institute “Quiet Zones.” No horns will be blown [by the trains], but instead crossing will utilize lights and bells to warn those near the track.

To find out more about the OCTA upgrade, visit the updated website

The website provides information on the new project and a toll free number to lodge concerns and complaints.

Ensenada Dental Clinic

By Pat Rodgers

Good morning, friends, from beautiful Ensenada, Mexico. Have been here since Friday evening, as part of our Rotary Club Dental Clinic and work day at a local school. The hotel is a great one, overlooking the marina and Pacific ocean and light years ahead of Motel 6.

Our Rotary Club does a Dental Clinic and work project several times a year down here and this is the first one I have attended. I must say, it was a worthwhile experience.

The Dental Care for Children van and it's group of volunteer dentists, along with students from the USC dental school, were well organized and treated over 50 kids from a local elementary school. There was over $24,000 worth of dental services delivered.

Then the rest of us, the common laborers, undertook the work project of repainting the block walls of the school buildings which were adorned with graffiti. After a quick trip to Home Depot, to pick up the paint and supplies, we embarked on the project. It took about six hours of manual labor and true to the Rodgers painting form, I got as much paint on me as I did the school. Fortunately, it was water based paint and cleaned up easily.

The parents and kids from the school were great and many pitched in and helped. I had forgotten the joys of manual labor, especially painting with rollers and brushes. At the end of the day, I remembered why I have such great respect for people who do painting for a living. Stepping back and looking at the finished project however, we did a pretty god job for amateurs.

The kids got their teeth fixed and a clean new looking school building. In viewing their basketball court, I also noted that neither of the two backboards had baskets, so while we were getting paint, I also dropped into the local Wal-Mart and picked up two baskets and two new basketballs for them. The school principal was most appreciative and the kids will enjoy their basketball court again.

All in all it was a successful trip. The folks I am riding with have to leave early this morning to get to a funeral back home this afternoon. Hopefully, there will not be a long line at the border, since we are leaving early. Hope that each of you has an enjoyable Sunday and my best wishes to all.

Jewish Family Services of OC

Dr. Alan Zamosky, CEO of Jewish Family Service (JFS) of Orange County spoke to the Spectrum Rotary Club about the non-partisan organization. Jewish Family Service, serves approximately 7,200 people of all races, ethnicities and religions per year in all of its programs.

Though the Orange County JFS is one of the smallest in the nation it has been around since 1965. JFSOC is currently housed at the Samueli Campus in Irvine and, as stated above, serves tens of thousands of individuals throughout Orange County. Dr. Zamosky highlighted four service areas:

Older Adults

• Counseling
  
• Information, consultation and referral services
  
• Care management working with older adults and families
  
• Care management and health education to Woodbridge Manor retirement homes
  
• Bereavement and caregiver support
  
• Holocaust survivor group to help care for aging Holocaust survivors; social functions for Holocaust survivors (this is the ONLY service specific to Jewish community)
  
• Silver Streak: a transportation service (currently looking for volunteer drivers), which is creating mobility sites throughout Orange County utilizing volunteer drivers
  

Counseling Support Groups

• Individual, couple and family therapy (sliding scale) with licensed Marriage Family Therapists (MFT) and Clinical
• Social Workers (LCSW)
  
• Support groups
  
• Bereavement groups
  
• Counseling for anxiety and depression
  

Financial Empowerment

• Emergency assistance providing a hand up, not just a hand out
  

Vocational services

• Employment skills counseling
• Job search skills
• "Women Forward" a program for middle aged women who are in a crisis transition served by women peer mentors
  

Community Outreach

• Provides resources through JFSOC and other services in Orange County
• Rabbi services to hospitals, hospices, prisons and jails
• "Adopt a Family" providing families in need with holiday food and items (currently serves 90 to 100 families in OC)
  

JFSOC provides volunteer opportunities through its Big Friend / Little Friend program; Special Needs Commission (led by Dr. Jan Weiner), which provides support to families with members who have special needs and promotes inclusion for those with special needs.

The Special Needs Commission provides services to all individuals with special needs, and has a "No Denial" policy, from birth to death. The Commission also provides a lot of interfacing with other existing programs and has empirical evidence to support the success of the program.

Jewish Family Service of Orange County aspires for a community where no one is alone and without hope. They strive to ensure that everyone in the community has access to a lifeline of support. Their programs are open to all who ask for help.

When the going gets tough, the tough eat cake!

By Richard Milo

Due to a foot injury, and for the second year in a row, Joanne Milo has been unable to lead her team of walkers to raise contributions for the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation (JDRF). Following her motto, “If you can’t walk, protest!”, the 2009 Shooting Stars Sit In Protest to benefit JDRF was held at the home of Joanne and Richard Milo on Sunday, Oct 25 at 9 AM. Complementary pastries were catered by Elyssa Fournier and Alexis Milo.

The Irvine Spectrum Rotary Club continued its co-sponsorship of the Shooting Stars family team to raise money for JDRF. 2009 marks the 9th year of the Club’s participation in the event. This year, the Club’s contributions accounted for nearly 50% of the $6,000 raised in 2009 by the Shooting Stars.

The Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation was founded in 1962 by the parents of children with diabetes to specifically raise money to fund research to find a cure (not treatments) for diabetes. Joanne Milo, the Shooting Stars team captain, has had Type 1 (Juvenile) Diabetes for 44 years.

Friends and supporters rallied around the coffee pot and debated the politics for a cure between bites of scones, bagels and muffins while Joanne demonstrated the fine art of crystal embellishment of her blue “snakeskin” walking boot (center front of the team photo).

Jim De Boom, District Administrator

Jim DeBoom, the Administrator for District 5320, which includes the Spectrum Rotary Club, shared the new district website, which features an online directory of every Rotarian in the district. Adding the directory online is helpful in the economic downturn, as printed directories are costly and many advertisers are cutting back their budgets.

Not only can you see the information for your own club, but any other club in the district. The directory provides a search of the classifications.

Rotarians can advertise on the district website. Website banner ads are $450 for the year, which includes an ad in the district newspaper each month.

The website also provides access to district officers and resources, such as DG Bret Gerdes, and provides for downloading various forms as well as the ability to sign up for district events.

Logging in provides you with the ability to view additional information and website resources.

For assistance, or more information, contact our club secretary.

South County Outreach

by Marla Noel

Ed Eward of the South County Outreach presented at the Irvine Spectrum Rotary meeting on Wednesday, October 14, 2009. Ed began with a compelling story about a family who'd been receiving food and assistance from South County Outreach. They wanted to come in to say thank you to the staff with beautiful flowers from their garden. He shared a picture of a child holding the flowers as his gift. To see this small boy, who was spared from going hungry because of the great work of this organization, you understand better the value of the services provided by South County Outreach. South County Outreach is a solution center for what is going on in our society. The need for emergency help is great. Only 4% of the households come to the shelter more than 8 times. Most come during a time of crisis. With the help of South County Outreach, they can move on.

According to Ed, this worthwhile organization served approximately 600 households every month. Now, as so many of our fellow Orange County residents are out of work, the number of households they serve has jumped to 1200 households per month. They are to the point where they must turn families away at the door. The households currently being helped, will continue to be supported, however, new households can no longer get help. This included a young woman who came in for help. She had two blind twins. She was turned away. Ed hopes that this is only a temporary situation for the families who need help, and that they will be able to serve new families soon. With the help of organizations like Rotary, they can work to get the funding needed to help more people.

This organization is lucky to have volunteers. They have around 163 volunteers and 6 staff. One notable volunteer who helps a great deal is Peggy Stalter, an Irvine Spectrum Rotarian, who gives her time regularly to make a difference to those in need. Also, Tom Whaling, an Irvine Spectrum Rotarian is a Board member. Tom helps the organization in providing the necessary services to families in need in Orange County.

Ed told us about a young women who approached him at an event the day before he spoke to us. She was employed by an unwed mother's shelter. She told Ed that a number of years ago, she was homeless. The South County Outreach enabled her to get on her feet, get a job and support herself. Ed talked about their vocational specialist, who worked, through training and support, to get people jobs and improve their situation.

I could see how much Ed cared about the people they serve, as he relayed the story of meeting the young woman later that day. She was the woman who had been turned away from the door, with the blind babies. He told her to return to the shelter, and they would help her. He made that commitment to help her as South County Outreach has helped so many people. With our support, they can do more good at a time when we are surrounded by people in crisis.

Never say never to fundraising

by Richard Milo, Past President Irvine Spectrum Rotary Club

The Irvine Spectrum Rotary Club held a spectacular Gala Casino Night – Auction – Dance - Gourmet Buffet fundraiser at the Village Crean in Newport Beach on Saturday Aug 8, 2009. The “Mid Summer Nights Dreams Come True” event, which netted over $9,500 for the club’s charitable giving funds, was an inaugural fundraiser that was held in lieu of the Club’s traditional Golf Tournament.

122 people attended the $100/person event which featured hosted appetizers, a 30 foot Las Vegas style buffet, a full service dessert buffet, 15 professionally run casino tables, a DJ with dancing, a cash bar, raffle drawings and both live and silent auctions. Catering and event planning was provide by Catering for You (Dianne Braasch, an Irvine Spectrum Rotary Club member). The Club’s greatest thanks go to the Village Crean that made the venue available at no charge for the fundraising effort.

Over the past decade, the Irvine Spectrum Rotary Club had built up a continually successful golf tournament that was highly leveraged with businesses in the restaurant, auto and real estate industries. The recent recession had caused over 70% of the traditional sponsors to say “no thanks” to a Spring 2009 tournament. Faced with an empty space where the golf fundraiser had been, Dianne Braasch offered to spearhead a casino night as an alternative.

The Club was then faced with the proposition of a new, $100/person fundraiser to be held during a recession. In a stand up vote, the club members overwhelmingly agreed to support the event and sell the tickets required to get the event into the black. Mary Mar, Cisca Stellhorn and Luana Rodberg led the efforts for the raffle and live/silent auctions. Mody Gorsky, Toni Kay Fenton and Richard Milo formed a management support team to help Diane with the fund raising efforts to complement her catering and event planning. Virtually all the club members stepped up to help with event details such as decorations and supplies, as well as gathering $14,000 of items and services for the auction and raffle drawings.

Thanks to the combined efforts of the Irvine Spectrum Rotary Club members, a new fundraiser was held that netted much needed cash to help those who depend on Rotary for a helping hand.

August 5th club meeting

by Carmen Szladowski - Club PR Chair


There were several guests from other clubs, as well as others coming back to visit us. We welcomed Namey and her husband from the Rotary Club in Taiwan.

We certainly had an interesting group at our meeting. Among them were three young ladies sponsored by our club to attend the RYLA 2009 event for three days of learning teamwork, meeting new friends, and then some fun-time. They were happy to show us a video of the events offered by the camp, told us about their wonderful experiences, and their gratitude to the Rotary Clubs for sponsoring them.

Events:

The District President's meeting will be at The Double Tree Hotel in Orange, on Tuesday, August 11th at 6PM.

Cisca's beach party will be on Saturday, August 22nd. Don't miss out socializing with your club members and friends; and having cool time!

We have the Angel's baseball game coming up on August 29th; real great seat locations.

The Three District Business Leadership Awards, (2008-09) will be presented on Friday, September 25th. 2009.

Demotion Party for Pannkaj Kummar

On June 6, the Irvine Spectrum Rotary club celebrated a wonderful year of Rotary with Pannkaj Kummar as their club's president (better known to club members as just “Kummar”). He did a great job of leading the club thorough these difficult times.

Club members had a grand time celebrating Kummar's demotion, feasting on club member Diane Braasch's delicious Indian foods and delighting on a ceremonial roast based on the popular “Slumdog Millionaire” game show…complete with incomprehensible questions and answers thought up by incoming president Gillian Bradshaw. The grand prize was a club donation in Kummar's name of 10,000 rupees to Polio Plus.

The Irvine Spectrum club continues to lead the District in per-capita giving of almost $500 per member, and is the second club in the District to achieve the coveted PH+1 status.

Club member Sean McDowell led the club’s effort to help sponsor a New Generation Club of younger folks who desire to improve their community through Rotary. They have met weekly since November and have been involved with many hands-on projects. They now have 14 members and will be chartered when they reach 20 members. Janet Wang led effort to start an Interact Club at Irvine’s Woodbridge High School.

Irvine Spectrum Rotary has grown by 4 members this year, and enjoys a weekly attendance of over 80%. The club supports a wide spectrum of community service projects such as providing dental checkups for kids entering school in Irvine; funding for research into cures for Cystic Fibrosis, Epilepsy, and Juvenile Diabetes; support for battered spouse shelters and homes for pregnant teens; the Irvine Senior Center; Working Wardrobes; RYLA and Reading by 9.

Internationally, Irvine Spectrum is participating with other District grants for fuel-efficient stoves to Central America, a school in Africa, musical instruments to Brazil and emergency equipment to Chile. This past year the club held it’s seventh and eighth international dental clinics in Ensenada, Mexico in conjunction with the Rotary Club of Ensenada Calafia.

Irvine Dental Screenings

by Ray Sanford

A marvelous group of volunteers came together this morning to provide free dental screening exams for lots of children who will be starting school in September. I'd like to thank everyone who helped with this community service project.

We saw over 110 families (probably around 125-130 kids) with 8 dentists and their assistants, two school nurses and a bunch of Rotarians and Assisteens. This is about 3 times more children than last year's event.

Parents with kids started arriving half an hour before the event's starting time and continued steadily right until we closed at noon. All of the dentists were kept busy the entire time.

The two IUSD school nurses did an amazing job of checking all the families in (and out), keeping track of everything and sorting the forms into the proper envelopes for each school. About half of the Irvine Spectrum Rotary Club participated.

The Irvine Assisteens did their usual perfect job of shepherding the families from check-in to the exams and then back to the check-out tables. Another group entertained the kids with coloring projects while their parents filled out the forms.

A special thanks to Todd Wardlaw, General Manager of the Corner Bakery in the Irvine Marketplace for donating gobs of goodies for all the volunteers. Corner Bakery has stepped up time and again to support our club's community service projects.

Evolution of Conservative Political Thought

This week's meeting was opened, not with a bang, but a splash! The coffee had been set up and ready to go when the table broke and suddenly we had hot coffee all over the floor!

President-elect Gillian ran to get more coffee and saved the day, as our arriving Rotarians pitched in, mopped up the mess and set up tables and chairs on the outside patio for the meeting. As a result we enjoyed our meeting under sunny blue skies overlooking the golf course. Life is good; so are our Rotarians.

The main speaker was Joe Brown, a former Mayor of Laguna Niguel, current council member and past president of the Rotary Club there. He spoke about the Evolution of Conservative Political Thought. His thoughts traced how conservative political thought was originally “less government and lower taxes” in theme. Over the years this has changed. It is now hard to distinguish the conservatives from the liberals. During the last 20 years the Evangelical Christian movement has played a major role in conservative thought and this seemed to have reached its apex during the George W. Bush administration.

Our past president's talk was presented by John Alcorn who, coincidently, was celebrating his birthday that day. He was president during 2005-06. He spoke of the work our club had done during Bob Larsen's term in India, and how many of the members traveled there to see their accomplishments in person during his term. Kris Khurana then lead the group to see other parts of the country. During John's term, our main fund raiser was the Golf Tournament. We worked on many other projects that year, including the Dental Clinic in Ensenada, and our membership increased by 9 members. It was a good year and he very much enjoyed his time as president.

The Liver Foundation

Our guest speaker this week was Jessica Goltermann. She came to tell us about the American Liver Foundation, and the upcoming Liver Walk for Life on June 27, and other fund raising events for their foundation. While there, she invited us to support their many efforts. It was very helpful to have Dr Paul also share some information about how Hepatitis B, a liver disease, can affect people.

The Past President's report today was given by Cisca Stellhorn. President from 2007-2008. Cisca opened her talk in the same manner she opened her meetings as president, by ringing a bell. During her year, each week was celebrated by a different bell and its story. Cisca has collected bells from all over the world in her travels, and we were never lacking for an interesting tale surrounding the collection.

One of the amazing items that year was the amount of grants and matching grants received by our club. This was due to a great deal of work by Ray Sanford and others. The club worked on Habitat for Humanity, Irvine Dental Clinic, Ensenada Dental Clinic, wheel chairs sent to Mexico, Reading by Nine, equipping a dental van for Dr. Tosier and trips to Ensenada. It was with many rewards.

Our fund raisers that year were the Cash Bash and a Golf Tournament. The golf tournament was in May, a month we get little rain. However, that year, there was a hail storm three minutes before the tee off! And then, half way through the game the tournament was stopped because of more rain. All the golfers came back to the club house and waited for it to clear. Something that never happens that time of year!

The International Convention that year was in LA. Cisca rounded up a bus and brought together 110 guests attending the convention from all over the world to a party at her home. It was a great opportunity for club members to meet and spend time with Rotary members from across the world world.

Epilepsy Alliance Freedom Walk

The Orange County Epilepsy Alliance Freedom Walk 2009 was held at Heritage Park in Irvine on Saturday, May 2nd. Tom & Sonya Mahony sponsored a team called Sean's Stompers in honor of their son, Sean, who has epilepsy. Sean's Stompers raised $5,485 and had 31 walkers, 8 of whom were Rotarians. In total the event raised $79,397 for epilepsy research, education and local assistance. "We were worried about rain on Saturday, but the sun was shining for epilepsy" said Sonya Mahony. You can still sponsor Sean's Stompers by going to the Epilepsy Alliance Freedom Walk website and making a pledge with your credit card to help stomp out epilepsy!

May 6th Meeting

Our first meeting in May was very well-attended by club members, who enthusiastically welcomed, among its other guests, Dr. Pai-Chou Tu, incoming governor of RI District 3500, and past president of our sister club—Taoyuan West.

Paul Harris Awards

Harry Gabriel is now a Paul Harris Fellow +1


Sean McDowell becomes a Paul Harris Fellow


Janet Wang receives her latest Paul Harris Award

Don Kennedy

Donald R. Kennedy is the newest member of the Irvine Spectrum Rotary Club.

The Docs

Today we were honored to have our two medical doctors in the club, Dr Paul Strodtbeck MD and Dr. Bob Larsen MD, answer questions from club members. Members could submit questions by email, or ask them at the meeting. It was a fun, exciting meeting. Everything was asked from, "what should I do if my Doctor makes me wait 2 hours?" ( If you don't like it, change Doctors) to… "do vitamin pills really help?" ( You can get the vitamins you need from the food you eat…however if you feel they help, take them.) Members stayed late to ask more questions; many requested we have them give a similar talk every couple of months. It was truly enjoyed by the members.

Costa Mesa Dental Clinic

Photos from the Rotarians at Work project with the Costa Mesa Rotary Club and the Newport Mesa Unified School District to provide a free dental screening for all children entering the schools. Even the "tooth fairy" showed up.

Service Above Self

Our Rotarian call for service in our community was played out on Saturday, May 25 throughout Orange County on our "Rotarians at Work" day. This is the day designated for all Rotarians to make a difference in volunteering at various events and causes in and around out communities. One of the several projects Irvine Spectrum Rotary participated in was the FRONT LINE conference put on at the Kaiser Hospital by the NAMI organization. The National Alliance for the Mentally Ill planned out and facilitated a conference discussing the returning veterans and the problems that arise out of working in a combat area. The main discussion was the injuries we are seeing with the TBI ( Tramatic Brain injuries) and Post Tramatic Stress Syndrome.

8 members of the Irvine Spectrum Rotary arrived at 7:00 A.M. at the Kaiser Hospital on Sand Canyon and began by placing American Flags all around the perimiter of the hospital to announce the conference. Food and supplies were taken to the 5th floor where the conference was to be held. 125 people were expected to attend. We then stood at the various entrances with flags and gave out directions to the parking areas. Some of us manned the information desk in the main entrance and checked in the participants, giving out their booklets and directed them to the event room.

The conference was very important to our veterans and their families and  the Front Line conference committee was  most appreciative of our service. We were instramental in the success of the conference by doing the much needed support work.

The conference was attended by Social Workers, Veterans, Family members , and Clergy. There were veterans from the Vietman war as well as the current battle areas. Dr. Clayton Chou was the keynote speaker and he gave very valuable information regarding the brain and how we are affected by both physical trauma and emotional trauma. Just being in the area of Blasts from explosions can cause damage to the cells of the brain. Even though the head doesn't have visual injuries, the brain can suffer cell damage from the blasts from explosions and this can be life changing to the afflicted.

Irvine Spectrum Rotary answered the call and we supported a very worthwhile and necessary cause.

Mending Fences

Mayor Sukhee Kang

We had the honor of Suhkee Kang, the mayor of Irvine, speaking at our club. He was a member of Irvine Spectrum Rotary Club about 3 years ago. Since then he has become the Mayor. He is the first Korean mayor of a major city in the United States. He gave us an update on the City of Irvine.

For example, on the subject of econometrics, they have put funds away and with the current sales tax, hotel tax, and property tax how the city should be in good shape. Therefore, there are no planned cuts in the many services to both youth and seniors.

They have planned for a safe city by increasing their police force from 150 to 203 officers. One result is; Irvine has been the safest city for its size in the US for the last 4 years.

They have put money aside for schools so they can continue to maintain their class sizes and educational standards. This should permit their continuation of an exceptional educational system.

Finally, he explained the importance of being a GREEN city. and the steps they are taking in that direction.

Our past president, Richard Milo, also spoke today. He was our president from 2003-04. Being an engineer and the efficient person he is, he came equipped with a spreadsheet showing the accomplishments of his year.

He explained the four arms of Rotary service – Vocational, Club Service, Community Service and International – and what we accomplished in those areas. Also during his year was the largest increase in our membership, from 30 to 40 members, an increase of 25 percent.

During his year, he attended the International convention in Brisbane, Australia. He felt the most important element was his goal of making sure everyone was involved, and, after all, that is what Rotary is all about.

OCTA

Our speaker for the week was Peter Buffa, Chairman of the Orange County Transportation Authority (OCTA). It was quite timely as there have been a number of newspaper articles about their plans. They are responsible for all ground transportation in Orange County; buses, trains and highways,with exception of the Tollways.

It was no surprise – money is tight. They have been affected and have had to make cutbacks, mostly in the bus system here in Orange county. However, with the stimulus money from the government, they plan to make advances and improvements in our highways, as well as local Metrolink stations to entice more ridership. They look forward to developing a high speed rail system from Anaheim to San Francisco (in about 2 ½ hours) in the near future, as well as someday from Anaheim to Las Vegas. They will be modeled after systems in other countries, and someday even hope to develop an air/rail system. The biggest problem is how to get Orange County people out of their cars!

Woody Jones was our president during 1999-2000. He spoke about what a fun year and a great experience it was for him. The club continued to hold the Golf tournament as well as a Night at the Improv as fund raisers, while again holding the Smiles Dental Clinic.

In addition, members built a house in Tijuana with the Corazon project during his term. He felt it was a fun and worthwhile project. It was such a wonderful experience to see a family receive a home you'd helped to build; something the family wanted and thought they never could obtain. Woody explained how he'd enjoyed traveling to the International Convention that year in Singapore.

We also had the honor of having Ed Hardenburgh's grandson and his mother join us. They extended an invitation to a cystic fibrosis walk on May 2nd. In addition, the club continued its support of the foundation in the form of a check presented to Ed's grandson.

Flying Doctors of Mercy

Today's meeting was presented by Greg Plammbeck about “Flying Doctors of Mercy”. He brought their story to us about their work in Mexico.

The program started in 1934 when doctors traveled to Mexico by horseback and mule. After WWII the program began using volunteer pilots to fly doctors to Mexico to save lives and improve the health of people in Mexico. Today they have established five medical sites in Mexico to give medical aid, from surgery to dental work, using doctors from all over the United States.

They help about 1,200 people a month and fly about 100 trips from throughout the United States to Mexico. They are widely supported by Rotary International, and receive help from several clubs in Orange County. Over the last 70 years they have improved the quality of life for the poor and sick in Mexico .

Roger McGonegal, our current District Governor, was our honored guest this week. He presented Mary Mar with an award for her outstanding work in the District this year. He thanked her for all she did to coordinate and make the District conference the successful event it was.

He also presented Jaap Laufer with his Paul Harris +2 award.

Ed Hardenburgh was our past president's speaker this week. He served as our 6th president from 1997-1998. He took over when Rick Topping was unable to serve due to business commitments. His term began by attending the International convention in Scotland with the previous president, Warren Willard, an enticement he couldn't refuse.

Ed reminisced about the good times and fond memories he had, as well as the promotion and continuation of the Dental Clinic and Golf Tournament started the previous year by Warren. Ed is our current treasurer and has served 4 years in that position.

Identity Theft

The speaker at today's meeting was Gus Searcy. His field is identity theft, the fastest growing crime today. He told us how easily we could be targeted, and what it could mean to our lives if we were. He offers a program to companies on how to protect themselves and their employees from this risk.

Our Past President speaker today was Warren Willard, a charter member, and President during 1996-1997. He was brought into the club by Dale Ford. It was a very busy year for him both personally and for the club. He spent a great deal of traveling that year on its behalf.

It was the first year for our Golf Tournament fund raiser. It was a great success, and continued to be our main source of supporting the club's various charities until this last year. During that same year the club began to hold its Smiles Dental Clinic. It was also the highest personal contributing club in our district to Rotary International.

The international convention that Year was in England/Scotland. It was the highlight of his term and he will always treasure it. He feels his dearest friends are those from Rotary.

District Conference

by Peggy Stalter

At the District 5320 Sunday brunch, our club joined in honoring our own member, Bret Gerdes, as the incoming District Governor.

In addition to enjoying the festivities, a well-prepared (and consumed) brunch and good fellowship, Diane Kessel Knight, from Rotary International, provided the keynote thoughts to the group.

While it is impossible to bring her spirited words to life in print, here are some of her more salient thoughts for Rotarians to celebrate, as well as ponder and digest:

To paraphrase Helen Keller, “A Rotarian is only one, but still is one. That person cannot do everything, but still can do something; and because he or she cannot do everything, will not refuse to do something.”

Right now Rotarians are achieving wonderful things, both locally and throughout the world. Examples abound in the District:

For our club, notable efforts include our support of the Reading by 9 project aimed at helping kindergarten through 3rd grade students read at grade level by the age of nine, the semi-annual Dental Clinic projects in Mexico, and the Stoves project to uplift living environments in developing countries.

Other clubs in the District distribute dictionaries to 5th and 6th graders to assist their education, bring books for the children of Project Amigo or send needed textbooks to the Sacred Heart Seminar in Uganda.

Globally, more than half of Rotary's 33,000 clubs are attempting to break the endless cycle of poverty and misery through alleviation of mass illiteracy in developing countries. Throughout the world Rotarians have participated in helping bring normalcy to devastated areas struck by natural disasters, and water projects abound to construct water distribution, storage and sanitation systems to millions in the needy areas of the world.

We continue to assist in distributing polio drops in places such as Caborca, Mexico, preventing blindness in India, providing wheel chairs in Korea and aid hospital workers to provide medicine and treatments to ailing poor populations.

As we go forward, our Rotary Foundation, working to fulfill its mission, Service Above Self, must do whatever every one of us can do – no matter whether small or large – to advance world understanding, goodwill and peace through the improvement of health, the support of education and the alleviation of poverty.

The Foundation has been developing a Future Vision Plan to direct us into another century of work. We have an opportunity to be a pilot district. As we have worked successfully at polio eradication, we now have the support of the Gates Foundation to assist us in working with partners like WHO, UNICEF and Centers for Disease Control.

Every Rotarian has a reason to celebrate. These few examples help explain why Diane is a Rotarian and what she encouraged each of us to consider and become. If you didn't attend, you truly missed something meaningful.

The celebration gave our club a special reason to spread the benefits and opportunities of Rotary as Bret leads our District this next year. Let's give him a Standing-O as he goes forward!

Past President Mary Mar

Today's past President, Mary Mar, told us about her time as our club President and her years in Rotary. Like many others, she was brought into the club by Rick Topping. She was also one of our Charter Members. Mary was the sixth President and served as President from 1995-96. She was President the year the Rotary International convention was in France, which she said was a true honor to attend.

There were 30 members at that time. She assured us she was on time every week during the year she was President. (She does have a reputation of arriving just in time to add her contribution to the day's fining.)

Mary has also always been very involved at the District level and over the years has made many friends at both the District and International level. Next year she will be our District Treasurer.

One of her greatest interests has been the RYLA program for high school students. She also takes a large part in the planning and running of our District Conference and District Assembly. Due to the amount of work on the district she has more accrued make-ups than anyone in the club.

Our speaker today was Michael Tye, who spoke on the possibility of universal health insurance in the future and how it could affect each of us.

Ensenada Dental Clinic

by Austin Wall

Dr. Tozzer and I, along with Dr. Dave Levitt and his wife, and Drs. Stephanie and Peter Dolas drove down to Maneadero to the orphanage on Friday to finish up cases that were started several weeks before at our February clinic. We were helped out  by Dave Cerrie, Dave Wills, Cindy Levitt and John Carlson. We spent about six hours at the orphanage including set up and take down and provided a great deal of dentistry in that period. Ray Sanford and Barbara Foster from the Laguna Niguel Rotary Club came by about halfway through to cheer us on. We then stopped at the (justifiably) famous "Tacos el Poblano" taco stand for a late dinner, then back to the hotel and some sleep.

Up early, we headed for the school selected for us by the Rotary Club of Ensenada Calafia where we set up the clinic in the classrooms. The roof project for the school's new library was already underway. We were joined there by Rotarians Barbara Foster, Ray Sanford, Bob Yaap, Kummar, Marla Noel and Rick Topping, along with Bharati Kummar and Marla’s friend, Joe. 

Everyone pitched in and helped where they could and things went pretty smoothly except for a couple of the younger kids (ages 3 and 4) who made things tough for some of us. Joining us in the clinic were Tristan and Megan Galloway (USC Dental and PA student at Loma Linda) who worked together well and helped carry the load along with Fabiola, a dentist from the local Ensenada club. 

Ofelia and several other members of the Ensenada club helped with translation and keeping the kids (and parents) under control. Take down went very smoothly with everyone pitching in, making it as easy as it gets. We then went to dinner at a very nice seafood restaurant named Haliotsis where everyone seemed to have a good time. We were joined there by past RI Director Paco Creo and his wife Lupita who is a PDG, a real Rotary family.

The border crossings went smoothly both ways as the Mexican customs people liked our paperwork.

Dr. Tozzer and I thank everyone who participated in the clinic and hope it was a satisfying experience for all and hope to have more participation next time, later this year.

Laguna College of Art & Design

Sammy Macias and Patsee Ober, from the Laguna College of Art and Design, were our guest speakers. We learned this is a fully accredited private non-profit college located in Laguna Beach. It offers both BFA and MFA degrees in a variety of disciplines.

You may recognize the campus by the statues in front of the campus as you drive down Laguna Canyon Road. The school has 360 students, making for small class size (5 to 15) and the ability for personal attention for the students. The school teaches all forms of fine art, drawing, animation, game art, illustration and design, as well as watercolor, oil, painting, and various art forms. They seek to promote the development of an artist's talent and awareness.

The college encourages visitors to enjoy their student's talents, and offers both individual or scheduled group tours of the college. Call Patsee Ober at 949-230-3774 for more information about visiting the school.

Another former president, Toni Fenton, also spoke to us. She was the 5th president of ISR; only two years after women were able to participate in Rotary International. She served on our Board of Directors for 7 years. Here are some of the key things she shared for future leaders of the club:

• Enlighten everyone; keep members informed on what is happening, and what the club's needs are.
• Engage everyone and give all members a chance to participate. Sometime people just need to be asked; they are willing and happy to step up and be involved.
• Search out talent from people in the Club; be aware of the skills each member brings and how it can benefit the club.
• Talk to former leaders in the club; ask, as they are happy to share from their experiences.

By Peggy Stalter

U.S. Border Patrol

Jose Ortiz, of the Border Patrol, was our guest speaker. He has been with the Border Patrol for seven years, and shared a few of his experiences during this time. This was great timing in view of our upcoming trip with our Dental project to Ensenada.

We learned many interesting things. For example, by the end of 2008, the federal government had already completed 500 of the 670 miles of congressionally mandated fence between Mexico and the United States. The San Diego sector in which he works has increased their ranks to 2,300 agents. These new agents are part of the reason the Patrol has successfully increased the number of apprehensions of illegal crossings, and substantially increased the amount of seizures of marijuana, cocaine, and heroin coming across the boarder. Their current goal is to curb violent attacks, which recently escalated. With their increased fence infrastructure and dedication of personnel to this, he felt 2009 would lead to further successes in his sector.

In addition, Bob Yaap spoke about his years as president of our club. He was our third president. At that time we had only 35 members. He explained what a great learning experience it was for him and how very much he enjoyed it. He told how great the President Elect Training (PETS) program was and encouraged anyone who is interested to take up the challenge and enjoy an experience of reward; both working the membership and seeing the good that is accomplished in the community and larger world, because of it.

Ambassadorial Scholar

February18th was our President's Day meeting. We were honored to have Dale Ford (1993-94), Toni Kay Fenton (1994-95), Mary Mar (1995-1996), Warren Willard (1996-97), Ed Hardenburgh (1997-98),  Woody Jones (1999-2000), Rick Topping (2000-01), Kris Khurana (2002-03), Richard Milo (2003-04), Dr, Bob Larsen (2004-05),  John Alcorn (2005-06), and Ray Sanford (2006-07). That is 12 of the 18 Presidents since the club was formed. Most are still active in the club, but some are unable to be involved. It was a real treat to have them with us and to share many stories of fun times. The tradition continues. This week we are gaining a new member, Gregory Lambourne. He will be our 59th active member.

Our speaker was Drew Curiel, one of Rotary's Ambassadorial Scholars, who studied in South Africa and will be starting his new career as a foreign service officer with the State Deparment next week. Drew applied, and was accepted, to study in South Africa as a Rotary Ambassadorial Scholar.

His graduate work was to study the causes and effects of poverty. He spoke of his experiences in Africa and how he and a fellow student lived for 3 months on the average income of a poor person in Africa. He shared how the experience had changed his outlook on what you really needed in your life; the difference in 'wants' and 'needs'. These differ. In America, we want a cell phone, but also have land lines. In Africa, cell phones are needed since there is no telephone infrastructure.