Wednesday, October 27, 2010

JDRF Sit In/Protest UN-Walk.



This was the 16th year for the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation’s Shooting Stars family team to gather to raise money for diabetes research! And for our 3rd year in a row, we staged a Sit In/Protest UN-Walk. Over 50 “un-walkers” gathered, on the first sunny day we’d had in weeks…shared bagels, pastries and coffee, friendship and support…just WONDERFUL!

To date, we’ve raised over $6,000, with monies still coming in! And our t-shirt proved to be a “talking” point, illustrating the exciting new research, coming out of UCI and JDRF, involving the venom of sea anemones from a bay in Cuba.

For all your support and love, THANK YOU so very much!

With hugs,

Joanne Milo

Tuesday, October 26, 2010

Geologist turns Lawyer?

Our speaker today was our own Mark Brubaker who gave his "craft talk". While I think most of us thought "oh, we know what attorneys do", we were very interested and entertained by Mark's talk - starting with his birthplace, Cortez in Montezuma County, Colorado (population 8,000).

Here he enjoyed a very family-oriented life and many outdoor pursuits, including hunting. Geology seemed a natural career to pursue, so Mark studied geology and chemistry at Fort Louis College in Durango, paying his way by building houses in Green River, Wyoming, and working as a summer intern at an oil company.

As a geologist, he worked for a gold mining company in the Carolinas and Mexico and then (like other gold seekers before him) found himself moving West. Since there was no gold to be found in Santa Monica, he decided to go to law school instead - and ended up using his geology and law education by representing McDonnell Douglas on toxic oil spills and the effects on the environment (imagine that ... BP could really use his help now in the Gulf of Mexico!). He also worked on the Apollo 8 oxygen system project.

The next step in his interesting career was working in a huge international law firm in Irvine with 3,000 attorneys, before setting up his own business managing business transactions and litigation.

Mark has been married to his wife, Susan, for 17 years (also an attorney - yikes) and is enjoying raising his 14 year old son, Jonathan (an avid water polo player), and 10 year old daughter, Katie (a budding ballerina) - not forgetting his 2 year old labrador.

Thanks Mark! We always love to learn more about our members, "new and old" - and it is especially good for us to get to know our President-Elect better!

Monday, October 25, 2010

Program: Feng Shui

Jessie Kim, or Ms. Feng Shui as she is professionally known, will be joining us for our upcoming meeting. Born in Korea, Jessie is a lifelong student of Feng Shui and comes from a family of Feng Shui tradition. Jessie is licensed by Feng Shui Palace and has professionally consulted to businesses, real estate agents, investors, and individuals since 2000.

Jessie will not only help us develop a fundamental understanding of Feng Shui, but will also provide us with guided examples of how to use Feng Shui to balance the energy in our own homes and businesses.

Feng Shui (pronounced “fung shway”) is an ancient science and art that was developed over 3,000 years ago in China. It is based on the idea that the land is alive and filled with Chi, or energy. Understanding of Feng Shui can help balance the energies of various spaces to assure good health, wealth, careers, relationships, romance, etc.

For the meeting Jessie has requested we all bring a floor plan of our home, doesn't have to be a professional floor plan but hand drawn layout of our home would be fine too.

Thursday, October 21, 2010

StoveTeam project in The Rotarian Magazine

The latest issue of The Rotarian Magazine has an article about StoveTeam's mission to provide fuel-efficient stoves to the world. Click here to see the online version.

Wednesday, October 20, 2010

IUSD honors Irvine Rotary

The Irvine Unified School District presented the Irvine Rotary with an award honoring the club's 14 year effort to provide Irvine students access to dental care. The presentation was held at the IUSD board of directors meeting on Tuesday, October 19. The board also honored the efforts of Dental Care for Children, the non-profit started by local dentist, Dr. Charles Tozzer.

Saturday, October 9, 2010

Ensenada dental clinic a success

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It is a pleasant, early Saturday and the people in the hills above Ensenada are gathering at the local Church, not for services, but to see the dentist. There is an air of excitement, since people who may have been in pain for weeks or months now have a once-a-year opportunity to have their worst dental problems fixed. The clinic is in the Iglesia Betesda church, located in the hills east of Ensenada. The pastor, Felipe Saurez de Jesus, has built this church with his own hands over the past decade to administer to the poor, mostly immigrant families from the southern parts of Mexico who move north looking for jobs. And it’s not his first. His previous church, also built by his own hands, sits on another hilltop about a half-mile away. His commitment to his parishioners and his community is what attracted Dr. Charles Tozzer to help almost a decade ago.

Dr. Tozzer founded Dental Care for Children, an Irvine based non-profit dedicated to helping children with free dental care wherever they may be. Presently, his organization participates in eight clinics a year; four in Mexico, two in Haiti and two in the United States. But he’s become a resource for other dentists and organizations wanting to set up clinics in other areas. With his help and assistance, there are now free clinics in Africa and Central America. DCFC has been providing services to this underserved part of Baja California for over eighteen years and have earned the gratitude of the entire community. There is always a line of people waiting for this annual opportunity to be seen by a dentist.

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Each clinic’s primary aim is to do something for everyone but the volunteers realize that it is almost impossible to completely meet everyone’s needs. So they try to treat people who need help the most, or whose condition can be dealt with quickly. The dentists provide a real gamut of services from x-rays to crowns, from cleanings and fillings, even to root canals and dentures. But often, the only solution for many is to remove the teeth, which is done in about a third of the cases.

The 22-person dental staff, a few of them in their final studies at USC dental school and working under the supervision of the licensed U.S. dentists, provide more than $66,000 in free dental care during this visit.

Since there will be a follow-up visit in five weeks they are able to do impressions for crowns and partial dentures to replace missing teeth. The lab work is donated by U.S. companies to restore dental function for these people. They will also be able to evaluate the results of the hygiene services and training they provide to help these people keep their teeth.

Project funding is accomplished by direct grants and support from other organizations. The Irvine Rotary club has been a key sponsor, each year underwriting two of the clinics in Ensenada and one in Irvine. Irvine Rotary pairs up with the Rotary Club of Ensenada Calafia to select and manage two projects that are held in local elementary schools. The local club works with the Ensenada school district to select the school most in need. On one Saturday, the clinic is open to all the children who attend the school. The children get their teeth checked and fixed while the parents, Rotarians and teachers help fix up the school.

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Dental Care for Children makes sure that everything is done using the latest in equipment and in compliance with local rules and regulations. They prepare extensive paperwork that has to be submitted to both U.S. and Mexican Customs, certifying the origins, dates of manufacture, and usages. In order to comply they are greatly helped by the advice and assistance of Señor Héctor Higuera, the Chief of Tourist Assistance, who has been very clear and helpful about the requirements and paperwork required to allow for a smooth and problem free border crossing. For this trip, Señor Higuera met the team at the border and complimented them on their service and attention to detail in preparing all of the necessary forms to make the border crossing easier.

Friday, October 8, 2010

Name Change!

The Rotary Club of Irvine Spectrum is no longer! In fact, it's shorter.

The club has changed their name to better reflect the area they serve as well as the club members.

The new name is The Rotary Club of Irvine.