President Laura opened the meeting, our last of the year by the way, by welcoming our Guests. She then mentioned that she and Steve Pietrolungo gave a presentation to the City's review committee in regard to the grant that Kathryn Scroggin had applied for in support of the Happy Face Music Festival. Laura said that we were recommended by the committee to be finalized by the City Council. This is a $4,000 grant that, according to Laura, looks good for final approval at this point.
Laura also had the pleasure of giving out gifts of appreciation to the staff at Best Western, thanking them for the wonderful service our Club has received from them this past year. They truly are a great team to work with.
Laura had also brought in an Activities Board that displayed the various projects our Club has been involved with this year. A very impressive array that calls for a nice round of applause for Simi Sunrise! Pictures below.....
Also, please be sure to download the ClubRunner App. It provides access to everything Rotary and is extremely helpful in keeping up with what's going on with the Club and contacting other Club members. A link to the App is provided at the end of this Bulletin.
And lastly, WE ARE DARK THE NEXT TWO WEEKS. Our next meeting is not until JANUARY 5, 2023 at the Best Western. Have a wonderful Holiday Season!
Laura presenting a gift to each of the staff from The Best Western.
Left side of the Activities Board
Right side of the Activities Board
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Mel Vines lead the Invocation this morning.
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Flag Salute
Josh Alexander (center, rear) lead us in Saluting our Flag this morning, a Flag that represents the greatest nation on earth.
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Bob Whalen welcomed our Guests this morning and he did one heck of a job! They included Thomas Herdering of 99.1 The Ranch who is a great friend of Simi Sunrise and Howard Pechter, a Special Guest of Jose Martinez.
Left to right, John Tolson, Thomas Herdering, Bill Klepper (with a K), Howard Pechter, Jose Martinez and Bob Whalen.
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Gary White, left, was our Greeter this morning. He's here with Vince "The Beast" Dulcich.
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Sal Ventura, center, was inducted this morning as our newest member by Herschel Berger. Sal came from Portugal at 16 and never looked back. He is a retired Chemical Engineer and MIT graduate who moved to Simi Valley 5 years ago. As a youth, Sal was in the Peace Corps where he learned a lot about giving and which was the source of his desire to serve others. A good fit for our Club!
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Gary White, our Parliamentarian, held a vote regarding the acceptance of president-elect John "Big John" Tolson's Board for the 2023-2024 Rotary Year. The vote was 100% in favor. The Board is as follows:
President - John Tolson
President-Elect - Larry Borovay
Past President - Laura Berger
Secretary - Arun Sharma
Treasurer - Tim Gray
Club Service - Steve Hise
International Service - Cesar Zambrano and John Baxter
Community Service - Bob Whalen and John Bagnall
Vocational Service - Bob Bibb and Mike Mutal
Youth Service - Karen Thompson and Mike Sidlinger
Family of Rotary - Geovanny Ragsdale and Corey Baker
Rotary Foundation - Carolyn Boucher
Peace Chair - Harvey Mahler
Directors at Large - Don Sturt, Leigh Seaton, Jake Finch and Herschel Berger
Parliamentarian - Bill (with a K) Klepper
RMC Chair - Kim Schulte
Public Relations - Cindy Jacoby
Oktoberfest Chair - Demi Fox
2023-2024 Board
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John Baxter gave us a presentation with more information about the move he's heading to make Simi Valley an International City of Peace. See his slides below. As noted previously, John is looking to form a committee on this so please let John know if you're interested. John's email is:
Fernando Estevez, International Service Co-Chair, announced a new initiative that our Club can get involved in. It is a school in Guatemala for At Risk youths aged 12-18 called Asociacion Ak' Tenamit. The school has over 600 students and is a model globally for its effective grassroots approach to vocational education, income generation and health care.
Rotarians have been huge supporters for over 20 years contributing medical supplies and equipment, funds and labor for new dorms and classrooms, solar energy equipment, computer labs, restaurant equipment and supplies and family water filters.
The opportunity is to be part of a Rotary Team trip from March 25, 2023 to April 2, 2023 for 8 nights. The total estimate for the trip is between $1,500 and $2,000. Expenses include airfare, hotel, meals and ground transportation. This will involve a flight to Guatemala City and then a short flight to Puerto Barrios which is about 40 minutes away from Ak' Tenamit. You would stay in the Hotel Villa Caribe in Livingston. A 20 minute scenic boat ride each morning down the Rio Dulce River takes you to the school. Each Team Member will have the opportunity to participate in their chosen activity at the school. Meals will be provided at two safe and delicious restaurants that are owned by the school and staffed by students.
Please let Fernando know if you'd like to participate. His email is:
Congratulations to Bill Klepper (with a K) for being named Volunteer of the Year by the Simi Valley Chamber of Commerce. Well deserved Bill!
Leigh Seaton is coordinating our Quarterly Blood Drive on Thursday, January 5. 2023. There are 45 spots to fill and appointments are from 7:00 - 10:00 AM so please schedule your donation with Leigh. See flyer below. His email is:
Leigh told us earlier that the two other Simi Rotary Clubs will be participating. He also said that our Club had its highest participation rate ever two events ago and our lowest participation rate ever at our last one. Leigh is looking to get back to a high rate of participation with this event so please schedule your donation now with an email to Leigh.
Leigh "Ol Man" Seaton
Family of Rotary Holiday Evening and Concert
Saturday, December 10th
Laura thanked KaileyCraig and Geovanny Ragsdale for coordinating the Master Chorale event. Kailey gave us a wrap up on the performance last Saturday. She said that 50 Rotarians and friends participated and all had a great time to the point that parts of the performance brought tears to some eyes. Might have been the wine but who cares. Kailey thanked Geovanny for providing a goody bag for everyone that included snacks and gifts. Afterward, some of them had dinner at the Junkyard which was a nice way to end this Family of Rotary event.
Description: This will be multi-Club cleanup of Camp Rotary at Corriganville that will also involve repair and painting of the seating area. More details to follow.
Description: Fixing fencing posts at the pioneer family area of the cemetery
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Laura thanked Dr. P for his yearly Bike Assembly Party this past Saturday. Steve said it was great success. He'll make a formal report at our next meeting but he said that 200 bikes were assembled in about an hour! And some even had two wheels! But, more importantly, the $5,000 budget shortfall he had was filled. He said that he received checks and cash from many sources, including our Club of course, and from teachers from his school. One group of teachers gave Steve a $1,000 check! Steve, your an inspiration. Great job!
Steve "Dr. P." Pietrolungo
Laura thanked Karen Thompson for organizing her yearly Target Shopping Spree. It was held this past Saturday. Karen couldn't make the meeting this morning so passed along this note:
Laura: Could you please say THANK YOU to everyone that was there and those who donated but were not able to make the shopping event. We had an amazing day - We shopped for 33 kids! The club's generous donations made this all possible.
The Stories, Smiles and some Tears made this day all worth our time....THANK YOU FROM THE BOTTOM OF MY HEART.
We had Outside Volunteers, some that helped in the past, some from Laura's office, Greg Hartman's staff and the School District, it's amazing what we can do as a TEAM!
Looking forward to next year!
Below are some pictures.....
Larry Borovay gave us an update on the Ensenada Cruise. He's had 23 people sign up so far so please let him know if you're interested.
Following is an email from Larry's contact and some details from Larry.
Email from Larry's contact:
I have a group set up for the March 17-19 weekend. Pricing for a category 8D balcony based upon double occupancy is as follows:
Cruise - including taxes and fees: $516.20 per person.
Insurance - $65 per person.
If it is one person in the room, the rate would be $104.20 less. Additionally, I will add $25/stateroom onboard credit.
Note that this is the most that a person would pay for the cruise for that category stateroom. When someone commits, I price the room out with the current promotion to see if there is a better rate, and we can apply that. If they want a different category, then we can price that out, too, at the current rate. For example, today the rate would be $33/person less. Insurance is based upon the cruise rate and could vary too.
Here is the kicker - in order to be sure that you have these staterooms held in the group, we need names and deposits by DECEMBER 14, 2022. The deposit of $50/person is nonrefundable. The final payment is due January 2, 2022.
A note from Larry:
Our goal is to have lunch with some of the Rotary Members (Club Rotario Ensenada Centenaria) and to visit one of their projects.
We will be boarding the "Carnival Radiance" on Friday March 17th at 5:00 pm in Long Beach and will be at sea on Saturday, March 17th.On Sunday, March 18th we will arrive in Ensenada at 8:00 am and will depart at 5:00 pm. We will arrive back in Long Beach on Monday, March 19th at 7:00 am.
Larry Borovay
Laura mentioned that we will be placing the Simi Smiles rocks at Corriganville on January 21st at 10:00 AM. The exact location of the placement is still being discussed but SAVE THE DATE for this fun event.
In addition to placing the Simi Smile rocks at Corriganville on January 21st, Leigh Seaton is also heading up a Multi-Club clean up effort at the park in the picnic area. The goal is to paint and do some rehab on the benches. Leigh is estimating 2-3 hours starting at 8:00 AM.
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“May your walls know joy, may every room hold laughter, and every window open to great possibility.” –Mary Anne Radmacher
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Jake Finch previously gave us an update on the Gift Card program she initiated with the Club last March. These were the Gift Cards that were donated to help Simi Valley school kids and their families in need. Jake gave us some stark statistics. She said that there are 214 children in K-12 that are homeless here in Simi with 58 of those in High School. In addition, there are 63 Foster Children, 27 of whom are in High School.
The good news is that, since last March, 115 Gift Cards have been donated totaling $4,875 with $1,850 of that being disbursed to those in need. Over $3,000 of that amount was from our Club alone! Our Club is AWSOME!
More help is always appreciated Jake said and that while Gift Cards to Kohls and Target are helpful, she said that she's also looking for Gift Cards to stores like Aldi and Smart & Final as well.
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Simi’s newest fast-casual style restaurant celebrated their Grand Opening on Friday, September 16th. On hand for the ribbon cutting was The City Mayor’s Office and the Simi Valley Chamber of Commerce. It features authentic Mediterranean style food served in a clean, fresh and open atmosphere. The owner, Vahe Mardigian, is an Armenian from Iraq and Caffe Noor reflects his roots. The Noor or Pomegranate in Armenian symbolizes abundance, happiness, and prosperity
It is located at 2670 Tapo Canyon, Unit 10 near the Ventura County Credit Union. Below is his menu. If you like Mediterranean cuisine, you won't be disappointed.
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We were serenaded by The Music Companie with 30 minutes of traditional Holiday music. It harkened back to days of yesteryear and put us all in the Spirit of the Season.
The Music Companie
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Steve Hise saw this as an opportunity for a career change so he tried out with an audition with the carolers. He said that if he had dressed more appropriately, he might have made it. Sure Steve......
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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We are DARK on December 22nd and December 29th.
Our next meeting will be January 5, 2023 In Person at the Best Western Posada Royale, 1775 Madera Road.
Have a Wonderful Holiday and a Great New Year's Eve and we'll see you all next year!
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