Vicky Mallett and Patricia Case show matching footwear. We wish them both a speedy recovery. (This is not a requirement to join our fun, dynamic club!)
Welcome to our Club!
Service Above Self
We meet Fridays at 7:00 AM
Hilton Del Mar
Hilton Del Mar
15575 Jimmy Durante Blvd
Del Mar, CA 92014
United States
Del Mar, CA 92014
United States
District Site
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Venue Map
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THE DEL MAR-SOLANA BEACH
ROTARY CLUB
Is a leadership organization of local business, professional and civic leaders, and others with an interest in community service.
Members meet regularly to learn more about many subjects, form connections and friendships, and plan projects to benefit our community and the world.
Join us!
Contact Charles Foster
+1 858-414-8638
DMSB
P.O. Box 1115
Solana Beach, CA 92075
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Today we saw that the Hilton was decorated everywhere for Christmas holidays. Our usual meeting room was all decked up since Phil mentioned that that room is used for screening movies and for hotel guests to come and relax.
Herb appointed Bill as the "Aid de Camp" to help him with things that he forgets as part of the President's duties. He was acting President since Venky is on vacation. He announced that the club will be DARK on Dec 27, 2019 and that our next meeting will be Jan 3, 2020.
Herb also announced our new member Sarah Taylor and Charles presented her with the new member badge and advice about membership advantages.
Today Patricia had the last day of toys collection drive and this week the punishment was for Art Mendoza. He had to sing a Christmas tune :-).
Today's 1-minute talk was by Sanjiv and he presented some points on the history of Rotary.
> Over 33,000 Rotary clubs in 200+ countries
> Two official mottoes of Rotary
- Service Above Self
- One Profits Most Who Serves Best
> Dedicated to six areas of focus
- Promoting peace
- Fighting disease
- Providing clean water & hygiene
- Saving mothers & children
- Supporting education
- Growing local economies
> Saw couple of interesting news items on the Rotary site —
> In May 2014, Guinness World Record recognized Rotary for the “The World’s Biggest Commercial” photo awareness award since Rotary had enlisted 177 celebrity participants for the global effort to eradicate polio.
> A couple from India (Mr. Ravishankar Dakoju, and his wife, Paola), recently donated US$14.7 million to the Rotary Foundation.
## "Pure Water San Diego Program" by Tiffany Ngo
Our speaker today was Tiffany Ngo, who is a consultant and community outreach specialist for the City of San Diego Public Utilities Department. In her current role, she works on the education and outreach program for Pure Water San Diego, the City’s phased, multi-year program to provide San Diego with a safe, reliable and sustainable water supply.
She has been part of the consultant team for the City of San Diego’s Pure Water Program since 2016, where she provides strategic counsel and implements community outreach tactics to engage diverse stakeholders and maintain public support as Phase 1 of the program nears construction.
Tiffany is a graduate of UC Santa Barbara, where she majored in environmental studies with a minor in spatial science.
She talked about how earthquakes can cut off water supply and hence the need for programs to store pure water.. Imported water used to cost $400 /acre foot and that now costs $1,300!
There are 5 ways to deal with water shortage -
- Conservation
- Desalination
- Ground water development
- Recycled water development
- Pure water development
As an example, she said that the Torrey Pines Golf course uses re-cycled water to maintain part of the lawns. She said that a DEMO facility with a small 1 million gallon capacity has been built and has gone through some 50,000 lab tests to verify water purity. The water comes out as "too" pure and so they have to add back some impurities to make it safe to drink for humans. There are 5 steps to purification and it takes about 2 days. The phase-1 plan is to build the Morena Pump Station, which will be a trench-less construction.
At the end, DMSB Club President-elect Herb Liberman presented the speaker with the Joshua certificate that represents our club DMSB donating school supplies to schools in Malawi in the name of the speaker.
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Herb announced that he is the President-Elect and that Vicky will be next president after Herb and Kevin Cahill will be his fine master.
Paul announced that our DMSB club received the 100% participation EREY (Every Rotarian Every Year) award.
Bill Sutton displayed the CRC certificate of appreciation for helping with the holiday baskets and distributions. DMSB members sorted about 7.5 tons of bananas by removing them out of plastic bags so it can breathe properly and prevent them for rotting.
Patricia had some fun penalizing members that did not turn in any toys for the Military Toy Drive. This time it was Kevin Cahill's turn for a punishment. Please watch this brief fun video of Kevin trying to balance himself on one foot for 30 seconds :-).
Charles Foster presented his 1-minute talk about Rotary history. He mentioned that Rotary International's headquarters is in Evanston, Illinois and it has 6 international offices located in India, Europe/Africa, Brazil, Australia, Tokyo and Korea.
## "FBI in U.S. Embassies" by Allen Vitkosky
Today's speaker Allen Vitkosky has some very interesting facts and stories about the FBI operations at U.S. Embassies across the world. He has been with FBI for over 30 years and the past 3 years he has been in the Legal Attache (Legat) department in the international arena. He was posted in Riga, Latvia for the past 3 years, which is located across the Baltic Sea from Sweden.
There are 90 Legat locations overall and 27 sub-offices. Each location is manned by just 4 people. There are 353 FBI employees overseas out of a total of 35,000 employees and 13,000 are agents.
Bogata, Columbia was the location for the first FBI agent in 1940. EuroPol is where agencies of different countries exchange intelligence information and InterPol is just a reporting agency for information for and from all countries. He also talked about the major case of "Scan4You" that helped malware developers attack American businesses using malware.
At the end, DMSB Club President Venky Venkatesh presented the speaker with the Joshua certificate that represents our club DMSB donating school supplies to schools in Malawi in the name of the speaker.
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We had many members today to listen to David Wellis from the San Diego Blood Bank and to celebrate George Sousa's 89th birthday!
Paul kicked off the meeting by showing a video on Polio's progress and how it has impacted lives.
Polio Video: Click here
Then everyone had a fun time celebrating George' birthday with a cake that Bill & Suzanne decorated and brought in.
Patricia had some fun with punishments for people who did not bring gifts for the Toy drive :-).
Following that we had the 1-minute Rotary talk by Jon Fish.
Following George's party, Venky showed a video that the past Indian Ambassador to the United States had created to honor South Asian musicians from various countries. This can be viewed below.
South Asian Music Video: Click here
## "San Diego Blood Bank" by David Wellis
David is a cell biologist with over 25 years of experience in the life science industry and currently serves as the CEO of the San Diego Blood Bank. David joined SDBB following his tenure at a variety of companies that developed antibody therapeutics and tools for biomedical research, diagnostic and applied markets, including Illumina and GenVault. David received his B.S. from UC Irvine, an M.S. and Ph.D. from Emory University, postdoctoral training at Tufts University and UC Berkeley, and business training at Leavey Business School of Santa Clara University and Haas Business School at UC Berkeley. David serves on the Executive Committees of the Altman Clinical and Translational Research Institute at UC San Diego, and the All of Us Research Program at the National Institutes of Health. He also holds board and committee roles in several national blood bank organizations and local biotechnology companies.
He said that the blood bank is a local San Diego organization but it has regional and national reach. The relationships with Jonas Salk helps with lots of research work on blood. He said that a person loses about 600 calories when you donate blood. All the blood collected comes to the central office every day where it is processed until 2:30 pm and then gets distributed. They deliver blood to over 75 locations each week.
They are part of a National Donor Club called "Be The Match". This program saved a child's life 15 years ago. Last match was sent to Texas Children Hospital recently. They also participate & promote many community events with Padres, Comic Con and Chargers Drive where they setup blood mobiles to collect blood. They collect over 3,500 pints over a 3-day event. Turns out that Los Angeles & Orange County do not have blood banks and San Diego supplies to them.
They also started a Mother's Milk Bank where moms bring breast milk in coolers. They collected milk in 1 day that San Jose did in a year!
The average cost of collecting a pint of blood is $50, which includes the cost of needles, supplies, testing, etc. They currently have 7 blood mobiles, each costing $750,000. They need 3 more.
At the end, DMSB Club President Venky Venkatesh presented the speaker with the Joshua certificate that represents our club DMSB donating school supplies to schools in Malawi in the name of the speaker.
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On Friday November 15, 2019, DMSB Rotary hosted Ms. Hunter Christian, the executive director of Villa de Vida, a non-profit organization committed to empowering developmentally disabled adults to live life fully, by providing them affordable housing and support services that would allow them to live independently.
Mercy Housing, CA (MHC) is a California based, non-profit housing development corporation with the mission of creating stable, vibrant and healthy communities since 1981. It currently serves over 17, 300 residents in 142 affordable communities throughout the state. It is committed to the philosophy that all residents deserve respect, dignity and a place to call home. MHC and Villa de Vida, Inc. are partnering to develop Via de Vida Poway, a two-story 54-unit affordable housing development serving adults with developmental disabilities who are capable of independent living. The development will be located on Poway Housing Authority property at the corner of Oak Knoll Road and Poway Road in Poway, CA.
Supportive services will be self-directed by each resident.
The on-site Resident services Coordinator will help residents access funding and supportive services that they require to successfully live independently.
Most residents will receive Supported Living Services (SLS) as well as other publicly funded services like MediCal, mental health services and In-Home Supportive Services (IHSS).
Villa de Vida is projected to be 100% completed by Fall 2020 with 100% occupancy by Fall 2021.
To learn more please visit www.mercyhousing.org and www.villadevida.org.
At the end, DMSB Club President Venky Venkatesh presented the speaker with the Joshua certificate that represents our club DMSB donating school supplies to schools in Malawi in the name of the speaker.
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We had a smaller audience since many members were traveling but the speaker and George Sousa made the event very interesting and fun.
Herb started off with his talk on Rotary History and events. Then we had Suchandra describe what the global grant will provide for her organization in India.
Then we had George present a wonderful video on veterans to celebrate the upcoming Veteran's Day weekend.
## "Refuge for Women" by Dan DeSaegher
DMSB Rotary hosted Dan DeSaegher, Developmental Director for Refuge for Women, who spoke about the sensitive topic of sex trafficking in San Diego. Today Refuge successfully operates homes in five states, and the sixth home is being planned for right here in Southern California.
Trafficking is modern day slavery, conducted by force, fraud and coercion. California is #1 on the FBI list for trafficking of American girls and boys, with San Diego being on the top ten of all U S cities engaging in a trade that generates $810 million in annual revenue. 80% of victims are US born and 85% of traffickers in California are related to San Diego gangs. The most common age of trafficked youth is 14 – 16 years. There are 3400 – 5200 victims every year. Traffickers prey on vulnerable youth that are mostly abandoned or ignored by society so they become easy victims.
Dan’s program called “Refuge for Women” provides safe houses for the recovery and rehabilitation of these trafficked victims. Right now, there are about 178 safe houses in America, providing about 600 beds for a population of about one million victims. The surprising statistic is that about 70% of rescued women do not return to the sex trade! So, the need for safe houses is great.
In Phase II of rehabilitation, called Healing, the rescued women are taught life skills training, goal setting, educational opportunities, financial intelligence and job placement. In Phase III they are offered Guided Independence – they get transitional housing and given more counseling in order to re-integrate with society and a more normal life.
He concluded by saying that his goal was to raise funds and resources to expand access to safe houses all over the country but also specifically in San Diego.
At the end, DMSB Club President Venky Venkatesh presented the speaker with the Joshua certificate that represents our club DMSB donating school supplies to schools in Malawi in the name of the speaker.
Finally, George had one more surprise for all -- his special Teddy Bear singing the song "Proud To Be An American" :-).
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Herb was the "Acting" President today (despite being very sick) since President Venky was not present.
Today we had Paul Butler deliver his 1-minute talk about why he joined Rotary. He was inspired when his daughter won a $10,000 Rotary scholarship and later became President at her Rotary club. He said it took an army to convince him to become President of the club and also really enjoyed his visit to the International Convention in Birmingham, England. He said that Rotary has done a lot for his family.
We also had the opportunity to listen to a wonderful testimony from Kirk Collins about his Rotary involvement and the project he worked on in Malawi. It involved donating 46 wheel chairs from our club and sending school supplies to a school in Malawi. Our club still sends $2,000 every year for school supplies. Charles Foster visited him in the Bay area and recorded his testimony.
## "Urban Corps’ Dual Focus Program" by Meghan Reed
Meghan, an Arkansas native, moved to San Diego earlier this year. Her background lies in nonprofit work and literary writing. She is the Development Coordinator at Urban Corps, writing foundational and corporation grants. In addition, she also takes care of the organizations’ marketing needs. She started her talk with a video about Urban Corps' program and some stories about some of the graduates from their program. That was very touching to see the hard work the participants go through. Urban Corps was started 30 years ago on July 20, 1989.
Their program trains disadvantaged children to get an education and work and stay positive and out of trouble. Many work at various Urban Corp programs. Incarcerated people get a second chance through job training. Urban Corps helps them with securing necessary certificates, driver license, etc. They run a Charter School so the students can get a proper high school degree.
Some of the jobs that they do involve painting public walls to get rid of graffiti. Their statistics shows that the students have painted walls with cumulative area that equals about 2000 Qualcomm stadiums!
They have about 220 students (ages 18-26 years) active in schools at a time and over 400 graduate annually. They have multiple campuses in San Diego. Their signature program is called Corps-To-Career that runs an internship program whereby they recruit employers who are willing to employ Corps graduates as an intern with the goal of becoming an employee after the intern period is over. Their Charter School currently has over 200 Corps members in the program.
At the end, DMSB Club Acting President Herb Liberman presented the speaker with the Joshua certificate that represents our club DMSB donating school supplies to schools in Malawi in the name of the speaker.
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The Oktoberfest Social party at the Viewpoint Brewing Restaurant was wonderful. We had over 30 people attend along with 5-7 guests. Our youngest Rotarian Riley was also there to enjoy the beer :-). Kudos to Patricia for planning this so nicely. She even made up the ramp in her wheelchair :-). Here are few pictures from the event ...
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Since many were on travel the audience was a bit light. We had Kevin Cahill give his 1-Minute Rotary talk and fielded some questions. Apparently someone picked him to be President during his first year and he just dived in. He encouraged members to be involved with District events where you meet wonderful people. One of the questions was, "how was DMSB club created?". Kevin said it was primarily because the Del Mar club was reaching 100 people and they wanted to keep it small. Hence many members that wanted a breakfast club joined together to form DMSB.
## "Embracing Diversity and Inclusion" by Taryell Simmons
Taryell Simmons is a Foodie, Entrepreneur, community activist, workforce consultant, and HR trainer recognized as one of the most prominent voices for diversity and inclusion in the workforce. He is the Co-Founder of EvoGrant, Workforce Development Specialist at SAGE business & Education and a Founding Member of the San Diego Tech Hub. For the past five years, Taryell has helped create and develop workforce programs like "CONNECT2Careers" to help young people in underserved communities get living wage jobs.
Taryell believes that successful careers come from being connected to one's strengths, abilities, skills, and passion. This is why he has dedicated his career to exposing people to opportunities that will help them figure out paths to combine their talents with a career they love. Taryell is a RISE Urban Leadership Institute graduate.
He talked about how older generation people deride the younger generation kids by saying "Back in the days ..." and that just irritates the younger kids always :-). When he worked in HR on the east coast the popular phrase was "snitches get stitches". However, on the west coast it is the opposite - "see something, say something".
He clarified that diversity and inclusion is not just the color of people but there are many other aspects, such as, culture. religion, etc. The new generation likes people to earn their respect and not force any values upon them.
Taryell along with 2 other co-founders created "Culture Cocina" where the mission is to create space for breaking bread while learning about the history of the community through art and food. They conduct tours of different areas of San Diego and mingle with different cultures.
Finally he mentioned a story about his childhood. He was smart but labeled as "ADD" (Attention Deficit Disorder) and so his teachers kept him away from many activities. However, there was an older white Jewish person that saw some potential in Taryell and helped him to go through college and he got his Masters degree. So, he keeps advising young kids and adults to never give up.
At the end, DMSB Club President Venky Venkatesh presented the speaker with the Joshua certificate that represents our club DMSB donating school supplies to schools in Malawi in the name of the speaker.
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"Mental Illness and Suicide" by Dave Jones
On Oct. 18, Dave Jones spoke to DMSB Rotary about mental illness and suicide. He got our attention by telling us that his father killed his mother and subsequently committed suicide, and that his grandfather also committed suicide.
Dave has no formal training but, with a family history of mental illness, was triggered into action by the news about a young man in north county killing his grandmother with a hammer and his investigation into this event. Dave has now spoken to about 16 Rotary and Kiwanis clubs and will soon speak to an Optimist club and to any other organizations that would like him to speak.
Dave’s intent is to inform the public about mental illness and that it is treatable, and to help reframe the public’s understanding of it. He mentioned troubling statistics, including that middle-aged white men have the highest suicide rate, and over 50% of prisoners have some degree of mental illness and often receive little or no treatment. He added that middle-aged white women have highest rate of depression issues and suicide attempts.
He also spoke of a lack of understanding that mental illness is a disease of the brain, with the stigma it carries, that mental illness is something that those afflicted with it can overcome, if only they tried harder. Recognizing that those with brain cancer or colon cancer don’t face a stigma, Dave used the description, Cancer of the Mind, as a way to differentiate between a disease and personal choice.
Later Dave described events such as his father killing his mother as being caused by mental -illness-caused confusion or even love, not by anger or selfishness. With proper recognition of mental illness as a disease, openness to discussions of it in its many forms, and proper treatment, Dave believes that we can get to zero suicides.
At the end, DMSB Club President Venky Venkatesh presented the speaker with the Joshua certificate that represents our club DMSB donating school supplies to schools in Malawi in the name of the speaker.
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We had our honorary member Heinz Hoenecke give a quick update about his global programs. We also had few other guests. Paul gave an update about the Foundation and reminded everyone about the 46th Annual Foundation Seminar on November 9, 2019.
Jan Parsons gave her 1-minute talk about why she joined Rotary and how she appreciates the friendships built through Rotary. Following that Ken gave a quick update on the BocceFest final numbers and that the Thank You notes were sent out to all players.
## Dr. Shawn Carlson's LabRats Education Program:
Dr. Shawn Carlson is a physicist and an educator who works to make the scientific process less mystifying and more comprehensible to nonscientists. Carlson is the executive director of the Society for Amateur Scientists and an adjunct professor in physics at San Diego State University. He has authored and edited a number of CD-ROMs that explore core concepts in physics and problem-solving techniques.
Shawn Carlson received a B.S. (1981) from the University of California, Berkeley, and a Ph.D. (1989) from the University of California, Los Angeles.
In 1994, Carlson founded the Society for Amateur Scientists, which identifies opportunities for curious amateurs to investigate important, but as yet unsolved, scientific questions and to provide a forum for the organization of amateur research projects. As author of the “Amateur Scientist” column for the Scientific American, Carlson features innovative and inexpensive designs for equipment and experiments that amateurs can use to explore current research questions. Finally, he moved to San Diego and then in 2016 he started the Lab Rats program (https://sdlabrats.org/) so kids can be part of a STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts and Mathematics) program.
He says that once kids get to the 8th grade their interest in science plummets. Hence it is crucial to get them excited about STEM and at an early stage. He therefore starts kids at LabRats from 5th grade all the way to 8th grade. He incorporates 3 spheres of engagements - Self, Custodial and Social engagement. Key aspects of the LabRats program are:
- Create groups for girls and boys to engage in projects with their own peers
- He believes in small classrooms with 1-on-1 engagement and not 1 teacher lecturing a class of 30 kids.
- Character development is one of the KEY focus
- The program is taught by science experts that have a Masters and PhD degrees
- Their STEAM center is in Encinitas at the Boys & Girls Club
- They now also have a Mobile STEAM bus so they can go to the schools and create programs on-site for the kids
He showed everyone a special tool (a unique rock millions of years old) used by people in the early days as a multi-purpose tool. The artifact we brought was a 500,000 year old Acheulian biface created by the Neanderthal people in Southern France. He said there are only 103 such stones in the world and he has 3 of them that he received from France.
His colleague Ryan Merrill, Director of Education, who teaches at LabRats demonstrated a device that creates a certain static electric field through a human's body and one can see the hair stand up. Our club's Vice President Vicky Mallet volunteered to be the subject.
Dr. Carlson indicated that they are planning a big campus to grow the program. Currently they have about 600+ students go through their programs and it costs on average about $10 per student.
At the end, DMSB Club President Venky Venkatesh presented the speaker with the Joshua certificate that represents our club DMSB donating school supplies to schools in Malawi in the name of the speaker.
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BocceFest San Diego event turned out to be a grand success with the help pf all the members. The unofficial count is that we had over 300 people show up at the event.
As always we had the Del Mar and Solana Beach Mayors kick-off the event. Below are some random pics from the event. Enjoy!
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In the end we had a very exciting Finals round that lasted a long time. And the day ended with a whole bunch or hot-air balloons taking off from the field nearby :-). A beautiful sight!
## BocceFest Meeting Updates:
The Bocce management team provided some initial updates (not final yet) on the results of the fund-raising as follows:
Unofficial count says that over 300 people attended the event.
Sponsorships collected was about $57,000 (last year was $52,000). This was primarily due to the 3rd Premier Sponsor this year.
Donations = $500
Auction = $8,300
Raffe = $2,000
Beer sales = $4,000 (Nickels + Sales)
Independent Teams = $1,600
Registered Teams = 124, which means at least 248 people on the field playing Bocce Ball!
Bill gave his 1-minute talk on why he joined Rotary.
Finally we had a grand presentation by Charlotte - THE GOLDEN BOCCIES :-). She came up with some creative awards for each member that provided some unique experiences at the event. Herb announced that the biggest GOLDEN BOCCE award goes to Charlotte for her tireless efforts in marketing, organization and Auction setup :-).
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We had a strong audience today with many guests, who came to hear San Diego's past Chief of Police Shelley Zimmerman.
Then we had Ken and Molly talk about the progress on Bocce sponsor levels and it looks like the funds have reached almost $52K. Malcolm confirmed that 11 breweries signed up for the beer competition, which will be held at the Hilton Del Mar on Sunday Sep 15, 2019.
Radia gave a brief summary on Youth Services and mentioned that Model UN is going to be on March 28/29, 2020.
We then had Bev Liberman give her quick 1-minute talk on what inspired her to be a Rotarian.
### "From Undercover Cop To Chief of Police" by Shelley Zimmerman
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Shelley Zimmerman joined National University in January of 2019 as a Chancellor appointed professor focusing on public safety and leadership.
Prior to this appointment Chief Shelley Zimmerman was hired by the San Diego Police Department in October of 1982. She was promoted to Chief of Police on March 4, 2014 and retired on March 2, 2018 after an illustrious thirty-five-year career. She was born in Cleveland, Ohio and is a graduate of The Ohio State University, with a degree in Criminal Justice. She is also a graduate of the FBI National Academy, FBINA #241.
During Chief Zimmerman’s tenure as Chief (2014-2018) San Diego experienced historic low crime rates, including the lowest homicide rate per capita of any of the largest cities in the country. In 2017, the City of San Diego had the lowest overall crime in the past 49 years and was named the safest large city in America.
Chief Zimmerman received numerous awards and citations throughout her career which included; the San Diego Press Club Headliner of the year award for her undercover work and the San Diego Police Foundation Women in Blue Award for her commitment to making San Diego one of the safest large cities in the United States.
She once had the opportunity to hold the Olympic torch when some part of the LA Olympics 1984 was held in San Diego. Another interesting story she mentioned was about how she worked as a prostitute to catch pimps and prevent other issues. Once a car pulled up and she could see that it was a 16-year old kid driving. She made a judgement call and let that kid go after giving him some solid advice. 15 years later she get a call and it turned out that it was that same kids, who had turned around and became a doctor with 2 kids. That was a very touching and rewarding moment for the Chief.
She was under-cover cop for many years and in case she did a school drug bust by getting into Patrick Henry school as a student. She somehow talked her way into the school without any transcripts! She later arrested 73 people. Her leadership skills as Chief of Police is bound by some of the principles listed above, which enables a culture of excellence in her department. She encourages all employees to talk about bad news directly with her. Her desk had this sign clearly displayed - "Bad News Welcomed Here" :-). The San Diego Police Dept. was the first one in the country to implement body cameras. Her success is tied to relationships that she builds with the community.
Chief Zimmerman is an avid sports fan and often participates in athletic charity fundraisers, such as, the Challenge Athlete's Foundation.
In the end, DMSB Club President Venky Venkatesh presented the speaker with the Joshua certificate that represents our club DMSB donating school supplies to schools in Malawi in the name of the speaker.
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On 9/6/2019 Zubaire Bakubye, a Rotarian from East Riverside Rotary Club in District 5330 and CEO of ISEAC (Integrated Science & Education for African Communities), gave an interesting presentation to DMSB Rotary on the urgent topic of “Toilets for Life in Uganda”.
Born and raised in rural Africa during a time of social strife and civil war in Uganda, Zubaire witnessed firsthand the social and economic challenges faced by people in developing communities without access to clean water and health care. After moving to the US to get his BA and MA in California he uses his education and access to resources to support his passion of empowering native communities to achieve literacy and education that would create further economic opportunities. He has worked with the Center for Nonprofit Advancement to develop program models and systems that would be able to access resources for further economic and infrastructure development in Uganda.
In a graphic PPT Zubaire pointed out that the United Nations had a goal in place that promised adequate, equitable access to water, sanitation and hygiene to all people everywhere by 2030. It promised a world in which extreme poverty would be eliminated and no matter where you lived you would have enough food to eat, clean water to drink, a safe, private place to relieve yourself and soap and water to wash with. The biggest problem facing the world today is lack of access to water and sanitation. These were some of the staggering statistics he presented: over 650 million people have no access to clean water /over 2.3 billion don’t have access to a safe private toilet/ diarrhea is 1 of the 3 most common killers of children and young women globally/ 58% of childhood deaths could be prevented by clean water, sanitation and good hygiene.
In a graphic PPT Zubaire pointed out that the United Nations had a goal in place that promised adequate, equitable access to water, sanitation and hygiene to all people everywhere by 2030. It promised a world in which extreme poverty would be eliminated and no matter where you lived you would have enough food to eat, clean water to drink, a safe, private place to relieve yourself and soap and water to wash with. The biggest problem facing the world today is lack of access to water and sanitation. These were some of the staggering statistics he presented: over 650 million people have no access to clean water /over 2.3 billion don’t have access to a safe private toilet/ diarrhea is 1 of the 3 most common killers of children and young women globally/ 58% of childhood deaths could be prevented by clean water, sanitation and good hygiene.
80.9% of the population in Uganda has no access to safe toilet systems – they defecate in bushes or plastic polythene bags, empty buildings and structures, in rivers and other water ways, or in pit-latrines. Unmonitored fecal disposal causes health hazards to the population through contamination of food and water. There is an urgent need to transform these primitive systems to safe, septic toilet systems. Zubaire is actively seeking help and collaboration from Rotary groups and other non-profit organizations to help him achieve these goals.
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Rick Schwartz, San Diego Global Ambassador, gave an interesting talk to DMSB Rotary on August 23, 2019. A wild life expert and former Senior Zoo Keeper since 2000, Rick is also the co-host of San Diego Zoo Kids and Production Coordinator for the new Animal Planet series: “The Zoo San Diego”.
As Ambassador Rick has travelled around the world to far flung places such as Botswana, the Galapagos Islands, Australia and Kenya in the name of conservation. Schwartz shares his passion for conservation by making appearances in many well-known local and national television stations and shows around the country. As Senior Keeper at San Diego Zoo Global, Schwartz has been responsible for the care of many different species of birds, mammals and reptiles. He has also been deeply involved in innovative scientific programs seeking to protect and preserve endangered species that might otherwise be on the verge of extinction, such as the Great Northern White Rhino.
Schwartz continues to share his passion for animals as a part-time Instructor at Moorpark College’s Exotic Animal Training and Management Program. Drawing from his years of experience Schwartz teaches Wildlife Education to future generations of keepers and conservationists.
In the end DMSB Club Past President Charles Foster presented the speaker with the Joshua certificate that represents our club DMSB donating school supplies to schools in Malawi in the name of the speaker.
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"THINK LIKE A DOG!!" says Scott MacDonald. Huh? What does that mean? And is that even possible?
Read full story below to find out more......
DEL MAR – SOLANA BEACH ROTARY HOSTS SUCCESSFUL BLOOD DRIVE
The Del Mar-Solana Beach Rotary Club successfully hosted its first ever blood drive for the San Diego Blood Bank several weekends ago and exceeded the donations goal by 50%. Forty-eight donors and Rotarians participated to support the bloodmobile parked in Solana Beach’s Lomas Santa Fe Plaza just off I-5 on Sunday, August 11th. Many Rotarians donated blood or helped process donors, and many did both. DMSB Rotary and the San Diego Blood Bank are already in the planning stages for additional blood drives at this Solana Beach location, which can easily serve coastal San Diego donors.
As learned from the San Diego Blood Bank, “Blood is Medicine.” Every year, more than 100,000 patients of all ages and backgrounds are recipients of donated blood provided by the San Diego Blood Bank. These patients struggle with life-threatening medical conditions that include cancer and other blood disorders, severe burns, organ transplants, trauma, emergency surgeries, childbirth complications and more. One thing they all have in common is their need for donated blood to stay alive. There is no substitute.
The Blood Bank and DMSB Rotary thank all who did give blood and those who will give in the future. Giving blood is one volunteer activity good people can do to save and enhance lives, and it only takes an hour. Though not well known, one donor can help save the lives of up to 3 people. For more information about the San Diego Blood Bank, see https://www.sandiegobloodbank.org.
Del Mar-Solana Beach Rotary helps make our communities better for all, both near and far. While doing so, its members develop new business relationships, leadership skills and friendships that can last a lifetime. DMSB Rotary meets most Fridays for breakfast at the Hilton Del Mar. One can learn more by visiting www.DMSBRotary.com
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We had a guest Kevin Popovich talk about his role in helping companies with new ideas and marketing statistics. He is known as "The Idea Guy". Then we had Herb Liberman give his 1-minute talk about why he joined Rotary and his contribution to various charities, such as, the Kawanis club, Kenya schools, etc.
Jamie is a beach photographer and speaker committed to bringing peace and joy to the world through art, smiles and connection. She is the founder of the Smile Soul Bright movement and lives locally in Carlsbad. She is a Toastmaster speaker and trains people on speech presentations.
Her talk was about three key questions to thrive in life.
- What am I looking for?
- What is the truth?
- What do I want the outcome to be?
She talked about how the stress of lies leads to health issues, such as, back pain, headaches, etc. Whether it is in personal life or business, speaking the truth always keeps the stress low.
In the end, DMSB Club President Venky Venkatesh presented the speaker with the Joshua certificate that represents our club DMSB donating school supplies to schools in Malawi in the name of the speaker.
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Kelsey Martinez, Outreach Coordinator for the Interfaith Shelter Network, spoke to us about their emphasis on helping situationally homeless families. As compared to chronically homeless families, the situationally homeless have only recently become homeless and, with some help, can be expected to move out of homelessness in less than a year.
The Interfaith Shelter Network involves over 120 congregations of all denominations county-wide in a Rotational Shelter program. About 70 of the congregations host the program in their facilities for two or four weeks a year and the remainder serve in a valuable support role.
The homeless are sheltered where there are no shelters and receive the understanding and support of congregations when, previously, all they knew was fear and uncertainty. Congregations benefit by getting to know homeless individuals personally. The mutual sharing of stories is beneficial to both.
Case management is the key to success for our guests, and they are only sent to congregations in the Network after being screened by an area social service agency to assure there will be no active drug, alcohol or mental health problems.
This is a practical, manageable way to serve others. Congregations usually host the program for two weeks once a year. Normally, only 12 guests at a time stay in the congregation facilities. At the end of two weeks, the whole operation — cots and guests — rotates to another area congregation. Guests can stay up to eight weeks in the Network. The average stay is just under six (6) weeks.
In the end, DMSB Club President Venky Venkatesh presented the speaker with the Joshua certificate that represents our club DMSB donating school supplies to schools in Malawi in the name of the speaker.
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On July 26, 2019 Rotary District Governor for San Diego region Marta Knight gave an inspirational talk to motivate all members. Assistant Governor Susie Callahan introduced Marta Knight. Marta is a member of the Chula Vista Sunrise club. She was born and raised in Tijuana, Mexico. Her father is a member of the TJ club for 41 years. She has 4 children and 2 grand children.
Marta recognized few members. She gave a "Club Hero" pin to George Sousa for his outstanding dedication to the club.
She also gave the Rotarian of the Month pin to Charles Foster and a Past-President pin to Ken Barrett. She also gave a "To Be D.G." golden gavel to Steve since he will be District Governor soon.
Steve Weitzen then gave his 1-minute Rotary talk. He had fun at the District Governor conference and heard stories from other District Governors. He has had 20 Rotary Presidents visit his house. Rotary has enriched his life and many long-lasting relationships built.
Marta then talked about her "AHA" moment. She was at the LA Convention Center for Rotary International conference and the Rotary President said, "Rotary lets ordinary people do extraordinary things". Her father also gave her lots of inspiration. He would use the 4-way test to settle arguments between his kids. Many members of her family are Rotarians and that was a huge inspiration for her.
She said she had an opportunity to visit a school in Ecuador and she was thrilled to see the joy in the kids' faces when they saw pencil sharpeners that she donated to the school.
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In the end, Marta mentioned that she was once the Queen of Tijuana Rotary and District 4100. She also talked about her visits to Ecuador prisons where 13-17 year old kids were kept. She sat and had lunch with them. It was very touching.
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Who/what is Operation Hope? Where is it located? What is their mission and who do they serve?
Read the full story below to find out more about this enterprising non-profit organization.
We had a large group today and lots of guests since it was Venky's FIRST day as President of our club :-). He had invited 8 of his family members plus 3 close friends!
Following that Paul Butler presented a Paul Harris Fellow pin to a long-time supporter of our club's Bocce event - Dan Phelan of Pacific Southwest Realty.
Other updates were as follows:
- We had a new member Rita Albert, who transferred from the Rancho Santa Fe club.
- Malcolm reminded members about the $2.00 fine for not wearing the Rotary pin.
- Bill reported that over 5500 chilled bottled water was distributed by our members at the StandDown event.
- We also had a scout candidate Ken come with his father to give a quick 5-minute presentation about his work with scouts. He said he camped about 250 miles, did Eagle Scout camping at Filmont, trekked 80 miles and went up 12,000 feet.
- Charlotte and Molly announced that they have about $11,400 registered sponsors so far.
## "Very Few Proud Women in the U.S. Marine Corps" by Col. Marianne Waldrop
Marianne Waldrop is the youngest of four children from a U.S. Marine Corps family and was born and raised on the east coast. In 1987, she graduated from the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill with a BA in Math and in 1989, she graduated with an MS in Computer Science from Naval Post graduate School in Monterey, CA. Subsequent to graduation, she served as a project manager for Marine Corps signals intelligence systems. After this tour, Marianne resigned her commission to work in the information technology industry in San Diego; however, this venture in “corporate America” was short-lived (2 years) due to her recall from the reserves for post-9-11 intelligence operations in support of U.S. Central Command, MacDill Air Force Base, Tampa, Florida. She retired in 2011 and earned a Ph.D. in Leadership Studies from Univ. of San Diego in May 2016.
She was deployed to Bahrain, South Africa and Kuwait and she worked in the Intelligence department. She was a very proud marine and the daughter of a marine. She was born in Quantico, VA. She was in the Marines from 1987-2011. They were the only Father-Daughter combo in the Marines at that time.
She said she had to take SAT seven times to go to Navy. Then went to join Navy ROTC. She retired as Colonel and then later went to SDSU to do her PhD in Leadership to understand why women in leadership roles were so few in the Military.
Her research showed that the common traits among men & women leaders were that they focused on 3 areas - Structure, Culture and Agency. The Agency co-relates with Actions, Decisions and Personal traits. She learnt that in 1970 the first woman was promoted to Brigadier General.
Some interesting statistics were as follows:
- 1918 - first woman enlisted in the Marine
- 1978 - first woman in USMC was appointed Brigadier General (Col. Margaret Brewer)
- 1985 - first woman (Gail Reals) competitively selected to Brigadier General role.
In the end DMSB Club President Venky Venkatesh presented the speaker with the Joshua certificate that represents our club DMSB donating school supplies to schools in Malawi in the name of the speaker.
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This was a special day celebrating the year of service by our Rotary club. Our club's President Ken Barrett was demoted last week.
Jon Fish was celebrating his 75th birthday and he was also awarded the Rotarian of the Month pin.
Malcolm announced new club rule that there will be $2.00 fine if anyone forgets to wear the Rotary pin.
Paul also awarded a Paul Harris Fellow award to a long-time supporter and sponsor of the Bocce Ball tournaments - Scott Simms of Bank of America.
## Celebration of Service
We kicked off the celebrations with a UNIQUE video introduction by our demoted President Ken since he was forced to go an a anniversary trip with his wife. His joke was that he better go with his wife rather than pay a divorce attorney 
. He had planned an amazing video delivery of his talk well-timed (except for few minor glitches) with other Rotarians' talks.
. He had planned an amazing video delivery of his talk well-timed (except for few minor glitches) with other Rotarians' talks.
Herb's spiel on Global and District grants.
Paul Butler's update on the Foundation.
Charlotte's updates on the various charity organizations that received our funds
Charles Foster delivering his update on the progress and planning of BocceFest and the goals.
Charles update on the Public Relation efforts.
The meeting ended with a final "Thank You" club by Ken via his remote delivery .
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The meeting started off with Kevin and Phil being presented their new Paul Harris Fellow (PHF) awards by Paul and Ken. This is Phil's first PHF award and Kevin's fifth.
## “In pursuit of Nuclear Technology for 21st Century" by Puja Gupta
Puja delivered a very interesting talk about her research and some details about the Nuclear Technology in the 21st century. She is smart with a very dynamic personality. She also showed interest in joining our club as a regular member since she lives in Del Mar.
The slides above are self-explanatory and describes her points.
In the end DMSB Club interim President Ken Barrett presented the speaker with the Joshua certificate that represents our club DMSB donating school supplies to schools in Malawi in the name of the speaker.
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We had a new baby Rotarian in today :-). Molly brought her daughter Riley and she was so cute in that stroller :-).
Charlotte was happy that her son Mauer was graduating 4th grade.
Venky was celebrating his 49th anniversary this week.
Charles reminded everyone that the blood drive was finalized for August 11th at the Von's parking lot off Lomas Santa Fe.
# "Highlights of City of Del Mar" by Mayor Dave Druker
Dave Druker has been on the Del Mar City Council from 1996 through 2008 and 2016 to present. He has been Mayor four times. Dave has lived in Del Mar since 1986. His wife Kristen is a retired History teacher at The Bishop's School and Culver City High School. They have two adult children and one grandson. Both Dave and Kristen graduated from USC. Dave has a BA in Match and an MS in Counseling. Dave works at DataSkill, a software development company that uses artificial intelligence to facilitate international trade finance.
He said Del Mar's boundary is from Jimmy Durante Blvd. to Crest Canyon and that Del Mar has 4000 residents. He has been Mayor 4 times, no staff and he spends about 40 hours each month. Del Mar split off from San Diego county about 60 years ago - primarily to avoid giving development rights to San Diego county. The city's budget is $10M per year and $8M of that is from property taxes. The city gets about 13% of that property tax. City has no ability to control anything at the Fair since state owns the property.
The major issues that the city has been facing are; 1) short-term rentals and 2) sea-level rise leading to bluff erosions. The tracks are not actually impacting the bluff since the train vibrations dissipate horizontally.
Street Scape is the new project to allow sidewalk cafes. This should be ready by end of July 2019. He has lived in Del Mar for 32 years, married for 48 years and works at Dataskill.
In the end DMSB Club interim President Venky Venkatesh presented the speaker with the Joshua certificate that represents our club DMSB donating school supplies to schools in Malawi in the name of the speaker.
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Ken announced that the next BocceFest meeting will be at the Sutton's home on Sat June 8, 2019 at 10 am.
The Beer committee is pushing for a Gold Tap award to one brewery to increase participation.
We had a guest today - Matt Walker, Public Defender, who took over from Steve Binder. He gave quick updates on the veterans' Stand Down event coming up soon on June 28, 29 and 30. He indicated that out of the 8,102 homeless people about half of them get the needed support. At StandDown they get legal help, medical, dental, eye care, showers, etc. The Public Defender's office also does Homeless Courts once a month with the help of about 60 volunteers.
## "Juveniles and Adult Probation Population for next 5 years" by Gonzalo Mendez
Gonzalo Mendez grew up as an immigrant. His father was invited to the U.S. and later his brother went to the state penitentiary and they lived in the rough neighborhood of south east San Diego. He once went to the El Centro prison to meet his brother, who advised him to become a lawyer. At 19 Gonzalo volunteered in the Probation Department and he was sent to some bad areas. He soon got used to it. He worked hard and went to SDSU and paid for his college by working at various restaurants. He graduated with no college debt!
His first job was at Campo where there were 250 juvenile youths. In the first 6 months he was ready to quit. He had to sleep with roaches. But he pulled through and in 1995 he was promoted to Correctional Deputy Probation Officer (CDPO) and soon after that in 1997 he was promoted to Deputy Probation Officer and then in 1999 he became a Senior Probation Officer (SrPO). In 2001 he was promoted to a Supervising Probation Officer (SPO) and finally in 2012 he became the Division Chief! When he was a supervisor his brother died in a car accident after being hit by a drunk driver. That was a very disturbing moment for him and the family.
The probation officer has several tasks as shown above. He found jobs for many of the juvenile kids and changed their lives for ever. In the past 7-8 years he has helped reduce juveniles in San Diego by almost 70%. He is very proud of his team.
He created Collaborative Courts and helps to get felons into a rehab program that pays 90 days of living expenses and gived them financial literacy education so that they can go out and work and be financially responsible. They also have a human trafficking task force that prevents kids from getting lured into prostitution, etc.
In the end DMSB Club interim President Ken Barrett presented the speaker with the Joshua certificate that represents our club DMSB donating school supplies to schools in Malawi in the name of the speaker.
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We had a guest (Chuck) today all the way from Arizona from the Via Verde Club.
Charles reminded members about the Demotion Party for Ken Barrett on Sunday June 23, 2019 at 5 pm.
Steve reminded all that the District Governor's dinner is on June 27, 2019.
Ken awarded the Rotarian Member of the Month awards to Charlotte Jones and Sanjiv Prabhakaran for their work on the web sites and Bocce planning.
## Global Grant for Paraplegic/Quadriplegic clinic update by Sanjiv Prabhakaran
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Sanjiv provided a final update on the completion of the global grant project # 1861779. Below slides will provide the details.
The training center
The quadriplegic beneficiary (Ajay) getting the special chin-operated automatic chair.
## "Eliminating Pain & Chronic Fatigue" by Dr. Alan Blum
Dr. Alan M. Blum has been a practicing chiropractor in San Diego for over 40 years and has been studying kinesiological muscle testing techniques for over 30 years. A national speaker, he has invented or innovated several groundbreaking
Dr. Blum’s greatest joy is helping to heal people. Experiencing firsthand severe stress and severe chronic fatigue, he spent years looking for solutions and created some groundbreaking techniques to heal others and teach them how to have more energy, combining chiropractic practices. The chart below shows the various areas of the spine and how it controls various aches in our body.
He talked about instantly correcting the energy inside the body. He uses a technique called Total Body Modification (TBM), which is similar to acupuncture. A chiropractor works form brain down through the spine to the legs. The body has electric signals that pass through every cell in the body. By re-charging these cells the pain can be minimized. He says that most tissues can be regenerated but some tissues are slower.
We had several volunteers that stepped up to get a quick massage from Dr. Blum. Paul Butler, Herb Liberman and Bev Liberman all had a good dose of his techniques for some instant rejuvenation :-).
In the end DMSB Club interim President Ken Barrett presented the speaker with the Joshua certificate that represents our club DMSB donating school supplies to schools in Malawi in the name of the speaker.
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Scott Carr, past District Governor was there to award Steve Weitzen with the Paul Harris Society certificate.
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"San Diego Fair Update" by Fred Schenk
The speaker today was Mr. Fred Schenk, who has been the Chair of Operations at the San Diego County Fair from 2007 – the present. This year the fair will run from May 31 – July 4, closed Mondays and Tuesdays in June.
The San Diego County Fair, which began in 1880 with the aim of bringing SD County farmers together to share ideas, compete for the best pies and citrus fruits and challenge each other to horse races, continues to celebrate agriculture and community pride. It simply wouldn’t be summer in San Diego without this iconic fair, which is one of the top five fairs in the United States and Canada, drawing more than 1.6 million visitors annually.
Fred talked about some of the highlights of 2018 which included three beverage festivals of wine, beer and distilled spirits. There will be nine stages for entertainment, including the grand stand stage for the main entertainment. The theme of the fair will be peace, love and livestock. Every Wednesday afternoon talent from the fifty-year-old Woodstock festival will be featured. There is a 20-minute presentation of fireworks held every year.
The theme of the 2019 fair is going to be OZ-some. Presented by Albertsons|Vons, this year’s County Fair invites guests to skip down the yellow brick road and enter into an “Oz-some” world inspired by L. Frank Baum’s classic tale, “The Wonderful Wizard of Oz.”
Visitors will journey to the Emerald City, meeting magical new friends along the way. Channel your inner courage in our whirlwind of carnival rides. Expand your brain by immersing yourself in creative and educational exhibits. Warm your heart creating new memories with your friends and family. With all of the adventures you’ll encounter, you’ll discover, “There’s no place like the Fair.”
The “Oz-some” lineup for the Toyota Summer Concert Series will feature 27 night of entertainment on the Corona Grandstand Stage. Notables such as Smokey Robinson, Neil Sedaka, KC and the Sunshine Band, Pitbull, Credence Clearwater and others will cater to every musical taste. Sundays will be especially dedicated to music that caters to the Hispanic market, and will include musicians that cater to various age groups.
Eating is a major San Diego County Fair activity, with more than 100 food booths, several sit-down restaurants, and food-and-beverage events. On Thursdays from noon to 5:00PM, food vendors offer a small portion of one of their featured foods for $3.00. Great for small appetites, or for grazing your way through the Fair. Sometime in May, there will be a Food Map showing where to find those delicious Fair treats, both the ones you’ve come to love, and some new ones, too!
At the conclusion of the meeting Fred handed out complimentary fair tickets to all the Rotary members in attendance, which were well received. For more fair information go to: https://sdfair.com/.
In the end DMSB Club interim President Ken Barrett presented the speaker with the Joshua certificate that represents our club DMSB donating school supplies to schools in Malawi in the name of the speaker.
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Steve Weitzen was very happy since it was his 66th birthday. He was also sad since his close friend Lori was the victim of the Poway Synagogue shooting.
Steve also announced that the Director of the San Diego Fair Fred Schenk will be coming next week to give us the update on this year's theme and also distribute few tickets.
Charlotte announced that the new Bocce website is up and can be viewed at www.BocceFestSD.com.
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"Financial Market Update" by Clyde Chandler of Fidelity
Clyde has been in the financial field for over 20 years and currently he is a Senior VP at Fidelity Investments in Carmel Valley and deals with hi-net worth clients. Clyde has a BS in Economics and has many certification in wealth strategy, financial planning and has passed Series 6,9,10, 63 & 65 exams. Clyde enjoys running, surfing, coaching soccer, and spending time with his family. Clyde has been a staunch supporter of our Bocce Ball fund raising events for several years and this year he has graciously agreed to be the $5k primary sponsor..jpg)
Clyde talked about the various types of investments and how the markets are reacting. They provide 3 types of strategies --
Secular (10-30 years) that covers sectors, such as, Energy, etc. This category goes up and down over many years.
Business Cycle (1-10 years) - this sector goes through growth, stagnation and recession.
Tactical (1-12 months) - this is for the day to day stuff.
He indicated that the economic growth is directly tied to labor and productivity. Output is the measure of the economy's success.
Japan has had no economic growth for 30 years due to the aging population.
His prediction was that the Feds might lower the interest rates.
The above slide shows the signs of recession - high labor costs, negative rate of return, profits declining. He says that 2 years of negative rate of return is an indication of a future recession.
His advice to all is that the ration of stocks to bonds is usually 60 to 40 for basic investors but then age also plays a big factor. For example a 25 year old investor will be recommended 90% in stocks since he/she can bear some risks.
His final point was that earnings per share drives the stock price and that in turn drives up the economy. He said that some companies buy back their shares but that unfortunately does not grow the company.
In the end DMSB Club interim President Ken Barrett presented the speaker with the Joshua certificate that represents our club DMSB donating school supplies to schools in Malawi in the name of the speaker.
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We had a wonderful social gathering at the Casa Sol y Mar in Carmel Valley in the Del Mar Highlands Mall. We had 13 people attend the event with friends and family members. You can see more photos and a video of a wonderful dance at the link below. George was all ready to dance too :-).
Pictures link: https://photos.app.goo.gl/t2Q4sA72w16UGpsNA
Enjoy!
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We started off with some quick announcements by various members --
- Patricia reminded all about the social gathering at Casa Sol y Mar on Sunday at 3:30 pm.
- Bill announced that Stand Down starts on June 28, 2019 and ends on June 30, 2019. He had sign-up sheets passed around.
- Charlotte talked about a new plan for Bocce to move forward with requesting the beneficiaries to help promote the event. She encouraged members to bring in more sponsors.
- Charlotte said that she is hoping to have the new site ready by May 13, 2019 unless there are any critical issues.
## The Coin-Up Story by Leena Patidar
Leena is a CFO by trade and the Managing Director at Ascent Private Capital Management. She was born and raised in Chicago, but her parents took her to India often to visit their grandparents and relatives. Every time, she could not bear the thought of the children and infants that were on the streets and so vulnerable. She felt they were put in circumstances that nobody deserves, especially the innocent. So she knew one day that she would want to come back and help protect them by getting them off the streets, providing medical care, education, clothing and giving them a chance to survive in a better environment.
Over the years she noticed how charities like Ronald McDonald House, March of Dimes, and Salvation Army have all collected millions of dollars in spare change each year. However, as we move towards a cashless society, that loose change is no longer available. So, Leena came up with a new way to donate and her entrepreneurial drive led to a very creative company called Coin Up. She had to fight with Apple to accept her donation app for over 3 months before they finally agreed to approve the first donation app on Apple store. Apple used to reject Donation apps due to several fraudulent apps.
The idea is to donate your “loose change” from a credit or debit card transaction to one of your favorite charities. Coin Up makes it really easy to do and to manage your total donations including setting monthly limits. Coin Up now has over 300 charities to choose from, including ones that support orphanages in India and around the world. The app won the San Diego 2017 Athena Pinnacle Award.
In the end DMSB Club interim President Vicky Mallett presented the speaker with the Joshua certificate that represents our club DMSB donating school supplies to schools in Malawi in the name of the speaker.
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We had a large group of members and spouses and children volunteer to serve dinner to the families at the Vista location of Solutions For Change. Enjoy the photos below ...
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We started the meeting with some updates from members' trips.
1. Susan H. went on a trip to the Sea of Cortez and had lots of fun.
2. Charlotte and family just returned from a trip to the Galapagos Islands.
3. Suchandra just returned from India and will be in San Diego for about 6 months.
4. Phil was excited since he said there will be some 3000-4000 people registering at the hotel for the La Jolla Half Marathon.
## BOCCE MEETING:
Today's meeting was dedicated to the planning and updates on the Bocce event. Malcolm stressed on the fact that we need get closer to the $100K revenue. He had a tentative plan for a new layout for the field that keeps the auction items & beer vendors inside the big tent and the VIP canopies along the border of the tent so they can keep ordering beer. He said that the local Brewers' Guild has sanctioned our BocceFest event. The beers are all donated and so no cost to the club. He had invited Dick Stevens from the Eco-Encinitas club to learn some ideas from him. He gave some very good ideas of how to involve other charity organizations to help.
Then we had Charlotte give an update about her marketing strategy.
And, finally Molly spoke about the sponsorship plans.
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# MISCELLANEOUS TOPICS:
- Diane Huckabee announced that she just got her 2nd grandson!
- Steve Weitzen announced it was his 33rd anniversary!
- Ken Barrett was celebrating his 50th birthday!
- Herb showed pictures of devastating floods in Malawi that destroyed many homes.
- Ken showed the club a video about education and healthcare in Uganda -- video link.
# "Children's Picture Books" by Scott Sussman
Today's speaker, Scott Sussman, was born in Fountain Valley, California in 1971 and currently divides his time between California and Italy. His children’s picture books include Silly the Seed, Weird the Beard, Lerky the Handturkey, the Mark and the Molecule Maker trilogy, and Fred and the Monster, which was an Independent Publisher Award Winner, 2015. He has also written a middle grade novel, The Shining Adventures of Shelpa McStorm, and is currently working on more middle grade novels. When not reading or writing, Scott enjoys playing the harmonica and traveling with his wife.
He became a school substitute teacher and later moved to Israel and settled into a unique type of settlement (commune) known as KIBBUTZ. The residents of these communes shared everything and worked as members of that community. While there, he studied Hebrew and started to write. One day he wrote on a blank paper "Lovely Flower in a Red Rose Sky" and gradually the words just started to flow.
The time he was in Israel he witnessed the Prime Minister getting assassinated and many people getting killed. From there he went to Santiago in South America and wrote more books there. After that the next 13 years he was in Rome, Italy. He learned the language and taught English to teenagers and older people. There he met his wife Francesca in 2006. She had a big job with company car, etc. When they decided to move back to USA in Sep 2016 it was a tough decision. They settled in Carlsbad. He makes a living by selling autographed books. Many of the club members purchased several books from him.
His favorite quote is by a Japanese author -- "When you get to the top of the mountain, keep climbing".
In the end DMSB Club interim President Ken Barrett presented the speaker with the Joshua certificate that represents our club DMSB donating school supplies to schools in Malawi in the name of the speaker.
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Today we had a surprise visit by Alicia Foster to celebrate Charles' 75th birthday. Alicia said that over the years it has been tough to find a gift for Charles and so this time she gave him a $10,000 check that he can spend on Rotary in any manner he wishes! Everyone was thrilled at her gesture.
## ""Providing assistance to child & family support with a clean diet with nutritional beneficial foods" by Crystal Hilsley
Members attended an informative talk by Crystal Hilsley, a Child Food Advisor who specializes in transitioning families to eating a clean diet with nutritionally beneficial foods as a daily reality. Crystal’s unique and highly effective approach involves participation from the whole family, schools and recreational clubs. According to Crystal one in eight children are on the Autism spectrum and one in three children is predicted to be obese. Sugar is the main ingredient in 80% of the food we buy and consume. Crystal described how most of the treats brought by parents to after school games and sports involved empty calories and high levels of food dyes and sugar, such as in donuts, cookies, cupcakes with enormous amounts of artificially dyed cream frosting and even artificially dyed Gatorade. Apples, oranges, cheese and crackers, healthy nutrition bars and plain water would be much better substitutes, but many parents need to be educated about these alternatives.
Crystal also talked about how so many elementary school children cannot sit still in class and focus on the teacher’s instructions because of all the extra sugar and chemicals that they consume in popular foods. They also suffer from dehydration. Sometimes simply drinking a glass of water helps them to calm down.
Crystal created a program called Crystal Clear Kids to emphasize the importance of looking carefully at food labels before buying foods with chemicals and dyes in them that can adversely affect children’s’ moods. Many inner city and low income neighborhoods have become “food deserts” – where only highly processed, convenience foods like donuts and hot dogs are available instead of fresh produce and healthy foods. The program aims to educate parents and children about how chemical dyes, food coloring and unhealthy foods can create cravings and affect children’s chromosomes.
In the end DMSB Club interim President Ken Barrett presented the speaker with the Joshua certificate that represents our club DMSB donating school supplies to schools in Malawi in the name of the speaker.
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This event is held once a year and all members, especially red badgers, are encouraged to attend. They offer various training sessions for club chairs to learn more about their roles and how to become more effective leaders. This year we had Jan Parsons, Venky Venkatesh and Beverly Liberman attend the events. Steve Weitzen was also there in funny costumes :-).
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## Miscellaneous Topics:
Steve talked about “adopting” a Rotary scholar – it was unanimously approved by the members.
Charlotte send around a reminder sign-up sheet for Rotarians at Work day on April 27th at Solutions For Change. Members will prepare and serve food to about 20 – 30 people at Solutions for Change.
Patricia sent a reminder about the Rotary Cook-out at San Dieguito Park on April 7th.
Venky Venkatesh, who took over the President’s gavel today, brought and displayed the new Rotary flag.
## "Finding Peace in a noisy world" by Orlando Javien Jr.:
Orlando Javien Jr. is the man of many hats. By day he is a bookkeeper, tax preparer and domestic engineer. By night he is a religious education teacher, inspirational speaker, and author of “Stop Googling Yourself." He opened with a funny story about a boy living on a farm who, one day, dumped a despised “Porta-potty” into the river, unfortunately, while his dad was in the potty ! He went on to talk about the different noises in his life and how he learned to find peace.
! He went on to talk about the different noises in his life and how he learned to find peace.
Noise #1: His first example was about the noise of pride, a story about his refusing to take care of the dirty dishes because “it was not his turn to do them”. After almost precipitating a fight over this between himself and his wife, he realized that he needed to get rid of his pride. The lesson was that one should put in 100% effort but with 0% expectation in return.
Noise #2: Another time he volunteered to teach a group of children in his daughter’s class. He felt pretty pleased with what he did until he asked his daughter for validation and to his surprise she replied: “Dad you talk too much”. So the second noise in his life was his own voice! One day when his wife came home tired and upset because she had had a long day and had had nothing to eat, he rushed in with suggestions about what she could do next time. When, to his surprise, his wife became even more upset, he realized that again he was talking too much. What she needed at that moment was a hug of empathy, rather than a quick fix or lecture about what to do next time.
Noise #3: The most touching example was when he came home from work one day, very tired, and refused to play with his young son. Being exhausted he sent the child to his room. Later, he was very moved when the child came to him with money from his piggy bank and offered to pay his dad his hourly wage if he would take some time to play with him.
Noise #4: The noise of “addiction” was the last one he mentioned. He admitted that he had been addicted to pornography but had eventually been able to give it up.
He concluded by discussing the biggest problem of all in our society – the addiction to technology and social media. He has put filters on his phones and computers to protect his family from the “noise” of technology. It was a good reminder to the rest of us to be more heedful of the “noises” in our own environment.
In the end DMSB Club interim President Venky Venkatesh presented the speaker with the Joshua certificate that represents our club DMSB donating school supplies to schools in Malawi in the name of the speaker.
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We had a surprise guest that Herb brought in - their dog Tootsie! She was really cute and friendly. She made sure she smelled everyone :-). Also, Malcolm pointed out during the "Fines" session that Herb and Bev listed two different anniversary dates :-) and gave Herb a fine for that!
Bill announced that Stand Down event will be on June 28, 29 and 30 at the same location as past years. He added that May 10th is the clothing drive.
Charlotte mentioned that the Rotarians At Work day will be on Sat Apr 27, 2019 at Solutions For Change and the plan is to make and serve dinner between 4 and 7 pm.
Ken and Paul then announced another Paul Harris Fellow award. This time it was for Sanjiv Prabhakaran for his work with the website blogs and Bocce web site design, development and management.
## "Berlin before, during and after the Wall and the Berlin Crisis 1960-61";
Roger Liles was stationed in Turkey and Germany for 5 years as a USAF Signals Officer and stayed in Europe for 8 years. As a military electronics officer for 40 years, Roger's main function was to translate engineering jargon to understandable English and communicate to the senior officers of the US Government in written and verbal form.
In the 1990s he began taking novel writing classes at UCLA, and writing for pleasure. Now retired, he spends full time writing. He is author of THE BERLIN TUNNEL—A COLD WAR THRILLER, first released in Oct 2018 and became #13 on the Amazon Best Seller List for New Releases in Historical Mystery, Thriller and Suspense Fiction and has sold of 1000 copies.
He mentioned about how Churchill talked about the Iron Curtain. He said that during the Berlin airlift there were 275,000 airlift missions and 2.3 million tons of food delivered between 24jun48 to 12may49.
The Berlin Wall was about 94 miles around Berlin. About 200,000 people per year moved to the west. They had 81 checkpoints built in 1961 to control the flow of people. The wall was closed on August 13, 1961 and within a month the American Checkpoint "Charlie" was built.
There were times when people attending church would cut through barbed wire fence and escape to the West. Checkpoint Charlie became a symbol of the Cold War, representing the separation of East and West. Soviet and American tanks briefly faced each other at the location during the Berlin crisis of 1961. That was almost the start of World War III, but fortunately the Russian tanks did not do anything catastrophic.
The wall remained closed for 28 years and many families were separated for all those years. About 560,000 people escaped during those years. Roger wrote a wonderful book (The Berlin Tunnel) with all these historic details and old pictures. The book's cover was designed by an artist in New Zealand and the tag line "A Cold War Thriller" was suggested to him. He received 4.6 out of 5 stars and the book became #13 on Amazon's Best Seller List. The Berlin Tunnel was a joint spy operation between the CIA & Britain's MI6 called Operation Gold to enter into Russian zone and listen-in on communications. The Allied Museum has a presentation of this Berlin Spy Tunnel.
In the end DMSB Club President Ken Barrett presented the speaker with the Joshua certificate that represents our club DMSB donating school supplies to schools in Malawi in the name of the speaker.
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Paul Butler & Ken Barrett awarded few Paul Harris Fellow awards/pics to few folks that contributed extensively last year towards the Bocce event and other areas.
The awards were given to Charlotte Jones, Molly Fleming and Kitty McGee. Congratulations to all of them from the club.
Following that Charlotte announced that Rotarians Work Day at Solutions For Change will be on Saturday April 27, 2019 and the exact schedule and type of work will be announced next week.
Then Charlotte & Ken presented the $2,000 check to YMCA for Youth Camp Scholarships and Tom accepted the award on behalf of YMCA Youth Camp.
Molly announced Bocce already has THREE premier sponsors onboard for this year (Capital One from Patricia, Merrill Lynch from Jan & one more).
## "Tracking Your Inner Maverick: From Wall Street to the Plains of Africa" by Fred Krakowiak
Fred Krakowiak presented "Tracking your Inner Maverick" discussing giving up Wall Street for guiding safaris in Africa & being an artist.
He has some amazing artwork shown above and a book that he has published - "The Artist's Safari: Capturing Africa with Pens, Lens and Paintbrush". Available for purchase at Barnes & Noble.
xxxx
In the end DMSB Club President Ken Barrett presented the speaker with the Joshua certificate that represents our club DMSB donating school supplies to schools in Malawi in the name of the speaker.
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Venky Venkatesh
mandyamvenkatesh@gmail.com
+1 (858) 880-8560
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