IRC Member Craft Talk: Randy Woods

IRC member Randy Woods shared his personal and work story with the members this week, he's come to his current profession via a circuitous route.



Randy is a Security Industry Solutions expert, his company Night Hawk Security Solutions inserts covert cameras, CCTV, and handles Loss Prevention Training and Interviewing for companies. He's been in the security field for over 25 years. And Randy says "his goal is to get a confession from someone." He demonstrated his techniques with his Polygraph invention, a hilarious looking contraption that seemed to work, from his demonstration! Randy's secret self --everyone has one -- is as a Gadgeteer--he's always played with gadgets and made some machines.



He's firmly planted in OC now, but moved back and forth from the Pacific Northwest to the Southwest and back a few times. Randy grew up in Salem, OR. His first job growing up was working at the corner grocery store selling candy to kids. Later he went to work for several different restaurants...at Bob's $.19 Hamburgers, and before long he was managing their 13 stores. In Hemet, CA where he managed the Railroader Restaurant. He went to a broadcasting workshop and for a brief stint worked on-air at KIIS-FM 102.7, and later as a disc jockey at the Newport Beach Marriott.

Say hi to Randy when you visit the club, he's a great guy!

Christopher Cabral

This morning a young man by the name of Christopher Cabral attended our meeting. He came to tell us he needs help preparing for employment. Christopher’s disabilities do not in any way hinder his motivation to work and become a taxpaying member of society. Rotary is helping Christopher fulfill his dream.

Christopher recently entered the Irvine Unified School District’s Career Link program and is learning career preparation skills in his classroom. He comes from a close-knit family of nine children, five boys and four girls, and he lives in Irvine. He has a congenital disorder, which has affected four out of the five boys in the family, one who died over a year ago. Christopher is confined to a wheelchair and has very little communication skills. He currently uses a device called the DynaVox, which he is able to manipulate with a type of joy stick he uses with his finger. This is what he used today at our meeting to tell us, "I want to work.”

Linda O’Neil, director of Career links, and Paul Harvey, a volunteer in the program, gave a compelling presentation for a devise to help Christopher better communicate with others. They would like to purchase an iPad 2, and also a software program called Proloquo2Go. This device has been successful for those with Autism, or any person with a disability that involves communication disorders. This program will help Christopher with a more rapid method of enabling him to engage in basic greeting conversation.

When Career Links is able to provide Christopher with a new communication device, they will help him find employment in the community. An ideal job would be for Christopher to work at an Apple Store as a demonstrator for his Apple iPad 2 with Proloquo2Go. Christopher and his assistant would be a sales team to demonstrate the value of these two technologies and what it can do to help others with disabilities.

The estimated cost for the devise is $2,361. This morning our club presented Career Links with a check in the amount of $1,500, they still have a ways to go to purchase the device and pay for the required training for Christopher.

The Laguna Playhouse Youth Theatre Director Donna Inglima

Donna Inglima, The Laguna Playhouse Youth Theatre Director, discussed the important work the Playhouse's youth education and theatre program provides, a program supported by IRC. The club recently supported the production of a world premiere, the first for the theatre, of Looking For Home, Stories From The Orphan Trains.

Beginning in 1853-1930's, Charles Lauren Brace, the founder of the Children's Aid Society of New York, executed a program to move more than 250,000 kids off the streets of New York City and into homes. Homeless and abandoned children were taken off the streets, clothes and fed, and then moved by train to homes in the midwest. The show is a tale of adults and youth, the memory is a play set in 1922. The music, lyrics and books were created by Mary Murffitt, playwright. She also was adopted, and interviewed an orphan train survivor, where she developed the play's concept. The train made different stops along a route, the kids were presented like slaves on stage. Some went to a wonderful family, others not so lucky.

The show explores abuse, love and the many issues in adoption with a cost of 38, 22 children ages 9-17. It's a deep story of laughter, sorrow and hope. The show appeared for two weeks, and had three weeks in production. It premiered in November during National Adoption Month. The club's contribution of $1500 helped to support Boys & Girls Club kids to come to the show.

Doing Amazing Work in our Communities-State of the Irvine Rotary Club

12.7.11 Irvine Rotary Club Meeting notes

Photo: Richard Milo was awarded his Paul Harris +7 Pin.

Mody Gorsky presented President elect nominee Don Kennedy, who will take his presidency after Lucy Walther’s term. There were no additional nominees, Mark Brubaker moved to close nominations, and Don Kennedy was ratified by the members..

Community Service Report/Avenues of Service:

The Irvine Rotary Club is giving a lot back to our communities and working a lot.

Lucy Walther led the summary of our community service accomplishments:
1. Richard Milo reported on the success of our partnership with causes for diabetes and cancer.

• The Juvenile Diabetes walk in Newport Beach recently held in November had a large contingent of Rotarians, 21 walkers from the club who added $2,000, one third of the event net revenue, for Juvenile Diabetes.
• In addition, the club provided $1,000 to support the spring Komen Walk for the Cure.
• Children’s Book Drive-Richard encouraged members to stop at garage sales and purchase books for children that we can donate during the Orange County Fair Book Drive. It’s a district wide project. Last year we donated more than 30,000 books for kids. Simply spend no more than $10 to buy books and the club will reimburse you.

2. Ed Hardenburg indicates we will have a walk this year at the Dana Point Harbor in April which includes a donation to Cystic Fibrosis.

3. Cisca Stillhorn reported:

• Our support of South County Outreach is complete for the year, we provided a total of $1,000 to SCO. Our contact has changed so we will be engaging them to come to a future meeting to re-establish with them.
• We provided a work day for the Irvine Animal Shelter with 13 Rotarians helping with the facility build out.
• In addition, we will be doing a project to support Irvine Adult Day Health. We made a donation of $1,000 and will work on conducting a work day on their behalf.

4. Rick Topping reported on:

• Injured Marines Simper If Fund which supports injured marines
• Wounded Warrior Fund
• Holes for Heroes
• ALS Society

5. Leslie Mogul reported the $1500 support of The Laguna Playhouse’s Youth Theatre world premier of Looking for Home, a Story from the Orphan Trains, was made possible with the support of IRC. Children from Orangewood and Orange County foster care were able to attend performances free of charge.

6. Ray Benedictus reported that Community Service from our club members does a lot to make things happen in the community. He added we provided support this past year for the American Heart Association.

7. Mody Gorsky reported we continue our successful partnership with the City of Irvine with our Irvine Public Safety Partnership Awards. Lucy and Mody have had four meetings with the city and they are thrilled to continue the program.

8. Austin reported on our international projects:

• Mexico (Ensenada area) Clinics-April 2012 we will conduct our 100th Mexico Clinic. We conducted four dental and two medical clinics during the year. These are fabulous opportunities for our club to team with our local Mexico Rotary partners, who identify the location, to provide needed medical and dental care. He would like more club members to participate. We stay in nice hotels, meet great people. He’ll be scouting some more locations in Mexico, including orphanages in Corazon, to continue this avenue of service. The Ensenada clinic cost $4000 for two clinics, and we provided $30,000 worth of service.
• Haiti Adult Clinics-we’re determined to continue the project when the country provides us the opportunity.
• India Clinic-were committed to doing a clinic in India, Austin will talk with Harry on this.
• Bolivia Prosthetic project is being executed with 8 other rotary clubs. It is under review at the International Rotary Foundation. Our goal is to produce 135 prosthetic legs, the program trains people to manufacture the prosthetics, and give to local disabled.
• Stove project is still being executed in Guatemala. The goal is to produce 1500 stoves, we are mid-way through production.
• Romania Orphanage-we are in the process of determining is this is feasible.

Local and International Irvine Rotary Club projects are funded by our three major fundraising efforts including:

• Bowlathon-this year raised $5,000
• Cash Bash
• Holes for Heroes-2012 will be our first year for this annual fundraiser. The San Diego Downtown Rotary Club created the successful model, in this their 10th year they raised $109,000 from the golf tournament. 75% of the proceeds are donated to International and the rest goes into their club foundation. Sign up now to be a donor or sponsor of this spring event. Wounded warriors are invited to play in each foursome.

New Member Projects: Jay Spencer suggested each new member adopt a fundraising project to participate in. Each week new members and red badgers man the Check in Desk so they can quickly get to know our members. It starts with a sincere smile and handshake, this effort is winning us a new member each week.

Finance Report: Tom Mahony reported our charitable goal for 2012 is $35,000. We currently have $70,000 in the bank. Our club does not charge dues. We are changing the name of our foundation to Irvine Rotary Foundation to match the new club name. Here’s how our club operates and where revenues are derived:

• Rotary International Foundation-provides matching grants back to the district and club.
• Club Operations –Dale Ford and his weekly fining pays for club expenses.
• Irvine Rotary Foundation-is our charitable arm from where we donate money back to local and international projects.

Ed Hardenburg reported we have an accumulated cash balance in excess of $5700 which will be used to supplement sending the club president to International Rotary Conference: Lucy to Thailand in 2012, Don Kennedy to Lisbon in 2013.

Mark Brubaker added any extra money we raise is donated to new charitable opportunities to help individuals or organizations during the year.

Officers for the Irvine Rotary Foundation are:
President: Woody Jones
President Elect: Ray Sanford
Vice President: Kris Khurana
Secretary: Mary Mar
Treasurer: Tom Mahony
Club President: Mark Brubaker
Club International Rotary Foundation Chair: Ray Benedictus

Support for Boy Scouts

Janet Wang and Mark Brubaker present a check for $500 to Scoutmaster Johansen to support the Boy Scouts.

New Member Jean Hobart

Cisca Stillhorn and Rick Topping welcome Jean to the club. She’s a close friend of Cisca’s, a lawyer, post polio victim who spends 50 hours a week doing volunteer work.

Meet Robyn Nelson

The Irvine Rotary Club welcomed our newest member, Robyn Nelson. She is a California original from Sacramento, and a registered nurse, currently the Dean of College of Nursing in the Health Sciences at West Coast University, where 2800 students are in the nursing programs.

Robyn's career trajectory began with a desire to be an elementary school teacher, but she changed her major and worked in critical care and later went onto teaching, before moving to Southern California she was a head of the nursing program at Toro College in Nevada, and Professor of Nursing at CSU Sacramento.

Outside of her professional career she's a songstress, pop and light opera are her favorites. Her husband Dean is a Jazz band musician.

IRC Meeting on the International Rotary Move to Eliminate Polio

Former rotary district governor Herb Tromboldt shared the latest update on the Rotary International's Polio Immunication Days around the world. It's the rotary's effort to end Polio now. It's the largest humane project in the world and it was started by rotary international, which partnered with other non-governmental organizatins around the world including Unicef and the World Health Organizatioin.

Rotarians around the world have done the heavy lifting on this project to get it off the ground. Herb shared a trip by rotarians this past Feb. 2011. A team of 36 rotarians went to the Kashapur area of India to immunize children against polio. Just 90 miles from New Delhi, the people live in deplorable conditions, open sewage, sewers running over constantly, one of the ways polio is spread. Add no refrigeration, heaps of garbage everywhere, no surprise this area has been ground zero for several hundred cases of polio in the past year. 80 immunization stations were set up with three movile units, a parade kicked off the activities, and the local Indians worked with our rotarians going into all neighborhood to share the polio vaccine, just a few drops by mouth is all it takes to protect these kids.

Just one of the wonderful international projects rotary takes on. Very rewarding work!

New IRC Member Von Christensen

Welcome to the Club Von!

The Irvine Rotary Club is on a roll, we welcomed another new member this week. Von Chistensen, an Irvine resident and an attorney who works in Newport. Von was welcomed to the club by former district governor Herb Tromboldt.

Interested in learning more about the rotary club, you are welcome to join us for a delicious buffet breakfast and fellowship each Wed. morning at 7:30 am at the Rancho Community Center in Irvine. Please check us out!

IRC Bowlathon Raises $5,317 for rotary projects

Thoughts from Diane Braasch, event coordinator for rotary Bowlathon:

As night sets in, I am enjoying the thoughts of todays Bowlathon. It is wonderful to have Rotary friends and some of you sure stepped up to help our event fly. It was not the best weekend to have this event due to the long weekend and people taking advantage of a getaway, but 90 people attended. 10 businesses paid $250 to fly a banner on the lanes for the three hours'. We were able to take advantage of the bowling centers hospitality. . Forest Lanes was so professional in taking care of our every need. The professional bowlers who turned out to bowl with us were some of the best. The PBA stars who I usually can get to bowl with us, were in Vegas bowling the World Series of Bowling but our local pros scored well. Toni Thomas brought some of her homemade Christmas decorations for the silent auction. They were beautiful. Leslie Mogul and Stella Cardoza did a beautiful basket including tickets to Laguna Playhouse, Robyn Nelson brought a basket with Christmas goodies and Marla Noel a fabulous Tequila basket. I made a bunch of baskets and was happy to see that all our baskets sold in the silent auction The most unusual gift was an Adult Pogo Stick donated by Rich Milo. and a diamond pendant from Ken Carrell of the Jewelry Box in Lake Forest. Forest Lanes donated a 2 hour party for six.. I purchased some fun gifts for everyone to win. Most everyone took home something and on the lanes were treated to lollipops in the bowling theme. For those of you who did not join us just because you wanted to spend a lazy Sunday afternoon at home.......well, you lose because it was sooo fun. The scores were varied and I know some of you wil have a few aches tomorrow...but be assured, YOU are making a difference in our charitable causes. THANK YOU TO ALL WHO ATTENDED AND SPECIAL THANKS TO THOSE OF YOU WHO GAVE ....Isn't that what Rotary is all about? This event net $5317 to our Rotary Foundation. Not bad for a fun three hours at the bowling center......

Thank you and thanks for all your help, Diane Braasch

Craft Talk: Meet Ed Link

IRC member Ed Link is a fun guy and knows how to entertain a crowd! He's responsible for Business Development for the Irvine Chamber of Commerce, and in about four years time since he moved to the area, he's helped expand the chamber and rotary membership rosters.

When he's not drumming up business for the chamber, you'll find Ed on the beach playing volleyball, his new athletic love. "My office on the weekends is the beach and the volleyball fields." He's also learned the fine art of wine tasting--California has abundant opportunities for this--- and sailing--which evidently seems to be a lot tamer in the open ocean than his AK roots.

Before he moved to California, he lived on a riverboat in Little Rock, and was the membership chair of the Little Rock Chamber. He also filled his free time with sailing and sailboat racing on the river in Arkansas, evidently the winds there providing challenging sailing.

Ed, a jock at heart, tells us his Conway, Arkansas (30 miles north of Little Rock) upbringing was a wholesome and great place to grow up. The school system there especially catered to his athletic love of baseball, and he eventually joined a minor league baseball league in Hayes, KS.

Thanks Ed for the entertaining craft talk!

4th Annual IRC Public Safety Award

The IRC recently awarded Mr. Patel with the Irvine Public Safety Award. It takes courage for local citizens to step up to the plate and call the local police when they see something suspicious in their neighborhood. That is what helped the Irvine Police Dept. recently when local Irvine resident Mr. Patel did when he called when three men in a Mercedes knocked on the door of his home. According to Detective Joe Kathia crime analysis and good old community involvement helped close a string of burglaries.

In the Yale corridor more than 90 burglaries had taken place within a few months. The crimes were put on Crime Stoppers TV, and one of the victims had written down a license plate that helped the Crime Division zero in on the suspects. It was Mr. Patel's phone call that confirmed all of the details to arrest three of the four suspects. The fourth suspect was eventually picked up in Seattle and returned to Irvine to serve serious time in jail.

Mr Patel says he did not think much about the call he made, he felt it was his civic duty. He has a strong sense of community spirit, and he wants to keep his community safe.

According to Detective Susan Davis, the largest issue is thefts from unlocked vehicles. Car hopping thieves check door handles and are more often than not able to open the car door and remove anything visible in your car.

Citizens, beware, stay safe and if you see any unusal activity in your neighborhood call 911!

Welcome New IRC member Mike Javanmar

Mike Javanmar, a resident of Lake Forest, is the newest member of the Irvine Rotary Club. Mike is a teacher of economics at Rio Honda College in Whittier. Mike's a graduate of UC Riverside. Please welcome Mike to our club!

Meet IRC Member Toni

Toni is a charter member of Irvine Rotary Club. In 1990 she and a small group of other rotary lovers started the club. She was the first female club president in 1995.

One of her fondest club community projects was on Dec. 15, 1990 during the first Desert Storm, when the club accomplished a major holiday tribute for service member's families. It was a Yellow Ribbon Holiday for the El Toro and Tustin Base. Donations came in from all over southern CA for kids, there was a wrapping party so each kid got a gift, bands played. A video was created which you can view on the IRC website. "It was a gift for me, I realized if we all work toger4ther so much more can be done," says Toni of the commardie and team work from the rotary family and friends of this project.

Toni says she loves her life. She's been a tax preparer for the same company for 20 years. She's been married for 15 years, and has a blended family of five kids.. Her joy is with her family, friends and just appreciating life. She spends alot of time with her husband, who is retired. Toni's motto " Live, Laugh and Love".

Toni grew up in Nebraska City until age 11. The town bosted 7,000 residents, it was a great place to grow up, but she's delighted to today be living in OC. Thirty years ago she did modeling and acted in musicals and drama. And she was a model and appeared in a variety of print advertisements.

It's members like Toni that make our IRC so interesting. She's passionate about her continuing membership in our club.

City of Irvine proclaims October 24th as World Polio Day

Assemblyman Jeff Miller presents to Irvine Rotary Club

Assemblyman Jeff Miller (R) talked about the policies and issues affecting local communities that are determined in Sacramento.

Jeff says revenues for the state fell short in September. How are we going to deal with this shortfall. There's no political courage in Sacramento, he says. We need to reduce regulatory burden in the state. Cuts will be made to the people who need the services the most.

He has served as both Mayor and a Councilman in the City of Corona, before being elected to the State Assembly in 2008 and re-elected in 2010 to represent California's 71st State Assembly district. The district spans the edge of Eastern Orange County and takes in the majority of Western Riverside County and encompasses cities of Anaheim, Corona, Eastvale, Irvine, Mission Viejo, Norco, Orange, Rancho Santa Margarita, Santa Ana and Tustin. His goals: keep the economy growing, the budget balanced, the community safe, and get the roads moving.

Jeff serves on the Assembly Higher Education Committee as well as the Insurance, Housing and Community Development and Transportation Committees. He passed AB2098 legislation to expand the 91 freeway and create 18,000 jobs in an area hit hardest by the recession.

He says he's fighting for major reform: Prison reform, Education (K-12 and community colleges). The ultimate goal for CA is to become a leader and attract business. Vote, and do your part to get the state and our community growing again.

Irvine Rotary Club Welcomes New Member Tammy Chu

Irvine Rotary Club this week welcomed our newest member, Tammy Chu, CPA. Born in Taiwan and raised in Hawaii, she attended school in Virginia. Tammy works as a CPA and auditor at Grant Thornton in Irvine. Welcome to the club, Tammy!

Social Marketing-Jump on the Bandwagon -Oct. 5, 2011 Rotary meeting presentation

Niklas Myhr, Social and Global Marketing and Media Instructor at Chapman University, shared the latest thinking around social media with the Irvine Rotary members. LISTEN - RELATE - ENGAGE- CREATE.

Jump on the Bandwagon now, if you have not already. The cold call is dead, says Niklas. rEACH OUT TO YOUR GREATER SOCIAL NETWORK TO GET A SALE, THE JOB, AND MORE. Just Google yourself, and see what everyone is saying about you and your company, or not! Use your network to get a job, stay in touch, and improve your visibility and notoriety. Niklas suggested you share aggressively with your network, build one if you have not already. Start with other members of the rotary club. Dont let the thought of spending too much time networking socially scare you, you may become addicted to this newest route to fame and maybe fortune.

Niklas' dad was a rotarian and brought Niklas to many meetings, and on his travels and rotary visits around the worldwide.

Irvine Rotary Club Welcomes New Member Walter Kowalczyk

On Wed., Oct. 5 the Irvine Rotary Club welcomed Walter Kowalczyk as our newest member. Walter says he's a man of God, husband to Theresa for 15 years and father to Anthony (10) and Sarah (3). He is the Western Pacific Region’s Director and sales professional for The College Network with the responsibility of managing an 8 state region with over 20 independent contractors and sub-contractors on the West Coast. He also serves as the Chief Financial Officer for a Saint Michael the Archangel Academy which is a nationwide K-12 private satalite program. Walter enjoys family time exploring California with Theresa and the kids.

Welcome to the Club Walter!

SAVE THE DATE - Irvine Rotary Club Holiday Party takes place December 10

Rotary District Governor Greg Owen Speaks to Irvine Rotary Members Sept. 21, 2011

District Governor Greg Owen and his wife Valerie.

District Governor Greg Owen reminded us of the power of Rotarians locally, nationally and internationally as he reminded us it's Rotary's 100th anniversary.

Projects cover sanitation, book drives and wider visions. If you are a rotary member, you know that your passion for the underserved, needed or a good cause can get great support through the power of rotary. No other organization offers wide avenues of service.

Rotary's finest moment has been to help eradicate polio. Rotarians have given $1Billion to eradicate polio and teamed with Bill Gates and The Gates Foundation, who provided $355 million to complete our goal. We are expecting to meet our goal of eradicating polio off the face of the earth by the end of 2012. Rotary clubs around the world have the power to put the infrastructure in place to roll this out, and rotarians have participated in providing more than 30 million vaccinations, each kid needs 3-6 doses of vaccine to be protected.

You'll soon be seeing big tractor trailers with Eradicate Polio signs. Greg's company has allowed rotary to wrap his tractors which travel around the country. We have the opportunity to have a tractor at an event.

The Rotary Foundation goal is $200 per capital per year. Irvine Rotary Club meets and exceeds this goal. The IRC foundation is one of the top fundraising foundations in OC.

Do you contribute $1,000 during the year to rotary? If so, become a recognized donor, and half of all contriubted income comes back to our district. Currently $50,000 annually comes back to the OC district to contribute back in our community to nonprofit projects.

Dean Irwin is the speaker this year at the Foundation Dinner, plan to attend, information is being distributed to members.

Ways to Get Involved:
Makeup meetings can be done online thru the EClub, it's available 7/24. You can makeup meetings at home or during business. This online club is very appealing to those who have restructions and are unable to make meetings.

RYLA-kids leave the safety of their family and go for a long weekend to learn about leadership in the mountains in Idllywild, once a year. When they get back they don't want to get off the bus, they've made lifelong friends in a short time.

The International Rotary Convention next year takes place in Bangkok, Thailand. If you have the resources to attend, it is an amazing trip.

FUN ON THE LANES BOWLATHON NOV.13 AT FOREST LANES, SIGN UP NOW

FUN ON THE LANES BOWLATHON FUNDRAISER
NOV. 13 AT FOREST LANES, LAKE FOREST BENEFITS MANY COMMUNITY NON-PROFITS

Irvine, CA, September 24, 2011….The second annual Fun on The Lanes Bowlathon sponsored by The Irvine Rotary Foundation will again benefit many community non-profit organizations. Bowlers, bowling teams, and supporters of rotary’s great work to support non-profit organizations, are invited to participate on Sunday, Nov. 13, 2011, 11 am-2pm.

According to Diane Braasch, Irvine Rotarian and Bowlathon organizer, family, friends and everyone is invited to participate, cost is $30 per adult, $25 for children 10 and under and includes three games of bowling and shoe rental. Company and Rotary Club teams are encouraged, five bowlers per team. Sponsorship lane banners are available.

A silent auction featuring baskets for dining out, bowler gear, wine and more are also part of the fundraising day.

The Irvine Rotary Foundation, a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization is sponsoring this fun and fantastic bowling fundraiser. All proceeds benefit Irvine Rotary Club projects. Past projects include: SMILES dental clinics inCalifornia, Mexico and Haiti; Irvine Senior Center, Juvenile Diabetes Foudnation, Cystic Fibrosis, Multiple Sclerosis Society, Injured Marines Semper Fi Fund, ALS Society, StoveTeam International, Boys & Girls Club, Rotary Youth Leadership Awards, Boy Scouts of America, and Irvine Valley College.

For more information register to bowl with Fun On the Lanes please contact Diane Braasch (494) 458-5940.

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The Incredible Egg-Irvine Rotary Club Meeting Notes, Wed., Sept. 14, 2011

Discussing the importance of animal welfare and innovative technology in modern agriculture, Brandy Gamoning of Hidden Villa Ranch presented information about the production and processing of eggs to the Rotary Club of Irvine. The presentation took the group through a virtual tour of an egg ranch—from production to processing. She also answered the groups many questions about different label claims such as and the healthfulness of eggs.

Hidden Villa Ranch is a national shell and liquid egg production, distribution, and marketing company based in Fullerton, California. Their ranches in Southern California and across the country produce both conventional and specialty eggs including organic, cage free, omega-3 and other nutrient fortified eggs.

They are committed to providing American consumers with safe, quality, affordable food. This mission relies on humane treatment of their hens and the use of innovative processing technology.

For more information on Hidden Villa Ranch’s products and services, visit www.hiddenvilla.com.

Irvine Rotary Club Meeting Notes-Wed., Sept. 7, 2011

IRVINE SOLAR INCENTIVE PROGRAM ADDS VALUE TO RESIDENTS ON TOP OF THE STATE REBATE AND FEDERAL TAX CREDIT

Citywide Solar Program Supports the Creation of a Strong Solar Community

Business owner Daniel Sullivan has a vision of creating a strong solar community out of Irvine by offering incentives to all residential, commercial and municipal properties with a Irvine solar program. The innovative program allows residents to go solar for little to no upfront cost and receive substantial cash-back awards for their involvement.

Sullivan Solar Power, who has an office in Irvine, today launched the comprehensive solar advocacy program to inspire residents to declare energy independence and make a longstanding impact on the community. Participants will receive cash-back incentives in addition to the already substantial State rebate and Federal tax credit through November 18, 2011.

“In just one hour, the sun casts enough energy upon the Earth’s surface to provide the entire world with power for one year, yet less than 1% of our electricity is generated from solar,” said Sullivan. “We need to harness this resource for the benefit of our future generations and this is our company’s way of contributing to our children’s children.”

The community solar program includes all residential and commercial Irvine properties and the early adopters will receive the largest incentives. The program also incentivizes residents to encourage their neighbors, groups and friends to go solar. Homeowners that participate in the program will be able to go solar for less than their current electric bill while strengthening the local and national economy, according to the company’s director of community relations, Erica Johnson.

“We designed Irvine’s Solar Program in a manner that will create a critical mass and encourage as many residents as possible to go solar, and hopefully, lead a solar energy revolution where we shift our dependence on fossil fuels to renewable resources,” said Sullivan.

There will be an educational solar luncheon for property owners on Saturday, October 15th at 11am at the Irvine City Hall (1 Civic Center Plaza). The presentation will inform residents about solar technology, rebates and incentives and the Irvine Solar Program.

JOIN THE SOLAR ENERGY REVOLUTION
- Be a part of America’s Energy Solution
- Receive incentives two times the State rebate
- Help your planet, help your neighbor, help your community, help yourself

Participate in the Irvine Solar Program
Launched August 15 2011, this Program has been created to encourage the creation of a strong solar community within the City of Irvine. Participants are able to go solar for as little as $0 upfront with a monthly payment equal to or less than current electric bill rates. In order to create a critical mass, businesses and homeowners who partake will receive substantial cash-back incentives in addition to the State rebate and Federal Tax Credit.

The Irvine Solar Program is exclusive to residential and commercial projects within the City of Irvine. The program will expire on November 18, 2011. The Irvine Solar Program is designed to encourage as many residents as possible to go solar. Those who sign up first will receive the greatest community incentives. There are three incentive phases and a bonus:

 The first 50,000 Watts (~10 Homes) = 7% Cash-Back Incentive
 The next 50,000 Watts (~10 homes) = 5% Cash-Back Incentive
 The next 100,000 Watts (~20 homes) = 3% Cash-Back Incentive

If residents commit to install 200,000 Watts or more, all participants will receive an additional 3% cash-back incentive bonus.

A series of educational solar community presentations are taking place to inform residents in Irvine about solar technology, rebates and incentives, and the Irvine Solar Program. Solar luncheons will be taking place on Saturday, August 27th and October 15th at 11am in the Irvine City Hall.

Additional information on the program can be found by calling 1-800-SULLIVAN or by visiting www.IrvineSolarProgram.org.

About Sullivan Solar Power
Sullivan Solar Power is a turnkey solar design-build firm. The company has installed over 6,000,000 watts of solar power ranging from small-scale residential to large-scale commercial and municipal systems. Sullivan Solar Power services all of Southern California and has been ranked as one of the fastest growing energy companies in the nation by Inc. Magazine. Regardless of project size and scope, Sullivan is committed to delivering the best products and the most qualified professionals to its customers. Please visit www.sullivansolarpower.com for more information.

LIGA, Flying Doctors of Mercy-Club Meeting notes Aug. 30, 2011

LIGA, Flying Doctors of Mercy's mission, since its beginning in 1930, has been to provide free healthcare, including medical, dental, surgical and other specialties, and health education to medically underserved children and adults in rural areas of Mexico. Fifteen years ago kids had holes in their hearts, blue babies, valve problems, those illnesses are now treated by LIGA.

Dr. Wilner, a physician and medical teacher, who has been a member of LIGA for 20 years, and Jackie Hansen, talked about the program's three clinics in Northern Sinaloa where they've treated 686 (record) surgeries for kids. Before kids died of many treatable illnesses.

Physicians, dentists, pilots and other healthcare volunteers are needed to provide for the growing number of children and adults needing treatment. Medical personnel are usually flown by volunteer pilots in privately owned airplanes, carrying four to six passengers each. These dedicated men and women bring vital and urgent care to those most in need. For every $1,000 in donations, LIGA provides over $100,000 in medical services. Almost all surgeries are successful and kids now live a normal life. The average case costs $6,000, and they do 8-10 cases per year. Kids come from anywhere in Mexico for treatment. The medical clinic where the surgeries are provided in an outpatient clinics, is located in the City of Obregon. The kids stay a week after the surgery. On average kids will take 5-6 hours to get to their surgery. Where kids could hardly walk into the clinic, months after their surgery, they will be active and normal. Most kids that come to LIGA for treatment are triaged and treated. Their lives are saved, and says the doctors, "It's very satifying volunteer work."

A typical clinic trip will see 14 to 18 small planes departing from Southern California carrying 50 to 80 volunteers to three clinics where they will see 800 to 1,000 patients. Patients receive a wide range of free medical treatment. LIGA works closely with Mexican medical personnel and volunteers to assure cooperation, education and training.

Liga also provides an opportunity for American medical students, interns and residents to enhance their medical education by visiting the interior of Mexico and participating in clinics.

Liga clinics have been supported by Rotary donations!

The Irvine Animal Care Center Scoop at Irvine Rotary Club

When you rescue a shelter pet they Know! If you have adopted a dog or cat or other animal from a shelter you understand the true meaning of this saying.

The Irvine Rotary Club proudly provides support to this award-winning program,we should all be proud of. Ron Edwards, Animal Care Administrator and Christine Franco, Program Coordinator of the Irvine Animal Care Center provided an overview of our most unique city run shelter which services the entire Irvine community, and beyond. Their low euthanasia rate, high level of donors,volunteers and supporters make this an animal shelter many other cities are envious of.

In this economy in other communities, many animals get overlooked, but not at this center. It costs $6.50 per day per animal to keep them in the shelter. Fundraising and donations is an important part of operating the shelter, but the city sure does contribute. Three outstanding programs include:
1- Extended Care-if an animal is not reclaimed within 30 days, the city pays for care of the animal for the first 45 days. And the goal is if the animal is adoptable, they will work to get it adopted.
2-Enhanced program-they fundraise for the medical funding needed to pay for injured animals including fractures, mange and more. Full time medical staff are employed to provide excellent care. Anyone wishing to adopt one of the 2,200 animals annually adopted from the center are screened first before allowed to adopt an animal.
3- Third Chance Program-This is a huge area of needed not just locally but across the country. Because the Irvine shelter is so blessed with resources, as space allows, they go to other shelters from as far away as Escondido, Inland Empire and Los Angeles to rescue animals that are adoptable and bring them locally. Irvine truly save lives from beyond our community. There is a big demand from other shelters for help and Irvine shelter heeds the call. And our Irvine community has a big demand to adopt shelter animals.
You can participate by becoming a volunteer (ages 17+)and walking a dog or petting a cat, attending the Super Pet Adoption Day where you can adopt a Certified Pet, and their annual fundraiser Casino Night! Specials include Senior Pets for Senior People, a special low fee.

Adopt a Pre-Loved Pet Today! Visit www.IrvineShelter.org.

August 16, 2011 Meeting Notes

Sports is a part of our American way. Whether you are able or disabled, most of us have a desire to play with the team!

David Armendariz, Regional Director of the Special Olympics, Southern California, enlightened our rotary club about the breadth and depth of the organization. 3.1 million SA athletes compete in 195 countries around the globe. This effective organization provides kids and adults with disabilities with an opportunity everyday to maximize their potential in sports. Ethel Kennedy created the organization almost 50years ago. There are many volunteer opportunities to work with SA, meet and get to know the disabled and see them in action.

SA is a sports traiing and competition organization for the disabled athletes. They are able to develop their skills thru sports. At one time this group was forgotten, now they are center stage, around the world. Athletes learn to compete, be a good team mate, communicate, and build skills.

They want to win, like any athlete. SA compete in 12 sports. The minimum age is 8, and seniors age 70-87 participate. SA athletes are five times more likely to be employed, than their peers.

Ralphs Market grand reopening

In celebration of the ribbon cutting ceremony of Ralphs at Walnut and Culver, Irvine Rotary coordinated with Irvine Eagles Special Olympics of Southern California, Orange County Region team, and Boy Scouts Troop 691, to attend the event. The collaborative participation, was to jointly promote self confidence and self esteem through participation in sports and scouting. And that, sporting and scouting are for all, regardless of any physical limitation.

Each non-profit entity, Special Olympics and Boy Scouts Trooop 691, will receive a monetary grant from Ralph's Foundation to recognize the work they do for youth in Irvine Community. The grant will be used to fund future sporting and scouting projects.

The Ralphs Foundation gave the Irvine Eagles a $2,500 grant to help to underwrite sports during the upcoming Fall season. The grant will also help double the number of athletes participating in the Irvine Eagles bowling program.

Special Olympics provides a year-round sports training and competition program for men, women and children with an intellectual disability. Through the power of sports, the athletes gain important life skills and experiences that enhance self-confidence and self-esteem.

Irvine Rotary Club supports the activities of Irvine Eagles through sports uniform donations, volunteering at Special Olympics games, and joined baseball game attendance over the years.




Irvine Boy Scout Troop 691, received a $500 grant to help fund the 40th Anniversary Celebration of Troop 691 and Eagles Reunion this December 19, 2011.

Established in 2006, Irvine Rotary Foundation is the charitable arm of the Irvine Rotary Club. The Foundation has its own Board of Directors and Officers separate from the Rotary club, with the elected Officers and Directors drawn from the members of the Irvine Rotary Club. The Foundation has tax-exempt status under IRS code 501(c)(3), Charitable Corporation.

The Foundation raises money and makes charitable contributions in accordance with the following guidelines:

Contributions to schools for educational scholarships;

Charitable contributions for youth activities and to youth organizations within, or substantially benefiting, the Irvine area and/or California;

Other charitable organizations within, or substantially benefiting, the Irvine area and/or California;

Charitable organizations which help alleviate suffering in a time of crisis, wherever situated; and

Other charitable organizations approved by a majority of the Members of the Foundation.

Irvine Public Safety Partnership Awards

Mody Gorsky of the Irvine Rotary Club presents the Irvine Public Safety Partnership award to Anthony Johnson of Universal Protection Service for his invaluable assistance to the
Irvine Police Department in solving a series of recent vehicle break-ins at The Market Place. Assisting in the presentation are Irvine Police Chief David Maggard and Detective John Condon.

Irvine Rotary supports Irvine Adult Day Health Care

Kris Khurana and Cisca Stellhorn present Kimberly Beesom (center) with a $1,000 check to support the Irvine Adult Day Health Center. The IADHC was one of the casualties of the Governor Jerry Brown's decision to take away funding for community programs in an attempt to balance the California budget.

Irvine Rotary Club Meeting Notes July 27, 2011

Irvine Rotary Club Meeting Notes July 25, 2011

Visitors to Rotary Club Meeting:
We had a full house today with visitors and members:
-International guests Hunz from the Netherlands, a past district governor, was there. Hunz said the Netherlands has five rotary clubs, but the country is the size of Irvine to Los Angeles.
-Al Tello, Foundation Direcfotr of Irvine Valley College, was on hand to receive a check from the Irvine Rotary Foundation for their Scholarship program. Tony presentedthe check. According to Al they have raised $161,000 this year to fund scholarships for kids to attend college. Once they complete their AA, kids can transfer and get accepted to any college they want. Another great rotary project.

What do new Rotarians receive when they join the club: We throw almost everything but the kitchen sink at them: they will look fashionable in rotary logod tshirt, jacket, hats and more.

-Barry continues to do good: he visited two former rotarians who have not been well. David Dostel is feeling the effects of diabetes, but he's able to travel with his family and getting back to do the things he loves.
-Barry also visited Al Rosenstein at Heritage Point where he's now happy go lucky, dating his love Francis, and also president of the association.

Networking and building visibility for our rotary club: We'll have a table at the Irvine Chamber OC mixer where 400-500 people are expected to attend, on Thurs., Aug. 25 at Strawberry Farms. There's free parking and lots of people to network with. Consider attending, and working our booth if you are available.

Date with a Rotary Member: The dating continues: Richard and Marla had their date. Richard is so multi-talented, he's got a mechanical and engineering mind, and has been a hardware engineer and knows how to build things. He's also a watchmaker. Marla, who always looks fashionable, loves fashion. She's a CPA and great with numbers, and president of an amazing mortuary.

Rotary Member accomplishments:
-Birthdays in July: Cynthia Mendoza, Marla Noel and Mary Mar
-Wedding anniversaries: Wayne celebrates 44 years; Ann Collins on July 29, 45th anniversary

Craft Talk by Cisca Stellhorn:
She's almost a charter member of the club, she was the first new member of Irvine Rotary Club.
Cisca was born in Santa Cruz and the youngest of five kids. Her brother in Manteca, a rotarian, suggested she join the rotaryclub when Cisca said she wanted to see her donations working hard for charity. Although she graduated with a BS in Biology from UCI, she went into the family trade, as a lawyer. Her family were also judges. Cisca is busy and involved and a big part of our rotary club.
She's daring and a true outdoors woman with horses, dogs and the vim and vigor to bike, hike, horseback ride, and complete triathlons. She's jumped out of airplanes twice; rode a bike through the Rockies twice, 450 miles in six days! Last year she completed a 50 mile hike in the High Sierras. She likescountry music and going to concerts. A claim to fame, Cisca was responsible for the Dressage in the 1984 Olympics and in charge of 380 volunteers.

She loves to travel--trips to China, and other places around the world
She had a great show and tell: Cisca likes to knit and weave, she's got a Knitters Loom. And she's a bow hunter-harvested an elk.And her 357 Magnum! She got that from her grandfather who lived on 250 acres and had a gun and a holster he wore every day.
Attorney Cisca handles Family Law today, after doing many other areas of law. What she likes most about her job, being part of a person's growth in their transitional life, she gets to see her clients come out on the other side. " The warrior in me gets to come forward and hold power for others," says Cisca.

On her bucket list: Hike to Base Camp of Mt. Everest and Kilamanjaro, and to everyday touch someone's heart.

She loves being part of a village.

Bhutan is a favorite travel place, the people are sweet, happy, generous, friendly, engaging and you feel safe anywhere in this Bhutist country. Cisca has seen the evolution of Bhutan from a Monarch run country to today's democracy.

Irvine Rotary Club Meeting Notes, July 20, 2011

Our Irvine Rotary Club welcomes visitors. If you are thinking of joining a Rotary club, please check us out. We have been told our club is one of the most welcoming.

Visitors this week included: Visiting Rotarians, former Irvine Club members Becky and Bob Larson, now living in Des Moines, WA.; Newport Balboa Club President Bill Hospil, and Club member Ray Benedictus' son Ian.

News from our President Mark Brubaker: "Club members, make your rotary experience more interesting by joining a committee. "Many Hands make life work".

Committees include Public Relations, Website, Programming, Community Service, Club Foundation, International Service. There's something for everyone's interest. To find out more, please attend a board meeting and see our board and committee chairs in action. Board meetings are once a month on Tuesday at 5:30 pm.

Paul Harris: Way to go Dale Ford, he received his Paul Harris Plus 8 Pin. Rotarians receive a Paul Harris Pin for each $1,000 donation to The Rotary International Foundation. As Dale says, "Just $83.23 per month per year, and you've got a $1,000 donation completed."

The District 5320 Rotary Foundation contributions from our club hit our target. We received third place over all of the other clubs (total of 41) in our district. We contributed an average of $482 per capital in giving. Way to go club, next year our goal is #1!

How we support the community:

Cisca is organizing a Chili Cook Off team before the Angels Game on August 20. All club members and spouses and significant others are welcome to come for the fellowship before the game, even if you will not be staying to see the Angels win! Have a family Chili recipe you want to share?

Jewelry Trunk Show is this Thursday, 3-8 pm. If you need more info, contact Cisca for a flyer. A portion of every sale is contributed to another worthy cause our club supports.

Rotary Book Drive – Bring a new or gently used book to donate. Cynthia will be bringing all our book donations to the OC Fair grounds on Fri. July 29. Time to clean out your bookcase, or donate those boxes of books you have in your garage. Book drive volunteers are also needed to work the booth at the OC County Fair. Volunteers get free admission to the fair too. Ask Cynthia how you can help!

Craft Talks: Several times a month, a rotary club member has the opportunity to conduct a Kraft Talk, it's all about sharing who you are, what you do, and what's your passion with club members. And yes, you have the opportunity to plug your business or work,
without a fine.

Today's Speaker: Visit our Rotary Club and one of the first people you will meet is Barry Brown. He's always there to offer a smile and a warm welcome to members and guests. He wants all our club members to get to meetings early so you can shake his hand.

He's busy and out an about during the rest of the week, as he tells us. Some of the club projects and community support Barry does includes working at the Irvine Senior Center talking to seniors, shopping for those that cannot do for themselves, and other projects like building a ramp for a disabled gentleman's home. Barry has been a long time Rotarian; he first joined the Placentia Club and when he moved to Irvine joined IRC. This was the first time in five years he's done a craft talk, lots to tell. In five months he'll turn 76, he was born in 1935.

He's so fit and active. Priscilla, his love of the last 12 years, is a bit younger and helps keep him moving! But Barry is self-motivated. His joy is in "Building and doing in the community." His job for the last four years, working part time from 9am-1pm every weekday. Barry gets to walk up to four miles a day in his job working for a commercial door company placing stickers on the backs of business doors. Who knew how those signs and stickers got there! Before that for most of his adult life he worked in the perishable food business. His son is a Global VP of Bank of America.

"The greatest joys in life are my memories," says Barry. He reminisces of his younger married life (before Priscilla he was a widower), finding butterflies in camp when he was a youngster; meeting interesting people. His joys too are six grandkids; all are well and growing. Barry's Bugaboo: Rotary members, please be attentive when others speak. Turn those cell phones off!

Jay Johnstone - Pro baseball player and trickster

Jay Johnstone - the colorful former Angels baseball player who earned 4 World Series rings, is the Celebrity Chairman for our Angels Rotary Night event to End Polio Now on August 20th. He will share some fascinating stories about his career in Major League Baseball.

JJ Triva: John William Johnstone Jr. (born November 20, 1945) is an American former professional baseball player, active from 1966 to 1985 for the California Angels, Chicago White Sox, Oakland Athletics, Philadelphia Phillies, New York Yankees, San Diego Padres, Los Angeles Dodgers, and Chicago Cubs. Johnstone was known as a versatile outfielder with a good sense of humor, known for keeping clubhouses loose with occasional pranks and gimmicks. He later served as a radio color commentator for the Yankees (1989–1990) and Phillies (1992–1993).

Career highlights include:

• As an Angel, he preserved Clyde Wright's no-hitter against the Athletics in the seventh inning by catching a Reggie Jackson fly ball 400 feet straightaway in center field, just in front of the wall (July 3, 1970).
• As a Phillie, he went 7-for-9 in the 1976 National League Championship Series against the Cincinnati Reds. However, the Reds swept the Series.
• As a Dodger, he hit a pinch-two run home run in Game Four of the 1981 World Series against the New York Yankees, the home run rallying the Dodgers from a 6-3 deficit to win 8-7. The victory also enabled the Dodgers to tie the Series at two games each; they won the next two games to win it all.

Clubhouse prankster

He pulled off a number of infamous pranks during his playing days, including placing a soggy brownie inside Steve Garvey's first base mitt, setting teammate's cleats on fire (known as "hot-footing"), cutting out the crotch area of Rick Sutcliffe's underwear, locking Dodger manager Tommy Lasorda in his office during spring training, dressing up as a groundskeeper and sweeping the Dodger Stadium infield in between innings, nailing teammate's cleats to the floor, and replacing the celebrity photos in manager Lasorda's office with pictures of himself, Jerry Reuss and Don Stanhouse. One time, during pre-game warm ups, he climbed atop the Dodger dugout and, in full game uniform, walked through the field boxes at Dodger Stadium to the concession stand and got a hot dog. He also once dressed up in Lasorda's uniform (with padding underneath) and ran out to the mound to talk to the pitcher while carrying Lasorda's book and a can of Slim Fast.

As a baseball announcer, he once covered a microphone with a scent of stale eggs then proceeded to interview Dave Stewart, Mickey Hatcher and other players.

Many of the pranks, along with other aspects of his career, are described in the books he co-authored with sports columnist Rick Talley - Temporary Insanity and Some of My Best Friends Are Crazy.

While fictionally playing for the Seattle Mariners (a team he never played for in his real baseball career), Johnstone struck out looking against fictional California Angel pitcher Dave Spiwack in the top of the first inning in the movie Naked Gun. Johnstone, who was a left-handed hitter throughout his career, bats right-handed in the movie.

After the Dodgers' 1981 World Series victory, Johnstone and Dodger teammates Monday, Jerry Reuss, and Steve Yeager appeared on Solid Gold and sang their own rendition of Queen's hit, We Are the Champions.

The Angeles want people to come out to the ball park. Cheaper parking and lower ticket prices than the Dodgers. Frank McCourt has led an extravagant lifestyle, and many of his family members are in top positions with the team. The Dodgers have been stripped of their money.

He said the Angels have outsold the Dodgers ticket sales for the last three years. They draw a good attendance and give a good play. Jay was a high school quarterback and was lucky enough to get many offers for football scholarships, he even signed seven letters of intent to play football. About that time, the Angels came along and asked him to play. He said “sure.” He said “It was the best thing I ever did… pro-football players can barely walk after they retire.”

Meeting Notes - July 13

"I always look forward to Wednesdays, what a great way to start the day at our rotary meetings," says Rotary Club President Mark Brubaker.

Like a good breakfast, The Irvine Rotary Club was graded at the top in food for rotary meetings, visitors are welcome to come taste why! Our club member Diane, a caterer, is an awesome cook. Yum!

Visitors: They can't stay away, former rotary club member Lutz visited our club from his home now in Germany, he brought his teenage daughter too!

Rotary club members are welcome to attend our board meetings. Mark's goal is for every club member to serve on a committee, it builds camaraderie and helps us get our work accomplished easier.

Member Austin Wall was recognized for his service to kids in Haiti when the club awarded him another Paul Harris level.

New Member Robyn Nelson, has a lot of Rotary experience. She's currently Dean of Nursing at Orange Coast College. Welcome Robyn!

Cynthia Mendoza says if you plan to attend the OC Fair, bring three gently used kid’s books or one new book to get in for free. Volunteers are needed to work the book drive booth.

Service for Marines: Visitor Cynthia, President of the Newport Sunrise Club, talked about her club's involvement in the active lives of Marines at Camp Pendleton. She collected dollars from our members to buy cookies for the kids of Marine Families.

Meeting Notes - July 6

How do we grow our Rotary club? Word of mouth and guests, who are always welcome to attend one of our meetings and see us in action. Our meetings are multi-faceted. Rotarians from other clubs are always welcome to do a make-up. This week Janet's son Calvin and Robyn Nelson, soon to be inducted into our club from Green Valley Rotary Club in Nevada were introduced.

Sergeant at Arms Dale Ford is the orchestrator of fining our members, in a light-hearted way, which helps us grow our funds so we can generously support non-profit organizations. Fines and happy bucks, donations from our members and guests for things they are thankful for add to our growing kiddy. Another way is through holding fun outings and events, August 20 is our Angels Game & Chili Cookoff event. During the year we celebrate our anniversary, a Bowl-a-thon, and more. Tom Mahoney got the Fine Free Badge for the next month, he paid for the opportunity to be safe from fining.

Girls, love to shop, Women of Rotary have the opportunity to purchase beautiful jewelry, with a percentage of each purchase being donated to Human Options. It's Campagne, chocolates, an open h ouse, a fun rotary party, and a great way to do a make up meeting. Cisca is our organizer on this event.

RYLA-Rotary Youth Leadership Award — Becoming a Better Person — was today's topic, presented by three deserving young girls.

The Irvine Rotary Club raises money to support a variety of local and international projects. Our support for youth includes helping them break out of their mold and experience a new world.

Tania, Myra, and Bernice are Santa Ana Boys and Girls Club members who got to share in the experience of a lifetime, attending RYLA camp for a long weekend recently in Idyllwild, CA. They met other rotary sponsored youth from around the world and forged friendships for life, shared and learned, with no parents around. This brief experience opened their eyes to new adventures, helped overcome fears and helped to transorm them. They learned communication skills, leadership skills and how to form a tight-knit "family" with other youth. "It gives me the guts to talk to anyone now," said one girl. They are the future of rotary, kids who learned new perspectives.

How they got involved in RYLA and Boys & Girls Club-each girl lives in a tight-knit Hispanic community, and what they know is they want to go to college after they graduate high school, which is only a few years away. According to Bernice, she needed more than 100 community service hours in three months, and she turned to the B&G Club to connect her to the community service avenues. She and her friends started going at a young age, love volunteering, and long after they've completed their hours, they are still hanging out at the club. They use the gym for all kinds of sports, and love to play with the little kids there, "It's like our second home", says Tania who plans to major in psychology when she goes to college. Mayra plans to attend an art institute.

RYLA camp Alumni run the camp programs and are the camp leaders the following year. The girls plan to work hard and attend RYLA meetings so they can provide service next year as camp counselors and leaders. It makes our rotarians feel terrific when we can hear first hand how our monetary contributions, and personal support pay it forward. One of our rotary members is the link between the B&G Club, RYLA and the support they receive.

Interested in learning more about how you can pay it forward, please attend one of the Irvine Rotary Club's weekly meetings, every Wednesday morning for breakfast at the Irvine Community Center, 3 Ethel Copley Way, Irvine, CA. You are always welcome!

Semper Fi Fund

The Irvine Rotary Club has supported the Semper Fi Fund since its beginning. We were one of the first service clubs to help. It’s now their 7th Anniversary, and as the need is still there, our club continues to provide support and grants for our injured soldiers. The stories can be hard reading and the pictures tough to view, but they illustrate the unbroken spirit of these young people, the commitment of their families and the good work that is being done for them. Read about their bravery in the Semper Fi Fund’s latest newsletter.

President Mody's Demotion Party

Here's a teaser. The rest are here.

Mody's Message

Dear club members, spouses and friends,

I would like to thank you all for a very memorable demotion day. Some personal thanks are in order and apologies in advance if I forget anyone:

Tom Mahony and Sonia - Thank you for allowing the party to take place in their new "castle". Thanks for being the perfect hosts.

I would like to thank Diane for catering the event. Thanks to Ray Sanford for cementing all the memories. Thanks to Luana for making the center pieces. Thanks Wayne for putting together the sound system. Richard for making the attractive background (and in Hebrew no less) and of course, thank you Randy for arranging the slides.

Thank you Governor Johrita, incoming Governor Greg Owen and their spouses for attending. Price and Debbie attended too but they are club members as far as I am concerned.

Thanks to my three wonderful bachelorettes - Ray B, Bret and Rick. I know it took an effort to put on the make up, the nails etc. Thanks to Bret's daughter too, for all the help in that department.

Mark Brubaker - thank you for putting all of the pieces together.

And of course the club - thank you for making this past year so memorable. I am a very lucky man.

And now, as this party is about to be over - we have a new one to attend - so let's all reach within and touch humanity.

--
Mody Gorsky

Sam Allevato - OC Great Park

Members In the News:

• Marla Noel, CEO of Fairhaven Memorial Park announced they are celebrating their 100 year anniversary with movie in the cemetery. You are welcome to join.
• Jay, Kummar, Mary and Cisca graduated the free disaster preparedness training recently. In light of the worldwide disasters including hurricanes, earthquakes and floods, don’t you too want to be prepared!

Date with a Rotarian:

Rotarians become lifelong friends. What a fun way to get to know your fellow Rotarians.
• Luana and Toni talked what they learned about each other’s life and loves during the recent "date."

Featured Speaker:

San Juan Capistrano Mayor Sam Allevato, discussed The Orange County Great Park, Creating a National Treasure. Sam’s become an inspiration to his community through his leadership and impressive credentials, he’s also a member of the San Juan Capistrano City Council.

The OC Great Park $70 million construction continues and the park is evolving. The overall design and selection of how the park would develop was a true community endeavor, a lot of public input was garnered to create the park. The former agricultural land and El Toro Air Base, located in the heart of Irvine, is now a park for the 21st Century, it is twice the size of New York’s Central Park, seven square miles and 1400 acres.

There was an initial design competition, study groups and stakeholders helped create the public’s vision and shape the community asset. A OC Park Design Studio has brought an oasis of activity and reflection to this former military air base. The grand vision is realized and the comprehensive park design is available for viewing at www.ocgp.org. The designers tried to accommodate everything on the community’s wish list.

The original land was purchased for $100,000 in 1942, and has had many lives which is celebrated in a timeline on the park walkway, formerly one of the air strips.

Different areas of the park provide something for everyone including:
• Balloon Park-which is celebrating it’s 6th anniversary July 9th with 6,000 kids in the park that weekend
• Festival Site-home of Cirque du Soleil, also the site for events, it’s available for renting by organizations.
• Over 400,000 people visit the park each year
• Education Garden-the former Officer’s Club
• South Lawn-to be transformed into four soccer fields when complete
• North Lawn-a multi purpose area
• Sports Park-eventually will accommodate all major sports
• Picnic Meadow
• Palm Court-a gathering spot, the building have been retained and repurposed into an art and cultural center
• Agriculture area-200 acres are active growing fields that provide produce for the Farmer’s Market.
• The land is being conditioned for future planting and more gardens
• Future Development-to be determined by community needs.

Come to the park for a free balloon ride and you will be able to view the vast park in all its glory. On Sunday’s there is a Farmer’s Market, too.

Presidential Citation Award with Distinction

By Mody Gorsky

In recognition of our club's achievements this year, the Irvine Rotary Club was awarded the prestigious Rotary International Presidential Citation.

In order to qualify for the Presidential Citation award, clubs must meet certain requirements in the categories of club service, vocational service, community service, and international service.

Our club exceeded the requirements in these categories and was therefore awarded the Presidential Citation with Distinction – one of only 6 clubs awarded within District 5320.

I would like to congratulate our Board, club officers and of course, the membership. This award means we represented the core values of integrity, fellowship and service of Rotary. We once again proved that we are leaders in our community and our District.

The Renaissance of Chinese Culture

Our speaker this week was Dr. Shizhong Chen, who spoke about the new Renaissance of Chinese Culture.

Dr, Chen has been active in projects concerning China for many years. He founded, co-founded, or had been spokesperson for a number of organizations concerning China.

Dr. Chen was born in China in 1962. At the age of 15, he entered the gifted program of China University of Science and Technology. He came to the US to study and received his PhD degree from the University of California, San Diego. He currently lives in San Diego, where he runs a biotech company.

Irvine Police Chief David Maggard is Honorary Member

Irvine P.D. Chief David Maggard became an Honorary Member of Irvine Rotary today. He spoke of the vision that the City of Irvine had from the beginning and said he was proud to be a part of what makes Irvine great. He cited that the difference between Irvine and a lot of cities is the Police/Community partnership.




Chief Maggard with Harish Murthy's son, Akshay, a member of the Irvine Police DARE program.


Former Mayor Mike Ward



Chief David Maggard, Honorary member of the Irvine Rotary Club.


Rick Topping presents the membership certificate to Chief Maggard.


Lucy Walther, Mody Gorsky, Chief Maggard, Rick Topping


Rick Topping presents checks to Vanessa Donaldson for the Injured Marines Semper Fi fund and the Wounded Warriors Center at Camp Pendleton. Irvine Rotary has a long tradition of assisting the military.

Irvine Rotary Club Sponsors Free Dental Screening Exam

Over 120 children entering elementary school in Irvine participated in the 5th annual Dental Screening clinic sponsored by the Irvine Rotary club. Once again, the help from Irvine Assisteens, the high school students in the Assistance League, was much appreciated. Food was provided for the staff and club members by Corner Bakery. In addition to the screenings, the IUSD Health Services staff provided height/weight screenings and information about vaccinations. The children were kept entertained with coloring books and puzzles.







As part of their commitment to providing support within the community, the Irvine Rotary club works with the Irvine Unified School District (IUSD) and local dentists to conduct the dental screenings that are required for incoming IUSD Kindergarten and 1st Grade students new to IUSD.

The screenings were provided by Dr. Charles Tozzer, DDS and Dr. Austin Wall, DDS, who have partnered on numerous occasions to provide free dental services to needy children throughout the world. Dr. Tozzer is the founder of Dental Care for Children (DCFC), a 501(c)(3) non-profit foundation dedicated to providing free dental care for children. He donates his time, money and dental services to children who would never in receive proper and basic dental care. His foundation has participated in over 100 clinics in the United States, Mexico, and Haiti. Most recently, DCFC has helped start clinics in El Salvador and Morocco. To learn more about DCFC and how you can help, please visit www.dentalcareforchildren.org.

In addition to sponsoring the Irvine dental screening clinic, the Irvine Rotary club also sponsors two clinics a year in Mexico, where more than a thousand children have received free dental care.

The Irvine Rotary club provides support for several local organizations, including South County Outreach, Irvine Adult Day Health Center, Injured Marines Semper Fi Fund, and Working Wardrobes, in addition to partnering with the Irvine Police Department and Chamber of Commerce.



The Assistance League of Irvine is a 100% volunteer non-profit organization dedicated to providing programs and services that will enrich and improve the quality of life in our community. Learn more at www.alirvine.org.

RI Convention in New Orleans

Luana and Mary showing off the masks they bought in New Orleans.

The club's attendees at the Rotary International Convention in New Orleans spoke of their experiences. From travel nightmares to the great parties and the Host Hospitality event with the Slidell, LA Rotary clubs, they each spoke about how much they enjoyed the trip.

Water for Sudan

Orin Abrams from the Anaheim Hills Rotary Club joined us today, along with Ole Prahm from the Rancho Santa Fe Rotary Club, and three "Lost Boys" from Sudan.

Orin presented the "Water for Sudan" project that he has been spearheading in our Rotary District. Water for Sudan is a non-profit 501c3 organization that provides clean, sustainable water to over a quarter of a million people in Southern Sudan.

He showed a video on this impoverished region, where 3 million people live on less than $1 a day, 2 million have been killed at war, and 15% of children die by the age of 6 - primarily from water-borne diseases. He introduced us to Daniel, Simon, and John who, along with 18,000 other young boys, have fled this war-torn area. While many died, these three "boys" (now men) were expatriated to the US, and now live in San Diego, have received a college education, and are providing support for the villages they left behind.

The "boys" recounted their experiences living in Sudan, including how they had lost family members and become sick themselves from the water, not realizing it was contaminated. When visiting his village in 2006, John stated that he had to drink the water as there was no alternative; in 2009 he returned to enjoy fresh water from their new well.

Thanks partly to drilling equipment provided by Ole and the Rancho Santa Fe Rotary Club, 100 wells have been installed, with 900 more needed. Donations are are very much appreciated, and more information can be obtained at www.waterforsudan.org.

Rotary club of Irvine brings the Laguna Playhouse live theatre performances to four Irvine schools

Irvine, CA, May 17, 2011… The Rotary Club of Irvine’s partnership with The Laguna Playhouse provided TheatreReach: Bringing Books to Life! performances in four Irvine elementary schools during the spring May 2011 tour of By The Great Horn Spoon!, a story about the California Gold Rush, according to Mody Gorsky, club president.

“We are delighted to provide funding for an Arts Access for Youth community grant in support of these performances. Community service and improving the quality of life within our community is “the heartbeat of Rotary.” Approximately 500 fourth grade students from Vista Verde, Stone Gate, Oak Creek and Canyon View Elementary Schools, many who would otherwise not have the opportunity to experience live theatre, attended these performances,” added Gorsky.

According to Donna Inglima, Director of Youth Education Programs at The Laguna Playhouse, the goals of TheatreReach include inspiring students in low-income schools to read their curriculum books and better understand what they have read, and to provide early exposure to live theatre for children who might not otherwise have access to this enriching experience.

Cash Bash Smash Success!

Dr. Austin Wall and Rick Topping announced the winners. Richard Milo projected the spreadsheet of winners and losers on the big screen so everyone could keep track.

The Irvine Rotary Club's annual Cash Bash was a smash success. Lots of winners and lots of fun.

The Grand Prize was won by Tim Wolin who donated his winnings back to the club's foundation to be used for projects.


Members and guests kept track of the proceedings on the big screen.

Rotarians at Work Day - St. Andrew's Children's Center, Irvine

Our annual Rotarians at Work Day project this year was at the St. Andrew's Children's Center in Irvine where club members painted, cleaned and helped create a new planter box. Photos are in the Photo Gallery.

“The Heart of Rotary” Hospitality Night at the District Conference

Thanks to Cisca Stellhorn for leading the charge once again for our booth at the District Conference’s Hospitality Night! With the help of Luana, Stella, Cynthia, Toni T, Tony M, Barry, Ed, and Dale, our booth (serving wings and beer) was a great success! "King Mody" definitely added to the spirit of the evening!

The event was well attended, with many clubs having a booth – serving everything from British “Bangers and Mash” to chocolate dipped strawberries and margaritas! Music and dancing added to the jollity – and I am told a lot more partying went on well into the night for those that stayed over.

The breakfast on Saturday morning was well attended, and awards were given to the “unsung heroes” from 3 Rotary clubs (these were awarded at every meal throughout the Conference). Winners of the District Singing and Speech contest (from local high schools) performed excellently, and a great presentation was given on the plight and needs of the “motel children” in Orange County. Thanks to District Governor Johrita Solari for highlighting this needy group, for whom many of us brought toiletries and other necessities.