Sunday, July 31, 2011

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.

Wednesday, July 20, 2011

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!

Wednesday, July 13, 2011

Jay Johnstone - Pro baseball player and trickster

Johnstone
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.

Wednesday, July 6, 2011

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!