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.

Nearly a decade ago Balboa Park celebrated the centennial of the 1915 Panama-California Exposition, and will soon celebrate the 90^th anniversary of the California-Pacific International Exposition, which began in late May 1935.  Ross Porter, President of the Balboa Park Committee of 100, was our speaker at our May 4, 2024 meeting.

The Committee formed in the late 1960s in response to replacement of buildings on the Plaza de Panama with more modern buildings, and the threatened loss of buildings on El Prado.  In the past decade, the Committee has focused on restoration of 1935 buildings in The Palisades in the southernmost area of the park that includes buildings that now house the San Diego Automotive Museum and the San Diego Air & Space Museum that, during the Exposition, housed the California State Building and the Ford Building, respectively. The Committee led efforts to restore the tile murals of the State Building and in September will begin work on restoring the exterior of the Municipal Gymnasium, which housed the Palace of Electricity during the Exposition.

Other now-familiar parts of Balboa Park were added for the 1935 Exposition, including the Old Globe, the Starlight Bowl and the House of Pacific Relations that comprises small cottages that still house exhibits from several dozen countries. The Spanish Village also dates to 1935 and is now the Spanish Village Art Center that is home to working art studios and galleries. Porter invited members to visit the Balboa Park Committee of 100 website to explore photographs and brochures from the exposition, and to learn about ways to help preserve Balboa Park for generations to come.

Last week we lost one of our keystone members, Karl Wagner. Karl and his beloved wife, Suzy, stepped up on short notice to serve for the 2021-2022 Rotary Year as the club’s first co-Presidents. They both ensured that our Sunset Soirée had delicious food by cultivating relationships with restaurants in the Del Mar area that we thanked throughout the year with club socials, which they also arranged. In addition, the Wagners led the charge to keep Del Mar beautiful by refurbishing benches and tables and taking the lead on the amphitheater project. Karl also helped with blood drives for many years. We will all miss Karl’s unfailingly positive attitude and his generosity.  Members are invited to celebrate Karl’s life on Saturday June 22 at 4 PM.  Please save this date and look for additional information to follow. Click HERE to read memories of Karl. 

Philippe and Dugan Lamoise were honored at the Rotary International World Headquarters in Evanston Illinois in early April as the newest members of the Arch Klumph Society.  Members of the Arch Klumph Society have made personal lifetime donations to the Rotary International Foundation of $250,000 or more that will sustain the work of the Rotary Foundation.  

“Change Begins With You” was the RYLA 2024 theme and nearly 210 high school juniors from across District 5340 gathered in Idyllwild eager to learn how to make positive change. The program was packed with inspiring speakers.  RYLA attendees spend most of the weekend with their “families”, groups of 8-9 students led by a Rotarian facilitator and identified by different colleges. This year a dozen Rotaractors acted as co-facilitators. Sharon Schendel led Boise State (upper left) and was happy to see one of her 2023 RYLArians, Jasmine Tran (upper right) return as an alumni. Alumni attended RYLA the previous year and work hard to bring fantastic energy to every session.  Our club sponsored two Cathedral Catholic High School students and Ivan Chaban (Torrey Pines HS; upper middle), who Kathy Reed has hosted for nearly two years. Ivan was one of the stars of the RYLA weekend. Thank you to Greg Harris for all his work on the RYLA organizing committee. Consider being a facilitator next year- Encinitas Rotary Club member Linda Grensted (lower right), is in her late 70s and essentially led the dance party!      

Philippe and Dugan Lamoise spoke at our March 28, 2024 meeting about connections they’ve made with Rotarians in Africa. Dugan outlined our most recent Global Grant (G-2939) to help refurbish the maternity ward at Prince Regent Hospital in Bujumbura, the largest city and economic capital of Burundi. This grant devoted nearly $74,000 to upgrade showers and toilets as well as purchase beds for recovery wards. The grant also covered purchase of blood pressure monitors and installation of TVs in the wards that can be used to broadcast educational and training videos. Leading the grant were four Rotary clubs in the Bujumbura area. Six Rotaract clubs were integral to project planning and execution. These Rotaract clubs are now themselves qualified to lead their own Global Grants- an important demonstration of the role that Rotaractors can play at an international level.  Philippe summarized his long-term involvement with projects in Uganda, including an ~$83,000 Global Grant (G-2893) in partnership with Rotary Club Kampala North to upgrade the Namalemba Health Centre to a Level IV facility that offers a surgical theater, laboratory services and maternity care.  These projects arose out of connections made in part at Rotary International annual conventions. Click HERE to watch a video of their talk.

Beth Davidson completed all the steps to earn her Blue Badge, which President Matt Kurth awarded to her at our March 21, 2024 meeting.