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March 23, 2023
 
 
2022 - 2023 Rotary Theme
REMINDER:
We are DARK next week - Thursday, March 30th -- we are having a Happy Hour at the Junkyard. (Details below.)
 
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 reminded us that all Club members will be billed $100 on April 1st as part of the Sustaining Membership fees we had all agreed to previously.  
 
In addition, she also reminded everyone that the dedication of the book vending machine at Crestview Elementary will be on Thursday, April 6th at 2 pm.
 
 
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Mel Vines lead the Invocation this morning.
 
 
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Flag Salute
 
Karen Thompson, center, presented the Flag Salute this morning, a Flag that represents the greatest country ever conceived.
 
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Harry VanDyck welcomed our Guests this morning.  They included Ms. Seda Sungu (a Guest of Josh Persky), Andrew and Susan Salzwedel (our Guest speaker and his wife), Ms. Gina Truncale and Mr. Brian Park (both Special Guests of John Tolson).
Josh Persky and Seda Sungu  
Andrew and Susan Salzwedel with some of their Electric Bikes
Brian Park, John Tolson and Gina Truncale with Gary White (left to right)
 
 
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Sal Ventura, left, with Bob Bibb was our Greeter this morning.  
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
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Laura reminded us that, since we are Dark next week on Thursday, March 30th, we will be having a Happy Hour at the Junkyard that evening at 6:00 PM.  This would be a Buy Your Own Food and Alcohol event.  Look forward to seeing you there!
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Bill Klepper is coordinating our next Blood Drive on Thursday,  April 6th.  Bill handed out sign up sheets at the meeting but you can also contact Bill to sign up at:
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
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: 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Bill also 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. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
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 insisted that another picture of him be shown in the Bulletin so here it is.  Here's some handy information.  One way to get Bill to stop talking is to put a camera in front of him. He freezes and starts smiling. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
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 will go on sale April 1st.  And Steve P. will be looking for help with obtaining 
sponsorships.  Steve also announced an All Hands Committee meeting next Tuesday, March 28th at 6:30 PM at Monte Vista located at 1220 4Th Street.  He says he'll feed us with what he swears are fresh hot dogs but his definition of fresh seems odd since he uses the color of the meat to decide if its edible.  You'll have to take your chances.
Steve Pietrolungo
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
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!
 
Please RSVP to Kailey or Geovanny at:
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
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.  
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Larry Borovay and Fernando Estevez gave us a wrap up and video presentation of the recent cruise to Ensenada and the visit with the Rotary Club of Ensenada.  Everyone had a great time on the ship that included wonderful meals and entertainment.  Karen Thompson apparently is quite the karaoke singer.  You couldn't get her off the stage.
 
The excursions into town included two medical clinics.  One in need of a lot of help - more on that later - and one a modern and quite well known dental facility.  Apparently this modern facility attracts patients (including those with cleft palates) from all over this part of Mexico and is a destination point for visiting international delegations.
 
This was also great opportunity to connect and bond with an international Rotary Club.  Those who participated said it is a life changing experience.  Fernando had the pleasure of exchanging Club banners and presented the Ensenada Club banner to Laura.
 
In regard to the clinic in need of help, Fernando is working on a program involving our Club offering that help.  Stay tuned for further developments on that. 
Larry, left, and Fernando
Laura with the Ensenada Rotary Club banner
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
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Herschel Berger had the honor of presenting Past President Pins to two of our Past Presidents this morning.  Herschel asked Steve Pietrolungo (2015-2016) and Deb Davila (2019-2020) to step forward . 
Steve is displaying the flag he had made reflecting the theme for his year - Rock 'n Rotary/Laff 'n Learn.  When asked about special moments or things he was most proud of, he stated that there were too many to single out.  He does has fond memories of the Club growing closer together as a group.  Although Steve did talk about a succulent plant he would award to someone after each of his Board meetings.  The plant earned the moniker Thanks For Not Being a Prick award.  This, in turn, generated a shirt presented to him with the title Succulent Prick, a shirt he wears with pride.
Deb said the theme for her year was Rotary Connects the World and she strived to pursue that theme.  Her "special moments" were the cancellation of the Cajun Festival and Covid-19.  Yes, good times!  Despite all of that, she said that she recalls lots of fun and doing great things.  She mentioned the Potato Party at the Sculte's, the Pub Crawl in a hired bus and the Channel Island Boat Parade.  Her favorite meeting was held in mid-October and had to do with polio eradication.  The color purple is associated with being immunized so each Club member had the nail on their pinky finger painted purple and the hat was passed.  Lots of money was raised that day.
The purple pinky finger
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
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Deb Davila participated in the recent District Training, specifically the segment dealing with the Rotary Foundation.  She shared some slides shown below.....
 
The bottom line, Deb said and as the slides explain, portions of donations given to the Annual Fund ultimately work their way back to individual Clubs as District Grants in amounts up to $6,000.  This $6,000 helps fund our events such as YES! and the Holiday Bike Giveaway.  
Deb Davila 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Alyssa Potter said that our members can include a marketing piece in a GigabitNow mailer that will be going out to more than 4,000 residents soon.  If you would like to have a piece included, please contact her at apotter@gigabitnow.com.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
John Baxter is looking for help to review and grade the 18 Four Way Test Essays he's received.  They range from the 4th Grade up to Senior High School students.  Please contact John if you are interested at:
 
 
And, much more importantly, a certain Principal of a certain Independent Learning Academy here in Simi Valley wanted to make sure that we all knew that John is now working at said Independent Learning Academy.  Nice move for Monte Vista Dr. P.!
 
 
 
 
 
 
A reminder about Herschel Berger's previous announcement regarding how Club funds will be allocated this year.  As previously noted, 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 an application form in this regard has been created - see below.  Please print out the form and forward it to the organization for them to fill out and submit to Herschel Berger at:
 
 
Here's the link:
 
 
The last day to submit names for allocation is March 31st.
 
A copy of the 3 page Allocation Application form is shown below as well.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
A note from Mary Paseta regarding the Rotary Youth Exchange:
 
We are in need of host families for our Exchange Students.  So far BJ, Laura and Mary have volunteered. 
 
We have a total of 12 students we need to host on Saturday, March 25th.  Pick up would be at the Grand Vista Hotel around 9:00 PM and bring them back on Sunday at 9:00 AM. 
 
Mary added to the note above with an announcement this morning that the Exchange Students include 18 from Ukraine.  She's looking for Host Families and can be contacted at:
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
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No Birthdays this week.
 
 
 
And, no Wedding Anniversaries this week either.
 
 
 
Yes, you guessed it.  No Club Anniversaries this week as well.  A very boring week......
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
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Deb Davila checked in with our fellow Club member, Ryan Valencia, recently.  Ryan is currently deployed in the Middle East and Deb asked Ryan if there was anything he or his Unit needed.  He said he was being well taken care of but what he suggested we all could do is volunteer with the For The Troops organization.   He asked that we gather items from the Wish List posted above and get them packed up and sent overseas.  
 
Deb is coordinating this effort and said that if you didn't have time to purchase items from the Wish List, simply give her a donation and she will make the purchase for you.  Deb can be contacted at:
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
If you recall, our Club donated funds for the purchase of books for the new Book Vending Machine at Crestview Elementary School.  There will be a ribbon cutting ceremony on Thursday, April 6th at 2:00 PM.  Laura is encouraging us to attend and represent Simi Sunrise Rotary.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
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:
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
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.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
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"I'd rather regret the things I've done than regret the things I haven't done."

 

-Lucille Ball

 

 

 
 
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Andrew was raised in Calabasas, California and is a graduate of Cal State University, Northridge with a degree in communication studies. Andrew moved to Simi Valley in 1999. He is married to his lovely wife of 26 years and has two beautiful daughters who are both attending college. Andrew has been an insurance broker for almost 40 years; has owned a restaurant in the past; he’s certified in scuba diving and skydiving; and he flies private passenger airplanes. These days he loves playing golf and pickle ball.  He came this morning to talk about another of his favorite activities, electric bikes.  Following are some of his slides he presented.
Andrew talked about some of the bike paths available to us in Ventura County.  As an example, you can ride from Ventura to Santa Barbara and Ojai.
Simi Valley has a bike path that offers a nice alternative to get around the city.
Simi Valley's Bike Path
Costs of bikes range from $500 up to $7,000 depending on the components.
Some of Andrew's and his wife's bikes.
Laura presenting Andrew with a small token of our appreciation
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
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HELPFUL LINKS TO ROTARY BUSINESS
 
 
The link for Continuing Resolutions is:    https://rotary5240.box.com/s/dz73te0f4ad4bcotytv5zfi1z578dw0b

The link for the Bylaws is:   https://rotary5240.box.com/s/re2crm11deb8uhwrzvbh9h7lbfrca1za

How do new members add ClubRunner?  

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:

https://www.rotaryclubofsimisunrise.org/

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  our next meeting on March 30th.  NO MEETING NEXT THURSDAY, MARCH 30TH!!!!!!! 
 
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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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Meeting Responsibilities
March 23, 2023
 
Invocation
Vines, Mel
 
Flag Salute
Thompson, Karen
 
Guest List
VanDyck, Harry
 
Greeter
Ventura, Sal
 
March 30, 2023
 
Invocation
 
Flag Salute
 
Guest List
 
Greeter
 
Speakers
Mar 30, 2023
Apr 06, 2023
Secrets to quickly harness bacteria in reef tanks
Apr 13, 2023
View entire list
Birthdays & Anniversaries
Member Birthdays
Mike Mutal
March 3
 
Josh Alexander
March 4
 
Eric Little
March 9
 
Eric Kaufman
March 10
 
Jarrod DeGonia
March 10
 
John Bagnall
March 11
 
Chas Wilson
March 14
 
Josh Persky
March 16
 
Dave McCormick
March 17
 
Jim Anglin
March 20
 
Anniversaries
Ed Chapin
Angie
March 10
 
John Bagnall
Julia
March 17
 
Jim Visage
Beverly
March 18
 
Join Date
Fred Thomas
March 1, 2021
2 years
 
John Bagnall
March 6, 2008
15 years
 
Gary White
March 12, 1987
36 years
 
Demi Fox
March 13, 2014
9 years
 
John Baxter
March 13, 2014
9 years
 
Josh Alexander
March 14, 2019
4 years
 
Matt Rowe
March 14, 2019
4 years
 
Linas Kojelis
March 18, 2021
2 years
 
Executives & Directors
President
 
President-Elect
 
Past President
 
Secretary
 
Treasurer
 
Club Service
 
International Service, Co-Chair
 
International Service
 
Vocational Service, Co-Chair
 
Vocational Service, Co-Chair
 
Public Relations
 
Youth Service, Co --Chair
 
Youth Services,Co-Chair
 
Family of Rotary
 
The Rotary Foundation
 
Peace Chair
 
Director at Large
 
Director at Large
 
Director at Large
 
Parliamentarian
 
SSR Charitable Foundation Chair
 
RMC Chair
 
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