Rotary Club of Santa Monica

"2001/2002 - A Rotary Odyssey"

Rota-Monica

THE KIDS ARE COMING FRIDAY

There will be dozens and dozens of youngsters at our meeting this Friday.  It’s our annual Christmas Party.  Bring your children or grandchildren, especially those between the ages of 2 and 6. Be sure to let Barbara Hopper know how many kids you’ll be bringing (310- 434-9992).

We’ll be passing out gifts to them.  Therefore we hope each of our members will bring a wrapped toy such as a ball, crayons, or a storybook that a younger child will enjoy.

Kids will also provide the entertainment at this Friday’s meeting.  The well-known chorus of about 70 boys and girls from Dee Menzies’ Carlthorp School will be with us, singing Christmas and Chanukah songs (and accompanying themselves with hand bells donated to the school by our club years ago.)

This chorus not only sings at Carlthorp parties but also is featured yearly in downtown Los Angeles at the “Tree of Life and Festival of Lights” for the Children’s Cancer Research Fund.  Laura Bickel directs the chorus, and Merywynne Rugirello is the pianist.

This Friday’s club meeting is also when we elect our officers and directors for the club year starting next July.  A list of the nominees is enclosed with this issue of the Rota-Monica.  You’ll be handed a ballot as you walk in.  Votes will be counted during the meeting, and the results announced just before the close of the meeting.  Be sure you get a ballot when you arrive.

OLD BOSNIAN ROTARIAN

(One of a series on new members)

Steve Alexis arrived at his office in Los Angeles, one morning in 1991, to find it closed.  The door was sealed with tape.  The lock had been changed.  A notice was posted:  U.S. government had “imposed sanctions”, which meant that the business was ended forthwith.

The business was Yugoslav Airlines.  As of that morning, the State Department had frozen the assets of every Yugoslav enterprise in this country.  Without any advance notice, Steve was unemployed. 

It was an abrupt stop to a promising career.  Steve had been born in Zenica, near Sarajevo, and decided early that he wanted to work for the country’s airline.  He earned a degree in transportation and tourism from the University of Zagreb.  In 1970 he persuaded the airline to add him to the staff of its Chicago office, although he spoke only rudimentary English.  After 16 years, he was transferred to the Los Angeles office, where he likewise did well until the fateful morning in May of 1991.

He was not jobless long.  Asiana Airlines, based in South Korea, was expanding in the U.S. and needed someone to manage its new Los Angeles sales office.  It hired him.

He joined Rotary, first in San Pedro and then at the onetime Ambassador Hotel on Wilshire.  In his first year there he created a sensation by providing raffle and door prizes that raised $110,000 for the District 5280 fundraiser dinner.  This is said to be the largest amount ever raised by one Rotarian in the district.

What prizes whipped up such a flurry of buying?  First-class and business-class airline tickets to exotic destinations, and rooms at top hotels.  Steve recalls, “In 1992 times were good in the travel business.  My friends in twelve airlines gave Rotary a couple of seats each.  Hotels like Hilton, Hyatt and Marriott gave rooms for three to four nights.”

Steve evidently gets around and makes friends, as dedicated salespeople are wont to do.  These days he spends about half his time taking calls in Asiana’s office on Wilshire in downtown Los Angeles.  At other times he drops in on corporations and travel agencies, to see if they’re thinking of sending anyone to Korea, or hustles to the airport to meet important travelers.

He’s married to Mardi DeVeuve, an American.  They live on Neilson Way in Santa Monica.  No doubt Steve will be vigorously active in our club, and naturally we’re delighted to welcome him.

ROTARY CLUBS DO THE DARNEDEST THINGS

See The Rotarian’s current issue for news about imaginative doings of Rotary clubs:

World’s largest kebab (page 44)…Kids and The Sea (KATS) program to teach water safety, after three boys drowned (page 44)…Bookworm on Wheels, to promote literacy and education in the community (page 44)…Dental clinic for low-income kids (page 53)…My Backyard project to build playground for disadvantaged inner-city children (page 50)…Community Cupboard, food pantry for the needy, stocked weekly by an Interact club in a high school (page 43).

WHY ROTARY KEPT GROWING

Paul Harris, founder of Rotary, wrote in his autobiography:

“Can a club of fifty or a hundred members influence the character of a small city?  It has been clearly proven that Rotary clubs do influence the characters of cities.  The influence is most noticeable in smaller communities.  Many a town of the Main Street variety has been revived and invigorated.  If the spirit is what it should be, life should be at its best in smaller communities.”

 DARK DAYS AHEAD, THEN GALA DAYS

Back One Page