Thanksgiving with Marines

by Tim Wolin

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

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

We are excited about next year as well.

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

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

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

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

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

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

Thanks and God Bless!

Sandy

Jewish Family Services of OC

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

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

Older Adults

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

Counseling Support Groups

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

Financial Empowerment

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

Vocational services

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

Community Outreach

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

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

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

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

When the going gets tough, the tough eat cake!

By Richard Milo

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

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

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

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

South County Outreach

by Marla Noel

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

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

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

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

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

Irvine Dental Screenings

by Ray Sanford

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

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

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

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

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

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

The Liver Foundation

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

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

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

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

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

Epilepsy Alliance Freedom Walk

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

Costa Mesa Dental Clinic

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

Service Above Self

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

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

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

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

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

Mending Fences

OCTA

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

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

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

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

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

Irvine Valley College

At our January 28th meeting our speaker was Glenn Roquermore PhD, president of Irvine Valley Community College. He explained how their enrollment had increased in this economy, while the number of students at state colleges and universities had dropped.

Most of this change is due to students being able to receive the first two years of classes at a lesser cost from community colleges. The colleges offer lower tuition fees and, because they are located close to the student's homes, reduces their living expenses. It was very impressive to hear how many of their students had subsequently attended four year colleges and universities throughout the nation, and the honors they have received.

Secret SANTA 2008

by Rick Topping

For the third year, the Rotary Club of Irvine Spectrum has been honored to participate in the Secret SANTA program at Camp Pendleton, California. The Secret SANTA (Support And Nurture Those Americans) program serves junior enlisted ranks (E-5 and below) with children. This Christmas program was created to facilitate community members’ appreciation of service while also providing assistance to the most junior ranks of our military.

The Service Member or spouse completes a wish list form, which is then filtered by the ASYMCA to provide the community member, organization, or business the family’s basic information, e.g. rank, unit, first names of spouse and children with each child’s age and wish list. Each family receives a Family Number,

More than 1,050 families were served this year and the Rotary Club of Irvine Spectrum was honored to support two families; Lance Corporal Stefan, his wife B8-year-old have a 12 year-old daughter and 8 year- old son. Corporal Jennifer and her husband Jacob. They have a 2.5 year-old son and a 1- month old son.

Each family asked for very little other than wanting to have their children enjoy Christmas. The ASYMCA and Marine Corps would rather see gifts but we provided each family with $720 so they could purchase what they determine is best for their family.

The gifts were carefully boxed and wrapped and delivered in a driving rainstorm, with care, by Rotary elves Albert Rosenstein and Rick Topping.

Thank you Irvine Spectrum Rotarians. Your generous giving, in tough times, will show two Marine families how much we honor and respect their service to our community.

When You Can't, Don't.

On Sunday, October 26, 2008, Joanne Milo's "Shooting Stars" team that usually walks to raise funds for the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation instead held a Sit In Protest.

The Sit In Protest was prompted by a complication of Type 1 diabetes that Joanne is experiencing after a 42 year struggle with the disease. She is temporarily in a walking cast, and wisely decided to "sit this one out". Her long time supporters and team members joined her in a Sit In Protest with this year's theme "I Must Protest".

The sit in was held at the home of Richard and Joanne Milo in Corona del Mar and included coffee and a continental breakfast. One protester brought a guitar, but refused to play it. Another brought his American express bill, and refused to pay it. A few of the attendees protested the protest and actually walked around Balboa Island…the nerve! Civil unrest abounded, along with great fellowship and conversation.

All in all, nearly $7,000 was raised this year by the "Shooting Stars" for JDRF.  Great thanks go out to the sponsors and contributors: Audrey Lane Laufer, LLC (sponsorship and shirts), Irvine Spectrum Rotary Club and its members (major sponsor), LouiseEganDesign (graphic arts), and to the dozens of friends and family members who show up each year in support.

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.

Crime Survivors

On October 1, the Founder and CEO of Crime Survivors, Patricia Wenskunas, visited the Irvine Spectrum Rotary Club and shared her story about being a victim of an attack that almost killed her and her son. As is the case with the majority of crime victims (83%), Patricia knew her attacker — her fitness trainer with whom she had worked out daily for 9 months.

She survived only by jumping off a balcony (covered in bruises and with her face wrapped in Saran wrap), and running for help — fortunately, her son was not at home. To make matters worse, the judge was not supportive of her case, and the attacker (having been jailed for only a few months) is still at large today (the attack took place - in Irvine - in 2002).
 
Having been both a victim of the crime and of the legal system, and stating that "long after the external bruises heal, the 'internal bruising' continues", Patricia has dedicated herself to increasing awareness about these terrible crimes.  She founded Crime Survivors (www.crimesurvivors.com) to provide tips on how to avoid being a victim, tools on how to survive the after-effects, and to advocate for changes in the laws that currently give the criminal more rights than the victim.
 
You can read Patricia's story (and those of other victims), learn more about the work of Crime Survivors, and learn how you can help by:
 

• Visiting the Crime Survivors website (www.crimesurvivors.com)
• Telling other people about this organization and arrange for a speaker to give a presentation
• Participating or sponsoring the 5th Annual Crime Survivors 5k Run/Walk on Saturday, October 11, at the Los Alamitos Joint Forces Training Base, Los Alamitos, CA (www.crimesurvivorsrunwalk.org).
• Voting for Marsy’s Law: Crime Victims' Bill of Rights Act of 2008  (learn more at www.marsyslaw.org)
• Giving a donation (any amount is welcome, but $50 will provide an Emergency Survival Bag in your name for a child or adult (containing comfort items, necessities, and materials to help them through their case)
• Asking a survivor if there is anything you can do for them - don't shy away from them,  nor ask them for details they may not want to share

ISRC & Community Service

The speakers at today's meeting were a good example of what our club is all about on the local level.

Kimberly Beeson, Executive Director of Irvine Adult Day Care Services explained the Irvine Adult Day Care Services program which provides professional care, companionship and activities for seniors that need assistance and supervision during the day. They provide a place where families can take dependent elderly loved ones to be cared for during the day. In today's world this is a much needed service. ISRC supports them with a $3,000 annual gift.

The next speaker, Allena Kaplan, was from Second Harvest Food Bank. Some of our members learned about their 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. We learned Second Harvest receives the food through food drives, donations, and farming land.