Here's our last video newsletter for 2024!

Our club secretary’s Susan Maronde’s son Harrison is part of Burrito Boyz. For the past 640 Sundays, Burrito Boyz teen volunteers have come together to assemble and serve hot breakfast burritos to unsheltered individuals in San Diego’s downtown. They also provide comfort and hygiene items. Each week, the teen volunteers are asked to learn the stories of at least two people whom they’ve helped.  In January, Burrito Boyz will be offering warm clothing to the people they serve. Please bring new or gently-used warm clothing to the January 9 meeting and Susan will contribute this clothing for distribution on an upcoming Sunday. If you can't make the meeting, email Susan to arrange a dropoff. 

The Del Mar Village Association is sponsoring a community cleanup on Saturday January 18 from 10AM to 11:30AM.  Register in advance by visiting the event link in the video description.  Participants are encouraged to wear gloves and bring a water bottle and reusable bag or bucket, as well as a trash grabber if they have one.

We were honored that Del Mar Mayor Tracy Martinez took some time to update our members on important city issues. Mayor Martinez focused on three projects: the undergrounding program, affordable housing plans, and train track relocation. The undergrounding program is in response to Measure Q and funded by a one cent sales tax. The multi-year project will replace overhead electricity and telecom cables with buried lines and proceed across eight districts. Pilot work around Tewa Court and 10^th street is already complete. Mayor Martinez said that skyrocketing construction costs over the past years present a major challenge, but the city remains committed to completing the work. For affordable housing, Mayor Martinez emphasized the importance of ensuring that the number of affordable units defined by the Regional Housing Needs Allocation, is appropriate. One option the city is exploring is construction of around 60 units on the Del Mar fairgrounds. Mayor Martinez ended with a discussion of the three options SANDAG presented to relocate the train tracks that run along Del Mar. Option A removes above-ground track in Del Mar with trains entering and exiting a tunnel between Carmel Mountain Road and the 56. The underground tracks would run along the 5 before returning to the coast beneath the San Dieguito Lagoon and connecting with tracks near the fairgrounds. The Fairgrounds North tunnel would start south of the Solana Beach station and travel under the fairgrounds. Option B also has a tunnel starting in Carmel Valley that exits near Jimmy Durante Boulevard, which would be raised for the tunnel. Tracks would be buried under part of the Torrey Pines reserve and the City of Del Mar rather than lagoon. Option C has the shortest tunnel that enters near the Torrey Pines State Beach north parking lot and exits under Jimmy Durante Boulevard. A bridge would carry the tracks over the lagoon.  The portal infrastructure for this option could enter residential properties.  Mayor Martinez said that for Del Mar, the highest priority is to minimize the need for eminent domain and avoid options that involve portals. 

See the latest club happenings in our video newsletter TL;DR.  

 

Debbie King, Senior Director for Donor Relations of the Community Resource Center (CRC) was our speaker for the September 5, 2024 meeting. Debbie is also the current president of the Rotary Club of Vista.  Celebrating the 45^th anniversary of its founding, CRC currently helps over 7,000 clients annually to have healthy food, stable homes and safe relationships. To expand its impact, in 2022 the CRC began a $10 million capital campaign, One Community • One Heart, to upgrade their main campus in Encinitas. Construction is slated to begin in 2025 and will provide an accessible building that has efficient workspaces for CRC staff and meeting spaces both for confidential appointments and educational workshops for CRC clients. The new Food & Nutrition building will have a sheltered entry walkway that leads to an interior reception area that offers clients needed privacy and dignity as they wait for service. The building also has increased storage and intake area for food and supplies, and includes a flexible space for cooking demonstrations that instruct clients on how to prepare and enhance their family meals. Debbie addressed questions about the evolution of the holiday baskets, which were a favorite volunteer opportunity for members. The CRC now gives clients gift cards to area retailers. These gift cards give families served by the CRC greater choice and the ability to select items that are tailored to their needs. 

The annual visit of the District Governor is always a highlight on our calendar. District Governor Diane Crawford is a member of the Rotary Club of Southeast San Diego and has been a Rotarian since 1997. She was District 5340 Rotarian of the Year for 2011/2012. Diane served on the District 5340 Leadership team to assist 16 District Governors in a variety of roles, including Assistant Governor, District Membership Chair and Strategic Planning Chair. For all these roles, Diane drew on her broad expertise in sales and business management.

District Governor Diane Crawford honored our club’s commitment to the Rotary Foundation by recognizing several members. President Toni Mecaro received recognition as a Major Donor. Toni donated all commissions she earned in organizing the District 5340 cruise in April to the Rotary Foundation. Pat Dougherty was honored for joining the Bequest Society, whose members make provisions for Rotary in their estate planning.  Susan Maronde received her first Paul Harris pin and Sharon Schendel received her PHF+3 pin. Gifts to The Rotary Foundation are essential to securing and growing Rotary programs throughout the world. 

 

After our regular meeting, many of our members walked three blocks south to Wynston’s Scoop Shop in Del Mar for an ice cream social. Founder and Owner Sarah Wynn kindly opened the shop a bit early and personally scooped a variety of different flavors on offer.  Some flavors, including Blue Moon (Michiganders, IYKYK) are always there (personal thumbs-up for Perfect PBC) and others rotate, so there’s always something new to try.  We’re grateful to Wynston’s for offering tastes at the Sunset Soirée. 

The annual Don Lapham Memorial Dinner to benefit the Mexican American Educational Guidance Association (MAEGA) will be Tuesday September 3 at Tony’s Jacal restaurant in Solana Beach (click HERE to watch a video about Tony’s Jacal- an icon in the San Diego restaurant world).  Tickets are $25 and include an enchilada-taco combination plate with beans, rice and salad. Click HERE to purchase tickets online (donations can also be made at this site).  

In the shadow of the Rotary clock is another enhancement to the Village of Del Mar, a tile installation at the Jim Watkins Amphitheater outside the L’Auberge hotel. Suzy and Karl Wagner spearheaded this project and many members, foremost member Jim Watkins, made donations to make the installation a reality.  Our club is particularly grateful to members Pat Caughey for overseeing the work and to Linda Groom for helping find artists to render the tile design.   

Del Mar Thoroughbred Club CEO and honorary member Joe Harper again hosted our annual Day at the Races in the Turf Club at the Del Mar racetrack. Lots of members were traveling this year, so there was an opportunity to invite Betsy Winsett (who just applied for membership) and her partner David Rawson and former member Chad Brown (Chad secures the all-important ABC permit that allows us to serve alcohol at the Sunset Soirée),  as well as spouses Jim Kohn and Jennifer McDowell to thank them for behind-the-scenes support of club events.  Current District Governor Diane Crawford and District Governor-Elect Luis Carranza were also our guests.  President Toni Mecaro was joined by Val Myers in the winner’s circle with the winner of the Rotary Club of Del Mar race (the first on the card), Pioneer Prince. Click HERE to watch the race (watch all the way to the end to see Toni and Val in the winner’s circle).

We wrapped up the 2023-2024 Rotary Year with a Demotion Party for Matt Kurth to thank him for his successful term as club president.  Matt is a neurologist, so the theme was brains.  Matt gave each of the members of the Board of Directors an hourglass as a symbol of time’s passage. He then recognized Jim and Karin Davies, Patti Kurtz, Steven McDowell, Kathy Reed, and Sharon Schendel for outstanding service to the club.  Suzy Wagner received the Outstanding Social Engagement Award and accepted the Exemplary Rotarian Legacy Award on behalf of Karl Wagner. Bill Rawlings received the Grand Gavel Award and Klaus Gubernator the Youth Services Award. Matt also thanked Marty Peters for his long-time service for the club and Janice Kurth for being an amazing Rotary partner. Last, Matt named Susan Maronde as Rookie of the Year and Dee House as Rotarian of the Year. He then donned the club helmet, which Bill Rawlings promises will update the memory of all presidents to enhance the metrics of their term, before handing the gavel to our incoming president Toni Mecaro.

Special thanks to Dee House for making the badges and the centerpieces, Clay Sheffrey for providing a beautiful ride for the guests of honor, Jim Davies for his fun sendup of Matt’s year, Jennifer and Steven McDowell and Toni Mecaro for their hard work with set up and cleanup, Joe McLeod for loan of the BGC tables, and Brett Mattei for providing the beautiful venue. Click HERE to see pictures of party and click HERE to see slides from the party.