Betsy Winsett gave her “Who Am I?” presentation at the October 9, 2025 meeting- the last step toward her Blue Badge. Betsy was born in Ohio during one of the worst snowstorms of the 20^th century. Betsy grew up in North Canton, Ohio, where her father worked for the Hoover Company. She went to Hoover High School and enjoyed summers at Lake Erie. Betsy went to Miami University and earned a BS in Applied Science. Her undergraduate work included learning BAL, COBOL and APL, all run on key punch machines.  

After graduating, Betsy worked for the Hoover Company as a market research analyst, but saw little opportunity for advancement. She earned an MBA from Kent State and went to work for Black & Decker household products where she led marketing for small appliances like the Dustbuster. Betsy then moved to San Diego to head marketing for the Thermoscan Instant Thermometer (click HERE to watch one of their effective ads), which was  eventually acquired by Gillette with a 190 million dollar return to investors.  

In 1997 Betsy founded her consultancy Mainspring Marketing and then bought the San Diego Bridal Bazaar, which is now the fifth-largest show in the United States. On the personal side, Betsy recently reconnected with a classmate she dated at Hoover High School. They enjoy traveling together with annual fly fishing trips to Montana and trips to Tyree Island near Savannah.  

Laura Lavoie, Executive Director of Humble Design San Diego, was our speaker at the July 17, 2025 meeting.  Founded in Detroit in 2009, Humble Design helps change the lives of their clients who are transitioning out of homelessness by tailoring custom designs to their tastes and making those designs a reality by fully furnishing home interiors.  All of Humble Design’s clients are referred by partner organizations including the Alpha Project, East County Transitional Living Center and San Diego Rescue Mission.

Humble Design San Diego is on pace to help two clients every week and are looking to expand to help 3 clients per week.  All clients are referred by partner social service organization. Furnishings used in the designs are donated and are stored at their new warehouse in Logan Heights. Their work has a quantifiable impact. A study by the UCSD Homelessness Hub found that clients served by Humble Design are 10-fold less likely to return to homelessness and most clients report an increased sense of self-worth and mental stability.  Children of clients have strengthened friend networks and are more likely to bring friends home.  You can help by donating items that can be used to furnish new homes for Humble Design clients. Click HERE to learn more.

We celebrated Toni Mecaro’s successful term as Club President on June 10, 2025. Matt and Janice Kurth hosted Toni’s demotion party at their home, and the theme followed that for the Rotary year: The Magic of Rotary. We were entertained by magician Skyler King and of course Jim Davies gave one of his patented talks that revealed the timeline of events that followed Toni’s interview at the Jallikattu contest in January (click HERE to watch the video of her interview- Toni's part starts around 1:35). Toni joined the “tiara club” comprising women who’ve served as club presidents and then passed the giant gavel to Pat Caughey. Congratulations to Susan Maronde and Beth Davidson on being named Rotarians of the Year!

Karen Lare, Chair of the Del Mar Lagoon Committee spoke at our March 6 meeting about the San Dieguito lagoon. The Lagoon committee works to preserve and enhance the areas of the San Dieguito and Penasquitos Lagoons that lie within Del Mar. Nearly 50 years ago, the San Dieguito Lagoon was designated as a sensitive resource area that qualified for protection under the Coastal Act. Later, focus grew to encompass the full watershed in the region with groups like the San Dieguito River Valley Land Conservancy and the Friends of the San Dieguito River Valley forming and working with government entities like Joint Powers Authority to acquire and manage lands in the newly-designated San Dieguito River Valley Park. A key milestone was the selection of the lagoon for a mitigation restoration plan that was part of permitting for the San Onofre Nuclear Power Plant. Restoration work began in 2006 and mitigation is ongoing. Now, the health of the lagoon is robust, and the area provides a range of recreational activities with the Dust Devil Trails east of the I-5, and areas that are part of the Coast to Crest Trail that will eventually include 71 miles from the shores of Del Mar to Vulcan Mountain near Julian.

Here's a quick summary of our club's activities over the past few months.