Rotary and Angels team up against Polio

On Saturday, July 31, several of our members participated in the the District's 3rd annual polio fundraiser at Angel Stadium. Rotary's #1 mission, in conjunction with the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, is to eradicate polio worldwide, by vaccinating every child in the countries that still have this crippling virus.

The event started with a fun tailgate party (and more fund-raising) - a chili cook off contest! Cisca Stellhorn, Diane Braasch, and Joan Sarver cooked and served a variety of home made chili dishes (Joan's "Kick Ass Chili" was my personal favorite, with Diane's milder but very meaty "Chicago" a close second - and Cisca's turkey one not far behind). I know we got a lot of votes, and hopefully we won, but the winning was in the socializing we all did!

For the non-chili lovers, Ray Benedicktus put on his apron and got out his barbecue tongs, making delicious hamburgers and hot dogs - as if having arranged for all the ticket and T-shirt sales wasn't enough - thanks Ray!

We were honored to have a group of Marines from the Wounded Warriors battalion join us with their family/girlfriends - thanks to the coordination of former Marine, Rick Topping. With several former Marines in our club, this is one of the primary organizations we support - not only with donations and other funding, but with as much "hands on" participation as we can. It was a pleasure to meet these brave soldiers who sacrificed their health for our nation's safety and freedom - we thank them and wish them a speedy recovery!

This was also a Birthday party for Mary Mar, who came to celebrate with both her families (her own, including her cute granddaughters, and her Rotary family!). We sang Happy Birthday and ate delicious cake!

Our youngest "future Rotarian", John Lincoln Alcorn was there - all dressed up in his Angels outfit - and learing how to party with his Rotary family at the ripe old age of 102 days!

Several others were there, including Ed Hardenburgh, Dale Ford and his son, Austin and Barbara Wall, Randy and Pam Woods, Mark and Susan Brubaker, Tony Mucia and his daughter Megan, Woody and Deana Jones, Ray B's girlfriend and son Ian, Cisca's nephews, Diane's daughter, and our esteemed past District Governor Bret Gerdes and Natalie (am I missing anyone?!)

Then it was off to the game - and prime seating on the Club level (with in-seat service all evening long). While the game wasn't all that thrilling (except for the Angels home run with the fireworks - but they lost 1-2 to the Texas Rangers), a fun time was had by all - and all for a good cause!

Roll on our 4th Annual Angels event for polio in 2011!

What Matters Now

Click below for some thoughts about the coming year.

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.

Joan Sarver / Dental Equipment

On February 4th a newer member, Joan Sarver, gave a craft talk about her background and business. She works in money management and had some interesting ideas and thoughts of what to do in these difficult and challenging times. She urged investors to take a more active role with their investments and to invest more cautiously. We also learned she had been president of the Saddleback Rotary club before joining our club.

Austin Wall and his assistant, Al from Dental Care for Children were also at the meeting and showed us how to set up the portable dental equipment we are taking on the Ensenada dental trip in March. Its compactness is remarkable. The design was taken from earlier military set ups. Many members of our club look forward to another successful trip to Mexico with Doctor Tozzer and his staff.

Tim Wolin receives Blue Badge

Club member Tim Wolin receives his blue badge from
Membership Chair Toni Thomas and Club President
Pannkaj Kummar

Club Holiday Party

by Peggy Stalter

We had a wonderful Holiday Party this year. We gathered on December 13, 2008 at a community center in Irvine. There were about 90 members and guests present.

It was a great time to relax and count our blessings. Our party was planned and arranged by Barry Brown and David Dostal. With help from Luana Rodberg and her magic touch with decorations.

The evening was catered by a member of our club, Diane Braasch. She did a great job and provided a fantastic dinner. We had wonderful music and danced the night away.

Warren Willard, an honorary member of our club, joined us with his harmony quartet and blessed the event with holiday songs. It is wonderful to be a part of such a wonderful group of Rotarians.

District Governor Visits ISRC

Rotary District 5320 Governor Roger McGonegal was the speaker at the Irvine Spectrum Rotary Club on Wednesday. Before he spoke, however, he helped promote Mody Gorsky to a "blue badge" status and welcomed the return of Janet Wang to the club after a year long absence. (from left, Pannkaj Kummar, Mody Gorsky, Toni Thomas, Janet Wang, Roger McGonegal)

Roger spoke about the coming changes within Rotary and The Rotary Foundation as well as this year's theme of "Make Dreams Real." The theme, set by Rotary International President D.K. Lee, focuses on helping children around the world.

Thousands of children die each day from a lack of access to basic needs such as clean water, health care or food. Children also don't thrive because they don't get an education, which gives them a way out of the poverty. Rotary's mission this year is to concentrate on programs and projects which can keep their dreams alive and give them hope for a better future.

Third Annual "Cash Bash" fundraiser

The 3rd Annual Irvine Spectrum Rotary Club (ISRC) $10,000 Cash Bash took place on Sunday, Oct 19, 2008 at the Tustin Ranch Golf Club. All 250 tickets were sold again this year. Members and guests showed up for the
Sunday Brunch and watched as all 250 tickets were placed in a drum and pulled out one at a time.

The 250th ticket drawn was the winner of the $10,000 grand prize. This year the winner was Mody Gorsky, one of the newest members of the ISRC. Congrats to Mody on his big win. (He graciously donated part of his winnings to the Rotary Foundation and some back to the club.)

There were 14 other winners of between $100 and $500. We had a "Loser" drawing for all those who did not win (and were present at the brunch). Luana Rodberg was the winner of the $300 for the "Loser" drawing.

This event raised $12,500 for the projects and charities that ISRC supports. Some of these are:

• Irvine Smiles Dental Clinic
• Irvine Special Olympics
• Irvine Senior Center
• Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation
• Cystic Fibrosis
• Injured Marines Semper Fi Fund
• StoveTeam
• Boys and Girls Club
• Boy Scouts of America
• Reading by 9

Congratulations to the club for another successful fundraiser. Thanks to Rick Topping for his 3rd year as Master of Ceremonies (thanks also for the new jokes and friendly banter). Committee members/workers were Tom Mahony, Bob Yaap, Luana Rodberg, Rick Topping, Mary Mar, Cisca Stellhorn, Ray Sanford, Kathy White, Richard Milio, Paul Strodbeck, Ed Hardenburgh and Al Rosenstein. For the 3rd year in a row, Tom Mahony sold more tickets than anyone…55 this year. Great job, Tom… maybe next year we should name the event the 'ISRC Annual "Tom Mahony" Cash Bash'!

Meet the Candidates

Today's meeting featured three speakers: George Brown an administrator for the YMCA-Armed Services, Bob Bliss, a candidate for the Saddlback College Board, and our own Pat Rodgers, a candidate for the Irvine City Council.

George Brown shared with club that the Armed Services YMCA is completely separate from the regular YMCA. He is based at Camp Pendelton and serves 43,000 people. There are special needs for grades E-5 and below on the base both for the troops and their dependents. Our club gave him a donation for his good work and we have participated in several great events at the base. He was introduced by an "OLD Marine" Rick Topping.

Bob Bliss is a retired instructor at Saddleback community college, where he taught and headed the computer instruction in the business department. He has served as a reserve in the police force and received all his college education at night as he was working full time during the day. He presented the issues of the campaign. I found it most interesting that this community college district is very well off financialy.

Pat Rodgers, a member of our rotary club, a retired policeman from Irvine wants to be a city councilman. He has served in Iraq and Afganistan after his retirement (26 years) from the IPD. He lives in the Ranch. He presented several opinions of issues facing the Irvine voters.

I salute both candidates for wanting to serve the public and go through these elections. Both men were brief! A rare trait in a politician

Irvine Spectrum Rotary Meeting August 13, 2008

Every member of our club is asked to give a “craft talk”. Its purpose is for the club members to better know each other. We find out a member's interests, their paths and how they became a part of our club. We each have a story. It is fun and amazing to learn about how life has formed a person.

This week Diane Braasch spoke about her life. Diane is also our club caterer. It was great getting to know her better and learn of her journey from Chicago to today. Diane has a great outlook on life, always making the most out of what it has given her and of helping others along the way. Thank you Diane for sharing your story with us.

It was also the club's honor to present Carl Batzanti with a Paul Harris membership at this meeting. Thank you, Carl, for your generosity and being a part of our club.

We also had a speaker from Second Harvest Food Bank. Some of our members learned about the Second Harvest program by working at their facility in El Toro during Rotary work day. Second Harvest provides food to agencies that distribute it to people in need. Many people receiving this food are working families unable to make enough money to pay the high cost of rent, essentials, and buy enough groceries for the month.

OC Register Publisher Speaks at ISRC

You drink your cup of coffee, read through your Orange County Register and everything seems the same as it always has been. Well, not exactly. Terry Horne, the president and publisher of the Orange County Register presented us with an overview of the newspaper publishing business and how it has changed. In fact, In the last 2 years, the newspaper business, as we have always known it has had to make drastic changes.

The newspaper industry is beginning to learn what customer service is all about. So, what do readers want? Today’s readers want news here and now and that means quick access by way of the web and cell phone. Therefore, Orange County Register has been shifting to more on line, quick information way of presenting the news. Notwithstanding, Mr. Horne emphasized the importance of the more “traditional” news reporting to our society.

It provides us with unbiased information about what is happening in the world through various investigative news reporters. We must make sure that this form of news reporting does not disappear. Indeed, Google, Yahoo, Fox news etc still get their information from news reporters, getting that information virtually free of charge and then passing it on to the end users.

Pointing out the economic dilemma facing newspapers, Mr. Horne also mentioned that advertising income has shrunk drastically due to current economic conditions and therefore newspapers must look to other sources for income. In addition, they must retain existing advertisers who, more often than not, move to web advertising. As he stated, it is less costly to retain customers than acquiring new ones.

In conclusion, this was a very insightful presentation by a very dynamic speaker who gave us all a glance into the publishing business and the challenges the current business model faces.

Working Wardrobes

By Al Rosenstein

Our regular weekly breakfast meeting of the Rotary Club of Irvine Spectrum was afforded the opportunity to hear a presentation from a director of "Working Wardrobes".
 
By collecting used mens' and womens' clothing, shoes, shirts, and all other accessories, Working Wardrobes offers an opportunity for men and women who are in need of another chance in the work-place. WW supplies these people with complete outfits to present themselves for up-coming job interviews. They also provide
 
Since 1990, Working Wardrobes has served nearly 40,000 men, women and teens emerging from a life crisis and committed to re-entering the workforce. They offer professional wardrobing and grooming services, career-readiness and image workshops, and a comprehensive career development center to increase their clients' confidence and success in the workplace.

Over 4500 men and women are outfitted every month. Thanks to the generous giving of donors of clothing, this wonderful enterprise can continue to progress. More information is available at their website.

President Transition Party

Approximately 75 Rotarians and guests showed up at the home of Dale & Ute Ford for the celebration of the end of a fine Rotary Year thanks to now "Past President" Cisca Stellhorn. There was much food and drink and frivolity especially the trial of the dastardly Cisca Stellhorn who wildly mistreated her fellow Rotarians through the Rotary Year with those "bells".

The famous "Hangin Judge" Mody Gorsky presiding found Cisca guilty of all charges even in the face of an excellent defense by Rotarian Mark Brubaker, Esq.  However, Judge Mody let her off of all punishment after an exchange of graft and corruption as is, we think, the custom amongst the members of the bar.

Since the celebration took place on the 1st day of Summer in the west-facing rear yard of the host facility measures needed to be taken to minimize the heat generated by the late-afternoon setting sun. The host erected sun barriers to keep the 100 or so degree sunlight from baking the skin off of the guests.  

Misting devices were strategically set up as well to aid in cooling of the frazzled mass of humanity. Food was provided by Diane Braash, which was another highlight and the bartender was Cisca's brother Kelly. Both Kelly and Diane significantly reduced the load on the hosts and their helpers Gillian Bradshaw and Luana Rodberg and many others not mentioned here because of a loss of brain cells of the author of this summary.

Regarding helpers, Luana must be singled out as the person who prepared all the center pieces, the gift to Cisca, balloons and gas for same and much more not mentioned here again due to the brain cell issue.  Many thanks again to Luana!