Rotary Club of Santa Monica

"COLOR YOUR LIFE WITH ROTARY"

Rota-Monica

 

ISSUE NO. 45                                  JUNE 22, 2001                       OUR 80th YEAR

http://RotaryClubofSantaMonica.org

 

THIS FRIDAY – AN EVENING TO REMEMBER 

Friday the twenty-second will be an evening meeting and the chance to

 

                        Shellac John Lehne as he steps down and

                        Begin to account for Hal Quigley as he steps up

 

IT IS DETHRONING TIME: FRIDAY, JUNE 22, 6:30 PM TIL…..

                                                            Dining, Sipping and Dancing

 

Rotarians will be billed only $30 as this is a regular meeting, and their guests will get this value-packed evening for only $45. 

If you haven’t already responded, please call Barbara at (310) 434-9992 and let her know that you plan on coming and will be bringing a bunch of colorful, accounted for friends to the great splash.

 

JUNE 8 – A FINE DAY FOR TWO

 

For Bob Sullivan, the total cost of a brief conversation with President John was $475. This included $50 for being unable (for unavoidable business reasons, he said) to join friends on a scheduled cruise aboard the USS Colorado from San Diego to Long Beach. To this was added $300, the cost of regaining his official Navy cap. And Bob also suffered the relinquishment of his $125 cruise fee. No wonder Bob wanted to pass the cap for help. 

Bob’s side of this story: He chose to be discharged from the Navy a few days later in Long Beach rather than in San Diego in order to do the similar Navy cruise. Unfortunately, during those few days, the Lebanon bombing incident occurred in 1958, causing his enlistment term to be extended ninety days as part of a military alert. Maybe we can schedule Bob on a Carnival Cruise instead. 

John got momentarily confused about which dining room our June 15 meeting would be held in. For trying to assist him, he rebuked Paul Gaulke and fined him $100. This reminded us of the classic ballad “You Always Hurt the One You Love,” perhaps retitled by John, “He Always Fines the One he Loves.”

 

                                                                                    Lionel Ruhman

 

 

WHAT’S AHEAD AT OUR FRIDAY MEETINGS

 

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June 29: Hal’s first meeting; Alonzo Hill to speak 

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July 6: Craft talkes: Barry Bouley and Susan Dawson 

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July 13: Joe Regalbuto Television star of may series such as Murphy Brown.            Joe will be speaking on "My Acting Career"  

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July 20:    Report on “State of the City” by our city manager


OUR UNLUCKIEST KIDS

 

Make a guess. How many homeless children do you think are on the loose in Santa Monica? The local office of the Red Cross estimates 1,500. Enough to fill a sizable school. 

The estimate is set forth in a circular letter from the Red Cross board chairman, Hal Quigley, who also happens to be president-elect of our club. Those 1,500 are elusive. Various agencies try to help orphans or runaways. But hundreds of children are wandering alongside a homeless parent or two. 

While the parents job-hunt, or talk to social workers, or prowl for a place to spend the night, their children drift. Last year our Red Cross began offering such children a few hours “respite from family stress”. It’s called the Families In Transition (FIT) program. FIT tries to provide supervised places where youngsters can nap, bathe, play, eat, and look at books or movies. Rotary helps support FIT. 

What more can be done for pauper kids? Specific programs for them have always been scarce. In 1853 the Children’s Aid Society built a lodging house for them. The Society also arranged “orphan trains” on which abandoned or runaway children rode to farm country where families might welcome them. But the Society, and the orphanages and child labor mills that once flourished, are gone. 

We know where homeless kids are headed now. Some are taken into foster homes. Many more (about 50,000 in this county) land in detention facilities such as MacLaren Children’s Center, so chaotic that police are summoned almost twice a day on average, or Eastlake Central Juvenile Hall, which the current grand jury denounces as “falling apart”. Its newest facility is 60 years old. 

Child unfortunates face hard adult lives. Some turn to crime. Some are twisted by emotional troubles. (Family Service of Santa Monica offers psychotherapy for “survivors of child sexual abuse”.) 

Our club may be groping for ways to help. Last year’s revision of our bylaws added a new clause: “The chairman of the Youth Service Committee shall be responsible for the youth service activities of the club, and shall supervise and coordinate the work of any committees that may be appointed on particular phases of youth service.” No Youth Service Committee is listed in our latest 36-page Information Guide, compiled for the district officials. However, one goal mentioned in the guide is “to provide public recognition financial support to non-profit organizations (such as youth organizations) which promote the welfare of youths or respond to special needs of our community.” Our club’s budget for this year allots $30,800 for unspecified “youth service”.

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