Success Through Teamwork 11/7/12

Dear fellow Rotarians and friends, 

This week's meeting might have been called recognition day, because there was plenty of it and all very well deserved. 

We were blessed with many guests Wed. stating with special guest Kathy Kim who came to meet some of our members. We hope to see her again soon. Our ambassadorial lawyer Insa Janssen joined us with the good news that she'd passed the New York bar exam. Gwen Vuchsas graciously offered a $25 brag for Insa. Joining us in force was a contingent from St. Bernard of Kelley, Maureen and Bernadette, with her base balling son. Bernadette came to remind all the pre-order holiday wreaths and trees are open for orders. They promised to provide us with the details. Maureen announced the new play that will be presented by the school, again details are promised. Lastly Kelley and Maureen presented Gail Goldstein with the  customized wording of the song their students sang at the June demotion party in Gail's honor. Gail in turn showed her gratitude and support for the school with a $200 donation to the music program. Daniella and Emily from Animo Interact rounded out the visitor corp and thanked us for our support of their club.

That alone would have been a full program but there were more honors to be bestowed. President Jim recognized Lisa Schwab and his bride Gwen for the hard and outstanding work on the cultural dinner. He made them Rotarians of the month, an honor well deserved. Congratulations ladies!

The membership was reminded about the Ultimate Wine Tasting Friday night 11/9 at 6:00 PM at Control Printing. Proceeds will go to support this year holiday efforts at the McBride school for children of special needs. Admission is $10 per person with plenty of surprises and good fare promised.

On Sat. 11/10 there will be a memorial service for our fellow Rotarian Gale LaBarre at 10:30 AM at Holy Cross.

Details for both events are attached to this bulletin and on the Club website homepage.

Gail Goldstein returned to the podium, familiar ground as last year's president. Last fall the Los Angeles Commercial Realtor Association (LACRA) committed the proceeds of their annual bowling tournament to our Teacher Mini Grant Program. Additionally donations were made to schools against the wish lists they gave for needed school supplies. over 10 storage boxes of supplies were donated. Gail made a presentation to President Jim of a check for our Foundation for a (very) grand total of $7,000. Incredibly generous!

President Jim advised that the Board of Directors will address plans for Hurricane Sandy support at next Monday's Board meeting and then report back to the Club. 

It was the week for our Bear Essential auction in support of Polio Plus. Charles Rosenberg out bid his competition  to take the bag that promised potential riches. $80 got him a large number of lottery tickets. No word on what the scratching revealed. Thanks Charles!

It turned out not to be a rumor that Gail Goldstein had been on 3 trip recently including cruises. She offered up brag funds of $50 per trip totaling $150. 

In light of the hurricane Sandy disaster Howard (Let's Make a Deal) Pollack reminded the membership that we live in earthquake country and being prepared is essential. He made a major buy on bottled water and will make water available to interested Rotarians for the drop dead price of $2.40 for a case of 24 bottles. Mr. Generosity strikes again. Let Howard know if you want to take advantage of his plan ahead offer.  

With all of the above it's hard to believe we had time for a speaker presentation but we did, in the person of our very own David Voss. He told us about how he and his two family photographers sought out wild mustang horses in the northern California/Nevada area. He showed fantastic photos of the horses running free in nature and reported that although they are protected by law, the government wastes over $80,000,000 annually trying to eradicate them. You can learn more at http://wildhorsepreservation.org/issue and if the deadline is extended you can sign a petition against te eradication process at http://www.thepetitionsite.com/takeaction/438/612/888/. It was an eye opening and extremely informative presentation.  Anytime we get to see David photography it's a treat, throw in Allison and Jessica's work, it became a feast. We thank all of the Voss'.

We took in $80 in raffle money this week. With no 50/50 winner the total rises to $1220. for next week. 

Thanks to Jessica Voss, Don Culton and Judith Ciancimino for this week's photos.

Save the Date 

November 9 Ultimate Wine Tasting

November 10 Gale LaBarre Services

December 2 Midnight Mission Food Service 

Be well.  Yours in Rotary service,  

Tony