Hello my fellow Rotarians,
For the club members who participated, we had a blast at Pinot’s Palette, wine and paint night on Feb. 22nd. That seemed to have been a great combination! Funny how the painting looked better the next day! Thank you Arturo Velasquez for organizing this event with Patti Jo Wolfson. We also enjoyed yummy appetizers and great camaraderie.
On Feb. 21st our Peace Committee met AND our members volunteered their time teaching kids about finance at Reseda Elementary. The principal sent a letter of appreciation to our club for those who volunteered. See below for all of the impressive accomplishments of the Peace Committee so far this year. Great team work!
Please see the long list of our club’s accomplishments at the end of this newsletter. Paul Gross put this list together for us. We should be proud of all we’ve done in the community and in the world!
Upcoming events:
March 7th – Board meeting at Sheri Polak’s house at 6:00. All members welcome!
March 8th meeting:
Dennis Zine speaks about his activities in the valley and his articles in the Warner Center News.
March 15th meeting
Kathleen Sterling updates us on what’s going on in the valley. Kathleen owns the Warner Center News and publicizes our events. She’s been very generous to our club and to Rotary in general.
March 18th District Color Run fundraiser to end polio in Griffith Park. Contact Lynn Miller for more info.
March 22nd meeting: Craft talks by some of our new members! Stay tuned for more info to follow.
March 25th – Day at the Races which includes a tour! Contact Lynn Miller or Sandy Rosenholz to sign up.
March 29th – Dinner at Pizza Cookery in Woodland Hills from 6 – 7:30. (this replaces our Wednesday DAY meeting) I FINALLY get to share the video from last year’s PETS (Presidents-elect Training Seminar). You’ll love it. Ramesh Ferris is a Rotarian and Polio Survivor who tells his story and it’s very moving. It’s only 30 minutes of our 1.5 hour time frame. The rest is fellowship so bring friends, family and prospective members.
Here’s an early heads up on an April activity we can start promoting now! FUNDRAISER!!!! We will be having dinner on April 26th at Café Condesa in Studio City. The owner has agreed to donate 40% of our purchases to our club!!! Anyone can eat day or night and our club will get credit! Flyers will become available soon. Bring your friends and family. Let’s take advantage of this generous offer!
Check our website for our updated calendar at Whrotary.org! (don’t forget to tell you friends about our “donate now” button!) Donations gladly accepted! That helps fund our projects!
Our Foundation earned $90 for our fundraising dinner on January 31st at Hook Burger. They donated 25% to us. Not bad!
We have gained a member a month since July 2016! Our guest at the March 1 meeting filled in a membership application! He felt very welcome. Let’s keep bringing in ACTIVE new members. So far, all of our new members have taken an active role in our club since they’ve joined!
Special thanks to Michael Turner who creates the Rotopinion every two weeks religiously, Bernie Otis who writes up the meetings, Neal Goldman, our photographer, our board and everyone else that makes our meetings and club successful!
Thanks to all of you who make us thrive!
Peace Committee Activities
By Ronald M. Supancic, CFLS
The Peace Committee meets monthly on the third Tuesday of each month, from 6to 7:30 p.m., at Sheri Polak’s home in Woodland Hills. Training is offered on a regular basis and has included advanced communication skills; tools of the peacemaker; dealing with bullies and narcissists; managing relationships with high-conflict personality disorders; and how to identify, approach, embrace, and resolve conflict in the home and in the workplace. Each session is stand-alone. The information is cumulative. You can miss one meeting and it won't affect your participation in the next.
We have developed a relationship with LAPD through the Topanga Division Volunteer Surveillance Team (VST) and are supporting the division by attending VST training which is offered the first Thursday of every month at 7 p.m. in the community room of the Topanga station, 21501 Schoenborn St, Canoga Park, CA 91304, Canoga Park.
We have also established a further relationship with the West Valley Islamic Center in Canoga Park. We participated in the Ramadan dinner and prayer meeting in the spring, and we followed up with a commitment to support and participate in their nationwide Meet a Muslim program which is held in conjunction with their open house celebration at the mosque.
We've offered mediation training through the Cerritos Youth Center Training Program. Invited members to participate in the Gardena Peace Walk last July. We invited members to speak on peace to other clubs. We've invited members to participate in the Islamic Education Regenerative Peace Walk which was held at Cal Lutheran University on Sept. 11, 2016, which commemorated the event of our national catastrophe.
We participated and supported the CSUN Peace Symposium celebrating the life of Mohandas Gandhi on Oct. 4, 2016. We invited members to participate and support the Rotary Peace Conference in San Dimas on Oct. 1. We participated in and supported the Blue Mass at St. Mel's in Woodland Hills to celebrate and honor the uniformed officers of the LAPD October 8. We supported the vocational training team in Jakarta, sponsored by Rotary International, designed to teach conflict resolution skills to women in their local communities.
Next week we will participate in the Interfaith Dialogue information exchange and roundtable discussions by offering facilitators to provide feedback and develop an action list for results. We are actively engaged in disseminating information which will encourage members of the community to attend the Rotary Peace Luncheon next Wednesday.