Success Through Teamwork 12/5/12

Dear fellow Rotarians and friends,

In addition to special guests Mike Sarlo (status to change shortly,) Elsa Mendoza and David Shapiro, we were joined by District Governor Lew Bertrand, Jory Potts, Sheri Polak and Dean Reuter (shown above with President Jim.) A warm Playa Venice welcome to all!

This week was one filled with awards and acknowledgements. President Jim had to pull out his lion tamers whip to move things along swiftly, but we got everything jammed in and finished on time.

One of the first orders of the day was for President Jim to honor Alex Rosales as November's Rotarian of the Month for Alex's dedication to The Ultimate Wine Tasting, in support of the McBride school. Each year Alex and his bride Nadine host an evening of fine food and wine tasting to raise money so Santa can bring cheer and gifts to the physically and mentally challenged students of the McBride School. Mark your calendars for Tuesday December 11th at 10:00 AM so you can join Santa and his Rotary elves. Contact Alex if you have any questions. 

Kathrine Russell stepped to the podium to acknowledge another milestone. Paul Harris Follow status is granted when a Rotarian has reached $1,000 in giving to the Rotary International (RI) Foundation. Each subsequent $1,000 is noted with a new pin with a gem in bedded. Gwen Vuchsas was presented her new PH pin with a sapphire stone. Congratulations Gwen!

President Elect Tom Carson gave the second of three reading of proposed new officers for 2013-2014. Next week will be the third reading followed by election.

Peter Smyth gave a quick overview of our trip to serve dinner at the midnight Mission this past Sunday. Photos of the event can be found on the Club's website (Playasunrise.org) homepage. 

President Jim highlighted the holiday season with this week's offering of the Bear Essential auction. Designed by his daughter Courtney, Jim auctioned off three beautiful wreaths shown on the wall in today's photos. We were very close to hitting our goal of $1,000 in support of Polio Plus. Dan Kolodziejski won the first with a $80 bid. Rob Bird and Gail Goldstein got the second for $80 and Peter Smyth got the last for a record breaking bid of $130! That brought our Polio Plus total to $1135. President Jim presented a check to Governor Lew later in the meeting. Congratulations to President Jim and all Rotarians for hitting the annual goal in December. Great work for a fantastic cause.

Gail Goldstein reminded all that those people who shop at Ralph's and haven't sign up our Foundation for their Community Giving Program are leaving money on the table. The Ralph's donation comes from them not consumers. All one has to do is sign up annually and money is automatically earned for the Foundation. Directions on how to sign up are on the Club's website homepage. 

Howard Pollack advised that people can go to http://10millioncharitymiles.com/ to vote for Rotary in United Airline mileage give-away program. It is free and you can vote daily for Rotary. It just takes seconds to to make a difference. Rotarians and friends are asked to visit and vote like they used to do in Chicago, early and often!

I invited Governor Lew to the podium to perform one of the greatest tasks we can in Rotary, bringing in a new member. Sponsor Gwen Vuchsas accompanied Mike Sarlo so we could transition him from guest to member. Lew shared thoughts about Rotary and welcomed Mike into the family of Rotary. In the gift giving season we can think of nothing more noble than giving the gift of Rotary. He will carry the classification of Tax Consultant. W e are proud to have Mike as our newest member!

Governor Lew stayed to tell the Club about his class of Governors and how they picked the name for the class. Each year the incoming Governors have to self name themselves with a title that will depict the direction for their term. Lew reported that it was not an easy task, but rather one that had to be fueled with a little wine.After much deliberation and the rejection of some suggestions that wee to "blue," the group selected "Visionaries," a beautiful and thoughtful choice. Lew then surprised the Club by naming and honoring Katie Litsey,as nominated by President Jim, as a Visionary. Then Gov Lew  named  Gail Goldstein, Howard Pollack and the author also as Visionaries.  Pins and certificates were awarded for each's own form of Rotary giving. Speaking for myself, I was highly honored with the award and felt lucky to be in the company of the other three awardees! Thank you Governor Lew! Gail is shown representing all four of us. 

Lew went on to give his own thoughts and vision for Rotary's future. He highlighted that the key to membership growth comes with three letters, A S K, as in everything else in life we have to ask. He told of how one person's idea grew into the push for the eradication of polio worldwide, we are this close! Only three more countries to conquer, Pakistan, Afghanistan and Nigeria. We defeated polio in India last year. It would be spectacular if our Bear Essentials offering were the final dollars needed to archive our goal. Lew concluded his talk with an expression that we are advised we'll be hearing more and more often in the coming months, "Don't miss the boat!" I think there is something special coming up. 

President Jim gave Lew warm thanks for his words and ongoing support of the Rotary Club of Playa Venice Sunrise. Continuing in the tradition started last year he gave Lew a $400 check for the RI Foundation representing a $10 donation from each member following the "Every Rotarian Every Year" theme. He also gave Lew a check for Polio Plus for $1,000, who knew we'd need to follow it with another $135? We also made a $200 RI Foundation donation in Lew's name. Jim presented Lew, Dean, Sheri and Jory each with our new Club logo pin and a Club padfolio to say thanks for their time and support of our Club. Santa Jim capped off the giving with a beautiful large framed photo of the space shuttle as it arrived recently at LAX. David Voss'talent as a photographer and photo enlarger/printer was very evident and we thank David for making this gift possible. 

The Board of Directors met wit Lew, Dean, Sheri and Jory after our regular meeting. The were all very complimentary of our Club's work. They commented on how we have not only maintained the momentum achieved last year in Gail's presidency, but also how we  have built on it this year under Jim. More new programs, continued membership growth and generally living our motto of "Service Above Self." Rumor has it that Lew will be with us again next week to officiate at a very special Club event. 

Please note that the next two weeks will be highlighted by great holiday programs. Mark your calendars to be able to attend the events listed below. We are dark on 12/26 and will kick off the new year with the White Elephant Gift Exchange. Bring your wrapped re-gift to participate.

Thanks to Judith Ciancimino for this week's photos.

Save the Date  

December 10 Board of Directors Meeting

December 11 McBride School Holiday Party 10:00 AM

December 12 Board of Directors Election 

December 14 Holiday Gift Wrapping Party 

December 17 Santa Tour

December 26 No meeting, Club dark 

January 2 White Elephant Gift Exchange 

January 11 Teacher Mini Grants, food sponsored by Playa Vista (replaces 1/9 regular meeting) 

Be well.   

Yours in Rotary service,   

Tony