President Laura got the meeting off by welcoming our guests and giving her Rotary elevator speech.
Laura then reminded us about and encouraged us to attend the upcoming District 5240 Foundation Gala in Camarillo on May 13th (see notice below under Community News) as well as the upcoming District 5240 Awards on June 24th. More details on the June 24th event to follow.
She then congratulated John Baxter on the award he's receiving from the Simi Valley Community Council on Saturday, June 10th at 9:00 AM at The Best Western. The award is for his efforts in leading the charge in having Simi Valley designated as an International City of Peace. Job Well Done John!
Laura also sends the Club's condolences to Cesar Zambrano who severely injured his foot in a recent motorcycle accident. He's having surgery next week and is stable. Cards were signed at the meeting this morning and will be forwarded to Cesar by Laura. Wishing Cesar a speedy recovery!
Laura received an email from Gem Munro in regard to an article he just wrote. If you recall, Gem was the gentleman from the Amarok Society who spoke to our Club recently about his work in the slums of Bangladesh. Following is his email and a link to that article:
Hi Laura,
I've attached an article I've written about the slums of the developing world. It should give some context and explanation for the living situations of our Amarok Society students, as well as the characters of ...And Where the Wind Spun Them. I hope that you find it interesting and informative.
To wrap up, last week there was a discussion about the District 5240 website and Laura had lead a review of some of the statistics that can be obtained on the website. A statement was made in the Bulletin that read, "These stats clearly show that Simi Sunset is one of the more influential Clubs in our District". This should have read Simi Sunrise. The reason Sunset was used was simply a means by which we could determine if the Bulletin was being read or not. It turns out that it is being read based on the feedback received. In order to make things right, the editor of the Bulletin will forego his salary for the month of April.
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Josh Alexander lead the Invocation this morning.
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Flag Salute
Herschel Berger lead the Flag Salute this morning, a Flag that represents the greatest country ever conceived.
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Mike Mutal welcomed our Guests this morning. They included Mr. Milad Pezeshki (Simi Valley Adventist Hospital), Mr. Barry Becker (fellow Rotarian) and Mr. Husam Hishmeh (our Speaker this morning).
Milad Pezeshki, left, with Bill Klepper
Barry Becker, left, with his host Vince Dulcich
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Savi Bhim and Larry Borovay were our Co-Greeters this morning. Its a big job, sometimes we need two at the door!
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Hershel Berger, left, continuing his program of interviewing past Club presidents, talked with Bill Klepper about his time as Club president in 2020-2021. Herschel spoke about the fact that it took a lot of work to keep the Club going during the Covid pandemic and Bill pulled it off.
Bill said his favorite meeting was one of our outdoor parking lot meetings at the Junkyard in which we endured hurricane-force winds. He loved how we all came together and, literally, held down the fort and kept the meeting going. Nothing was going to cause the cancellation of a meeting. What Bill didn't mention is that 2 members were swept up in the wind that day, never to be seen again.
Bill joined Rotary almost 19 years ago because of his exposure to the Cajun Festival. He was asked to help out at the Festival and ended up becoming a Rotarian as a result. He says he stays a Rotarian because of the friendships he's developed and the enjoyment he gets from the camaraderie of the Club.
Thanks for your past and continued service Bill!
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Bill Klepper organized a way to honor our local school crossing guards yesterday, Wednesday, April 19th. Goodie Bags were handed out to the crossing guards and the Bags were well received.
Bill read a Thank You note he received from the crossing guards. He also thanked Bob Whalen (it was Bob's idea) and the Coffee Bean for their help and support. Below are some pictures:
See the caption above of this photo, a nice note from the City.
Steve P. reminded us that, in honor of Earth Day, we will be joining other Rotary Clubs for a Tierra Rejada Clean Up day on Saturday, April 22nd. Not only are we cleaning up the community, we have an opportunity to get to know members in other local Rotary Clubs. Following are some details on the Clean Up......
Tierra Rejada Clean Up Details
Steve P is also organizing a flower arrangement, or more accurately, a succulent arrangement event at Varenita. This will take place on April 22nd at 2:00 PM right after the Lunch Social at the Berger's that same day at 11:00 AM. Steve will be putting together these arrangements for the residents and could use some help. Contact Steve for further information at:
Bill Klepper is organizing our next Bolio event on Sunday,April 30th. It's being held at Haley's Valley Bowl, 5255 Cochran. Our Club will pick up the bowling fee so 100% of the $50 entrance fee will go to fighting polio. It will be a fun event involving the Special Olympics Athletes and other Rotary clubs for a great cause.
Registration is at
9:00 AM with bowling starting at 10:00 AM. Contact Bill if interested:
A reminder about the upcoming Happy Face Music Festival on Saturday,May 27th. The Festival will be held from 1 PM to 7 PM at Rancho Santa Susana Community Park and will have an 80's theme. Tickets are now on sale.
Steve has called an All Hands meeting on Tuesday, April 25th for Committee Members at Monte Vista starting at 6:30 PM.The good news is that he's run out of Cajun Dogs but the bad news is that he's still serving Oktoberfest Dogs.
Deb Davila, here with Steve Pietrolungo. Deb said Sponsorships were coming along fine and thanked all those members who have stepped forward to be sponsors. Deb was pleased to announce that Simi Valley Adventist came in as a $10,000 sponsor! Thank You Simi Adventist!!!!
Here's Deb's previous email on finding sponsors for the event:
Dear Simi Sunrise!
Our Happy Face Music Festival is just around the corner, and we have lots of sponsorship opportunities available! Attached is the Sponsor Brochure - see below. Let me know if YOU or YOUR COMPANY is interested in being a sponsor, OR, pass this along to anyone you know that might be. Please take note of page 3 and 4 for the options and the agreement.
Let me know if you have any questions.
Let's put on our happy faces and have a successful event!
Yours truly,
Deb
John Bagnall and Mike Sidlinger are looking for Security volunteers for the event. Let John know if you can help at:
Geovanny Ragsdale reminded us about the Lunch Social at the Berger's house on Saturday, April 22nd at 11:00 a.m. This is the Last One of The Year!!!! (It will be AFTER the Tierra Rejada Clean Up!)
Laura will prepare all the food you just need to bring a drink if you want something other than water and coffee!
YES! is scheduled for October 21, 2023! Dorina Timbol is leading the charge for YES! across the District and is asking that sign ups start early. This YES! program will be bigger and better than last year (which will be hard to do!) with discussions happening with, among others, the Simi Valley Chief of Police and the Simi Valley Unified School District Superintendent. One theme this year will be humanizing the police.
Carolyn Boucher announced the upcoming Simi Valley Chamber of Commerce Street Festival on May 6th. This is an All Day event from 9:00 AM to 4:00 PM. She'll need help with the Set Up and Take Down of the booth as well as manning the booth. This is great opportunity for our Club to spread the Rotary word, recruit new members and to sell some Happy Face Music Festival tickets. Carolyn has a Sign Up sheet (see below) or let her know how you can help at:
Mary Paseta shared some Thank You notes sent to Chas and Phyllis Wilson, Herschel and Laura Berger and B.J. Anderson from the High School Exchange Students they sponsored.
Sounds like some great memories and long lasting relationships were developed in their time together.
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John Baxter is looking for help to man the Simi Sunrise booth at the Expo. This involves just talking about your career to others. Let John know if you can help at:
John Baxter is also looking for volunteers to help with mock job interviews of Valley View Middle School students. They will take place at the school on Monday, May 8th from 8:00 AM to 2:00 PM. John will take any amount of hours within that time frame but needs to know if you can help by May 2nd. John can be contacted at:
A reminder regarding Deb Davila's previous announcement about For The Troops. Deb encourages donations at any time.
Deb Davila
Mike Kort, president of the Rotary Club of Simi Sunset, announced their 12th annual Johnna's Tea Party at the Grand Vista Hotel on Sunday, April 23rd. Mike is looking for volunteers to help out as waiters or donations for the event. His club is also selling raffle tickets for a trip to Italy. The tickets cost $100 with the trip itself valued at $6,500. See Mike Kort for details at:
Mark your calendars for this year's Rotary Foundation Gala on Saturday, May 13th. It will be held at the Camarillo Airport with more details to follow. Laura is looking to fill a table and could use some help with setting up the event so please join her in representing our Club on May 13th.
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"In the end, it's not the years in your life that count. It's the life in your years."
-Abraham Lincoln
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Our Speaker this morning was Mr. Husam Hishmeh. Husam is the Membership Director for Rotary District 5240. He joined Rotary in 2006 but had to reduce his activity level a lot in 2015 and then picked it up again in 2016 becoming president of his Ventura Club in 2016-2017. In his spare time he and his family own 106 Domino's Pizza restaurants!
He came to the US from Jordan in 1988 on a student VISA when he was 18. He went to work with two of his brothers at a Domino's 2 months after he arrived in the US. He and his brothers were given the opportunity to acquire a Santa Paula Domino's at no cost since it was closing . They jumped at it at the ripe old ages of 19, 20 and 21. Fast forward to today and he, along with several other family members, and after many long hours of hard work, own 106 Domino's Pizza restaurants.
Husam spoke to us mainly about Rotary, sharing many of his thoughts and ideas about Rotary with us. Although he was doing very well with his career acquiring Domino's restaurants, he felt empty, that something was missing. Rotary filled that hole. He became Vocational Chair of his Club 2 months after he joined and he's been hooked ever since. Here are some of the highlights from his talk:
- Rotary was, and is, a great support system for him. He made useful connections and his membership opened lots of doors for him.
- Husam feels that developing and maintaining friendships and the desire to help the community are the driving forces behind getting new members and keeping existing ones.
- If the energy of a Club is high, new members will be attracted to it. Ways of keeping that energy high are having the Club meetings in nice places and serving decent food.
- Speakers need to be varied and cover different areas of interests. Sought after Speakers should include those in involved in running our community affairs like Police Department, Fire Department and other City/County Agency officials along with City Council members.
- Invite family members to your meetings. Husam feels that family members are a great resource for new members. And that we should get creative in how membership dues are calculated. Family discounts? Think outside the box he said. Think of new ways of doing business.
- He said to not be afraid of growing too big as a Club. If that happens, think about creating Satellite Clubs that perhaps cater to one specific demographic. He suggested Satellite Clubs just for lawyers or doctors or athletes or whatever.
- It's important to bring in and nurture young members but to not forget the older, more senior members. The senior members are the ones who built the Club and can mentor the new, younger members.
- District membership is up, having increased by about 80 members in 2022.
Husam left us with his congratulations on the success of our Club. He said that we are amazing and encouraged us to expose the community to our energy.
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Mel Vines being greeted by Savi
Steve Hise introducing our Speaker
Laura presenting Husam with a small token of our appreciation
When the secretary adds a new member to our roster, you will receive an automatic email that gives you your login ID and a temporary password so that you can access the web site (ClubRunner). This gives you the opportunity to upload a photo and enter a permanent password. You can go to the public portion of our website (no login required) and see the calendar, list of officers, birthdays, past bulletins, etc. The link to the public portion of our website is:
There is a phone app that can be downloaded to your phone; everyone should have that app on their phones. You will have to download the app and then log in the first time. After that, the login portion is not required.
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Please remember to bring a friend or an acquaintance to our next meeting. This is a GREAT way to grow our membership!
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Our next meeting will be at The Best Western Posada Royale at 1775 Madera Road on April 27th. See you all there!
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Rotary Club Finder Need to find a club to do a makeup? Or find out where Rotary clubs meet while you are traveling? Click here to access the Club Finder page on the RI website.
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