This Week...
CHRIS LASKEY & LA RUN FOR WATER at WVRC on March 18th.
NEVIN SENKAN led the Pledge. DAVID FRIEDMAN provided the Invocation, with a twist at the end! Happy day after St. Patti’s Day, and an Irish Prayer for SEAN MCMILLAN. May those who love us, love us and those who do not love us, may God turn their hearts and if he cannot turn their hearts maybe turn their ankles that we may know them by their limping. Amen. Heavenly Father, so far this past year you have taken away my favorite dancer, Michael Jackson, my favorite actor, Patrick Swayze, my favorite actress, Farah Fawcett, my favorite comedian, Soupy Sales, my favorite pitchman, Billy Mays and my favorite sidekick, Ed McMahon. Just so you know, my favorite politicians are Barack Obama, Nancy Pelosi, Barney Frank and Harry Reid (Editorial – nuff said). LENNY still came forward, prepared for whatever his latest intro might be. Turns out he is known almost worldwide as a gardener, but to do this properly, he needs to have – you got it – the right hat! This was of course a cork safari helmet, which looked great on ED, but alas, LENNY never got to try it. But with the aid of songsheets, we took on When Irish Eyes Are Smiling, and it was OK. Closing comment:
We had one Visiting Rotarian, Walt Parrish from Fresno, who was accompanied by his wife, Diane. They are here to help us with our WAPI assembly, this Saturday which will be from 0900 until noon at Marymount High School, in the Library. We have done this twice before, but this time we won’t have any Rotaractors, since UCLA in on Spring Break. So set aside the time, please – it’s fun and most worthwhile. PEGGY BLOOMFIELD is back in town, and she brought her caretaker, Roberto Mulato. SHERRY DEWANE had a Special Guest, Annick Brought. PP STEVE SCHERER introduced his Special Guest, Chris Hughes. We just learned that Pauline Harris had a bad fall on Tuesday, and broke her arm in two places. JACK is on Hospice, so they need help, please. PP MIKE NEWMAN brought our Ambassadorial Scholar, Masaki Nakoda. The Head Table was graced with DAVID FRIEDMAN, JOHN O’KEEFE, and MARSHA HUNT, plus Rick Chris and RICK BROUS. MARSHA spoke about how moving it was to deliver the wheelchair to the child she was given — it was time well spent. PP STEVE SCHERER asked ALIYAH LEVIN to join him at the Podium, and he proceeded to induct her as our newest member of WVRC. Noting that she was a graduate of USC, he then asked Prexy ED to present her with a Rotary Pin – in this case showing a Bruin in the background! She was of course welcomed with a standing ovation.
Walt Parish came forward to remind us about how WAPI works, and that this Saturday from 0900 to noon we will be assembling them at Marymount high school which is on Sunset across from UCLA. We will meet in the Library, and we really need your participation. And I just had a phone call from MARCIA BROUS, who is in New Jersey at this moment. She was calling to emphasize this upcoming Run For Water, which will take place on Sunday, April 18th, starting in Exposition Park. The Committee is anxious that we – WVRC, that is – have a good turnout, since they need a large group of volunteers to manage this event. We’ll have more details as we go along – but do SAVE THE DATE, PLEASE!
I’m sure you are aware that BRIAN BUMPAS is quite ill. He is trying to get transferred to Long Beach Veterans Hospital, and his wife, Pat, can be reached at the Breakers in Long Beach. The phone is (562) 432-6700. I checked with an old friend, Herb Allen, who used to volunteer at WLA, and he seems to think it would be just as easy to get into the VA in WLA, which is a better hospital. I’ll pass that along to Pat
We are looking ahead to two Auxiliary Events coming up. First is a Spring Tea, at the home of Carol and JIM COLLINS. PP MIKE GINTZ will play his Cello. The date is April 13th. And looking farther ahead, Wednesday, May 12th will be a Union Station Tour followed by a Dim Sum lunch at the Empress Pavilion in Chinatown. A chartered bus will take everyone from parking at the United Methodist Church, roundtrip. Details on both will be forthcoming.
We have two Applications for Ambassadorial Scholarships, and expect at least two more. Interviews will take place on April 16that UCLA. Next stop will be the District 5280 interviews in May. Stay tuned, please.
LEO TSENG told us about his latest WVRC Project. When LEO’S daughter’s daughter was just two, she was diagnosed with cancer. She enrolled in a two-year program, and came out just fine – she is 15 today. While at that hospital, they observed another family, whose own daughter had been in the Program several years before, but didn’t make it. Yet they were so grateful for the help that they began offering Easter Gift Baskets to the children in the hospital over Easter. This so impressed LEO’S family that they decided to do the same thing at UCLA’S Mattel Children’s Hospital. This will be their third year, and the wicker baskets and gifts are already on hand. Our Auxiliary distributed the gifts to 65 baskets, and the nurses will deliver them. The staff is offering a tour of Mattel on the 26th of this month to those who help. Please call LEO for details – and we Thank You, LEO, for your continuing good work.
RICK BROUS came forward to introduce our Speaker, Chris Laskey. A few years ago, RICK and MARCIA attended a Rotary Meeting to discuss the project that would replace our Polio Pllus program, since it was winding down successfully. The obvious answer was the worldwide shortage of potable drinking water – over one billion people on our earth do not have access to safe water! MARCIA and RICK have joined this movement, called Washrag (I’ll explain shortly) and our speaker today will tell us of an upcoming event that will start things off. Chris Laskey is the Managing Director of Pacific Sports Marketing, a Premier Sports Consultation Firm, and he will discuss the DOW Live Earth Run for Water, which will take place on Sunday, April 18th, starting at 0830 from Exposition Park. As background, Chris is a four-time Iron Man finisher and so knows about running.
This project has been built over the last two years, and will take place internationally on the same day, April 18th. It is designed to greatly increase knowledge and concern about out water problems. We get most of our water from the Sacramento Delta, and it is being rationed – so this is really a worldwide problem. And on the 18th, over 100 communities around the world will host similar events. As an example of what this shortage means in 3rd world areas, women and girls are expected to walk an average of six kilometers daily to transport water to their families. Often, they are up at 4 a.m. to start their trek, and sometimes the water they do find isn’t really clean. The health result of this problem is that 80% of local disease is directly traceable to this poor water.
Q&A – Where does desalination come into this? That is why DOW is involved – they have just completed the world’s largest desalination plant in Australia – and locally, San Diego is about ready to start such a plant. How can volunteers help? By a show of hands, our number of runners was small, but perhaps 80% of WVRC are walkers, and that counts, too. Thus you can participate as either a runner or walker, plus they need, literally, hundreds of volunteers to operate the event- there’s a place for everyone. In addition, with Rotary involved in Washrag, they need lots of Rotarians to help there, also. Where does the Metropolitan Water District come in? They control incoming water, and distribute it. How will the event make money? Those who participate will be asked for donations, and a percentage of income will go to the local NGO’s (that’s non-government organizations) that coordinate the event locally. They hope to raise more than ten million dollars. There are twenty five participating agencies who will share this income.
Walt Parish rose to tell us that 3,000 WAPI instruments were distributed in Haiti, and of those, several hundred were made by WVRC. Prexy ED wanted to know why there is no enforcement of the various regulations and of course ERIC LOBERG replied that it was because they all lived north of Wilshire. This ended a useful and informative talk, and we will mark the date of April 18th for the DOW Live Earth Run for Water – thank you, Chris Laskey.
There was the usual wine raffle, over a bottle of Grand Estates Columbia Crest Merlot. The winner was DAVID FRIEDMAN.
Closing Comment:
Success is peace of mind, which is a direct result of self satisfaction in knowing you did your best to become the best you are capable of becoming.
