Thank You Dr. P for hosting our offsite meeting at Monte Vista. A most gracious host!
And Thank You Jose Martinez, on the right and owner of Mission Burrito, for catering our breakfast this morning.
January 26, 2023
2022 - 2023 Rotary Theme
President Laura welcomed our Guests and Members to the meeting, thanking Dr. P for use of Monte Vista. She then turned the microphone over to Dr. P. as he proudly welcomed us to his digs. She finally wrestled the microphone back from him and gained control of the meeting. Never give a principal the microphone on his own campus. However, in defense of Dr. P, he has every right to be proud of his program at Monte Vista. Very impressive.
Laura relayed a message from B.J. Anderson, thanking us for the cards and flowers for Ken.
Laura then spoke about some discussions that she and Dorina Timbol have had recently with the past chairman of the Rotary Action Group on Peace for Rotary International. The Rotary Action Group will hold the first Global Peacebuilder Club meeting on Tuesday, February 7, 2023. It will be held in segments beginning with the Hong Kong region and proceeding west throughout the day. Laura and John Baxter were invited to participate in order to educate the participants in the process of being designated an International City of Peace. This is a Big Deal!
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.
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Cindy Jacoby lead the Invocation this morning.
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Flag Salute
Dan Gesell, center, lead us in Saluting our Flag this morning, a Flag that represents the greatest nation on earth.
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Steve Pietrolungo welcomed our Guests which was fitting since the majority of them were from Monte Vista. They included Ms. Tiffany Chang (president of the Interact Club at Monte Vista), Ms. Caroline Finkdeiner (a student at Monte Vista), Ms. Brandy Geraets, Ms. Carol Tillman, Mr. Rich Underhill, Ms. Cindy Fernandez, Mr. Paul Egermeier, Mrs. Paula Egermeier, Ms. Cindy Carlson, and Mr. Juan Partada all with Monte Vista. In addition we also had Ms. Lisa Eidman who is the travel agent working on our Ensenada cruise, Ms. Jennifer Swenson with Simi Adventist Hospital, and last, and certainly not least, we also had with us Mr. Amar Nadig (a Special Guest of Arun Sharma).
Sitting left to right; Rich Underhill, Brandy Geraets, Carol Tillman, Caroline Finkdeiner, Tiffany Chang, Cindy Fernandez and standing to the left, Paul Egermeier
Standing up front, Juan Partada and to his left, Cindy Carlson
Lisa Eidman
Jennifer Swenson, left
Special Guest Amar Nadig
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Demi Fox was our Greeter this morning. And there's Bob Bibb photobombing another picture....
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Amar Nadig has been proposed as a New Member (First Notice).
Amar Nadig
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Carolyn Boucher and John Baxter, Vocational Service Co-Chairs, gave us a presentation on how Vocation Service and Rotary are intertwined in honor of the fact that January is Rotary Vocational Service month.
Carolyn gave us some examples of some of the things that our Club does to highlight the importance that we place on promoting Vocational Service. These include, among others, the following:
- We promote the importance of the Employee/Employer relationship by having Club members talk about their professions and bringing in and saluting their employees.
- We award Vocational Scholarships.
- We have awarded Business Start Up funds to high school students.
- We have organized group interviews with high school students in order to expose them to the types of work our Club members are engaged in.
Below are some slides from their presentation. And kudos to John for the part he played this morning in this presentation. There's no other term than Eye Candy to describe his participation.
Carolyn and John, AKA Eye Candy
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Kathryn Scroggin gave us an update on John Bagnall's recovery. He's doing well, making great progress and hopes to be be up and at 'em soon. John told Kathryn that he has been in countless meetings where we have all signed Get Well cards for members needing them. But, John said, he's never heard how those cards affected the person they were meant for. He now has first hand experience and said his cards made a huge difference for him. He felt supported and encouraged by the cards and they have helped tremendously in his recovery. His last comment that Kathryn relayed had to be censored a bit since we were in a school setting and students were present. In typical John fashion, he said that he felt _______ that it happened to him but he will feel _______ when he gets back. You'll have to fill in the blanks.
Dr. Kathryn Scroggin
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Laura gave us the latest update on Simi Valley's designation as an International City of Peace. Bottom line, she said, is that this is a Big Deal. She wants to include in the Bulletin a list of the various documents that were created in order for us to be designated as an International City of Peace. These include the Proclamation, the Mission, the Vision Statement, the Goals, the Letter of Intent among others along with photos and captions. Stay tuned.....
Herschel Berger had some good news for us. This year will be the first since Covid hit that our Club has the ability to allocate funds to local organizations and activities. Herschel is heading up a committee to best decide just how this allocation should take place. A link to a form in this regard will be created and posted in the Bulletin and a meeting will be held in June for a final decision.
Herschel Berger
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Kailey Craig had announced earlier that our Family of Rotary event on February 11th has been POSTPONED! The good news is that it has been RESCHEDULED to Saturday, April 22nd. It will be a Potluck Dinner at the Berger's with more details to follow. So SAVE THE DATE for Saturday, April 22nd.
Dorina Timbol and Anni Sumby announced a Fundraiser for the Club to be held at The Junkyard.Dorina and Anni have put an interesting twist on Karaoke calling it KareYucky where you can pay your way out of having to sing. It will be held in the Junkyard's Garage with a Speakeasy twist meaning you will need a password for access and only 50 participants can attend. SAVE THE DATE for February 4th. They are hoping to raise $5,000 and are looking for four $500 sponsors. They have Bill Klepper and GigabitNow (Thank You Alyssa Potter!) lined up as sponsors so far.
Here's a link to the website to sign up for reservations. Thank You Eric Kaufman for putting the website up!
And apologies to Steve P. It's not Shania Twain he likes to sing to, it is anything that Brittany Spears has done. Also, rumor has it that Corey Baker is putting his Boy Band back together again and will be starting his worldwide tour at this event, a Must See (and Hear).
Anni, left, Eric and Dorina
Bill Klepper announced a Happy Face Hill spruce up. SAVE THE DATE for Saturday, February 4th. We'll meet at Jerry's at 7:00 AM and then head over after breakfast. Shouldn't take more than a couple of hours. Bring gloves, work clothes, rakes and weed eaters if you have them. A great opportunity to give back to the community.
Laura has asked us to invite a Loved One to our upcoming February 16th meeting to celebrate Valentine's Day. In addition, please provide a photo of that Loved One beforehand to be included in Steve's PowerPoint and then tell us the story behind that photo. That story doesn't even need to be true.
Larry Borovay invited Lisa Eidman to talk to us about some of the details of the cruise. Lisa is the travel agent coordinating the cruise. Lisa gave out some pointers in regard to whether or not you needed your passport - you do - and suggested carrying a copy of it with you and putting the original in the safe in your room. If your passport isn't available, your driver's license and birth certificate will suffice.
Following is an email from Lisa and some details from Larry.
Email from Lisa:
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 and Lisa
The Simi Smiles rocks were placed at Corriganville last Saturday. Below are some pictures of the event. Laura took this opportunity to announce Simi Valley being designated an International City of Peace.
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Congratulations to Richard and Leah Perini. 9 years on January 18th.
Congratulations to Jim Stutzman. 28 years on January 26th. Brought in by Jim Lowry.
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“‘The only true gift is a portion of yourself.”
– Ralph Waldo Emerson
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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.
Bill Klepper asked that this flyer be posted. See Bill for details. His email is:
Please note that two of the honorees and the EMCEE are Club members!
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Examples of the bountiful harvest grown on the Monte Vista campus that Dr. P shared with us this morning. There were several of these at each table and we were encouraged to take them home. Very impressive.
Dr. P is having a Flower Class next month with a Mardi Gras theme. Let him know if you're interested.
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Dr. Andrea Pakula MD, MPH, FACS is the Medical Director of Robotic Surgery at Adventist Health Simi Valley Hospital which is now recognized as a Robotic Center of Excellence, the only one in Ventura County. Following graduation from St. George's University School of Medicine, Dr. Pakula completed her internship and residency at KernMedical Center in Bakersfield, California and a Fellowship in Trauma; then Surgical Critical Care at MayoClinic in Rochester, Minnesota.
Dr. Pakula then went on to get additional training in minimally invasive Androbotic Surgery. Her clinical interests include all aspects of General Surgery with extensive expertise in Trauma, Critical Care, and Acute Care surgery as well as Laparoscopic and Robotic Bariatric and Hernia surgery. She specializes in various open and minimally invasive and robotic techniques including inguinal hernia and complex abdominal wall reconstruction and also uses robotics in all aspects of her acute care surgery practice. Dr. Pakula enjoys training surgeons around the country and educating them on building a best-in-class Robotic Surgery program.
Following are slides from her very impressive and informative presentation.
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 February 2nd will be held at The Best Western Posada Royale starting at 7:00 AM. Looking forward to seeing everyone!
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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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