The Rotary Club of Santa Monica
Semi-Annual Report
July-December 2002
There was no such thing as complacency this year as Rotarians personified Service Above Self in numerous ways. Take a bow as you recollect what makes this Club great:
Appointments of Distinction
| John Lehne was named Assistant District Govenor; |
| Trustees voted in Officers Jack Michel, President; John Bohn, Vice President; Bill Fritzsche, Treasurer; and Nat Charnley, Secretary; |
| Nat Trives was appointed Chair of the Government Committee of the Santa Monica Chamber; |
| Rotarians voted in 2002-2003 Officers: Holdover Directors Susan Dawson & Jon Kemp; One-Year Directors Jim Reidy & Robert Segal; Two-Year Directors Alonzo Hill & Rosemary Regalbuto; Treasurer Henry Walther; Secretary Shirley Dowling; Vice-Presidents Nat Trives & Allan Young; President Dee Menzies, and President Elect Lionel Ruhman. |
Celebrations
| The Cathedral of our Lady of The Angels Church was the site of the Paul Harris Fellowship Ball, for which Marv Levin guaranteed that Rotarians purchased two tables and raised over $7,500 for fellowships; |
| Tom Loo hosted the Welcome Dinner at his stunning Malibu home; |
| A fireside orientation was hosted by John Bohn for new members that was presided over by other past presidents Bill Crookston, Dick Lawrence, John McIntire, Hal Quigley, Dick Rice and Herb Roney. |
Fun and Fellowship
| Harris Levey organized GARP, an evening of playing cards and board games; |
| Bill Aspinwall aced a day of golf at Ojai, as did winners Monte Herring, Paul Gaulke, Denny Kelly, Harmon Sieff, Ron Polito, and Larry Maher; |
| Phil Tirone won Best Title for the Chili Cook Off at St. Monica’s; |
| Karim Jaude galvanized an evening of Lebanese food and belly dancing. |
Good Deeds
| Literacy thrived as Shirley Dowling and Norma Barnes coordinated the Literacy Breakfast and Read By 9 program, resulting in almost 800 books being donated; |
| Three separate Immunization Clinics were organized by Jim Reidy, which brought to 6,500 the number of children our Club has immunized since 1990; |
| The Social Security Administration loved Robert Segal’s senior website called Helpguide; |
| Spyros Dellaportas spearheaded Thanksgiving Day volunteers to cook and serve the S.M. Police Department personnel; |
| California Coastal Cleanup Day was a huge success, thanks to Tim Shannon, Dick Lawrence, Steve Alexis, Brian West, Eric Schmitter & Paul Leoni by literally removing tons of trash so our mammal friends could survive. |
Membership
| We welcomed David Pissara, Linda Tisherman, Michelle Schraeder, Greg Holt, Mejoi Kim, Kris Andresen, Blair Brandenburg, Charlie Follette, Tom Larmore, Petra Haffter, Mike Hyler, Bettina Duval, Alan Glick, Joey Perlmutter, Joe Pundyk, David Ross, and Oded Wolf. |
| Twenty percent of our Club members are women; 20% are classified minority; and 15% are foreign born; |
| New members are encouraged to strive for perfect attendance, such as demonstrated by Frank Blenkhorn with 57 years, Phil Whiting with 43 and John Bohn with 37; |
| Then there are the ones who must leave, such as Ted Chough, MD, and Executive Secretary Barbara Hopper, who has left a legacy; |
| A change in policy allowed members to vote for officers by absentee ballot. Twenty such members utilized this method to remain involved in our election process. |
Philanthropy
| $50,000 was pledged by our Club and the Rotary Foundation ($25,000 each) to build The Santa Monica Rotary Boys and Girls Club Center at John Adams Middle School. Vision and implementation skills of Bill Crookston, John Deasy and Allan Young made it happen; |
| John Bohn, Jim Cayton, Hal Quigley and Bill Hunt were Rotary Foundation Benefactors, quietly doing good works; |
| $1,290 went to Food on Foot for the homeless; |
| $2,000 helped John Muir Elementary School with its reading program; |
| $4,058 was raised for the Salvation Army on Red Kettle Day; |
| A matching grant resulted in $1,600 orchestrated by Shirley Dowling for books to Swaziland, Africa; |
| Barry Bouley got dozens of holiday gifts for the Boys & Girls Club. |
Speakers
Dave Rimer has been busy. In addition to stellar speakers he’s secured such as Gil Garcetti, Ambassador Jim Hodgson, Paul Westphal, Steven Sample, Ph.D., Bruce Hoffman, and Richard Riordan, we were honored with a program by Rotary District Govenor Rick Mendoza. The “Kahuna Guv” has a long list of accomplishments, from 34 years of perfect attendance, to serving on the Boards of numerous organizations that interact with his communities. We were honored that he gave us an A+ after his site visit…he was especially impressed with Tom Loo’s comprehensive Club Information Guide.
The Last Word
No matter how many times one communicates, it can never be enough. Heartfelt thanks to those who put our word before us with dependable regularity: Joey Perlmutter, Rota-Monica Editor; Larry Maher, Web Master; Steve Litvack, Printer; and Jon Kemp, E-mail blaster.
Do you hear that soft noise? It’s the sound of our collective “WOW” after realizing so few have done so much. Here’s to the next six months of wow.
Joey Perlmutter
December 31, 2002
Web Master's Comment - Awesome Job Joey!