President Laura got the meeting off by welcoming our guests and members (both in person and on Zoom) and then giving her Rotary elevator speech.
She then thanked those for helping on the Tierra Rejada clean up; helping with the Career Fair at the library; helping at Dr. P's event at Varenita; and to those who came to her afternoon party at the her house. All on the same day! To say it was a busy day is an understatement.
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 from 12 PM to 3:00 PM. More details on the June 24th event to follow but she would really like a good Club turn out for this event as we will likely (hopefully) receive some awards.
She also encouraged us all to participate at some level in the upcoming Happy Face Music Festival. It is one of our main fundraisers and participation and success is essential to our Club's ability to fund our many programs and events throughout the year.
Lastly, she congratulated Dorina Timbol on two very exciting honors she received. First, Dorina was named the Remarkable Woman of the Year by KTLA. Then, Assemblywoman Jacqui Irwin named Dorina's non-profit, For The Need Foundation, as Non-Profit of Year, receiving her award in Sacramento. Congratulations Dorina!
Dorina Timbol
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Bob Bibb lead the Invocation this morning with a sobering reference to the Holocaust and mentioning the current Auschwitz Exhibit at the Ronald Reagan Library.
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Flag Salute
Corey Baker lead the Flag Salute this morning, a Flag that represents the greatest country ever conceived.
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Bruce Bromberg welcomed our Guests. They included Ms. Amanda Williams, Mr. Nick Smith, Ms. Madelyn Herzer and Ms. Ariana Persky (all attendees at the recent RYLA conference with Ariana being the daughter of Josh), Mr. Milad Pezeshki ( a Special Guest), Mrs. Stacy Persky (Josh's wife), Ms. Megan Mathews (our Speaker), and Mrs. Tami Jordan (Daniel's wife).
Bruce, your attempt to get out of the job of welcoming our Guests with your performance this morning won't work. You WILL be asked to do it again.
Amanda Williams displaying one of her awards she received at RYLA
Nick Smith at the podium
Madelyn Herzer
Ariana Persky
Milad Pezeshki with Madelyn, left, and Dorina Timbol
Stacy Persky with Josh
Tami Jordan, right, who helped Dorina Timbol lead the Diversity Class at the RYLA event, with Ariana
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Larry Borovay was our Greeter this morning.
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Stephanie Shannon had the pleasure of recognizing and interviewing Kathy Scroggin, past Club president in 2021-2022.
Kathy joined Simi Sunrise 25 years ago this June. She said she was inspired to join because of the values that Rotary exemplifies. It took two years of recruiting on Simi Sunrise's part to get her to join but she's never looked back.
She has many favorite memories and moments but one that stands out was a Target Shopping spree she participated in. Kathy was with a 12 year old girl who asked Kathy why she was doing this. Kathy told her that it brings joy to her and those she helps and that you were important to me. The young lady said that no one had ever told that she was important. Very moving.
Kathy said that she'd like her presidency to be remembered as one that was interesting. Dealing with covid meant moving meetings from the Junkyard parking lot, then to Best Western, then to Zoom and then back to Best Western. In spite of all of that, she said that she had the distinct honor of leading a group of resilient Rotarians who stayed loyal to the values of Rotary.
Lastly, Stephanie asked Kathy what Kathy would like to see Rotary accomplish in the future. Her answer was that she hoped Rotary would continue to grow a bigger, stronger voice that tells us to champion worthy causes and to keep our eyes open to opportunities due to our ever changing world.
Stephanie, left, presented Kathy with her Past-President pin. Job well done Dr. Kathryn Scroggin!
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Bill Klepper is organizing another Happy Face Hill Cleanup this Saturday, April 29th. Meet at the Old Susana Cafe (1555 Kuehner Dr.) at 7:00 AM with work commencing at 8:00 AM. Wear work clothes and bring gloves, rakes and weed eaters if you have them.
Bill Klepper
A note accompanying this photo:
In an unprecedented move, Bill tried to gain pre-approval rights over any photo of himself being shown in the Bulletin. The editorial board said absolutely NOT!
The Tierra Rejada Clean Up on Saturday was well attended. Not only did we clean up the community, we had an opportunity to get to know members in other local Rotary Clubs.
Anni Sumby, Bill Klepper and Daniel Jordan doing their part.
Steve P's succulent arrangement event last Saturday at Varenita was well received. Steve had help from several members with putting together arrangements for the residents. See below for pictures.
The picture on the left is three generations. Steve, on the right, pulling extra duty cleaning up the place.
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 is looking for help placing Lawn Signs throughout the City. He's wants to place the Signs this evening, Tuesday, April 27th. Please meet at the Junkyard at 6:30 PM if you can help It will take about 30 minutes and he'll even buy you a drink of your choosing. Please show up and help if you can.
And Steve has called another All Hands meeting on Tuesday, May 2nd for Committee Members at Monte Vista starting at 6:30 PM.
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
Scan the QR code above to access the Volunteer Hub and sign up to help out at the Festival. Thank You Anni Sumby for setting that up.
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. Following is an email Carolyn sent out to everyone:
We need your help!
The Simi Valley Street Fair is a great opportunity for us to
Sell Happy Face Music Festival Tickets
Give out fun tchotchkes
Talk about what Rotary is an who we are
Make new friends
Please help us out by spending a few hours at our booth.
We need help on Saturday, May 6th, from 7:30am until 4pm.
Save the date for a certain Club president's Demotion on Saturday, June 10th. Look for an email from Kathy Scroggin.
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.
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Arun Sharma shared with us a letter from Rotary International Risk Management concerning Copyright infringement. In part it states "Clubs continue to post images and other media (cartoons, songs, etc.) online in disregard of copyright laws, resulting in a considerable increase in claims activity under the U.S. Rotary Club & District liability Insurance Program. Over 40% of the Program's open claims now pertain to copyright infringement". The letter asks us to "review your club's social media accounts and websites and delete any content using images or other media where you do not have the copyright owner's permission. This includes bulletins, newsletters, and other documents and forms, even if they are 10+ years old".
Please see Arun or Laura if you have any questions.
Arun Sharma
Dorina Timbol talked this morning about the recent RYLA conference held in Ojai. Dorina and Tami Jordan attended and, according to Dorina, this was the best RYLA event ever. Very well attended with lots of excitement and energy.
Dorina and Tami invited 4 of the student participants to breakfast this morning (see Guests above) and each spoke about their experiences. All 4 of these students were very impressive and, if they represent the youth of today, we are good hands. To sum up their experience at RYLA, they said it was life changing.
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None this week
And none of these this week either
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Anni Sumby, Executive Director of the Samaritan Center of Simi Valley, announced this upcoming Fundraiser.
John Tolson announced this Rotary Club of Simi Valley Softball Tournament.
John Baxter had help from Linas Kojelis, Laura and Geovanny Ragsdale with the Simi Sunrise booth at the Expo.
Laura, left, Linas sitting, and Geovanny standing at right.
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
And here's one of those Troops, our very own Ryan Valencia, of whom we are so proud. Stay safe Ryan!
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.
Laura forwarded some emails and information on the event.
Here's Laura's email:
The district is asking us to attend the Foundation Gala on May 13th. Details are on bottom email,
Laura
This is the email that Laura received and forwarded:
The District is requesting our help once again. Can you please make it a point to share this topic at your next meeting? It's especially important to chip in since it's so close. It would be great if Group 5 could have a good attendance as well as being able to help with the dinner. There's an attached flyer that has great information to pass out (or at least post) at your meeting as well.
Be on the lookout for the Group 5 Agenda for our meeting next Monday evening.
Thanks for all you do,
Ryan Mills
Assistant Governor - Group 5, Rotary District 5240
---------- Forwarded message ---------
From: Kim Fly <flymanor.mac.com@clubrunner.email>
Date: Tue, Apr 18, 2023 at 5:04 PM
Subject: Rotary- AG & EAG and more- I need your help!
To: Ryan Mills <ryan@mills.homes>
Hello Ryan!
Our event committee needs your help getting the word out about our upcoming gala event. Could you please send a note to your clubs and/or groups as soon as possible about signing up? It would be fantastic to have a full house of inspired Rotarians! It would be especially helpful if you would talk it up in your own clubs and share the event on Facebook.
See below for photo of event space & event flyer
Camarillo Airport, $97 per person
5pm - 9pm
* Celebrate and see what other clubs are doing and have done with DDF and RI Foundation grants
* Celebrate all of our collective giving to the Rotary Foundation
* Get inspired to do grant projects
* Fellowship with old and new Rotary friends
* Chance to win extraordinary baskets
* Opportunity to take home a beautiful centerpiece
* Wear your favorite Rotary pin and possibly win a Paul Harris
* Dress to impress-"Think Pink"
* Photo opportunities in a cool space with amazing airplanes
* Enjoy the signature "Million Dollar " cocktail also know as the notorious "Get Loud"
* or a glass of Opolo wine or Island Brewing Company beer
Our next AG/EAG meeting is next week, Thursday, 4/27, 5:30 pm- 6:30 pm via Zoom.
See you next Thursday & thank you for helping getting the word out about the gala!
Kim Fly
Chief Operating Officer
Rotary District 5240
2022-2023
805-689-3090
Geovanny Ragsdale asked to post the above announcement. See Geovanny for details or questions.
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"Life is a succession of lessons which must be lived to be understood."
Ralph Waldo Emerson
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Our Speaker this morning was Ms. Megan Mathews. Megan is currently a real estate agent in Westlake Village and has been a resident of Ventura County for 40 years. In her first career though, she was an animal trainer for the film industry and she gave us a very fun and interesting talk about that career.
She said she's been an animal lover and horse rider since she was a young girl. She worked her way through school grooming and training polo horses at Will Rogers State Beach. There she met a producer from Hollywood who introduced her to the world of animal training in the film industry. Her career, while very exciting by taking her all over the world, was also hard on her personal life because it had her away from home 6-9 months a year.
She explained that the animals used in the filming were provided by a separate company and she would then train and prepare the animals for either TV or films. She left the industry when her kids got older and because injuries sustained during filming took their toll. It sounds like she got out at a good time as the use of animals in TV and movies is going away. There's too much resistance from animal rights groups to have animals working any longer Megan explained. CGI will now take over she said.
Megan and Laura
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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 May 4th. 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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