President Laura welcomed Club Members, Zoom participants and Guests. She also mentioned that Chas Wilson is retiring from his role as the Zoom coordinator for our meetings so Laura is looking for a volunteer to take his place. If no volunteer can be found, we will most likely phase out the Zoom portion of our meetings.
Laura thankedCindy Jacoby for quickly responding and creating a flyer as well as having written over 8 articles for District Stories that will help our Club with criteria points. And a big thank you to John Tolson for including Cindy's flyer in the chamber email which also helped our criteria expectations. Laura also thanked Amar Nadig for donating items for the dental clinic we visited on our recent Ensenada trip. We brought close to $7000 in supplies with us!
Laura also recognized those members who have sponsored new members. They all got a Starbucks Gift Card:
-James Winstanley, Annika Sumby and Gina Truncale sponsored by John Tolson.
-Eric Bordo, Eric Kaufman and Sal Ventura sponsored by Herschel Berger.
-Amar Nadig sponsored by Arun Sharma.
-Sylvie Guerin sponsored by Demi Fox.
-Alyssa potter and Josh Persky sponsored by Dorina Timbol.
In addition, she also reminded everyone that the dedication of the book vending machine at Crestview Elementary will be today at 2 pm.
Lastly, Laura announced that John Tolson is being recognized as the Volunteer of the Year by the Simi Valley City Council at their meeting this Monday, 6:30 PM, at City Hall. John's recognition will happen within the first half hour. Congratulations John!
John Tolson
==================================
John Bagnall lead the Invocation this morning. John paid tribute to the late Rob Hitchcock, reading one of Rob's Invocations. Welcome back John, we missed you!
======================
Flag Salute
Tim Shannon lead the Flag Salute this morning, a Flag that represents the greatest country ever conceived as Tim's words noted so well.
======================
Harvey Mahler welcomed our Guests this morning. They included Mr. Michael Dutra (president of the Rotary Club of Westlake Village), Ms. Kimmy Tharpe (immediate past-president of the Rotary Club of Westlake Village), Ms. Jackie Flame (with the Rotary Club of Moorpark Morning), Brian Park (Special Guest of John Tolson), and Mr. Tim Hovanec (our Speaker this morning).
Michael Dutra and Kimmy Tharpe reaching out and announcing their Club's upcoming country music festival fundraiser, Wild Oaks. They are looking for vendors, sponsors and volunteers to help out. This is a good way to help out our fellow Rotarians so please consider how you can assist. See their flyer below......
Jackie Flame
Brian Park
======================
B. J. Anderson was our Greeter this morning.
=================================
Gina Truncale, center, here with John Tolson and Laura. Gina is an active member of our community being involved with the PTA when her kids were in school to now being on the Simi Valley Neighborhood Council No.4. She was looking to give even more to the community and John suggested to her that our Club would be a good outlet. As Laura said, we're lucky to have had her join our Club. Welcome Gina!
Gina's family
A picture Gina took from her backyard. Not only beautiful but rather appropriate for our Club.
=================================
Steve P is organizing his famous Full Moon Hike Thursday, April 6th. See his note below:
The first full moon of Spring is deeply rooted through historical times as highlighted in the Bible. Both Passover and Easter coincide with this moon. Passover begins on the first full moon after the equinox, while Easter is always the first Sunday after the 1st full moon in spring.
During the week prior to Easter, service clubs light the cross. You might want to pack a few refreshments (both liquid and snacks) to enjoy when we get to the summit!
Mt. McCoy is the hill with the large cross on it at the western end of Simi Valley. The Mt. McCoy Trail begins at the western end of Washburn Street. To get there, you take Royal Avenue west of Madera Road, take a right at the "T" intersection with Acapulco Avenue and an immediate left onto Washburn. The trail is relatively easy since we take the ‘switchback trail’ rather than go on the trail that ‘goes straight-up’. The trail begins where Washburn curves and becomes Los Amigos Avenue. Beginning at the open space on the outside of the curve, the trail extends to the south-southwest across grasslands along the base of the hills. The trail begins to climb via many switchbacks through coastal sage scrub and then through chaparral. The trail comes to a saddle by a knoll and then climbs through nine more switchbacks, ending just south of the cross. The trail is 1.3 miles long and climbs 500+ feet to the cross. From the top we should have an excellent view of the moon, and of the valley below!
Happy Hour at the Junkyard last week was well attended. Laura thanked all of those who showed up, about 30 of us.
Steve P enjoying Happy Hour
More Happy Hour attendees at the Junkyard
Bill Klepper is organizing a way to honor our local school crossing guards on Wednesday, April 19th. He's arranging to have goody bags with a Rotary sticker delivered to them and he needs help with this. If you can assist, please contact Bill at:
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......
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 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:
Bill wanted an updated picture of him shown in the Bulletin so here it is.
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.
Laura thanked Steve forspending his entire day this past Saturday advertising the Festival and selling tickets at the Kiwanis roundup country music festival. Steve, in turn, thanked those that came out and helped him that day.
Deb Davila, here with Steve Pietrolungo, is working on the Festival Sponsorships for Steve and has officially kicked off the start of that process. Deb asked that we all spread the word on the need for Sponsors. She said Sponsorships start at $250 and immediately several hands went up in the room. Including Carolyn Boucher, Dorina Timbol, Greg Gonzalez and Karen Thompson to name a few. Deb also announced our first committed Corporate Sponsor. The Simi Valley Chamber of Commerce has donated $5,000!
Larry Borovay arranged for Kelly Zirbes of Kelly's Lot to come out to the Kiwanis event Saturday and help advertise Happy Face. That's Demi Fox on the left and Kelly on the right.
Brad and Ashley, local radio personalities, giving a Shout Out for our Festival at the Kiwanis event as well.
Kailey Craig announced that we will be having a Lunch Social at the Berger's house on Saturday, April 22nd at 11:00 a.m. (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 and to sell some Happy Face tickets. Please let Carolyn know if you can help at:
Kathy Scroggin is looking for volunteers to sit on this year's Scholarship Application Committee reviewing and selecting recipients. If you're interested in helping, you can contact Kathy via email at:
Deb Davila thanked everyone for their generous donations with a Special Thanks to Amar Nadig for his donation of thousands of dollars in supplies for this worthy cause. Deb said the donations filled a whole car!
Deb Davila
If you recall, our Club donated funds for the purchase of books for the new Book Vending Machine at Crestview Elementary School. There was a ribbon cutting ceremony on Thursday, April 6th at 2:00 PM.
Left to right, Ms. Alison McMartin (Crestview teacher), Laura Berger, Jake Finch, and yes, Bill Klepper, James McMartin (Alison's son) and Chas Wilson all in front of the Book Vending Machine.
Bill Klepper asked that this flyer be posted. See Bill for details. His email is:
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 so please join her in representing our Club at the event.
==================================
"The happiness of your life depends upon the quality of your thoughts".
Marcus Aurelius
Roman Emperor
==================================
Dr. Timothy (Tim) A. Hovanec, a Microbiologist with a Ph.D. in Ecology, Evolution and Marine Biology from UC Santa Barbara spoke to us this morning about how bacteria and microorganisms play a key role in keeping our drinking water safe as well as keeping the water in aquariums safe for the fish. He is a native Southern Californian and the founder of Dr. Tim's Aquatics, a Simi Valley based leading provider of innovative bacterial products to the aquaculture, public aquarium and aquarium industries. His work has taken him all over the world including a stint with the US Peace Corps as a volunteer in the Philippines. He holds over 13 US and foreign patents and has authored numerous papers on aquatic microbiology, water quality and filtration techniques for closed system life support systems. He developed the technique for identifying different types of bacteria in water systems instantaneously. Suffice to say, there are a lot of processes at play in delivering safe drinking water to our faucets. Following are slides from his presentation......
This is Dr. Tim's first aquarium he acquired when he was 6 years old. He still has it! His 96 year old Dad recently asked him if he was still playing with fish. After a visit to the Scripps Aquarium at the age of 13, he knew what he wanted to do in life.
The London Aquarium
The Singapore Aquarium
This is an example of bacteria in a water system that has been identified using Dr. Tim's technique.
This is a picture of bacteria that he produces and sells that is used to balance out water systems.
Dr. Tim with Laura
==================================
Bill Klepper, left, coordinated the Blood Drive this morning. He's with Anni Sumby and Tim Gray both doing their part.
Dave McCormick, a Charter Member of our Club, visited with us this morning.
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.
==================================
Please remember to bring a friend or an acquaintance to our next meeting. This is a GREAT way to grow our membership!
==================================
Our next meeting will be at Varenita on April 13th. This is a shortened meeting from 7:30 AM to 8:00 AM proceeding the Board Meeting.
=================================
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.
.png)
