Success through Teamwork 5/29/13
Dear Rotarians and friends,
We were blessed with a full room and several guests this week. In addition to speaker and Westwood Village Rotarian Leah Vriesman we had Rachel Sunday's daughter Haley Novak with us. We had three special guests, Bobbie Casalino-Lewis brought Ian McIntyre and Gwen brought back Jory Rosen and Joe Chehade. 
Also with us this week was District Governor and good friend Lew Bertrand. We thought he had joined us to celebrate, with President Jim, the last days of Rotary year 2012-2013. Actually he had another mission. Lew graciously presented me with a certificate recognizing my leadership on the efforts for this year's District Newsletter. He was very generous with his comments which were greatly appreciated. I too know the enjoyment of having the title of "immediate past..." preceding a title.
This week we had a full room for a full agenda. Full also describes our calendar! There is a ribbon cutting at Rachel Sunday's new office starting at 5:00 PM this afternoon (5/30.) On Sat. we will be cooking lunch for the volunteers working on the Westchester Rotary Home Makeover and on Sun. we'll be building replicas of Jim Vuchsas at the West LA location of Build a Bear, with our creations being donated to children at USC Medical. We finish the day across the street with a meal at Maria's Italian Cafe. President Jim encouraged the Club to finish the year sprinting not coasting. Based on our momentum, I don't know how we could slow down. Please note the rest of our schedule as listed below.
As stated, our speaker this week was the delightful Leah Vriesman. She is a Board member for Angel's Flight West, a group that organizes and schedules ground transportation for patients going to and from local hospital for treatment, having been flown into Santa Monica Airport by volunteer pilots. We had a representative talk to us several years ago which led to Gail Goldstein's and Jim Vuchsas' participation. Angel's Fight West coordinated over 4,500 flight in the 13 Western states last year. They are always looking for more participation and have a variety of ways people can help. Details can be found at angelsflightwest.org.
It seems when it comes time to either fine members or let them brag about themselves, the LAX Coastal Area Chamber of Commerce provides a vehicle to do so. President Jim asked Cantalini's head chef, Lisa Schwab if anything new was coming up in her life. She shared that she will be the chamber's Honorary Mayor for 2013-2014. Congratulations Mayor Schwab, you'll walk lighter after dropping that $100 brag. Not letting any grass grow under her feet Rachel Sunday was also honored by the chamber as the outstanding new member, which just confirmed what we already know, Rachel is a star. She did having the misfortune of following a generous brag, so she also opted to be $100 poorer also. Celebrity status can be expensive!
We are going to follow up a very successful presentation at last week's Venice Business Expo with a booth at LAX Coastal Area Chamber of Commerce's, ChamberFest on 6/6. Katie advised that a one day version of MarinaFest is back on for 6/8 Contact Gwen and Katie, respectively to participate.
Thanks to Don Culton for taking this week's photos. Next week's program will be part three of Alan Kerstein's "How to avoid a traffic ticket."
As we did last week, the monies collected from the sale of raffle tickets was dedicated to our donation to the victims of the Moore Oklahoma tornado. We raised an additional $440 this week bringing our two week total to $820 which will be rounded up to an even $1,000 contribution. Keep an eye out, I have it on very good authority that Playa Venice's leadership on this project will be highlighted in the June District Newsletter!
Once again, no one pulled the ace of spades in the 50/50 drawing, so $2560. carries over to next week's meeting!
As a new feature of the weekly bulletin we are listing the key contacts for events to assist members who want more information.
Save the Date:
June 1 Westchester Home Makeover Lunch Service (Gwen Vuchsas)
June 2 "Build a Bear" (Rachel Sunday)
June 6 LAX Coastal Area ChamberFest (Gwen Vuchsas)
June 8 MarinaFest (Katie Litsey)
June 9 Serving dinner at the Midnight Mission (Gwen Vuchsas)
June 15 Getty Villa Visit (get your art on!) (Judith Wilson)
June 26 Club dark in lieu of Demotion Party
June 28 Demotion Party (Gail Goldstein)
July 6 Playa Vista Farmers Market (Don Culton)
July 13 Pancake Breakfast at FS 5 (Gwen Vuchsas)
July 28 On the Water With BodyGlove (Peter Smyth)
Aug 5 Japanese Student Outing, Venice Beach (Katie Litsey)
Aug 17 Summer Social (Gwen Vuchsas)
Aug. 24 Jet to Jetty (Gwen Vuchsas)
Be well.
Yours in Rotary service,
Tony