Welcome to the second Rotopinion of the year!
Did you miss the first meeting? Here’s a recap:
June 29th meeting – Tarzana Community and Cultural Center - 19130 Ventura Blvd., Tarzana
Executive director, Jason Brain gave a presentation about the center. It’s open Monday – Friday from 11 – 4 for meetings and activities. It sounds like a great place to bring a sack lunch and enjoy the Koi pond and rose garden. Visitors welcome!
July 5th – the first meeting of the new year! - Jeff Stern, our past president (I know he’s still smiling!) was Rotarian of the Day. In spite of a “walk out” as a first meeting tradition, Jeff continued with the pledge of allegiance, 4 way test and handed out $1,000,000 in cash while everyone was outside the room! Just kidding… But he did share his Rotary minute with us…
We heard from some of our new board members about plans they have in store for us. Jay talked about the Halloween Faire on October 29th at Warner Center Park. We can use your help on this committee!
Do you have any fundraising ideas? Please share them and help! Community co-chairs Elizabeth and Alice ran through their long list of intended events. There are too many to mention so you need to come to a meeting to find out! Youth Service co-chairs Elegance and Dylette also have a long event list. Two young ladies from the Taft Interact Club told us their plans for the year. Wow, very impressive! International co-chairs Anna and Arturo have many plans up their sleeves. I’d say we are off and running! We had several guests attend including 4 prospective members.
Recent club events:
July 3rd - a group of 110 Rotarians including guests saw the band Chicago perform along with the Hollywood Bowl Orchestra. Fireworks followed.
July 4th – Pot luck party at Lynn Miller’s house was a lot of fun for everyone. The fireworks were directly across the street from her home and the view was great!
July 5th – Our first board meeting at Sheri Polak’s house. All members are welcome. If you want to learn more about our club, you should attend.
July 10th – Several members, war vets from Wings Over Wendy’s and the boys at Pacific Boys Lodge had a BBQ, played a game and exchanged stories. Similar events to follow this summer.
Thank you to all of our unsung heroes!
What’s that? There are so many behind the scenes Rotarians (and non-Rotarians) who work so hard to to make our club a success. Ferne Saltzman wrote up 52 meeting announcements two years in a row! Bryna Hornstein prepares our meeting speaker certificates each week. Neal Goldman has been our club photographer for at least two years. Gwyn Petrick has been working so hard to get Rotacare off the ground. That will be a clinic with free or low cost health care in the valley. There’s Joyce Hughes who set-up 52 speakers for our meetings last year. Dana Sherman has been working hard making sure Fleet Street, a bike program, continue to be training grounds to troubled teens to fix bikes. Michael Turner has been helping with all the Rotopinion and website, Kim Wall our Treasurer, is working hard to make sure the online billing system is up and running for our convenience.
Also, (I’m sneaking this in!) my mom, Betty Levy, helped my father, Leo Levy, Club President 1990 – 1991, with the Rotopinion. Back then, the newsletter was typed, taken to the printer (Rose Goldwater) stuffed, stamped and mailed every week! Thanks mom! I know, dad got all the credit….
More thank you’s to follow next time. There are many more deserving to be thanked for their efforts.
Contact me for any questions for suggestions: 818-917-6541 ♦ Diane@levynelson.com
Yours in Rotary service,
Diane
Touching Lives
FUN FACTS!
Did you know that in 1998, 50 Rotarians and spouses raised $11,600 by selling 2,500 hot dogs, hundreds of cold drinks, ice cream bars, and candy out of a Rotary trailer at Warner Center Park for 14 weeks of concerts? That’s a lot of hot dogs! The Taft Interact kids earned $2,000 selling popcorn and snow cones.
Did you know……our club was chartered in 1956? We were sponsored by the Rotary Club of Canoga Park, now defunct. We started with 21 members (all men – women couldn’t be members then).
The club met at the San Fernando Valley Country Club at 21150 Dumetz, Woodland Hills. Sound familiar? The name was later changed to the Woodland Hills Country Club.
In our charter documents, Rotary International commented that “it looks like a dandy list of charter members!” (At least he didn’t say “groovy!”)
Are we “business friendly?” The answer is NO, not really. Do you realize in order to attract new members, we need to offer everything! Fellowship and Community Service are the top two reasons people join Rotary. Number 3 is networking…. Everyone is so busy today that we need to attract members who have little time for “just community service.” We need to offer the whole enchilada.
We are not a Chamber of Commerce or a Leads Club networking group, but we can do better than we have in the past. Networking shouldn’t be the main reason anyone joins Rotary, but it can be one of the reasons. Let’s encourage business owners to participate in our club. The front desk will allow space for business flyers and business cards. Let’s bring our club into the 21st century so we can continue to grow our membership. Bring guests!!!!
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