Stories
Dear Cap-Ap Rotarians We had 20 in-person attendees at Thursday’s lunch meeting and Sue Lawson zoomed The Nighs have again graciously opened their beautiful home for the Holiday party- 4pm on December 8th Doug reminded everyone of the ways to contribute to Rotary International We will be trying a new meeting schedule starting February 2025 We will meet the Second and fourth Thursdays at Seascape for lunch and the first and third Thursdays at Cantine at 530 This Thursday’s meeting is at Seascape No meeting on Thanksgiving The Rotary International Peace Conference Clubrunner is a good resource for calendar events We made a $2,500 donation to the Veterans center at Cabrillo. Nelson related that people told him our donation inspired them to give or give more. Rotary International is having its Peace Conference January 24-26 in Rohnert Park/Santa Rosa. Doug and Lowry are going- registration appears to still be open. We ran into a logistical problem so we will not be doing a holiday lights display at the fairgrounds this year. Craig passed around a detective sign up sheet. Bill Witmer was the Detective, but Interrogator may be a more apt word. Drawing from who-knows- what and better-not-ask experiences- he had us place rope nooses around our wrists with a partner and figure out how to escape without removing the nooses. Twister for hostages? Still- it earned fines from everyone. Our guest speaker was Casa Clarita Cortes, the Director of Recruitment for CASA- Court Appointed Special Advocates in Santa Cruz County. CASA is a national association with branches nationwide. It trains volunteers for appointment by judges to work one on one with kids 12-18 years old in the juvenile justice system and foster care/dependency. CASA has been in Santa Cruz over 30 years. The judges and juvenile probation officers in Santa Cruz are strong supporters of the program. About 200 kids per year get a CASA advocate. The volunteers work with the kids and appear in court (usually once) and prepare reports for the judges which are considered in determination of probation, placement and other issues/options. Beyond the court system, CASA volunteers serve as positive role models and try to redirect kids toward better futures, Though CASA volunteers may only take on one client at a time, many of the relationships with their youth continue long after their service. It is a very helpful and rewarding public service and they are always looking for qualified volunteers. Win won the lottery and donated his prize to polio plus |
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The Hub || June 20th, 2024Our June 20th lunch meeting at Seascape had 23 attendees in person, none on zoom. President elect Nelson couldn’t regale us with his tales of adventure from the Rotary international conference in Singapore because he was too sick to attend. |
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The Hub || May 23rd 2024
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The Hub | April 26th, 2024Our April 26 meeting was another sellout, 29 attendees in person, two by zoom. Welcome back, Anders! Also nice to see Claire McAdams again. Rich showed up with his support dachshund. The pup spent most of lunch and Rich’s lap, but occasionally was under foot. Rich was entirely misunderstood when he warned people. “Don’t trip over my wiener” Our musical excitement was provided by the full band known as Under the Influence. Al had suggested that your author’s reference to Under the Influence by its initial, was especially inappropriate for an Appellate Court, Justice. But apparently it’s caught on because that’s how President Lowry refers to them now. Certainly makes it hard to forget, it keeps recurring. Kendra told us a out the Kentucky Derby party on May 4th. It has also been requested that we not refer to Kentucky Derby party as the KY party. Btw- May 4th is also Star Wars Day. (May the 4th…. Say it) Rich was detective as well as wiener holder and asked questions about the Kentucky Derby The members did fairly well. Derby has been going on for 150 years. The other two legs of the triple crown are the Preakness and the Belmont stakes. The Derby has only been canceled twice, once in May 1945, it was rescheduled to September, and again in May 2020 because of Covid Our guests were Dr. Peter Biehl and Almut Wulf. Almut asserts that being German is not required but suspicions linger.. Our special guest was home grown Piatt Award winner Jason Jacobsen Al gave the history of the award: a vision of the Piatts to fund a post graduate scholarship at UCSC. They donated a substantial sum of money that is kept in accounts and generates the income for the scholarship. We have had 11 award winners. All of them have given presentations to the club. The scholarship is also funded by donations from our members- Dr. Art has been especially generous Last year we also got to actually go to the lab where the grad students develop their projects and had a tour, a presentation and a buffet lunch. Dr. Biehl and Almut emphasize that the scholarship isn’t just about giving somebody money, it has created a friendship between Rotary and the program. We hope to go back to the campus again this year, it’s well worth everyone’s time. Dr. Biehl present the slideshow with these strategic plan, which is on its way to achieving its goals of increasing the number of graduate students. The program has the best genomics in the world. It’s motto is “ leading the change.” It has been difficult to recruit top students to come here, housing is an especially serious problem for students and faculty Our Scholarship is very helpful Only 20% of the programs funding is from the state, the rest is from grants and other sources There are now 1400 grad students and 270 in PhD program There are no liberal arts studies in China. India, Germany, many students from there coming here Jasen Jacobsen went to Rio del Mar elementary and Aptos, junior high school, and high school. He Grew up on the water He got his degree in oceanography from Humboldt. He had been studying in North Carolina until he was lured back- large thanks to our scholarship He described the ocean as a thriving ecosystem. he referred to Wales, dolphins and or as charismatic megafauna His project involves the study of intertidal waves that are driven by currents, not wind. They play a significant role and stirring the nutrients that feed plankton and zooplankton, which intern are the primary food sources for the other members of the ocean ecosystem. He said his work is at the intersection of physics and biology Light and nutrients are needed to build cells for the microscopic organisms, but only the top 100 meters of ocean are lit. But nutrients get consumed and so are more prevalent in the depths Internal waves are sloped. He mathematically replicated internal wave action to see what biological consequence of waves/ which create tidal beams- which creates primary production These Waves are independent from wind and are Dependent on temperature Ocean warming has unknown consequences. Jasen’s presentation was a grape blend of technical talk and plan English, and he made a very complex topic quite understandable. Our money is going to great use. |
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June 13, 2024 Community Grants Day RSVP linkHello! Below is the form link to RSVP for the June 13, 2024 Community Grants Presentation Day. Dec. 2022 Community Grants Recipients If you are one of our recipient organizations, your organization receives one comped lunch. (If you would like to have more people attend from your group, more are welcome but the lunches we comp come directly from our Grants Budget for next year so each additional guests will need to be paid for upon arrival on the day of the event.) Please RSVP by Thursday, June 6th so our correct headcount can be submitted. LINK: Please remember that the *ONLY* way we raise money to give out these grants is by our fundraising efforts all year long, so please make sure you support us all year long! Our next fundraising event is the 2nd Annual Kentucky Derby Party on May 4, 2024. The Link to purchase tickets for that is: |
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The Hub | April 18th, 2024
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The Hub || April 11th, 2024Dear Felow Rotarians: Our April 11th lunch at Seascape was sold out in person, all 32 chairs taken. Kendra reminded everyone that Derby Day is May 4, at the helicopter hangar at Watsonville airport 130–4 30. Last year‘s inaugural was successful, but especially given how much fun it was and the worthy the causes we are supporting, let’s all try to get there and bring friends and associates. Once again there will be big screens showing the races, food, a bar, games, and a hat contest. Dr. Art was a tad late so President Lowry stepped in for the thought of the day: If English made sense lackadaisical would mean lack of daisies. And flammable and inflammable would not mean the same thing We did not have a joker either though as usual there were several who fit the description. Given that we are approaching a plurality of lawyers as members: A man has a near fatal heart attack and is told he needs transplant He goes to the heart store and the salesman tells him there are 3 hearts available now: a $5000 heart, , a $100,000 heart and a $500,000 heart The man asks “what’s the difference?” The $5000 heart belong to a 74-year-old drunk who died of alcohol poisoning I don’t want that one. What’s the next one like? The hundred thousand dollar heart belonged to a 26-year-old NBA point guard who was killed in a car crash yesterday Well, that sounds perfect, what about the $500,000 heart? “It belonged to a lawyer, it’s never been used” We had a designated detective, but maybe because the sheriff was in town we skipped that and everybody paid $10. Somehow, that feels a better than answering a trivia question correctly and still having to pay. Thanks to Pam, Lora, Lowery Michele and everyone else involved in the fundraiser for Treasure Cove – we raised over $90,000! Rich introduced sheriff Jim Hart, who apparently is not only sheriff par excellance but also breaks par on the golf course Rich mentioned that he had many interactions with the sheriff and perhaps wisely provided no details In that vein, Kelly managed to begin his questions/comment with, “Say I’m using a lot of cocaine,” which a skilled prosecutor could turn into an admission of repeated cocaine use. Doug’s similar question was perhaps even more incriminating and he now has another one of Ken’s business cards just in case. The sheriff spoke for about 20 minutes covering a wide range of topics. He explained the difference between the sheriff’s department, which provides law-enforcement and related services to the unincorporated areas of the county, the police department in the four incorporated cities, and the CHP, which has jurisdiction on the highways. The Santa Cruz county sheriff also runs the corner office for the entire county. The office is quite pleased that it will soon have its own DNA testing lab which will enable the processing of DNA samples in a matter of days instead of the 6-12 months it now takes to get results back from the state lab. The sheriff said that crime in the county is actually very low compared to most CA counties and has declined steadily over the past decades. The biggest challenge facing law-enforcement all over the county is the fentanyl plague. Our county has 270,000 citizens last year we had 133 fentanyl deaths, the same as Santa Clara County, which has 2 million people. The prime demographic for overdoses is homeless men in their 20s-30s. The problem is not unique to Santa Cruz, it’s nationwide. Drug dealers are lacing cocaine and methamphetamine with fentanyl. Konstantine pointed out that it seems stupid to do that because the dealers are killing their clients. The sheriff said the financial incentives are greater create more addicts. Doug and a few others noted that there seems to be a lot of petty theft, burglaries and break-ins and that’s probably attributable to the drug addicts. The Sheriff agrees, but the stats show very little violent crime and comparatively few property crimes. It may be that many crimes are not reported, but if so, that’s probably true in other counties as well, especially high crime counties like Alameda, San Francisco Fresno. Sheriff Hart reported on the success of the farm project, where inmates learn skills while they are serving their time so that when they return to society they have a means of maintaining a livelihood as well as discipline and responsibility. The Sheriff noted that the Santa Cruz has a reputation for being a liberal area, but support for a law enforcement is very strong, as he sees in his daily actions and things like the support for Seargent Gutwiller. Several members spoke in support of the department and his members. Our next meeting is April 18, which day we hopefully have recovered from tax day and can enjoy our musical guest Claire McAdams won the raffle, but she wasn’t there We had a group photo with our fundraising check No report would be complete without mentioning Michele Bassi’s attendance and the even brighter glow in her eyes since she started her new job Congratulations Michele She also gets the award for best fashion statement- correcting your author’s complement on her black cocktail dress. “No, it’s just a T-shirt.” See everyone Thursday at Seascape! |
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2024 Kentucky Derby Tickets on sale NOW!It's Derby Time! Tickets for the 2024 Kentucky Derby are on sale NOW!! Get your ticket today! https://tinyurl.com/2024rotaryderby
Take a look at the fun we had last year! ( Photo credit to Rotarian Mardi Padilla of Marmi Photography! )
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2024 Youth Scholarship Application is OPEN!The 2024 Capitola-Aptos Rotary Club's Youth Scholarship Application is being submitted/collected via Google Forms this year. Complete the application via this link: The form requires two references to be sent in also, the references can find their form link here: The submission deadline is March 27, 2024.
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The Hub || February 22nd, 2024Dear Cap-Ap Rotarians Our 2/22/24 meeting at Seascape had 21 attendees in person and 4 on zoom Lowry steered us through the meeting with his usual grace and style UTI was AWOL but not to fear- through the resourcefulness of Nelson and Kendra we were treated to video/audio recorded renditions of the Welcome Song and 4 Way test song. Dr. Art’s thought- freedom of speech means the ability to tell people what they don’t want to hear; Apparently we didn’t hear it last week Rich was the jokester- including one about Bill Clinton getting an irate call from Hillary about being pregnant and him asking, “who is this?” hopefully that joke occurred a few decades ago…and another one about getting poked in the eye that was quite funny… you will have to have him re-tell it Sandy announced that we now have 8 grant applicants- the deadline to apply is March 1st. We can still use a few members to help The treasure cove fundraiser is at Seascape 3/22- we can use more sponsors, donations and raffle prizes. Al, Becky, Michele and Pam have recruited a number of donors and sponsors already — please invite others and use the link on our website to get your tickets. THE SPEECH CONTEST HAS BEN CANCELLED BECAUSE THE KIDS SAID THEY WERE TOO BUSY, SO THERE IS NO CLUB MEETING THIS WEEK. The Foundation meeting is at Al’s office. Paul told us that we should all look for and post comments on Kendra’s Linked In posts to generate more views. The algorithms give priority to posts that get more comments. Contact him if you have trouble joining Linked In. Detective Kendra learned us that there were several important days last week including national margarita day and national sweet potato day. So her detecting was to ask people for stories/adventures about those staples of the American diet. Not surprisingly there were many more stories about maragritas. We did not have a speaker because we focused on the Treasure Cove fundraiser Pam gave us more details: Doug and Diane are donating- we need high end wine, not the $15 per bottle kind; tables for 8 can be purchased. Ken’s announcements: The national champion Stanford men’s gymnastics team is having a competition against Oklahoma-2d best team in the country- at 4pm on Saturday, March 16, at Burnham Pavillion. More than half the Olympic team will be competing. Admission might be $5, or free. The drive is an hour, parking is free. The meet will last 2-2.5 hours. Contact Ken for details if you want to meet him there. See Everyone March 7! |
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The Hub || February 22nd, 2023Dear Cap-Ap Rotarians Our 2/22/24 meeting at Seascape had 21 attendees in person and 4 on zoom Lowry steered us through the meeting with his usual grace and style UTI was AWOL but not to fear- through the resourcefulness of Nelson and Kendra we were treated to video/audio recorded renditions of the Welcome Song and 4 Way test song. Dr. Art’s thought- freedom of speech means the ability to tell people what they don’t want to hear; Apparently we didn’t hear it last week Rich was the jokester- including one about Bill Clinton getting an irate call from Hillary about being pregnant and him asking, “who is this?” hopefully that joke occurred a few decades ago…and another one about getting poked in the eye that was quite funny… you will have to have him re-tell it Sandy announced that we now have 8 grant applicants- the deadline to apply is March 1st. We can still use a few members to help The treasure cove fundraiser is at Seascape 3/22- we can use more sponsors, donations and raffle prizes. Al, Becky, Michele and Pam have recruited a number of donors and sponsors already — please invite others and use the link on our website to get your tickets. THE SPEECH CONTEST HAS BEN CANCELLED BECAUSE THE KIDS SAID THEY WERE TOO BUSY, SO THERE IS NO CLUB MEETING THIS WEEK. The Foundation meeting is at Al’s office. Paul told us that we should all look for and post comments on Kendra’s Linked In posts to generate more views. The algorithms give priority to posts that get more comments. Contact him if you have trouble joining Linked In. Detective Kendra learned us that there were several important days last week including national margarita day and national sweet potato day. So her detecting was to ask people for stories/adventures about those staples of the American diet. Not surprisingly there were many more stories about maragritas. We did not have a speaker because we focused on the Treasure Cove fundraiser Pam gave us more details: Doug and Diane are donating- we need high end wine, not the $15 per bottle kind; tables for 8 can be purchased. Ken’s announcements: The national champion Stanford men’s gymnastics team is having a competition against Oklahoma-2d best team in the country- at 4pm on Saturday, March 16, at Burnham Pavillion. More than half the Olympic team will be competing. Admission might be $5, or free. The drive is an hour, parking is free. The meet will last 2-2.5 hours. Contact Ken for details if you want to meet him there. See Everyone March 7! |
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The Hub || February 15th, 2024Fellow Rotarians Our 2/15/24 lunch meeting at Seascape had 20 attendees in person and 3 on zoom No guests other than our guest speaker Lowry ran the meeting with style as usual Sandy gave a grants update- we now have 6 applicants. She encouraged us to find more. We will look suspiciously at any 501 Cs with any variation of a member’s name on it. The speech contest is Feb. 29- Several entrants from Soquel HS but so far no kids from Aptos HS. Your author knows kids who go to AHS, including some whose parents are attorneys- nope, not interested….might have to come up with a way to make it a video game? We need more members to review the scholarship applications Pam gave a rousing speech for us to get more donations for Treasure Cove fundraiser. Her cheerleading talents were on full display. Maybe that’s who we should be focusing our speech contest on- cheerleaders are used to yelling in front of crowds, speaking to us should be easy. Dr. Art had the thought for the day: If liberty means anything it means being able to tell people things they don’t want to hear. Ironic that we didn’t have a joke of the day? 2/3 of UTI played the welcome song- Al did the keyboard ala Herbie Hancock Rich played the rarely seen and, in this case, barely heard, ukelele bass Lowry showed resourcefulness in holding a microphone in front of it- roadies are under-appreciated, For announcements Kendra worked the crowd in her sleek black ensemble like a game show host- a future side gig maybe? The full band, Al, Sam and Rich had been trying to get gigs to play on Valentine’s Day, but nobody wanted UTI on VD Kelly’s shirt drew more attention than his baritone voice Al said, “ I haven’t seen a shirt like that since I woke up in an elevator in Las Vegas.” We have questions. And probably many disturbing mental images. Not sure if any of us want to know what happened. It might provide some historical context for the band name though. Asleep in the Elevator doesn’t have the same panache. Our guest speaker Bruce Jaffee did a brief detective stint about County government- a few things we learned- The County budget is $1.1 billion and has 35 departments. BTW, the County population is 265,000. That works out to $37,000 per person? Dr Art was the detective Drawing on his experiences as a world traveler he had us name islands then pay the fines – we were able to come up with many and raised a lot of money quickly. Great job Dr. Art But he was taking notes and there was no disclaimer that he not was looking for new destinations for his travel medicine business (slogan, Don’t See the World Until You See Me, with a photo of unconscious Al in the elevator?) Jack again used his Cal Bears hat to collect fines- particularly painful for us Stanford guys. Our guest speaker was Bruce Jaffe PhD, who just retired after over 30 years with USGS and also 25 years on the board of the Soquel Creek Water District. He is coincidentally a candidate for Supervisor. Bruce has his doctorate in earth science Dr. Art asked if there was a geologic basis for all the potholes and there were many follow ups-might be. Bruce referenced the road-repair funding issues that Matt Machado told us about and said the “My Santa Cruz” app is a good way to get potholes dealt with. BTW, the County can’t just reallocate money towards road maintenance- much of the budget comes from “non-discretionary” state and federal funds that are required to be spent on specific projects. The focus of Bruce’s talk was Soquel Creek Water District and in particular the Pure Water Soquel project which is coming on line soon. He explained the reasons for the progressive rate increases we will see- the Sentinel had an article about it on Friday, Pure Water Soquel will recycle water, purify it via microfiltration, reverse osmosis and ultraviolet light with oxidation then put it into the water system- as Kelly said, “drinking our own waste.” It does pass all tests for safety, The same technology is being used in many areas in Monterey and Southern California. The water will also be pumped back into the aquifer which is being overdrawn and resulting in seawater intrusion, this pumping should reverse that. The $145 million project was funded in large part by low interest loans from the state and federal government and grants. Bruce also explained the new rate structure that is designed to incentivize water conservation. Kendra questioned the need for such high rates- she lives in Santa Cruz now and her water bills are a fraction of what she paid when she was on Soquel Creek water. She unnecessarily confessed to being a water glutton and taking long showers- just to prove the point? Bruce was interested in that and offered to look into that- the water bills, not the shower. Thanks for Kate and her phone for the occasional musical interludes during Bruce’s talk- it filled in the quiet times between questions. *For more budget information see https://www. The raffle pot is down since Michele claimed it last week- winner wasn’t present this week. Ken has not offered to lead hikes through Nisene Marks lately because it’s muddy, slippery, trees are down and the trails have been closed (to those who don’t know the back entrances) because of the dangerous conditions. He will let everyone know when conditions permit. Instead, how about going to the men’s gymnastics meet at Stanford March 16, 4pm, vs. Oklahoma. Those are the top 2 teams in the nation and have half the Olympic team on them. There’s a tailgater at 2. Let Ken know if you want to go and he will try buy or reserve tickets. Usually $0-10. As Jack can now attest- best gymnastics this side of the Olympics- and there will be 80+ Olympic level routines in 2 hours- no commercials. See everyone Thursday!!! |
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The Hub || February 8th, 2024
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March 22nd Dinner Ticket LinkGet your Tickets for our March 22nd Dinner event here! |
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The Hub || January 25th, 2024Dear fellow Cap-Ap Rotarians: Our January 25 meeting was lunch at Seascape We had about 22 attendees in person and 3 on zoom Including your author who had audio problems for the first ten minutes and so missed the thought and joke Lowry ran the meeting- smooth and funny Al did welcome song solo and of course rocked it. Sue was the detective She had many members tell when and why they joined Rotary. Always fun to learn how our fellow (what’s the feminine for fellow?) members were inspired/cajoled/tricked into joining Rotary and inspiring to hear why they have stayed and the true spirit of Rotary. We really have an outstanding group of people. Jeffrey Brouillette from SCPD was our guest speaker His topic was Protecting Ourselves He’s been on the force 11 years and has learned much about relatively simple ways to minimize the risks of property crimes. He told a funny anecdote about a case he was on where his team had staked out a parking lot which had many break-ins. They saw a guy smash a car window and take the contents off the seat and when they stopped him he said, “The window was already broken man!” (Remember President Carter’s joke about the drunk who was charged with public drunkneness and arson after he was pulled from a burning hotel room, “I plead guilty to being drunk but the bed was on fire when I got in it”) Det. Brouillette explained the difference between robbery, burglary, shoplifting and larceny- something all the lawyers in the room know and cringe at whenever they are used improperly/interchangeable. That may be a subject of inquiry for one of our next Rotary detectives…. Not to be proud of or on a bumper sticker: Santa Cruz County has the second highest per- capita property crime rate on the state-2,500 property crimes per 100,000 residents. Alameda County is worst. Det Brouillette home has been burgled twice. Ouch. Like the fire house catching on fire? Det Brouillette gave a power point presentation as he explained: the four D’s- Deter, Detect, Delay and Deny (no, not stolen from a certain former President’s litigation strategy). Deter would-be criminals with surveillance systems and signs advising that the property is protected; Detect them with those systems, floodlights and alarms, Delay with locks and other obstacles to gaining entry to property, and Deny by safely securing property so that it is essentially unreachable. Good tips for minimizing the risks. Footnote- Det. Brouillette was a key witness in your author’s successful defense of a wrongful death case last year- very professional, very well spoken. Remember: no lunch meeting this week- our Feb. 1 meeting is the social (meaning alcohol and food) at Cantine in Aptos 530-7ish. See everyone there!! |
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The Hub || January 18th, 2024Dear fellow Rotarians: Our January 18 meeting was lunch at Seascape. We are going to continue to have our meetings there rather than going to other locations. President Lowry presided. We had 20 attendees in person and Several on zoom. Sam did the welcome song and 4 way test song. Rich McAdams played air bass. We had a guest -Dana Stein from Cupertino District Governor Hung Wei was our guest speaker Before her presentation she presented awards to Doug, Julie, Bill and Lowry in recognition of their donations. Dr. Art's thought for the day: We never learn from history Sandy told us that the grants committee is staying in the club this year The speech contest is Feb 29- those who are interested in volunteering contact Lowry We are having our social Feb 1 at Cantine at 530. For those who haven't made it there yet- it's a very nice setting with a great selection of wine and beers and the socializing is great fun. Sandy was the detective- her subject was weather Some things we learned (or already knew?) A storm is a classified as a hurricane if its wind speeds are 74 mph. right, not 75. Why? Unknown. (Why is weather called meteorology anyway? That name should go to the study of meteors, not weather) Thunder is created by the sudden separation and return of large volumes of air (from lightning) Golf ball hail sized hail is ...golf ball size? 1.68 inches, 42.7 centimeters (does that include the dimples?) District Governor Hung Wei spoke about her Rotary experiences and Rotary motivation She moved to the Bay Area from LA, settled in Cupertino, became a councilmember and mayor (She was a little fuzzy on her geography quiz, saying Livermore was the western most part of 5170. Hmm, I think we are- any further West and you are in the Pacific Ocean) Hung Wei loves her work. She has many different occupations and activities and said she manages her schedule by doing one thing at a time. She said she is a happily married single -her husband works in Taiwan. She used a fun acronym- IPO; Income Producing Offspring- something all parents aspire to have She told a story about a young boy who had a troubled homelife and was struggling to get what he needed for school. Every year he would receive a backpack, a jacket and school supplies from an anonymous source. That enabled him to complete school and eventually have a successful career. The anonymous source for his things was a Rotary program called Back to School Backpacks. Hung Wei thanked Rotary, and us, for being that invisible person(s) who helps change lives. Another theme she spoke of was to be a happy Rotarian- our club doesn’t need much improvement in that area... She told us of the tragedy of her 19 year old daughter who killed herself in New York. Rotary International President Gordon McInally's brother also killed himself. Hung Wei is urging Rotarians to get involved in mental health programs, She said that her daughter lives in her heart, and she has a double happy life- her daughter is with her sharing all of her joys. The District conference theme is the Family of Rotary- inspired in large part by President McInally's experiences, much like Hung Wei's. The meeting is in April and all are encouraged to attend. On March 16 there is a district leadership meeting in Santa Cruz at 430 then going to the SC Warriors game. |
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2024 RYLA Applications Link LIVE!Hello potential RYLA Campers! The application link is open and we are now accepting submissions to apply to attend Camp RYLA sponsored by Capitola-Aptos Rotary Club! You can complete the form via this link: |
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2024 Community Grants Application LinkThe 2024 Capitola-Aptos Rotary Club's Community Grants Program Application Link is now live. You can access it via: **Please note that due to our club's major initiative to be a premier sponsor of the renovation of Treasure Cove at Jade St. Park project, our 2024 Community Grants budget is significantly smaller than in other years. To this end we are requiring the non-profit applying to have a direct connection to our club and a club member in good standing, in order to be considered as a 2024 Grant Recipient.**
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The Hub || January 11th, 2024Our January 11 meeting was lunch at Seascape We had 23 attendees in person and e on zoom. Lowry ran the meeting with the grace and humor of a seasoned talk show host- kept everything moving and fun Our guest speaker was Kimberly Deserpa, She brought her daughters Kristin and Indra for tech support and guest Gigi Kelbert Dr. Art's thought of the day ended with a Crocodile will eat him last Rich's joke: if two vegans get in an argument do they still call it a beef? Help, lettuce out! We paused in memory of Becky’s mom, who recently passed. Godspeed. Mac Erickson made his first meeting as an official member, Yay! Lowry went through the upcoming events- they are also on our website AND he put paper calendars on the table-no excuses for anyone now... Sandy is running the grants committee - we need volunteers - talk/email her about it. Craig was the detective- the subject was famous quotes- we had to identify/guess the speaker. Some of them: Never interrupt your enemy when he is making a mistake- Napoleon Either that wallpaper goes or I do- Oscar Wilde on his death bed Democracy is the worst form of government, except for all the rest- Winston Churchill A thief stole y wife's credit card. But I didn't turn him in because he's spending less than she did. Could be Rodney but it was Henny Youngman. "Take my wife's credit card, Please?" 80% of success is just showing up- woody Allen First thing, we kill all the lawyers- Shakespeare Henry the 6th- and the rest of humanity until they need one Sorry for the length of this letter, I didn’t have a lot of time to write a short one Mark Twain Speaker Kim told us about her life. She is a candidate for supervisor but tried not to make it a campaign speech. She was raised in poverty- her mom was widowed. She was the first in her family to go to college. She has been/is a member of many charitable causes. She showed a power point about her life. She worked in social services at Salinas Valley Memorial Hospital during the covid outbreak- 350 people died there. She talked to the families of patients to assure them of care and began mental health counseling for the hospital staff for the trauma they were enduring. She got a grant to support for Spanish speaking counsellors and that turned into a very successful program. Kim played a KSBW report on the program, She has been on the board of PVUSD for over 20 years. She has also worked at hospice of Santa Cruz She reminded us that she visited us in 2008 and had photos to prove it. One of her projects was to raise money for the Valencia school all access playground, which was the first such playground in the area. She raised the money by phone calls. She passed the contact info for her donors to the fundraisers for Leo's Haven, She gave a shoutout to Sandy Wallace for founding the Kids Foundation Monterey Bay. Kim's husband is neonatologist at Stanford who is retiring- let's get him to join our Rotary ! Her talk concluded with a power point about her winning a Texas Hold 'em contest- she was against over 300 other players and won even though she was a novice. Luck? Skill? Intuition? We let her pick the raffle number but the winner wasn't there. |
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The Hub || December 14th 2023
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Dec. 9, 2023 Aptos Wine Wander & Makers MarketA portion of the proceeds support the Capitola-Aptos Rotary Club's Grants Program through our Club's Foundation! To get more details or to purchase your ticket ($45 if purchased in advance!) visit this link! Also Rotarians and friends of Rotarians can use the discount code 6GK9W2CR to receive $10 off when they purchase tickets. Join us in the heart of Aptos for an afternoon of wine tasting. Discover local Santa Cruz Mountains wineries, while strolling through Aptos Village businesses and this event will also have a Makers Market. The Wine Wander is a partnership with the Capitola-Aptos Rotary, Wines of the Santa Cruz Mountains and Aptos Village Businesses. Tickets are $45 in advance. $50 day of. Participating Wineries: Participating Businesses: Makers Market: DETAILS: Tickets: Check-in:
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The Hub || October 26th 2023Dear Cap-Ap Rotarians Nelson was our "guest" speaker. |
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The Hub || October 19th, 2023Dear Cap-Ap Rotarians: Our October 19 meeting was lunch at Seascape. We had 20 attendees in person. Pam ran the meeting- smooth as silk. She brought her childhood friend Art Stein from Los Altos as a guest. Dr. Art’s thought was a quote from Dr. King: along the way we must learn that there is nothing greater than doing something for others. Sam and Rich rocked us out on the Welcome Song and 4 Way Test. Konstantin added some rousing tableware percussion-it seems we now have Ginger Baker to Sam’s Eric Clapton and Rich’s Jack Bruce. Maybe a Rotary song set to Sunshine of Your Love? Logistics suggestion- Kelly should have a seat reserved by the loudspeaker Doug and Bill are our foundation chairs for Rotary International We routinely get 100% contribution from our members. The rumor that “Boston” Bill Whitmer was Whitey Bulger’s inside muscle has not been confirmed but it does help with collections. Lowry had some announcements which are on the website and in his emails, but, as fast as your author could type between bites of lunch: The first meeting of the month will be an evening social- nothing structured, just getting together to enjoy the company of our wonderful group and friends When we have 5 Thursdays in a month the last one will be a service day We are having our next social at 530 on November 2at Cantine on the West side of Aptos Village near Starbucks. It’s a charming venue with a great selection of wines and beers and lots of choices for hors d’ouvres. Laura announced that we had a great signup for the pickleball tournament for the benefit of Cabrillo Veterans. (It will still be called Cabrillo for at least the next 5 years-Keep lobbying for Wettstein U) Nelson reminded us of the litter cleanup on Park Ave. to stop trash from washing into New Brighton Beach The pumpkin painting is 10/28 2-4 also announcing new name of Park Treasure Cove 11/9 service day loaves and fishes at 105 Second St Watsonville- 9 am start to 1130 then lunch Our guest speaker was Orrin Mahoney who is the district chair for Rotary International. Before he spoke he gave out Paul Harris awards to Doug and Kelly, after figuring out that Lowry was not Kelly. Congrats and thanks to Dough and Kelly! Bill was the Detective Since one of Rotary International’s missions is the eradication of Polio he asked about and educated us about polio, and raised money via fines. Some of the facts: there have been 2.5 billion polio vaccines administered; there are 2 countries with wild polio- Pakistan and Afghanistan. The cases are in the mountain range between those two countries. In a sign of progress, Pakistan has made it illegal to refuse the vaccine and the Taliban is actually cooperating with vaccinations. Our guest speaker Orrin Mahoney has quite a resume-Carnegie Mellon, Stanford, management at HP and mayor of Cupertino, as well as decades of service in Rotary and Rotary International. He had a power point presentation and spoke about Rotary International’s 7 areas of focus, structure, financing and activities. He said that our district very generous, donating $2.5 million. His power point showed a number of RI projects including a women’s shelter in Puerto Rico, water purification and an oxygen generator in Ethiopia, Cleft palate and eyecare, in India Three basic elements of RI’s financing are the annual fund, the polio fund and endowments. Owen explained Explains DDF district designated funds and Global grants The Gates foundation matches RI’s donations 2-1. Dr. Dover has donated $1 million considering that. Dr Art also has earned the RI triple crown for his donations- standing ovation please for Dr. Art!!! Our next meeting is 10/26 noon at Seascape. Nelson will be our in-house guest speaker- the subject will be Harper’s Ferry. The foundation board meets at Seascape at 1045- all members are welcome. Let’s make this a great turnout!! |
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2nd Annual Pickleball Tournament Photos!Today's Pickleball Tournament was a blast, and we raised money for two needy causes; for the Cabrillo College Veterans Center and the Community Grants Program that our club operates annually. ALL funds raised stay LOCAL!
The first batch of photos are ready for viewing and download, the rest of the "action" shots were uploaded on 10/23/23! https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1-0lCFmfqEovgTAEOGL2TGhJM808wHWCw?usp=sharing
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The Hub || October 12th, 2023Dear Rotarians: Our October 12 meeting was held just in time to avoid Friday the 13th We had dinner and no-host wine and bubbles at Fairfield Inn 22 attendees in person Michele brought 2 guests, Zoe Carter-a visiting Rotarian and head of the Santa Cruz County Business Council, and Tracey Weiss from O’Neill Odyssey. Tracey spoke to us awhile ago- they are both brilliant and charming like Michele and we were lobbying to make them members.... Al rocked us through the Welcome Song- our visitors were impressed. Side note from the author- 2 of my neighbors heard I was in our Rotary and asked me if we still had that "amazing keyboard player." YES WE DO. They also said they'd been to several Rotary and other club meetings, outs was by far the most fun. Great- spread the word!! Lowry ran the meeting with his great mix of good humor and efficiency. There were several announcements about upcoming events which are on our website- Pickleball tournament, Street Cleanup and Pumpkin painting The name for the all-access park at Jade Street has been chosen-Treasure Cove We are having a evening meeting Thursday November 2nd at Cantine - details tbd Trinity, the Interact Club President at Aptos, came in her tennis outfit having just won her match, talked about RYLA, and said she has been to other rotary clubs but now likes ours best (of course?). We also had two RYLA speakers from Soquel Gabriella Huddelston and Hannah Heitmeyer who spoke and had a power point (like a slide show?). They loved the experience and described their time at RYLA as being an encapsulated environment of love, support and empathy where they were taught to be a leader now and beyond, and where they experienced personal development and made personal connections they hope will last far into the future. They showed a video of the event which is so good it is being used nationally to promote RYLA Our guest speaker was our state assemblywoman Dawn Addis, who came with her assistant Alexis Garica- Arrazola. Dawn is a former teacher from SLO. She has her MA in special Ed. She is a Rotarian in Los Osos and she spoke about how she tries to incorporate our motto of "service above self" in her work- its her job, assisted by her staff, to help people in need. Her district starts at about Santa Cruz Harbor and goes down to SLO County, 3 counties and 15 cities. She gave examples such as helping people get EDD, working to get the Capitola Rec Center completed, the recent effort to get the just-signed bill to expedite relief for the Pajaro River flood victims. Dawn is very approachable, very dedicated to her work and obviously working to help her constituents, which include us, in a wide variety of issues. Our next meeting is Thursday October 18 at Seascape Let's have a good turnout! |
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The Hub || October 5th, 2023
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The Hub || September 28, 2023
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The Hub || September 21st, 2023Dear Rotarians: Our September 21 meeting was lunch at Seascape. We had a good turnout- 32 attendees UTI was fully present and joined by our guest speaker Diane Syrcke on banjo for the Welcome Song- one of the best renditions ever. Sam got his jokes from his phone again - punchlines were attire (a tire); checkmate and toad (towed). Dr Art’s thought of the day was: if at first you don’t succeed, hide the evidence. Alternate punchline- maybe skydiving isn’t for you Konstantine was back and brought his friend Donald who is an attorney traveling the world. We did not talk shop. Anders was also back from Europe and promoting Swedish rain gear Siegfried was a visiting Rotarian from Sunrise Nice to see Dr. Matt again- with a 5 year reprieve from the “Name That College” maelstrom that he is unavoidably in. Wettstein College is seeming more and more like the best choice? Also wonderful to have Becky with us in person again Also good to see Judge/Justice/bass guitarist McAdams and to hear his confession about having his fingerprints rejected….unclear why that happened but the irony abounds Lowry reminded us of the pumpkin painting We will also be doing a trash cleanup headed by Nelson Eric was the detective and asked several questions about football. We did pretty well considering Eric fumbled one question- he didn’t know where the first Super Bowl was played—he can be forgive- it was before he was born Nelson reminded us that actually the first two games between what was the NFL and AFL were not called Super Bowls Anissa is taking a leave of absence because of the demands of her new job, she will be sorely missed Our guest speaker Diane Syrcke is the head of Hospice of Santa Cruz. She has an MBA and an MS in music and showed her talents in both. She started with the banjo and UTI, gave an outstanding presentation and finished with a song in her operatic voice. Quite the Renaissance woman. Diane spoke and gave a power point about the basics of hospice caregiving and the particular qualities and programs that Hospice of Santa Cruz offers. As a non-profit it provides more services than for-profit organizations and it continually ranks highest in reviews. Hospice of Santa Cruz started in 1978. It offers transitional care, hospice and pediatric care. The hospice component is to provide palliative and transitional care and grief support for the family. Services are provided to anyone who needs them. Medicare pays for hospice and nobody is ever turned away. They have recently begun a program called Kid wise - for kids up to age 20 who have medically limiting conditions. The program was made possible by the Affordable Care Act. They also have a youth grief camo for kids 7-17. Obviously close to her heart, they also provide music therapy which has been extremely helpful. Sharing also a bit of what it was the Aptos Chamber Business Showcase Pam, Lowry, Nelson and Doug, represented the Club at the table interacting with many. The surprise of the Event was Lowry winning the raffle, not once but TWICE!! That's a Champ! Our next meeting is Thursday September 28 at the Fairfield Inn on 41st Ave. at 5 pm. Let’s have another big turnout! |
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The Hub || September 7th, 2023Our September 7 meeting was lunch at Seascape. We had 16 members in person and two on zoom. Folks: let’s try to get more people attending in person. If you need help with transportation or zoom please ask. One of the strengths of rotary is development of friendships and teamwork. The in person meetings are the best way to develop and maintain those. There was a dearth of music- no Al, Sam Welcome Song or 4 way test song. In fact we didn’t even have a bell. Ken offered to have his bell rung but since none of the attendees were his clients there were no takers. Pam brought guest Bob Gloye. They went to junior high together. Bob is retired and a member of the Almaden Valley Rotary. Dr Art had the thought of the day: Righteous indignation is jealousy with a halo Rich’s humor was telling an anecdote and having members guess the jokester- Bill knew it was Rodney Dangerfield who said he joined AA with the caveat, “I still drink, but do it using a different name” The county fair starts Wednesday and we have some members participating so let’s get out there and show support. Laura’s baked goods will be on display Saturday morning We’re looking to reschedule the beach cleanup We’re going to be sponsoring pumpkin painting in late October – no kids with knives. Details to develop. December 9 will be the next Wine Wander in Aptos – a good opportunity to raise money and drink wine- doesn’t get much better than that. Dr Art was the Detective. He subject was the month of October. We learned that October is Cat month, blueberry popsicle month, self-improvement month, whole grains month and Hispanic International Dancing month. To show our support we will be having a self-improvement day where we will be learning Spanish dancing with a meal made from whole grains followed by dessert of blueberry popsicles. The cats were invited but declined saying they are already perfect and will scratch anyone who tries to make them dance. Our guest speaker was Brenda Birrell of the Global Uplift Project. Brenda has degrees in physics and education from Cambridge. She was a pioneering woman in Silicon Valley tech but moved to education as a counselor at Los Altos HS in 2007. They generated the idea of raising money for beneficial projects via many small donations by starting with getting donations from kids in high school. The program has been a great success. It raises funds for projects like schools, wells, birthing centers and sewing centers in poor countries. Kenya, Nepal, Cameroon, Nicaragua, Indonesia and Tanzania. Rotary clubs helped fund the projects in Kenya, Indonesia and Nicaragua. Brenda spoke about the Save A Girl Project which provides washable sanitary pads and accessories so menstruating girls aren’t kept home from school or embarrassed. She noted that misconceptions about menstruation also contribute to young girls becoming very young mothers or forced to marry- the project seeks to end those. |
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The Hub || August 24th, 2023Dear fellow Rotarians: Our August 24 meeting was at the Fairfield Inn at 5pm. We had 20 ish attendees. Pam ran the meeting with her usual panache. Since this next meeting happens on the 5th Thursday of the month there is no meeting- it is a service day. We are helping at Second Harvest at 10 am, Aug 31st, 2023. Anissa brought guest JM Brown, chief of staff to Bruce McPherson- great guy with lots of insights and sense of humor Nelson brought his sister Tracy who is charming and also got the hair and looks in the family. President Pam repeated that we need more attendees at the meeting- Hey- NON ATTENDEES: WTH? (WTH means What The Heck?!) a big part of Rotary is camaraderie, as well as participation in our events. Start showing up!!! Dr Art had the thought for the day : if at first don’t succeed don’t tell anyone. Long-ago deposed Prez. Ken is hosting a hike through Nisene Marks forest this Saturday September 2nd. Meet at his house at 365 Danube drive by 10 am if you want to go. Hike will be about 3 miles, 90 minutes. A hill or two and the trails are getting a little dusty so wear shoes/sneakers with a good tread. There will be a rehydration meeting on Ken's front lawn starting 11:30-noonish. Folks are welcome to attend that even if they miss the hike. Guests are welcome. If the weather cooperates Ken will also open his pool. Beverages are free but all Rotarian attendees are expected to donate to Rotary. Our next beach cleanup is September 9th Pickleball clinic is at Win's September 10th. See him or Lowry for details. Mardi spoke about a school in Africa that she is helping fund raise for. The Event is held September 23rd at Common Roots Farms 11am to 3pm. Lowry said there will be an event on 10/28 for the reveal of the playground design for the new Jade Street park- pumpkin painting? maybe a Rotary booth? He also reminded us that signups for all the events are being sent on line. Mardi was the detective. She ransomed Ken’s wallet back to him. Our guest speaker was Doron Comerchero from Food What. He is from the Bronx but is a Mets fan. |
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The Hub || August 17th, 2023Our August 17 meeting featured a panel of elected officials discussing Government / Community Organization Partnerships. Capitola City Council Member Yvette Brooks started by describing the Jade Street project, which includes a Universally Accessible Playground. Universally accessible playgrounds give access to children of all abilities, encouraging them to break social barriers and play together. The City of Capitola has allocated $475,000 towards the project, and County Parks Friends will lead community fundraising of an additional $1,000,000. Capitola - Aptos Rotary plans to work together with other Santa Cruz County Rotary Clubs to contribute to the fundraising campaign, similar to what we did for LEO's Haven in Live Oak. Cupertino Mayor and Rotary District 5170 Governor Hung Wei spoke about her experiences with similar projects in both local government and Rotary. Key to success is getting the entire community involved, as everyone will benefit from the playground as a gathering place for residents and visitors. Santa Cruz County Supervisor Zach Friend worked on LEO’s Haven with Tricia Wiltshire Potts. Zach said that community member collaboration with government works best when everyone agrees on the need, and then works together to explore and find the right solution. Club members Paul and Lisa Duren spoke about the inclusivity, development and social benefits of UA playground, drawing on their experience as parents of a differently abled child. While their daughter Kayla has passed away, this project will benefit children and their families like Kayla. DG Hung Wei was moved, and contributed $1000 to kick off our fundraising drive! Thanks Hung! Other community members attending included Tricia Wiltshire Potts from County Park Friends, Rotary Assistant Governor Kristin Fabos, Karen and John HIbble from the Aptos Chamber of Commerce, Steve Bennett and Sylvia Hernandez from Freedom Rotary, Richard Emigh from Surf City Kiwanis, Past District Governor Ron Sekkel, and Sam Storey, former Capitola Mayor. These and the other guests got to hear all members sing the club welcome song, accompanied by video of Sam and Rich McAdams. DG Hung Wei recognized Dr. Art Dover for his Paul Harris Society membership and substantial history of contributions and service projects for Rotary. We also photographed Hung with all Red Badge members. The Club's next meeting is a dinner meeting on Thursday 8/24 5pm at the Fairfield Marriott - we’ll learn about the FoodWhat?! youth program. So we have enough food provided by our caterer, Busy Bee's, please register at https://portal.clubrunner. |
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2023 Second Annual Pickleball Tournament | REGISTRATION OPEN!!The Second Annual Pickleball Tournament hosted by Capitola-Aptos Rotary Club's registration link is live on Eventbrite! Register today! https://www.eventbrite.com/e/pickleball-tournament-benefits-cabrillo-veterans-and-capitola-aptos-rotary-registration-695511021187 ALL proceeds raised from this event benefit our local non profits and youth scholarship programs as well as the Cabrillo College Veterans. Want to see the fun we had at the 2022 Pickleball Tournament? Watch the video on our YouTube via this link: https://youtu.be/3XFsEdG2vWI Or on our TikTok or Instagram!
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The Hub || August 3rd, 2023
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The Hub || July 20th, 2023Our July 20 meeting was at Seascape. For those of you who showed up someplace on July 27- we had no meeting because we had the debunking at Michele's house.... We had 25 attendees One of our guests was Lexus Castrejon, our scholarship recipient from Aptos HS. She is going to SFSU to study criminal justice and forensic pathology. Michele brought her guest Erica Padilla Chavez who we would like to have as a member Mindy Pedaler joined us along with our guest speaker Andrea Hart from Cabrillo Stage/Drama Mindy gave a thank you speech to Rotary for supporting her magician's troupe when she was a kid-and she made a $20 donation. Dr Art's thought for the day: Freedom is a fragile thing and never more than one generation away Sam provided the joke: before you criticize someone, walk a mile in their shoes. That way when you criticize them you will be a mile away and they won't have any shoes. Truly the Rotarian spirit Sam led in the Welcome Song- Rocking it on guitar and with his Elvis-like voice Trivia photos taken last week for detective/fundraising: Guess the legs Guess the hat Guess the head Where is Nelson’s Sports Bar? Only 2 people have correctly answered before Announcements: Membership Monday is August 7 We need volunteers for committees for service projects District 5170 has started a Climate Action Project and a solar panel project needs members/volunteers Rich was the joker- his R rated joke about a Freudian slip was funny but your author is not going to write it Our guest speaker was Andrea Hart, the artistic director at Cabrillo Stage. She gave a great presentation on the ongoing showing of the Hunchback of Notre Dame. Completely unbiased- Matt says it was great. Also unbiased and raving about it- Michele and pretty much everyone else who has seen it. Andrea took us through the production from deciding on what play to put on through the development of the sets (fabulous), costumes, assembly of the cast and choir, rehearsals and a few teasing trailers. Mindy said it is the best choir she ever heard in her 30+ years. The set is 3 stories. Its construction has been overseen by Skip Epperson who has trained generations of students, many of whom are now professionals but come back to help here. That shows. Sue won the lottery! Unfortunately, just ours, not the $978 million power ball. The debunking at Michele's was fabulous- perfect weather, great tributes and playful fun about Kendra and Laura, fabulous food, questionable alcoholic beverages (but no shortage) and the awesome accommodations at Michele and Dean's place. See everyone today at Seascape!!! |
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The Hub | July 13th, 2023Our July 13th meeting was in the evening at the Fairfield Inn. We had 22 attendees in person and 2 on zoom Pam and Lowry ran their first meeting as co-presidents effortlessly-meant in the good way-not lack of effort There were several announcements about our participation in recent projects/events- the July 4 beer and wine pour; the Aptos Wine wander and the Rio del Mar beach cleanup, and our service day at Loaves and Fishes. We had no musicians so no music. Michele announced the fund raising Pedal for Rising International and Monarch Fundraising which we have supported in their efforts against sex trafficking and a fundraising effort for Ukrainian refugees Michele's guest was Erica, CEO of Second Harvest Food Bank…she is joining…as soon as she get a house in SC County – and her offer was accepted while we were in our meeting….so we are on our way!! Tricia Potts guest was Heather who is a nurse focusing on helping kids who have experienced drug problems, abuse and other trauma, and she is also a life coach. Let's push to get her to join!. Ken reminded members about the debunking which is Tuesday 7/25 at Michele's house at 133 Cutter Drive on the lake in Watsonville. $65 per ticket, food and beverages and entertainment included as we honor and perhaps tease our just-past co-presidents Laura and Kendra and thank them for their service. Lowry has sent out an e-vite, please RSVP, it’s very easy Paul was the Detective- 2 meetings in a row! Members did fairly well with the questions. Those of us who did not know the answers learned, among other things: The new President of Rotary International is Gordon McNally and this year's theme is "Create Hope in the World." We also learned about key calendar events to plan our lives around: National Whistleblower Day; National daiquiri day; Lollipop day; and Gran Mariner day Our guest speaker was Tricia Wiltshire who spearheaded the construction of the inclusive playground at Leo's Haven. She said she was just a mom with a kid with needs and no experience in fundraising but obviously great determination. She spoke and had a slide show about her new project which is to build a universal playground at Jade Street park. There's a million dollar fundraising effort including the city of Capitola and non-profits. She said this project is moving much faster than Leo's Haven. |
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The Hub | June 15th, 2023Our June 15, 2023 meeting was a lunch at Seascape Golf Course, and we covered a very important topic: Scammers and Scams. *Sept 2023 Update* 60 Minutes recently had a segment on scam/frauds that are commonly happening, please watch this video to learn about frequently used scams so you can protect yourself AGAINST this. The entire June talk our club had was recorded as well, and the link is available to view on YouTube! Please watch this so you do not become a victim of these horrible, morally corrupt scammers. |
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The Hub | June 22nd, 2023 | Club AssemblyOur June 22 meeting was dinner at the Fairfield Inn. We had about 24 attendees in person, Michele B and Mardi on Zoom Dave brought Jessica as his guest- It was Julie’s 37th birthday and she was serenaded with an a capella Happy Birthday Cookies Kendra lead the meeting with her usual and irrepressible exuberance. This was her last time leading the meeting for at least this term of her co-presidency as there is a regime change starting this week- Lowry and Pam are taking over as Co-Presidents Kendra announce that we will be co-sponsoring the Aptos Wine Wander on July 1, with Santa Cruz Mountain Winegrowers Assoc. It is in Aptos village and costs $50 to attend. We get 20 per cent of net profit from the event. Attendees will get to visit and taste at 14-17 wineries/businesses. We will have a table there-ostensibly to provide information about our club but also perhaps to sleep under after 14-17 wine samples! We need afternoon volunteers. We are once again celebrating the spirit of the USA by plying Fourth of July celebrants at Aptos Village Park with beer and making money off their thirst and inebriation. We may still need a few volunteers. We are also doing a Beach cleanup 7/5 at Rio del Mar beach, Dagmar is unavailable so Lowry is coordinating. There is (unfortunately) likely to be much trash to pick up following the July 4 holiday. Meet at 10am on Weds July 5th at RDM Beach. Dr. Art provided 2 thoughts of the day: No amount of evidence will ever persuade an idiot; and Kindness is a virtue the deaf can hear and blind can see. Another big event: the Debunking of Kendra and Laura is 7/25 at Michele’s estate/yacht club starting at 5 pm. It will be catered. Alcohol will be provided by members are also encouraged to BYOB. Ticket prices are being worked out. It is doubtless going to be much fun though there is much less to material to tease Kendra and Laura about then there was for Ken last year... Still, anyone who wants a chance at the microphone please contact Ken.
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July 1, 2023 Aptos Wine Wander eventA portion of the proceeds support the Capitola-Aptos Rotary Club's Grants Program through our Club's Foundation! To get more details or to purchase your ticket ($45 if purchased before 6/15!) visit this link! Join us in the heart of Aptos for an afternoon of wine tasting. Discover local Santa Cruz Mountains wineries, while strolling through Aptos Village businesses. The Wine Wander is a partnership with the Capitola-Aptos Rotary, Wines of the Santa Cruz Mountains and Aptos Village Businesses. Tickets are $45 before June 1, $50 after June 15 Participating Wineries: Participating Businesses: |
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The Hub | June 1st, 2023Our June 1 lunch meeting was at Seascape We had 27 attendees in person and two on zoom To celebrate the month Kelly and Doug wore shorts. The rest of us are still cold. The shorts were a great contrast to Eric’s suit. Our club embraces a variety. Sam, Al and ( his Honor) Rich , “Under the Influence,” did fabulous versions of the Welcome Song and 4 Way test song. Other great bands with three word names are known by catchy initials: CCR, BTO, ELO…Maybe not this band, “ And now, Capitola, Aptos Rotary proudly gives you: UTI!!!” Dave brought his granddaughter Leighanna, Anissa sent her friend Jess Kile as a prospective member. Jess is a pediatric oncology nurse at Stanford and lives in Aptos Let’s do what we can to convince her to be a member Dr. Art’s thought for the day: don’t speak to the press, they are likely to report what you said. Ken's joke of the day is too long for the brevity required for the Hub. Since June has five Thursdays, the last Thursday will be a service day. We will not have a club meeting that day, but all members are encouraged to volunteer at Loaves and fishes in Watsonville, starting at 11 AM. Probably going to 1-130 |
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2023 Derby Party Photos Download LinkLINK to download photos from the 2023 Derby Party Fundraiser! All photos were taken by our amazing photographer (and Rotarian!) Mardi Padilla of Marmi Photography! And a HUGE Thank you to our event sponsors: Costello Wealth Strategies: Aptos Travel Clinic: Penrose, Chun & Gorman Law Offices Bay Federal Credit Union Fast Eddy's Billiards 1st Capital Bank: Franklin Templeton Investments: Our In-Kind considerations to make this event a success were provided by: Specialized Helicopters Marmi Photography Integrity Wines And donations made that were used in our raffle and as contest prizes were donated by: Revelry Coolers Cantine Winepub Trader Joe's Capitola Thank you to everyone who came and supported this event, we cannot wait to see you next year for the Second Annual Capitola-Aptos Rotary Kentucky Derby Party Fundraiser on Saturday, May 4, 2024! MARK YOUR CALENDARS NOW!
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The Hub | May 25th, 2023Our May 26 meeting was dinner at the Fairfield Inn in Capitola, our speaker was Supervisor Zach Friend and we had three of our seven scholarship recipients in attendance! We had about 25 members in person, none on zoom, five guests and three of our scholarship recipients. We had to borrow chairs from the lounge and napkins from the restrooms. We had far too much macaroni salad, but that sweet potato casserole (AKA the Vegan tofu meal that everyone thought was for them, not just the vegan eaters!!) was a big hit and the chicken with optional barbecue sauce was delicious
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The Hub | May 11th, 2023Our second May meeting was at dinner at the Fairfield by Marriott in Capitola. We had about 25 attendees in person and 3 on zoom. The catered food got good reviews. Several people remembered to bring wine and we could use more next time. We have tentatively admitted 3 new members, including Claire McAdams’ husband Rich, or as he is formally known, the Honorable Justice Richard McAdams. He was the youngest Superior Court Judge in California and served in Santa Cruz County for 30 years before being appointed to the court of appeals. Our club now has 3 lawyers, a judge, and the son of one of the most prominent lawyers in the Bay Area. An unfortunate demographic? The jury is still out (sorry). Fortunately our 2 other new members are not in the legal profession. Jack Hunt is an ‘almost retired’ mechanical engineer. Lisa Harvey-Duren, wife of member Paul Duren, is a patient advocate and advisor for pharmaceutical companies. Kendra ran the meeting with her usual exuberance. Sam and Al were absent and the welcome song appeared lost until Kelly lead an impromptu a cappella version, and his signature baritone. Kelly had a lot of energy in this meeting, much like he had behind the bar at the Derby party. The Inaugural Derby party raised over $5000. We had more than 50 attendees. It was a bit disappointing that only 13 of them were members. Everyone had a great time, good venue, pleasant, and as always, it was for a good cause. We hope to have much better club turnout next year. Eric picked the winning horse, rumors that he can retire on that are unconfirmed. The winner of the ladies hat contest was Michele‘s neighbor. And it cost $3000. Just saying Co president in waiting Lowry discussed the survey that will be going to the members regarding meetings. Kendra reminded everyone of Saturday’s car seat drive In Dr. Art's absence Craig has a thought for the day : we should make our passwords “incorrect“. Makes great sense Deposed president, Ken was the detective. There were a number of questions about Rotary History and unrelated historical events that occurred on May 11. Kelly correctly answered: what actor starred in Casablanca, the big sleep , and the Maltese falcon? Humphrey Bogart He also correctly answered: who married Lauren Bacall, won an Oscar for the African Queen, and died in 1957? Also, Humphrey Bogart The problem is that the question posed was: who was the first Rotarian to walk on the moon? Twice because it seemed he didn’t hear it the first time. Our guest speaker was Sophia Shwierzke of Central Coast Community Energy. She gave a PowerPoint on her company that purchases alternative energy from various sources in California and Arizona and sells it to PG&E customers for less than PG&E charges. Their rates are about 18% less for residential customers Rick asked why California energy prices were so much higher than other states. She did not know. Per the state of Nebraska, which has the cheapest energy in the country, California energy costs are more expensive than every state except Hawaii, Washington, about 80% above the national average. Rick also asked if the high prices were because California is a one-party state. Your author has been a California attorney for 35 years and has not seen the law limiting us to one party. Is that per year, per household? Does it apply to nonprofit corporations? Without admitting anything, your author might be a serial offender – we have birthday parties, Mother’s Day, Father’s Day, parties, football parties, pool parties and I’d better stop there. I will ask the rest of the clubs legal brain-trust to make sure we are not running a-foul of the one party rule. Laura pointed out to our guest speaker that actually some of the power sources on the map on her PowerPoint were in Arizona, and Nevada, not California. That type of tactful, cross examination, might warrant admission into the legal brain-trust. The debunking of Kendra and Laura will be July 25 at the Watsonville yacht club, otherwise known as Michele Bassi’s residence. Start time will be 5–5 thirtyish. More details to follow. |
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5/17/23 || Last call for Car & Booster Seat drop off!If you got our email address on Saturday to arrange a later porch drop off of booster & car seats, we need them by mid afternoon TODAY! Please get in touch with us right now if you were one of the people we were talking to!! |
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May 13th County Wide Car Seat Drive! |
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The Hub || April 20th, 2023
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The Hub || April 13th, 2023Fellow Cap-Ap Rotarians:
Derby Party Sponsorships: $500 sponsorship gets you Public Recognition including your logo on event materials, being mentioned at the event, your logo being used on all our social media channels (fb, IG, TikTok, Twitter and YouTube) along with on our club website. Please contact CPOM Kendra at kcleary.rotary@gmail.com to sign up.
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May 6th Kentucky Derby Sponsorship OpportunityThere are still sponsorships available, contact kcleary.rotary@gmail.com for more details or to confirm your interest! We want to thank our Sponsors who have already committed to this event! |
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May 6th Kentucky Derby Party Ticket LinkGet your tickets TODAY via Eventbrite! |
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The Hub || April 6th, 2023Our April 6 meeting was at the Seascape Golf Clubhouse We had 23 attendees in person and 2 on zoom- Becky and Sue Co-President Kendra presided Dr Art gave the thought for the day: It talking was more important than listening we would have 2 mouths and 1 ear Visiting Rotarians were Dave Culver and Tom McCullough from Sunrise We also had a neophyte potential Rotarian- recently retired Jack Hunt Al led us in the Welcome song And made references to his Portuguese heritage Pam and Mardi managed to be the only women sitting at tables with 6 men Where are our women members???? Becky celebrated her 40th wedding anniversary- of course she looks like she must have been a teenage bride- her husband has lived a charmed life Rich is going on a months- long road trip circling the US with his dog- we expect many Rotary flags |
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The Hub March 22nd, 2023 || UCSC Field Trip for ‘22-‘23 Piatt Scholar, Kevin WeatherwaxOur 3/22 meeting was a field trip to UCSC to celebrate the award of the Piatt Scholarship and honor Kevin Weatherwax, this year's recipient in the Baskin Engineering Building lab/office where he and his colleagues work. Our Rotary crew pictured with Kevin, Dean Biehl, Almut, Kevin's Mentor Kate Ringland, and the other UCSC Foundation staff We had about 22 club attendees in person Sue on Zoom and about 8 folks from UCSC. We were hosted by Graduate School Dean Dr. Peter Biehl and Almut Wulf (who both visited us last year for the presentation) and Advising Professor Kate Ringland. One of our guides/chaperones/bouncers (needed as Al was in attendance today) was Alexandria Leckliter who was in RotarAct and, as importantly, her dad was a gymnastics coach. Special memories for Trish who is a UCSC alum. Parking was like Scouts on a scavenger hunt though we were eventually directed to the Core 4 parking garage where Almut had reserved spots for us. Found out the hard way that the parking lots identified on the on-line maps as "no-permit required" are only "no-permit required" after 4pm.... Once we navigated our way (or were rescued) we were led to the lab where Kevin and some of the other students who work in his department gave summaries of their projects aimed at assisting neurodivergent people. They call their workplace "the Misfit Lab." It was clear from just the brief statements the younger students gave that they were brilliant but they managed to translate the techno-lingo so we could understand it. Perhaps the most discussed subject was the 2 foot high robot in the room who looks like a non-flying version of EVA from Wall-e. We were also continually scanned and colorized images of us projected onto a screen as part of the team's ongoing studies of human movement that is being used to help robots interact with humans in public. We were assured that our DNA was not being replicated for insertion into our roboticized replacement clones. There was a keyboard for Al and Sam brought his ukelele and led us in the Welcome Song and the 4 Way test song. The UCSC folks all said they loved the music. They were not just being polite. |
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Kentucky Derby Party || BUY YOUR TICKETS NOW! |
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March 2023 Storms & Flooding Response || Rotary in ActionCPOM Kendra here: “I want to make it abundantly clear we are not writing this page and it's contents to merely toot our own horn. We do want to acknowledge the Rotarians in our club who heard the call for help & showed up to do the work that was needed by our neighbors and community. But also The Capitola-Aptos Rotary Club's Board of Directors feels that transparency in what we do in our community, both during the good times and the bad is necessary. Since the community at large donates to our efforts (both via direct donations for specific projects and with support of our fundraising events like the Beer Booth and Pickleball Tournament) for the work we do in "Y/OUR Community" we want to be very clear on the activities we do and support, both monetarily and via our physical labor/boots on the ground approach.” Special Storm Cleanup Edition of The Hub March 2023 Date: Sunday, March 12, 2023 Location: Watsonville Fairgrounds Shelter Once we heard about the Pajaro Levee Break Co-Presidents Laura & Kendra headed out to the Fairgrounds to see if they had any immediate needs. A list of items they needed was going around, but from our club's experience in the '89 earthquake there was such an immediate response that the needs were changing by the hour. So we headed out to meet the Shelter Coordinator on site and see what they needed that we could look them in the eye and say "we'll be right back with XYZ." We met the On-Site Shelter Coordinator who was fantastic, they needed new Blankets, towels and washcloths, and men's & women's underwear. But they could not accept the items until tomorrow as they didn't have the room to store anything since it was a Sunday late afternoon. They had volunteers coming first thing Monday to sort through and organize all the donations. Armed with a donated 20% off Kohl's Coupon and $7 in Kohl's Cash, we headed to Kohl's and Ross to see what we could get. We spent $460 and got 9 blankets, 12 bath towels, 12 washcloths, 11 packages of men's underwear, 8 packages of women's underwear, and $30 in Kohl's Cash which was used later in the week to buy 12 pairs of Under Armor Compression Crew Socks. Unfortunately by late Monday Morning the Fairgrounds had sorted and had no more room to accept anything. Date: Monday, March 13, 2023 Location: Cabrillo College Shelter So on Monday Lunchtime as soon as we heard that the Cabrillo College Shelter would be opening at 5pm we decided to head down with our purchased items and see if that was what they needed. Pictured on this table are the men's and women's underwear we had purchased the day prior! We met the On-Site Coordinators, Georgina and Jessika, and they needed the blankets and towels and underwear! We gave them our phone numbers and said we had a budget to fill any immediate needs and to not hesitate to call us if there was something that came up that was needed. Date: Tuesday, March 14, 2023 Location: Coral St. Clinic & Cabrillo College Shelter On Tuesday Afternoon we heard from Georgina, they needed someone to transport a few evacuated houseless people (who had lived on the San Lorenzo Levee are that was flooded) from the Coral St. Clinic to the Cabrillo Shelter in a van. Since we did not have a van, and we needed a van since some of our riders had mobility issues and they all had all their possessions with them, the club rented a minivan from Enterprise (Shout out to Enterprise on Ocean who gave us a 10% discount on the rental!) and we did three round trips to transport people to the Cabrillo Shelter. After our last transport, we talked to the On-Site Coordinator of the day (they are assigned in 12 hour shifts) and they had a family arrive from Pajaro---we had seen them walk in as we walked in some of the people we had brought from Coral St. Laura (L) walking in one of our transportee's, Andrew (middle), along with a Twin Lakes Soup Kitchen Volunteer (R) we met at the Shelter. The family had toddlers in diapers but there were not diapers in the sizes they needed at the Cabrillo Shelter--only newborn size diapers. So a translator and Co-Pres Laura headed over to see if there was anything else they needed since we were going to get diapers and to confirm the diaper size they needed. They explained they left so quickly the father only had the clothes he was wearing and asked if we knew of any clothes he could get. And they needed Size 5 & 6 Diapers. So off to Costco we went and we got Sizes 4, 5 & 6 diapers (since we didn't see size 4 in the shelter inventory). We also got two boxes of wipes. We got 1800 wipes and 798 diapers in three sizes! On our way back to Cabrillo with the diapers and wipes we called two of our members who were about the same size as the Pajaro father, and asked if they had any clothes in good condition they could donate. They did and we want to shout out to IPP Ken and Rotarian Sam who stepped up and provided bags of clothes for this gentleman. Date: Wednesday, March 15, 2023 Location: Second Harvest Food Bank On the way to our Second Harvest Food Bank food sorting shift Co-Pres Kendra dropped off some of the donated clothes from IPP Ken, and checked in with the shelter's immediate needs. Then four of our club's Rotarians, CPOM Kendra, Eric, Co-PE Lowry and Nelson, arrived at Second Harvest Food Bank for a volunteer food sorting shift. They boxed 4,000 lbs. of Oranges, and 8,000 lbs. (which was 208 cartons) of Grapefruits! The Rotary crew's pre-shift photo! Lowry and Eric with the big barrel of oranges we were filling the boxes from. Nelson with the Oranges Box! Nelson and Lowry. Eric stacking Orange filled boxes! Nelson filling bags of Grapefruits. Lowry filling the bags with Grapefruits. Our little crew at the end of our shift! #RotariansInAction #RotariansAtWork As usual Dr. Art did his weekly volunteer shift at Pajaro Valley Loaves & Fishes, and CPOM Kendra had a discussion with Executive Director Ashley about the needs their organization will have in the coming months, as they serve the displaced migrant community during this tragedy. They are preparing for the next few months as it will be a time of grave food insecurity among the evacuated & displaced population because the crops that they should be harvesting and getting paid for their work to do, they will not be (due to the flooded fields), so in addition to losing their homes and belongings, the steady work they count on will also not be there in the quantity it usually is. The cleanup from this set of storms and the levee break will take months if not years to fix the reverberations throughout the community. This is project will not be a sprint; it will be a marathon. And we Rotary Clubs are working together and have committed to being HERE and doing our part long after everyone else’s initial surge of help and attention is long gone. Capitola-Aptos Rotary is supporting Pajaro Valley Loaves & Fishes both with volunteer time and with funding, and we encourage you to do so also. Additionally our club has set aside at minimum of $4000 to go directly to Storm & Flood Disaster Relief, our only contingent on the money is that our club has to be involved in a project, we will not just be making a blind donation to another group in our area who is collecting money. We are requiring what we call "boots on the ground" involvement by some of our Rotarians. If you would like to add to our storm and flooding disaster relief funds, we will add them to our money and spend them the same way we are spending our own money, you can donate via PayPal or Venmo. (I want to mention that we are a PayPal Certified Charity, which assures you of our integrity and also significantly reduces any transaction fee's that are usually associated with giving funds electronically.) |
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Save The Date! Car Seat Drive || Spring 2023To learn more about our Car Seat Drives, visit this link where we wrote about our December 2022 plan! And visit our Facebook Photos to see the pictures from our event!
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The Hub February 16th, 2023 || Rep. Panetta VisitMembers: Rep. Jimmy Panetta pictured with Club Co-Presidents Kendra Cleary & Laura Grinder
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The Hub March 2nd, 2023Fellow Rotarians: Our March 3 meeting was held via zoom only because of covid concerns. Turnout was small- 15 stalwart members, no guests. The meeting was also short because we had no guest speaker. Co-Prez Kendra was flush with excitement at her joke of the day: Why were lawyers created? So that toilet plungers would have something to look down on. Laura reminded us that International Women's Day is 3/19. Please sign up to carpool to the Rotary International event in San Jose. Last year there were 120 attendees, about 1/3 were non-Rotarians. |
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The Hub || First Rotary Dinner Meeting! || February 23rd, 2023Dear Rotarians, Our February 23 meeting was at the beautiful Episcopal Church of St. John in Seacliff. Thanks to Win and Nelson for making the arrangements. 25 members and a few guests attended. Food was brought in by Rotary Owned Catering business Busy Bee's Cafe & Catering and served buffet via buffet- as was a generous assortment of wine. No corkage fee. No jokes about changing water into it please. Busy Bee's Chef Ty pictured with Co Prez Kendra, and the lovely buffet we were served! Feb 23rd's menu was Meat Loaf, Mashed Potatoes, Green Bean Salad and those amazing rolls we have all come to adore!! |
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The Hub February 2nd, 2023
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The Hub January 26th, 2023Our January 26, 2023 lunch was at Seascape. Remember, our February 2 lunch is at the Fairfield Inn on 41st Ave. in Capitola. Do not go to Seascape at noon unless you want to avoid all of us AND get a $20 fine. |
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January 2023 Storm Cleanup || Rotary In ActionCPOM Kendra here: “I want to make it abundantly clear we are not writing this page and it's contents to merely toot our own horn. We do want to acknowledge the Rotarians in our club who heard the call for help & showed up to do the work that was needed by our neighbors and community. But also The Capitola-Aptos Rotary Club's Board of Directors feels that transparency in what we do in our community, both during the good times and the bad is necessary. Since the community at large donates to our efforts (both via direct donations for specific projects and with support of our fundraising events like the Beer Booth and Pickleball Tournament) for the work we do in "Y/OUR Community" we want to be very clear on the activities we do and support, both monetarily and via our physical labor/boots on the ground approach.” Special Storm Cleanup Edition of The Hub January 26, 2023 Date: Saturday, January 21, 2023 Location: Aptos Hills and Soquel Village CPOM Kendra did a fabulous job organizing teams for our volunteer cleanup work. Unfortunately she out-organized the volunteer center which waited until late Friday-early Saturday to assign us and instead of cleaning up the beach or a creek 7 of us ended up at a private residence in the Aptos Hills owned by a 66 year old woman. Her driveway was flooded by a seasonal stream that dumped tons of mud and debris and moved her large wood she about 50 feet off its foundation. The driveway was passable and the rest of the work required a bulldozer, not shovels and wheelbarrows, but the stalwart Rotarians moved mud and debris to widen the path for an hour or so and achieved as much as we could by hand. Kendra has some before and after photos. Some irony in that the owner asked for assistance in part because of her age and Kendra was the only one of us who doesn't have an AARP card. Our second job of the day that The Volunteer Center assigned to us was in Soquel, near the Soquel Creek and homes on Soquel Wharf Road that were flooded/mudded out. Kendra, Eric and Bert volunteered shoveling out mud from the residences. The more mud we shoveled the more mud appeared! Date: Sunday, January 22, 2023 Location: Capitola Village Sunday our small but mighty group of 5 club members joined a swarm of volunteers to clean up Capitola Village and move mountains of washed ashore trees, limbs, fence posts, decking, and in general storm debris. The volunteer descended upon the chaos like an army of ants among huge amounts of interlinked pick up sticks. We filled a humorous "green organic" dumpster to the top. While this was a great accomplishment, looking at the beach there is still lots to be done. Watch for more information about the ongoing efforts that are needed and our opportunities to help. The Volunteering Storm Clean Up Team are real Troopers! Everyone was very busy working this weekend. Thanks to all our Rotarians who gathered together to help the community, Kendra, Ken, Eric, Laura, Dr Art and Grandson Noah, Lowry, Kelly, Becky, Becky's Husband Ed, Julie, Nelson, Paul and Rotarian Bert, you guys rock! CPOM Kendra again: “At the January Board Meeting club our club has pledged $4000 to go directly to our Emergency Storm Fund, but one thing we have learned from living through the ‘89 quake and the‘95 Levee breach and the ‘98 El Niño, is that cleanup will be a marathon not a sprint. The only stipulation the board put on the committed funds is that it needs to be spent on or in conjunction with a project where we Rotarians are “boots on the ground” involved, we will not just be cutting a check to another organization and hoping they use the funds for storm response.” March 2023 Edit: If you like the work we are doing on the ground here in Santa Cruz County and want to support us by adding to our Storm Fund, you can donate via PayPal at this link: or via Venmo or PayPal through this QR code. (On Venmo please put with the payment that you want the money added to our Storm or Flood Relief fund.) |
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The Hub January 19th, 2023Our January 19, 2023 lunch meeting was at Seascape. The auspiciousness of the occasion was accented by a flyover by 3 Osprey heli-planes followed by a helicopter gunship and Marine One. They all would have joined us for lunch but we would have gone over our 25 person lunch allotment. We had about 20 attendees in person plus 4 on zoom. Dave was there in person- nice to see him again in person especially with his charming granddaughter-guest Ashleigh. Also nice to have Trish back and Jimmy K made it too. Good to have the full contingent of club lawyers. Al did a very hip welcome song on his keyboard a la Herbie Hancock. Rumor is that Sam is working on a Hendrix-styled rendition of the 4 Way Test song. Think Purple Haze/Rotary. Co-President Kendra ran the meeting and had a few announcements. Secret one- the reconnaissance team for an alternate venue was very pleased with the Fairfield Inn on 41st Ave.- working on a test run there soon. Watch this space and your e-mail inbox. Kendra also relayed that we had over- volunteered for storm-related cleanup. The City of Capitola couldn't handle all of us, State Parks said they would only allow Rangers to help. So Kendra gave her contact info to the Volunteer Center and told us to stand by. More on that adventure below. Thought of the day Dr Art: mask up and join for cleanup. Dr Art was also the Detective. He asked several of the members to tell us how the storms had changed their lives. Most of us reported nearly no effects, but Co-prez Laura had enough happen to make up for that: long power outages, trees down, road blocked and a tornado (Auntie Em!! Are we in Kansas?) Trish told about all the damage she saw at the beach. Our guest speaker was Kent Benedict MD, a friend of Dr. Art's. He gave a talk and power point (slide show of the 21st century) on a 37 day pilgrimage hike that he and his wife Paula took over the Pyrenees in Southern France into Spain and over the Galicios Camino de Santiago and eventually to the Spanish Coast. |
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The Hub January 5th, 2023Our 2023 Inaugural lunch meeting was 1/5/23 at Seascape. 15 intrepid members braved wind and rain to attend in person and 13 of them braved the lunch (kidding?) 4 members attended by zoom. The rest of y'all best have notes from PG&E that you were without power or equally convincing excuses for not at least zooming lest 'ye be fined (Assuming a Sgt at Arms attends)...(your reporter had a deposition all day 1/12/23 and you don't want to know). Konstantin attended in full storm regalia which even matched- a tribute to his European stylishness. Sam led us in the Welcome Song and 4 Way test song. Mardi zoomed us a presentation about the Christmas gifts to the Watsonville Nursing Center- it was touching to hear and see how grateful the seniors were and how much small things meant to them. Mardi also presented a rousing montage of photos of Capitola Aptos Rotary's Greatest Hits of 2022 Video here None of the Red Badgers, which will not excuse them from fines nor giving their requisite autobiographies. But as an additional affront, since they all whimped out in their debut we had no program. Co-President Kendra filled the time nicely. We won First Place in the Community Groups Division for our Christmas Lights exhibit at the County Fair!!! Congrats to all who planned, set-up, maintained and took down! Video here. The car seat drive organized by our club and Area 7 Presidents in conjunction with Baja Bridges had 30 seats and 6 bases collected from our drop off sites, and the local Rotary total was 80 seats, eight additional bases and one stroller. There will be another round of donations in the Spring. ( No, past-prez Ken does not need a booster seat for our lunches.....) More pictures here. |
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What is Happening in January 2023?We started a New Year wishing you all the best and we invite you to share Rotary with a friend. Our Club's Monthly Happy Hour is this January 11th, meeting starts 5pm at Cantine Wine Pub located at 8050 Soquel Drive, Aptos CA 95003. We invite you to get together socially for a casual talk with new members. Red Badge Wednesday Happy Hour also give potential Rotary members/curious lurkers(!) a chance to ask questions about what Rotary is! Also what's a "red badge" or a "blue badge" in Rotary mean? Or what's a "Paul Harris"? We will divulge all of those Rotary secrets! Next Monday January 23rd get ready for the Rotary Community Service Social Event Meet with us at the Hideout 9051 Soquel Dr, Aptos at 5:30pm. Please join us to meet Capitola-Aptos Rotary members and learn about our community projects. Enjoy no-host beverages at the Hideout Cocktails and Dining. We will be at the table in the back. We've served Santa Cruz County for 58years, providing opportunities for connection, community service and leadership. We are part of Rotary International, a global network of 1.4 million neighbors, friends, leaders and problem solvers where people unite and take action. All are welcome to attend, for more information see www.capitolaaptosrotary.org or contact co-president elect lowry.fenton@gmail.com Incoming news came last week from our Co-President elect Lowry Fenton who visited the Rotary Club Budapest-City, District 1911-Hungary. Welcome back Lowry and thank you for sharing your traveling journey with us.
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Curious about Capitola-Aptos Rotary?Hello! 👋🏼 Did you see our (winning!) exhibit at the Santa Cruz Co. Fair Holiday Lights? Or maybe our sign in Aptos, & that's why you are visiting our website? Well, WELCOME!!! We are Capitola-Aptos Rotary! We are a non profit organization of like minded community leaders who want to have fellowship and be of service. Our club was chartered in 1965 as the Rotary of Mid County, and we became Rotary of Capitola-Aptos in the 1980's. We are part of Rotary International's District 5170 (https://rotarydistrict5170.org/), Area 7 (which is all seven of the Santa Cruz County Rotary Clubs!). The programs that we are most proud of are as follows: 1. Community Grants The open application period is usually in Fall and local non-profits complete an application telling us about their organization and what they would be doing with the money if they are chosen. On Dec. 8, 2022 we gave out our most recent year's Community Grants. We gave out over $18,000 to this year's twelve non-profit recipients! The 2022 focus that our club board & grant committee identified as top priority were food insecurity, mental health, children's issues and protection for parents & children (domestic violence). In 2022 our Grant Recipient organizations were: For Kids Foundation Monterey Bay https://www.forkidsfoundationmontereybay.org/ To support our Community Grants Program, our members pay annual and quarterly dues, weekly meeting fees, and this is in addition to any annual donations our members make. We also hold a few events annually that raise more money to fund Grants. 💸💰💸 🍻🎆 4th of July Beer Booth: 🎇🍻 After the Aptos World's Shortest Parade we sell beer & hard seltzers in the Aptos Village Party in the Park. So every time you see us after the 4th of July parade buy an extra beer & leave a tip, since all the funds we raise support your local community! 🍽️🎤Annual Dinner & Roast:🍽️🎤 in the late fall we hold a gala where a local community member is roasted at a gourmet plated dinner. 🏓🎾 Pickleball Tournament:🎾🏓 2022 was our inaugural pickleball tournament and the event went so well we'll be holding our 2nd annual Pickleball in the Park Tournament in September 2023. 🐎🌹Kentucky Derby Party: 🌹🐎 In 2023 we'll be holding our inaugural Kentucky Derby Party! Stay tuned for more details but put May 6, 2023 on your calendar! For the 2023 Derby event tickets are NOW on sale! Buy your ticket here: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/595423075447 We have also fundraised and funded some very special large projects over the last decade alone! 2. High School Scholarships We give about $6000 annually to students who are graduating from Aptos & Soquel High Schools. To receive these scholarships students apply & write an essay, then once they are chosen they must come visit one of our club meetings to meet us & tell us about themselves & their plans! They also must provide proof of enrollment & grades to Treasurer Julie for a check to be cut, which goes directly to their institution of higher education. We also have a special scholarship called the John Fisher Scholarship---in honor of Past District Governor, RotaCare Bay Area Founder and our dear Rotarian Emeritus, John Fisher (1922-2020). John is in the center, seated, in the blue blazer. Here he is pictured with fellow Rotarians at his 95th birthday celebration in 2017. A little about our dear John: John was active in Rotary for over 60 years, achieving perfect attendance for decades! John served as Club President in Cupertino (1966-67) and again for the Capitola/Aptos Club (1981-82). In 1988-89 he was named as District Governor of 5170. John was a founding member of the RotaCare Free Clinics, providing no-cost medical treatment to the uninsured and working poor in the Bay Area, including Santa Cruz. RotaCare was a vision John brought to reality. John served as an active member of the RotaCare Bay Area Board of Directors from its inception. In 2019 he was honored with the RotaCare Lifetime Volunteer Award for his 30 years of service. In 2000, John was a recipient of the KSBW distinguished Jefferson Award presented to those who have exhibited outstanding service to their community as a volunteer. He traveled to Washington, D.C. to receive this award in the chambers of the U.S. Supreme Court. We established the John Fisher Scholarship after John's passing and locally graduating high school students from Aptos & Soquel High Schools who are going to be attending Cabrillo College. 3. Piatt (pronounced Pie-IT) Endowment at UCSC Capitola-Aptos Rotarian Henry Piatt and his wife Vera were children of Mid-America. Vera was born in Iowa in 1907 and Henry, in Missouri. In the late 1920's Henry was traveling the world with the U.S. Navy when he was stricken with Tuberculosis and hospitalized for treatment in a CO military facility. Vera was a nurse in that hospital. They fell in love, Vera resigned her commission and after Henry's recovery began their lifelong marriage, which brought them to Sacramento. Henry's business relationships led him to his first Rotary Club where he thrived in the "Service Above Self" philosophy. After relocating to Aptos, he became a member of The Rotary Club of Soquel in 1965, and remained a member until his death in 1984. His personable soft-spoken manner combined with vision & common sense made him a popular Rotarian and accounted for his long service as Club Secretary where he guided many Club Presidents during the 70's & 80's. Henry's vision of a Club Foundation to extend its capabilities to serve the community came to fruition, and in 1986 Vera established the Piatt Trust, which culminated in the Graduate Fellowship as it exists today. Vera passed on in 2007. When asked why a graduate fellowship? Henry replied "I want to fund our community's best and brightest!" Henry and Vera Piatt Fellowship is for Graduate Studies in the STEM Disciplines. The Piatt Fellowship provides a single award annually of $15,000 to a graduate of a Santa Cruz County Public High School who is pursuing a graduate degree at UC Santa Cruz in one of the science, technology, engineering or mathematics (STEM) disciplines during the academic year following their application. 🧬🔬🧫🧪🔭 The Henry and Vera Piatt Fellows are: Kevin Weatherwax, Ringland Lab (2022-2023) Megan Durham, Brooks Lab (2021-2022) John Wenger, Johnstone Lab (2020-2021) Veronica Urabe (2019-2020) Alexey Munishkin (2018-2019) Chad Townsend (2017-2018) Keelan Guiley, Rubin Lab (2016-2017) Christopher Deming, Chen Lab (2015-2016) Kenji Kurita, Linington Lab (2014-2015) Susanna "Susy" Honig (2013-2014) 4. Adopt-A-Beach and Quarterly Beach Cleanups: Rio Del Mar State Beach 🚮🚭🪣🚯♻️ We partnered with Save Our Shores (SOS) and have adopted Rio Del Mar State Beach in Aptos! Prior to the storm of January 2023 we even had a sign! Adopting a beach means we do quarterly beach clean ups at our designated location. What is a Rotary Meeting? Want to know what to expect?!
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Speech Contest 2023 launched today![[For Immediate Release: Dec. 1, 2022]] Capitola-Aptos Rotary Club's Youth Speech Contest to be held March 9th, 2023 LOCATION: Parish Hall of The Episcopal Church of St. John's (125 Canterbury Dr. Aptos, CA 95003) Happy Hour starts at 4:45pm Dinner Served at 5pm Speeches start at 5:15pm, Program concludes at 7pm. RSVP for a dinner ticket to the event is required (this is so we have enough food!) RSVP to kcleary.rotary(at)gmail.com by Sunday Evening, March 5, 2023. Busy Bee's Catering will be doing our meal. The menu is Chicken Cacciatore, Polenta, Vegetable and those Rolls we all love! Meal ticket is $35/pp. See PayPal link below to pay in advance. Richard D. King Speech Competition Theme: Imagine Rotary - the future of a global network of 1.4 million neighbors, friends, leaders, and problem-solvers who see a world where people unite and take action to create lasting change – across the globe, in our communities, and in ourselves. Imagine Rotary Info: Rotary International President Jennifer Jones wants members to imagine the possibilities in the change they can make to transform the world. Form to Apply: Last day to submit participant applications is February 17th, 2023 Rotary Capitola Aptos Club, gives $25 award to all students making a speech after they enter. |
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Rotary Car Seat (& Booster Seat) Drive! Dec 10th & 11thDo you have a car seat sitting in your shed or garage that is unused (and perhaps expired too) and you find it collecting dust year after year?! Well Rotary has the solution! The Rotary District 5170 Area 7 Clubs (which are the clubs of Santa Cruz County) are doing a car seat drive this weekend (12/10 & 12/11)! We are partnering with Baja Bridges to get the car seats down to---and distributed among---areas of Baja (Mulegé and Santa Rosalia during this drive) where the mortality rate of children in automobile accidents is high. Local fire houses in Baja are rolling out safety programs educating about the importance of car seats and booster seats (similar education programs to those done in the US in the 1970's and 1980's). Now that there is interest, the next problem being experienced is there aren't car seats available for the fire personnel to give out. Fire personnel are asking for more car seats to be brought down for them to distribute among their communities. That's where we come in! Attached is information with four of our drop off locations. We cannot wait to see you and accept your cleaned/all parts included and working car seats next weekend, December 10th & 11th! |
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The Hub October 20th, 2022Our October 20th lunch at Seascape had 27 attendees in person. Pledge Follies. Seascape’s American flag also attended, so we did not have to salute a virtual flag. Co-President Laura Grinder virtually missed seeing the real flag but recovered and did a great job leading the meeting. Attendance, Visiting Rotarians, and Guests. Al De Camara led us in the Welcome song on keyboard. Jimmy Kutch made it in person and is looking great! Likewise, nice to see Pam Goodman and Trish Glassey in person. Visiting Rotarians Anders Per and Constantin Gehriger again provided their European sophistication. Nelson Crandall claimed that his guest Barbara Meyer has been a friend of Nelson’s wife for 60 years; not so sure Nelson, they both look way too young for that. Michele Bassi brought her guest banking buddy Alicia Kretsch from Santa Cruz Community Credit Union. Your author remembers the days when bankers all looked like Milburn Drysdale (Beverly Hillbillies) pictured below. |
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The Hub October 13th, 2022Our October 13 lunch was attended by 28 in person attendees plus Mardi Padilla and Jimmy Kutch on Zoom. CPOM Laura Grinder ran the meeting with pizzaz and efficiency. Our Speaker for 10/13/22 was local social media and "Aptosia" Celebrity, Native Animal Rescue's own Amy RedFeather!!! (the "other" CPOM [Kendra] has been REALLY looking forward to this meeting!!) But first, the other bidzzzness: Strings and Keys: Sam and Al de Camara rocked the Welcome Song and the 4 Way Test song; good to have the band back together. Al brought his smaller keyboard, but size doesn't matter as much as performance and Al's piano sounded way better than the Seascape upright, which is still in absentia (with the flag). It is also free. Guest and Visitors: Laura brought her long time friend Mary Bevernick as a first time guest. Perennial visiting Rotarian Anders Pers is in town for a while to escape the Swedish winters. And it is nice to have Bill Gray back from his yacht club-living in Washington. Honorary member Yvette Brooks also made it in person, adding to the ambiance. Sue Lawson’s friend and our RYE alumni Celine Jolly honored us again with her presence, all the way from France; she still likes us enough to spend time here! Also nice to see Eric Costello in person, setting the fashion trend with his suit and tie. |
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The Hub October 6th, 2022Dear Members (and other interested readers): Our October 6 meeting was at Seascape (that isn't going to be news for awhile). We had 27 attendees in person and Jimmy K on zoom CO-Prez Laura hosted Sue Lawson's former French exchange student Celine returned after 8 years. Celine was a sophomore at AHS in 2014 and is now a landscape engineer, traveling the world before starting work. C'est un femme charmante. Unclear why she is not a Rotarian with all of our positive influence. Rotarian Sue Lawson with her Rotary Youth Exchange daughter Celine! Celine was our exchange student 8-9 years ago. She is from Angé, France. It’s been so wonderful to have Celine joining us again! Mel Defe, executive director of Siena House was our Speaker on 10/6/22 |
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The Hub September 29th, 2022Our September 29 lunch at Seascape was attended by 23 folks in person and Jimmy Kutch and Sue Lawson on zoom. Anders was in attendance- great to see him, Konstantin was also with us again Lori Teller brought Dave, Sam brought his lovely wife, Dagmar's mom graced us with her presence. Co-President Kendra led the proceedings and festivities. Sam led us in the Welcome Song with a rousing guitar variation and the 4 way Test song, augmented by Kelly's chorus from Running Bear. Sam also told a short joke that was both misogynistic and accurate. Kendra reported that the Chamber Showcase was a great success- we had a booth at the 10th hole and great participation. Kudos to Doug Deaver for all the work he put into it. |
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The Hub September 15th, 2022Our September 15 lunch meeting was at Seascape, which is noteworthy because owing to a recent conflagration alternate venues are in short supply.
We had 22 members in person, Jimmy and Sue on zoom. Kendra presided and has glided into the role with far more class and ease than her predecessor (says the IPP, not referring to previous CPOM!). Dr. Art, consensus nominee for Man of the Year (write-in for Man of the Decade) gave the thought for the day: to do well in old age we have to start early. Not sure what that means but your author started drinking at 16 and hopes that counts. It was also Dr Art's anniversary, so much to celebrate. |
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The Hub August 18th, 2022Our August 18 meeting at Seascape had 22 in person and 2 zoom attendees. Great Big Welcome Back to Jimmy Kutch!!! Congrats on being well enough to join us- always a better event with Jimmy K there. Also nice to see Marie at lunch again – we are hoping she can convince her daughter to join. Kendra Cleary and Jimmy Kutch; Marie Mosely. Sam led us in the Welcome Song and 4 Way Test song and we got a taste of Kelly's oompa oompa beat. Dr. Art provided a thought for the day that paraphrased Steven Hawking, who said, “Remember to look up at the stars and not down at your feet.” Dr. Art’s version left his audience deep in thought. It was CPOM Laura's birthday and Sam led us in the Birthday song- happy 54th Madam Co-President. Happy Birthday Laura!!! |
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The Hub August 11th, 2022Written By Club Secretary, Nelson Crandall, Pre-Meeting. Setting up Zoom for the Club meeting at Seascape is like a box of chocolates. I never know what I’m going to find. Will there be a piano? Will there be an American flag? Will the flagpole be larger than the flag itself? Will there be an extension cord? Will there be something to prevent the cord from becoming a tripping hazard? Will there be a table for the projector? The treat this week was two upside tables instead of a flag. The creativity is amazing. Call to Order. CPOM Laura Grinder presided over the August 9 Club meeting. (CPOM stands for “Co-President of the Month.”) Laura started what I hope is a new tradition – acknowledging three members who joined us on Zoom. Thought of the Day. Dr. Art Dover paraphrased Dr. Martin Luther King, who said, “it is cruel jest to say to a bootless man that he ought to lift himself by his own bootstraps.” Thank You Note. Nelson Crandall shared a lovely thank you note from our scholarship recipient, Celeste Ferreira. Keith's Celebration of Life. Al De Camara announced that Keith Medeiros's celebration of life will be held at Keith's home on Saturday, August 27. Jacob's Heart School Supply Drive. Julie Lambert announced that last week Club members generously pledged $ 1,000 to be matched by the Capitola-Aptos Rotary Foundation for Jacob's Heart. Julie asked that anyone who had not yet made good on their pledge to pay Julie in cash or by check or to pay Michele Bassi by Venmo. |
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The Hub August 4th, 2022 || Field Trip to Second Harvest Food BankField Trip to Second Harvest Food Bank On August 4th, 19 Club members met at the Second Harvest Food Bank in Watsonville. About 8 of us carpooled. In attendance were Co-Presidents Laura Grinder and Kendra Cleary, Co-Presidents Elect Pam Goodman and Lowry Fenton, Michele Bassi, Craig Bagley, Nelson Crandall, Eric Costello, Al De Camara, Win Fernald, Trish Glassy, Dagmar Leguillon, Mardi Padilla, Julie Lambert, Sam Nigh, Anissa Novak, Becky Peters, Kate Southerland, and Matt Wetstein. We gathered in the front patio, enjoying the pleasant weather and beautiful tile wall. Julie pointed out her family’s tile, but it’s not in the picture Sandra, Pam, Win, Laura, Craig, Mardi, and Eric. A sign in sheet was circulating as we arrived. We learned later that as part of its food security protocols, everyone who enters the warehouse must sign in and sign out. The first announcement was that everyone who had parked on the concrete next door was illegally parked. Five of us immediately scampered off to move our cars. Chief Development Officer Suzanne Willis, seen below left thinking “Is he really a Rotarian?”, gave us a tour with a nifty headset and belt-worn speaker to ensure everyone could hear. Brand new CEO Erica Padilla-Chavez tagged along to make us feel important. First stop was the warehouse, piled high with canned goods on palate racks. They didn’t have palate racks in 1989, leaving them a lot to pick up when the shaking stopped. Left to right, Suzanne, Julie, Laura, Sandra, Lowry, Trish, Win, Michele, Anissa, Craig. Left to right, Craig, Kate, Trish, Al, Dagmar, Erica, Sam, Sandra, Matt, Suzanne. The biggest question on everyone’s mind was, “What is lezinine?” but no one had the nerve to ask out loud. Instead, we learned that Second Harvest acts as a distribution hub rather than as a distribution point. Second Harvest provides food to dozens of organizations that distribute food directly to consumers. From there we moved to a narrow hallway with a 50-year timeline. Who knew that Second Harvest, the nation’s second food bank, was inspired by the Santa Cruz branch of the Black Panthers who were participating the Black Panthers’ nationwide Free Breakfast for School Children Program? From that narrow hall we moved to the shipping and receiving room and its labor-saving loading docks. Before the loading docks were built, it took half an hour or longer to unload a truck. Now, it takes five minutes. This painting adorns the wall of the shipping and receiving room, along with a warning from the voice of experience: From there we passed a capacious freezer with a padded roll-up door that opens and closes in the flash an eye; too fast for the camera to capture. With the door open, everyone with exposed skin below the knees could feel the cold air flowing out of the freezer. Next to it was an equally impressive cooler. One of our resident vegans, Dagmar, ironically asked if Second Harvest handled meat. Dagmar, why would you want to know? Yes, Second Harvest handles meat. But not normally turkeys. Who has room for multiple frozen turkeys? (Al said that Sam did, but Sam denied it.) Frozen chickens are about as large as people can handle. Most of the meat is canned and comes through the Department of Agriculture. Next stop was another cooler stocked with strawberries and watermelons, among other things. In answer to questions, we learned that before the pandemic, Second Harvest served around 50,000 persons, roughly 20% of the county’s population. At the height of the pandemic, that figure soared to 100,000 and presently is about 85,000. We also learned that much of Second Harvest’s offerings includes local fresh fruits and vegetables. Sometimes it is produce that isn’t pretty enough for the retail trade; sometimes it is produce that is too ripe to survive a round trip to a Central Valley distribution center before returns to local shelves. Food that is not good enough for humans is distributed as animal feed, unless there are too many berries. Animals can stand only so many berries. Food not good enough for animals goes to the composing facility in Seaside. All the food Second Harvest distributes is given away for free. Well, almost. Sometimes a non-profit needs a food that Second Harvest does not have in stock, such as peanut butter. In that case, Second Harvest will use its buying power to purchase the item at a deeply discounted price with the non-profit contributing a small portion of the purchase price. After the tour we lunched on deli sandwiches and water in the employee picnic area. The meeting ended promptly on time, with everyone both spiritually and physically sated. |
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Reminder! Upcoming Field Trip on Thursday August 4th to Second HarvestField Trip!!! Please join us for a field trip to Second Harvest today Thursday August 4th, 2022. If you would like to carpool can meet at Seascape Golf at 11:35am or meet at Second Harvest at noon. |
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August 2022 RSVP Form LinkHere is the link for August 2022 Meeting's RSVP Form! Please indicate your plans for that Thursday's meeting by the Sunday Evening prior as we have to get a count into Seascape!! |
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The Hub July 21, 2022Attendance. Our July 21 lunch meeting at Seascape was attended by 20 members and 2 guests in person, 4 members on Zoom, and our guest speaker. Guests. Our guests were attorney Shelli Strohle, whom we hope to see as a member soon; and Marie Moseley's daughter Michelle, who has recently returned here from Texas. Michelle was president of Interact at Aptos HS. Happy New Year! The peaceful transition of power is complete: Co-President Kendra hosted and, of course, ran the meeting seamlessly...pretty much..., especially impressive because she had just headed her first Board meeting and timed it perfectly. Co-Prez Laura was sick and attended on Zoom. Professor Carrie Partch on Circadian Rhythms. Our guest speaker was Carrie Partch PhD, a biochemist at UCSC, who spoke and presented a power point on Circadian rhythms. (Not to be confused with cicadas, the 17 year locusts....Rich.) |
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The Hub June 30th, 2022Our June 30 lunch was at Seascape. We had 22 attendees in person, none on zoom but it is recorded. Ralph Miljanich visited us from Santa Cruz Rotary Justin Deng was Bill Witmer’s guest. Justin’s daughter is an Aptos HS recipient of our scholarship this year. He is recently retired…whatever that word means. Rick Klevins attended his first meeting after the board approved his application. Al led us in the Welcome Song on his keyboard. |
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The Hub June 23rd, 2022 || Field Trip to Cliff Crest B&BOur June 23 meeting had a special venue- the garden court of Constantine’s bed and breakfast, Cliff Crest just a few blocks from the Boardwalk in Santa Cruz. The weather was perfect as was the ambience on the grass under the trees. Special thanks to Constantine and his charming wife Adrianna for their accommodation, Kendra and Anissa for their extra efforts in setting it up and coordinating lunch=deli sandwiches that were perfect for the picnic lunch. Al brought his keyboard and provided some relaxing mood music then led us in the Welcome Song. Al reported that Bill Westin is in room C 107 at Dominican Oaks He welcomes visitors but it’s best to be there at 10am or 2pm. Keith is at home. He also accepts visitors but tires easily, so visits should be short and coordinated in advance. Constantine told the joke of the day- quite funny but not fit for print Ken was the detective and tested the lunchers’ ability to discern real Rotary fundraisers from fictitious ones. Hilarity ensued. Constantine was our guest speaker and gave a presentation on the history of the house from its original construction and ownership to his purchase of it and his transition from chemical engineer to eminent hotelier. Constantine and Adrianna led the guests on tours of the mansion that they have decorated beautifully. It certainly is a charming property in a great locale with extraordinary owners. President Ken’s debunking was at the Santa Cruz Yacht Club building on June 27. Hilarity ensued in no small part to the endless supply of material. The humiliators were of course very funny but appeared to have pulled their punches. There has been no confirmation of the rumor that legal action was dangled as a threat. This Thursday’s meeting will be at Seascape at noon. The board meeting will precede it starting at 1045am. Reminder that the 4th of July celebration is on Monday….July 4th….at Aptos Village Park. All who have not signed up to help- shame on you but seek salvation by attending the fair and spending lots of money at the Capitola Aptos Rotary beer and hard cider booth. |
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6/23/22 Rotary Meeting Field Trip DetailsHybrid Meeting Announcement for 6/23 Rotary: Due to the scheduled field trip and logistics, we will NOT be doing a hybrid Zoom meeting on Thursday, June 23rd. Please join us at Cliff Crest Bed & Breakfast, NOTE Re: Lunch that day: If you have not gotten a Sandwich order to Kendra [[ kcleary(dot)rotary(at)gmail.com ]] by the morning of Weds 6/22, please bring a bag lunch for yourself to the meeting! |
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The Hub June 2nd, 2022Our June 2 meeting was at Seascape. We had 23 attendees in person and 2 on Zoom Michele announced the signups for our beer and hard seltzer booth at the July 4th festival in Aptos Village Park and passed around a signup sheet. We need Many more volunteers for the shifts which run 4 hours. President Ken’s debunking is set for June 27 starting 5 pm at the Santa Cruz Yacht club The committee to nominate the 2023-2024 President(s) elect is meeting and talking to nominees. Dr Art announced that Loaves and fishes has asked for help in its food drives the week before thanksgiving and week before Christmas. He is going to the Rotary international convention on Houston in July Sam soloed leading the Welcome song and 4 way test song Sue Detective. She asked members to park about: Where they grew up and what brought them to California Joni : came here to get away from Winters in Iowa though she is still fond of the Hawkeye star Anissa came here from Endicott NY and got a job at KDON Bee came here from South Carolina for college, did nursing school back in South Carolina then returned here asap Kelly is from Seattle. His family moved to Colorado and decided to move here while spending Winter in San Diego Laura grew up near Detroit where her family of 9 kids lived in a log cabin and owned an orchard. Visiting an uncle in LA motivated the move to CA. Win is from Maine and still loves the state except in Winter Trish was born in Honolulu when her dad was in the service. She was Raised in the SoCal mountains, came North for UCSC and stayed Dave born and raised in Nevada. He came To California for college and officer school. Nice to see him back- he is doing well Dr Art was raised in Chicago and came here because it was too cold to ride his motorcycle Our guest speaker was Alexis Carr The subject of her presentation was sustainable wine |
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The Hub April 28th, 2022Our April 28 meeting was in the Tap Room at Michael's on Main. We had about 25 Rotarians plus our guest speaker on site and 2 zoom attendees.
For the non-attendees- the Tap Room is very well lit and airy, high ceiling with a piano that is not subject to random confiscation by the management and a bar. The walk from the buffet in another room is about the same as at Seascape. Our guests were Constantine and Anders . Supervisor Manu Koenig guested from Seascape, unclear as to why he didn't get the memo and attended the meeting physically in his supervisorial district from a venue in Zach Friend's district. Julie and Lowry reminded all that the Pickle Ball tournament/fundraiser at Willowbrook Park is on May 22. The suggested donation is $45 whether participating or not. We are also offering sponsorships for $250. We are working on the logistics for food and beverages. Reminder- no alcohol allowed. |
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The Hub April 21, 2022Our April 20, 2022 meeting was a bit lightly attended- 18 people in person, 3 on Zoom. Sam soloed on guitar and led us through the Welcome Song and 4-Way test song. He repeated his double duty by also being the Joker- reading a few more unfortunately worded but real Church announcements – examples- “At the evening service tonight the sermon topic will be, “What is Hell?” come early and listen to our choir practice.” “Irving B and Jessie C were married on October 24 in the Church. So ends a friendship that began in their school days.” “The 8th graders will be presenting Shakespeare’s Hamlet in the Church basement Friday at 7 pm. The congregation is invited to attend this tragedy.” Reminds your author, who got his degree in journalism, of some fabulously amiss headlines: “China may be using sea to hide submarines”; “Bodies Found at Morgue”; “Feds Raid Gun Shop, Discover Weapons”; “Tiger Woods plays with own balls, Nike says. “ Constantine was our only non-speaker guest- noted that he has a better attendance records than most of our members. Keith invited folks to show up a bit early to the Cinco de Mayo party at his house this Sunday May 1st to help set up. As an incentive- he promised that the bar will be open by then. Bill Witmer announced that we reached 100% member contribution to the Rotary Foundation- we are one of the few clubs to do that. Thanks to all the members and to Bill for his powers of subtle persuasion and thinly veiled threats. Graham announced that several new members have not been formally inducted via their presentation to the club and receipt of their red badges. If you are one of those folks please contact Ken or Graham. Kendra reminded everyone that this Thursday’s meeting (April 26) AND next Thursday’s meeting (May 5) will both be at Michael’s On Main in Soquel, regular start times. If you don’t know where that is- WTH have you been? In-person attendance is strongly urged since we will evaluating moving our meetings to Michael’s. Detective Win asked questions and provided informative information about Easter, including the origins of the Easter Bunny and colored eggs, and some disturbing statistics on the number of jelly beans and peeps Americans eat at Easter. Dean Peter Biehl, Co-PE Kendra Cleary, Almut Wolf with UCSC Foundation Relations, Piatt Fellow Megan Durham, and President Ken Gorman Our guest speaker was Megan Durham, our 2021-2022 Piatt Scholarship recipient. She is a 28 year old UCSC student who was born and raised here. She spoke and presented a slide show on her research which involves detecting cancer-causing mutations. She does DNA sequencing to locate cell mutations at splice sites where the exons are skipped, called incorrect RNA splice sites. Cells that skip the exons in the DNA/RNA sequencing are suspect for cancer-causing. She grows cells and observes their viability- cancer-causing cells survive much longer than normal cells. Her research has confirmed her theory and located specific mutations that in turn can be treated with currently-available medications. Her research is specific to lung cancer cells. There are 2.1 million lung cancer cases reported worldwide each year, 1.8 million are eventually fatal. |
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The Hub April 14th, 2022Our April 14 meeting was attended by 22 people in person and 3 on zoom
Announcements: the Club's Cinco de May on Uno de Mayo is at Keith's house- parking is tight, bring a dish to share. Guests are welcome and encouraged. If you haven’t signed up please do so asap so Keith can plan accordingly. The club Pickle ball fundraising tournament will be at Willowbrook Park on May 22 from 9-5. The donation is $45. We get the courts and adjacent parts of the park so it will be a great day even for the non-players and of course a nice revenue raiser for our charities. Leashed pets are allowed. We will be selling beer and probably hard seltzer and wine at the 4th of July party in Aptos Park. We will need volunteers to help set up, serve/pour and break down. Lowry reported that he visited the Kingston NY Rotary and exchanged banners with them. He had one of theirs but no other proof of his story, which is suspect given the photo attached. For Revolutionary War buffs- the British burned Kingston in retaliation/anger over the battle of Saratoga. Michele announced that there will be a fundraising opportunity for the roast of Willy Elliot-McCrea, the retiring CEO of Second Harvest, probably in the Fall. After a brief pause to get in tune, Sam and Al led rousing versions of the Welcome Song and the 4 Way Test. Sam's Jokes of the Day were readings of several actual announcements sent out by Church service groups with unintentionally funny word juxtaposition that made the messages mean something quite different than the authors intended. Lack of editing..... Graham did a great job as Detective with educational and entertaining questions with differing degrees of relationship to Easter, including references to Peter Rabbit and Beatrix Potter, the Killer Rabbit in Monty Python and the Holy Grail and Alice and Wonderland's White Rabbit. President Ken presented Al DeCamara and Bill Gray with their Paul Harris certificates and pins. Rod Dirdiron was our guest speaker, via Zoom. |
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The Hub April 7th, 2022Our April 7 meeting at Seascape had 28 attendees in person and 3 on zoom. Constantine was a non-surprise guest and during the pre-meeting social got chatted up into having an event at his Bed and Breakfast which is near the Boardwalk- looks like that will be in June. Al keyboarded us in the Welcome Song I n his inimitable style, but- we miss Sam’s accompanying guitar. Dr. Art’s thought for the day hit home- “You know your age when you sit on the floor and can’t get up” Announcements: Keith reminded everyone that his Cinco de Mayo party is on Uno de Mayo at his house. Every event at Keith’s house is a great time. He passed around the signup sheet. Guests are welcome and encouraged. Parking is tight so car-pooling is encouraged. Dagmar reported on the beach cleanup- a comparatively small turnout was attributed to the 9am start time (usually 10 am) so the next one will start at 10 am. The small but mighty crew picked up 17 lbs. of trash including over 150 cigarette butts and a bunch of recyclables. The event saw the debut of Rotary capes which appear to confer superhero powers on the wearers. Michele and Kunha looked like Supergirl and Wonder Woman. Win announced the non-denominational concert at his church which is raising money for Ukraine. Dr. Art was honored with a Paul Harris Award certificate recognizing his incredibly generous donations. He then was the detective and asked members to name a Black author and/or a book written by a Black author. The club members did pretty well- Oprah, the Obamas, Dr. King, James Baldwin, and a few members knew authors and books that Dr. Art didn’t know about. Don’t even want to mention Rich’s answer… accurate but….. Our guest was Jack Brown who spoke on behalf of Yes on Greenway. Jack had a slide show and an oral presentation and took questions from the members, and there was some discussion among the members. Hoyles Rules were not strictly followed. |
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The Hub March 31st, 2022Our meeting on March 31 had 30 in-person attendees and a few more on zoom.
Constantin was there and we also welcomed back Anders from Sweden Al and Sam rocked the Welcome song and 4 way test- Al brought a keyboard which sounded great. Unnamed sources report that someone in our club asked someone at Seascape that the piano not be brought in? if anyone knows about this please contact Pres. Ken. The lyrics to the 4 way test are being shown on the screen and the chorus remains a bit uncertain. The consensus is that we will sing the letters I-N-T-L. Dr Art gave another timely thought for the day: people who complain about the high cost of gasoline should look at the Seascape parking lot (overflowing-there was a convention.) Julie was the detective and the topic was the Oscars. Slapping instead of fines was determined to violate the 4 way test. The questions avoided the mundane and predicatables like Best Actor, Best Picture, Most Supplicant to Hollywood. A few more memorables- Walt Disney won the most Oscars; John Williams has been nominated for 52 and won 5; Cinderella won the award for best picture before the "Best Animated" category was created; and the award for Best Juvenile Performance did not depend on gender. One trend to Julie's questions- the answers to true/false's were almost all false- something to bear in mind for her next stint. Dagmar gave the final push for the Beach Cleanup at Rio Del Mar which again was well-attended. The volunteers wore Rotary capes and apparently got to choose their own super-power while serving the common good. Our guest speaker was Aisha Chavres who spoke about Ramadan. Her presentation and slide show were very informative and educational. Aisha is very involved in local charities and services and, like her friend Anissa, is engaging and fun. She confessed a big affinity for caffeine, which is related to one of Annisa's liquid affinities.... |
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The Hub March 24th, 2022We had our second in-awhile in-person meeting at Seascape on March 24. Kudos to President elect Kendra for filling in for President in-trial prep purgatory Ken. We had 2 visiting Rotarians: Debbie Kline from Sunnyvale Rotary promoted their golf tournament fundraiser which benefits a bunch of worthy programs. (see attached for details). There was a certain irony because some of our golf-addict members have been getting their 18 hole fix instead of attending our meetings. Debbie said that they are looking to get sponsors for holes to honor Rotarians who have passed away. (No, they are not burying people on the golf course). Cynthia from Los Altos Club was promoting the Big Brothers Big Sisters Santa Cruz County Bowl A Thon April 23-24 (see attached). Stan Abrams is an admitted bowler- anyone else? We had 2 guests. Jeff Ursino, a former member of our club who moved to a Monterey club brought Raul Palicio. He is the new Manager for Mechanics Bank in Capitola. Our adopted son Constantine was with us and shared that we are his favorite club to visit… bet he says that to all the clubs. Sam’s thought for the day…..knowledge is knowing a tomato is a fruit…wisdom is knowing not to put it in a fruit salad. Genius!! Membership Monday is coming back…no details yet….but keep on the lookout for an email. Suggestions for itinerary and location must involve humor and alcohol. It was Mardi’s birthday….we did a terrible job of singing to her. Uno De Mayo at Keiths!!!!! May 1st at 4:00….please bring a dish to share. Please RSVP to Keith on his home phone….yes, people still have those… 831-662-0520. If he doesn’t answer….please let a message with name and number of people joining. PLEASE CAR POOL!!!! Beach Cleanup at Rio del Mar this Saturday morning April 2. !!! Dagmar has sent an email- please register and attend-great fun and a great purpose. Nelson was detective…lots of history related facts that we all failed at…. Our Speaker was Matt Ferrel from No Way Greenway. |
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The Hub February 24th, 2022Our February 24 meeting was by zoom and was well attended for zoom-only. Thursday’s lunch is our Speech contest - also only zoom. March 10 will likely be zoom as well, though after that we will probably be able to return to in-person lunches at Seascape. |
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The Hub February 17th, 2022Dear Members: Our February 17 zoom meeting had about 20 attendees. Dr. Art combined his thought for the day and joke, maybe he should publish his words of wisdom? Dr. Art also contributed $50,000 in our club’s name to Willowbrook Park- incredibly generous! Thank you Dr. Art! We hope to have a photo shoot for it by the time you get this. Matt was the designated detective but had to go out of town so he prepared a funny and educational set of questions in a Price is Right format that combined Olympics and Rotary. Very creative Matt! Trish read handled the proceeding and it was great fun. Becky announced that the 18 warming bundles our members donated were distributed to the homeless in downtown Santa Cruz. Thanks to Becky for putting that together and to all the members who contributed. The speech contest is March 3. Thanks to Lowry and Dough for all their work in setting it up. Tomorrow’s lunch will be on line and it is likely that so will the March 3 speech contest. While we are hoping to resume in-person and hybrid meetings asap the health/safety situation still weighs against it. Though the face mask mandates have been lifted face masks are still recommended and, more significantly, the covid infection numbers are not significantly dropping yet. In the area president’s meeting the club presidents said 4 of their clubs were zoom only, 2 were hybrid. There was much discussion in that meeting about trying to find alternate sites for lunches and the other clubs have had the same experiences we have- very few places can accommodate that many people in a private room; lack of parking and lunch and room fees that are the same or higher than the current arrangements. |
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The Hub February 10th, 2022Attendance. Our February 10 meeting was well attended for Zoom – 21 Rotarians plus our speaker. Warming Kits. Becky announced that she is assembling “warming kits” for unhoused people in Santa Cruz. She is doing this in cooperation with Downtown Streets, the nonprofit that was the subject of our October 21 presentation by Jocelyn Curran. Around 18 members have contributed to the effort. The kits were distributed on Wednesday. Our Little Rituals. Dr. Art again combined his thought for the day and joke: "A pretty face is not a passport, it is a visa that runs out fast." Kate was the detective. She questioned the members’ knowledge of dates and events in February. Her repertoire was limited a bit by last week’s Valentine’s Day questions, but she did a great job of educating us and raising money through fines. Guest Speaker Robin Nardello. Our speaker was Robin Nardello, Community Relations Manager for New Leaf Markets and New Seasons Markets.
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The Hub January 27th, 2022Dear Club Members: Our January 27 zoom meeting was comparatively well attended. Thanks to Al for his efforts on/as the Sunshine committee. Nice to see Dr. Art and Keith on zoom. We could use a few more folks reaching out to some of our zoom-hindered members and offering assistance. |
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The Hub January 20th, 2022Our 3rd meeting of the year on January 20 was zoom attended by about 20 Rotarians. Lowry announced that our speech contest will be March 3 at Seascape and will be hybrid. Doug worked out a deal with Seascape where attendees can order off the menu. The District contest will be March 8. |
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Tonga and Capitola Aptos Rotary ClubA little history of Tonga and Capitola Aptos Rotary Club By David Campbell Last weekend Santa Cruz appeared on our TV news coverage of the tsunami that was triggered by a volcanic eruption in Tonga. The coverage included a story about the tsunami hitting the Santa Cruz marina. This prompted me to contact our webmaster Mardi Padilla with just a bit of Capitola-Aptos Rotary history that you might find interesting which connects our Capitola Aptos Rotary Club with Tonga. |
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The Hub January 13th, 2022Our second meeting of 2022 was also our club assembly. We met via zoom and had about 20 attendees. It was especially nice to see Claire and Rich McAdams (I still reflexively call him “Your Honor”). Keeping with the theme of the assembly Detective Karen crafted a series of questions about Rotary and its history. One of the highlights was Rotary’s long reluctance to admit women and our club’s role in breaking that barrier The District mailed Paul Harris awards to Bill Gray, Jimmy Kutch, Sam Knight and Pres. Ken. Since we don’t know when we will be able to present them in person let’s give a virtual thank you. Because of the Club Assembly we did not have a guest speaker. Several members gave presentations. |
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The Hub January 7th, 2022Lowry has been moving forward with the speech contest and advising the contestants that the Feb. 17 date may not be in person and may be postponed. Other clubs have gone to zoom competitions which remains an option. Lowry and Doug D are weighing various factors including what the contestants want to do. The nominated detective was unable to attend by Zoom so Trish donated $50 in fines which Al matched. Much thanks to them both. Michele announced that we needed to take down our holiday display, apparently ours was the last one standing. We are taking the position that it was last one up because it was the best. A crew of volunteers met at the fairgrounds, blessed with fair weather, and removed the display. Kelly, Lowry, Al. Julie, Trish, Art, Kendra, Michele, Laura and her granddaughter took down the holiday lights- also blessed by Michele bringing burritos and champagne. Kendra announced that we got a donation of great stuff so “Wait ‘Til Next year!” (Those of you who followed OLD baseball will recognize the motto of the old Brooklyn Dodgers fans.) Our speaker was Laina Holzman, PhD. |
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The Hub December 16th, 2021Our December 16 meeting- the last of 2021, had a great turnout and was much fun. We will not have meetings 12/23 or 12/30. |
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The Hub December 2nd, 2021This week’s lunch at Seascape was highlighted by the return of: the piano, the 4 way test banner, the Rotary International Banner, Scott and Al. Sam and Al led us in a rocking rendition of Jingle Bells, the Welcome Song and the 4 Way Test Song….the latter still being tweaked a bit but all sounding great with full instrumentation. Nelson handled the zoom solo- quite a task. Moving the screen to the darker side of the room was helpful for the video. A cordless mike would also be a boon but we are making progress. Former Prez Michele B looked great on zoom in her recovery mode. Our Holiday Lights display is fabulous and we actually got published- hopefully this year the judges will agree that our display is the best. There was a brief issue because of some dead batteries over the weekend but Kendra and team pulled it together. Everyone should go see the display at the fairgrounds and encourage their friends, family and anyone else. We will meet for lunch This Thursday and the following Thursday at Seascape but then skip two weeks and will not meet on 12/23 or 12/30. We are not having a Holiday Party because of covid but if folks want to consider an informal get together email Pres. Ken and we can see what we can pull together. |
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The Hub November 4th, 2021Guest Speaker Dr. Robin McFarland At our November 4th meeting, Cabrillo College faculty member Dr. Robin McFarland gave a fascinating presentation on the most peculiar of topics: naked mole rats. Which of these words is most off-putting? Naked? Rat? Naked rat? Are there naked more rats in Santa Cruz? What could we expect from this odd subject matter? |
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The Hub October 28th, 2021 || DG VisitOur return to in-person meetings was a huge success! Over 35 members and several guest Rotarians. The piano is gone so Sam soloed on electric guitar leading us in the Welcome Song followed by The 4- Way Test song. The lyrics to the Welcome song have returned to “Read about it in the Hub” which everyone seems to remember. The 4 Way test lyrics remain elusive to some/many/most. As its most enthusiastic supporter Kelly is nominated as the member to contact for lyrical clarity. And given his strong and pitch-perfect performance thereof, he’s a good person to sit near to cover for inability to carry a tune. Sam also told a very successful joke of the day and Dr. Art had a poignant thought to share. Kendra and Nelson set up the Zoom attendance though we may have only had one person on zoom- Trish. Kendra bought a much improved sound system which worked well. The zoom link is on line and very easy to connect to. |
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The Hub October 21st, 2021 on ZoomCourtesy of Lowry Fenton, cub reporter of this week! The big news: In person starts again next Thursday at Seascape. Kendra reported 30 people plan to attend – see below for how to RSVP20 participants Dress yoga pants are not an oxymoron – see Michele or Kendra for details. Ken reported avoiding accidents both to and from his trip to Danville. Unclear whether he bought a lottery ticket later that day to ride his good luck. Some teasing and compliments about Lowry’s* golf game (*your first time cub reporter). Announcements Kendra announced that RSVP's for next Thursday 28 October in person meetings should go to her via email; for November we'll go back to the google form. Remember that you can edit the google form; input TBD for your unsure dates, and then update the form later as you know more about your schedule Michele said that we will be setting up the Holiday lights booth November 13 – she will send an email soon with details. If you can help that day, please let team leader Anissa know; also donations or loans of outdoor holiday décor are welcome to make this year’s booth even bigger and brighter. Just in time for Halloween – costume ideas Pam was the detective - best costume was the topic: - Pam: a shower - with hulu hoop, scrub brush and shower curtain. Pam got some attention at the bar that evening - Michele adorned her sweats with cereal boxes with knives - 'serial killer'. --- (Pam suggested replacing with blue dyed tampons – ‘Picasso’s Blue Period’;) - Rich – His mom made a spiderman costume that fell apart, but he kept trick or treating - Becky – and husband dressed like octogenarians, and got respectful service at the liquor store. - Win - dressed his 8 month up like a lobster, and his son carried her in a lobster bucket - Nelson - went to a law firm costume party with long hair wig, a pot and a lid. ‘Want grass – I can sell you a lid?’ - Kendra - martini, (see photo if Mardi can pull that from the deck) - Laura - pumpkin patch - Kelly wore Norwegian* lederhosen (*with a fjord logo?). - Trish RBG with black gown that served as judge robes. Jocelyn Curran spoke on the Downtown Streets Team (‘DST’) |
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The Hub October 14th, 2021 on ZoomHub Cub Notes. Courtesy of Matthew Wetstein Just before the start of the meeting, Kendra said there were rumors that the Club will have a Holiday Display at the Fairgrounds again this year – but the rumors are not true that Matt Wetstein will be there every night in a Santa suit yelling “Ho Ho Ho – go to Cabrillo!” |
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The Hub September 30th, 2021 on ZoomThis week zoom got us together after playing hide and seek with many of us before getting logged in, we had the participation of; Ken Gorman, David Andrews, Win Fernald, Kendra Cleary, Arthur Dover, Laura Grinder, Trish Glassey, Anissa Novak, Craig Bagley, Nelson Crandall, Kelly Nesheim, Dagmar Leguillon, Graham Stokes, Jeff Ursino, Rich Hamlin, Bill Witmer and Mardi Padilla. Rich started us with his taxi service adventure for Pam and Karen that included missing his exit as well as enjoying the view around San Mateo Congratulations to Ken and his family welcoming a new son in law! Lots of happiness to the newlyweds! Jeff he has been very busy, we sure missed him but he is happy to be back with us! Welcome back Jeff! Guest: Ryder Spires, invited by Mardi Padilla. Ryder enjoyed the meeting and has fun memories when participated at the last beach clean up of our Club at Rio del Mar |
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The Hub September 23rd, 2021 on ZoomWe had few people attending the meeting this week, starting with Dave Andrews, Nelson Crandall, Anissa, Wen, Craig, Matt, Lowry, Sandra, Rich, Jim, Julie, Trish, Laura, Kelly and Sue, thanks for joining. |
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The Hub September 16th, 2021 on ZoomAbout 20 people attended our September 16th zoom lunch meeting. Welcome New member Lowry Fenton!!!! Another Stanford alum! For those not paying attention, athletes from Lowry’s alma mater won 24 Olympic medals in Tokyo- 23 by women….a guy won a bronze in fencing. Michele Bassi passed along a reminder all about this Friday’s 2d Harvest food distribution at the fairgrounds 830 am-1 pm: we hope to have a strong turnout.
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The Hub September 14th, 2021Hub Cub Notes Just before the start of the meeting, Kendra said there were rumors that the Club will have a Holiday Display at the Fairgrounds again this year – but the rumors are not true that Matt Wetstein will be there every night in a Santa suit yelling “Ho Ho Ho – go to Cabrillo!” Michelle Bassi says her new job at First Capital is good. She said she was anxious to get to work after meeting all the staff. She was clearly not attending the zoom meeting from the office, based on the screenshot that features wine glasses behind her. Next to the Garden Deli…a lunch joint that even served Al DeCamara in the ‘90s. Speaking of Al, he reported that his son Matthew and a few others at SFSU will be at Chase Center for a concert as backup singers for Joel Walsh and the Eagles on October 20. Dave Andrews showcased a beautiful sunrise photo from Yosemite Laura reported on the board meeting and timing of the meeting. Speaker of the day – was told that we’d start at 12 noon. Visit until 12:15, Club business and announcements until 12:30, then have the guest speaker. Art Dover led the Pledge. ANNOUNCEMENTS Michelle – announced that Holiday Lights will be bigger and better and longer. $100 for a 10x10 booth. We’d like to do it, but we need decorative elves and new items for the display. Theme will be Santa, sleighs, and X-mas trees. Friday Nov. 12 to Monday Nov. 15 set up dates. Anissa – volunteered to be the head decorator. Michelle – second announcement – Meals on Wheels is looking for a new location. In negotiations for the old Aldo’s on Branciforte. The building has a bunch of restaurant equipment. Big Hibachi Tables are an example. The equipment can be purchased and used by anyone if they’ll haul it away. Anissa reported that the Walnut Avenue Family and Women’s Center online auction – closes Sunday at noon. Art reported that Maintenance staff at County Parks needs someone to water new plantings at Hidden Beach. Folks suggested that Doug Deaver would be a good choice. Kendra – results of survey for face to face meetings. Next week still be on zoom, but on October 28, we will be back at Seascape Golf Course. That day will be the District Governor’s visit. Win – Grant awards will be after the first of the calendar year instead of November. Win will let applicants know. We will reconvene for consideration in January and make awards in March. Bill Wittmer – announced that the Rotary Foundation campaign. The contribtions can be sent to Bill in care of the Rotary Foundation. THOUGHT FOR THE DAY from Art Dover – What is more surreal than a nose? DETECTIVE DUTIES Colin Clark of Ecology Action
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The Hub September 9th, 2021 on ZoomThe September 9 virtual meeting was attended by 17 people via Zoom. President Elect Kendra presided as President Ken was allegedly doing something court-y. All indications are that it was a great improvement and a coup might be beneficial. Mardi gets a gold star for attending from Peru. Al gets a star for leaving early. Julie would get a fine for leaving early but it might end up in President’s Ken’s bill. |
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The Hub September 2ndOur September 2d meeting was all Zoom as we observe the protocols set out by the County and medical professionals. We had about 25 attendees. Guests included Soquel High scholarship recipient Jennifer Rocha, Joni Stokes and (technically) Lowry Fenton. The welcome song was not attempted. As past efforts showed, Zoom only plays one voice at a time so when 25 people sing the result was a jumbled series of single voices each getting in a few words while the yellow box highlights jumped around the screen like the beginning of Hollywood Squares. Maybe we can have a solo act and everyone else lip syncs? I sound better that way…. There were no announcements because President Ken forgot to mention that Second Harvest is still looking for volunteers for food distribution at the fairgrounds from 830-1 this Friday, as well as Sept. 24. Sign up on line or contact Ken or Michele Bassi. We received an invitation from the District to participate in raising funds for wheelchairs. The club has donated in the past, and Doug Deaver went to Mexico a few years ago to participate in the actual presentation of the wheelchairs to some of the recipients. All who spoke about it said it is a worthy cause. More information about it will be forthcoming. Detective Dagmar educated us all with a timely set of questions about Labor Day. Not as entertaining as her wiener-themed queries but well-researched. Our speaker was Michelle Frampton, who was introduced by Anissa. Michelle spoke and showed a video about BirchBark, a non-profit organization founded by veterinarian Merrianne Burtch in 2013. The goal of the organization is to promote the bond between humans and animals. There are 31 participating veterinary partners in Santa Cruz, Monterey and San Benito Counties. BirchBark provides 3 services. First, it provides financial support for people/families faced with unaffordable vet services whose pets have treatable conditions. Those in need apply for financial assistance which generally takes 2-3 hours. If approved, Birch Bark pays 50%, the family pays 20%, and the other vets contribute 30%. This allows the pets to receive the services to heal them when otherwise the tragic alternative would be euthanasia. Second, BirchBark provide grief counseling and support for people who have lost their pets. Third, BirchBark offers education to people in holistic and proactive ways to be the best caregivers and advocates for their pets. Michelle said that due to the pandemic and fires the need for BirchBark’s services has doubled. BirchBark is entirely funded by donations. Looking forward to seeing everyone at the next meeting, which will also be via Zoom. |
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Rotary Grants 2021The 2021-22 Community Grant Application is now open. The deadline to submit a grant application is September 30, 2021. The following link provides the cover letter, grant application, and scoring matrix that will be used to evaluate the application. To the Grants Committee, The Grants Committee will meet this Thursday at 11:00 AM via ZOOM to launch the Grants Program for this year. We will use the club ZOOM link and pass code for that meeting. While we are ready to receive applications, the Board needs to close the 2020/2021 year and let us know how much money we have for grant awards. The next regular board meeting should be on September 9th. ZOOM Meeting Instructions: In order to keep everyone safe during this pandemic we are having our Grants Committee meeting this Thursdays, starting at 11:00am. Join The Zoom Meeting here! https://zoom.us/j/92435906567? Meeting ID: 924 3590 6567 Passcode: 996521 One tap mobile +16699009128,,92435906567#,,,, +13462487799,,92435906567#,,,, |
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The Hub August 26thThe Hub Meeting of August 26, 2021 By Nelson Crandall Featured Presentation: Dr. Julie Macecevic, of Walnut Avenue Family & Women’s Center. Dr. Julie Macecevic (Anissa’s boss!) was the featured speaker. A summary of her presentation appears below. Dr. Macecevic on Zoom and a snip from the Walnut Ave. web page Back to Zoom ☹ In light of rising infection rates and the pending indoor mask mandate, we returned to Zoom-only participation. Twenty club members participated, with Bill Witmer disguising his appearance with the pseudonym “iPhone.” Back to Zoom meant no club song. Darn it. Sam Nigh was looking forward to teaching us to sing the Four Way Test song! Thought of the Day, courtesy of Art Deaver. Your body is not a temple, it is an amusement park! Enjoy the ride. Mardi the Detective. Mardi Padilla asked for volunteers to tell the club the name and breed of their favorite dog in recognition of National Dog Day. Can you match the dog with the owner? Answers below.
In recognition of National Toilet Paper Day, Mardi fined herself and confessed that she hoarded TP when shelter-in-place began, but only Laura Grinder joined her as a co-confessor. No one else could find any TP for sale! Mardi also fined Kelly Nesheim and Nelson Crandall in recognition of their 56th and 37th anniversaries on the 28th and 25th of August, respectively. And by popular demand, Rich Hamlin was fined $20 for practicing his golf stroke while Mardi was talking. Featured Presentation Our guest speaker, Dr. Julie Macecevic, gave an inspiring and eye-opening talk on how Walnut Avenue Family & Women’s Center offers education and advocacy services to break the cycle of poverty in the Santa Cruz area. These statistics Dr. Macecevic cited stand out: 1. Domestic Violence is Widespread.
2. The Financial Cost of Preschool. In 33 states and the District of Columbia, the annual cost of infant daycare is greater than the cost of in-state tuition at a four-year college. 3. The Benefit of Preschool to the Child. Research shows that children who attend preschool are more likely:
Walnut Avenue offers comprehensive preventative and therapeutic services to families at risk for, or surviving, domestic violence. Walnut Avenue’s Early Education Center helps children ages 0-5 to be socially and emotionally ready to enter the K-12 school system while allowing their parents to focus on their career or get advanced skills training. Thank you, Walnut Avenue, for helping to give these children privileges and opportunities most of us can take for granted! Answers to quiz: A5 B8 C6 D2 E3 F7 G4 H1 |
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Honoring Bob CurtisBy Nelson Crandall Bob Curtis with his granddaughter, Monique. Robert (Bob) Curtis recently terminated his membership in our club after almost 40 years due to failing health. Bob joined our club at age 46 on April 27, 1983, with the classification of Appraiser Services. Bob’s wife of 50+ years, Klo Ann, remembers Thursdays as one of the best days of week for Bob. He would come home with news about the speakers and the other members, always getting a lot out of the meetings. When traveling, Bob kept up his attendance by visiting other clubs. He would talk about Rotary with anyone. Club members think of Bob as a steady, quiet, warm presence. Dave Andrews, who worked with Bob professionally (Dave was a loan officer for a bank), had confidence in Bob’s appraisal skills and used his services on many occasions. Dave enjoys comparing reading lists with Bob, who is particularly interested in U.S. history. Bob always asks about Dave’s backpacking adventures. Bob similarly asks about Craig Bagley’s work as an architect. At Rotary meetings they would often reminisce about their lives before moving to Silicon Valley and then upgrading to our paradise by the sea. When active, Bob especially enjoyed Rotary’s service projects, including working the 4th of July beer booths, selling tickets at the Laguna Seca car races, helping on beach cleanup days, judging the Rotary speech contests, and setting up for fundraisers. Bob considers Rotary to be a big part of what made him who he is. Bob maintained his Rotary membership for years after health issues prevented him from participating actively. Bob, the entire club, including those of us who never got to know you, wish you well and thank you for your years of service. Our community and the world are better places because of it. |
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The Hub August 19thOnce again we had a hybrid meeting with approximately 25 people in person (masked unless eating) and about ten Zooming in. Julie Lambert brought two visiting Rotarian (very active members of the Carmichael club) friends and fellow Oregon State Beavers—Vicky and Jay Boatwright. They are here camping at Sunset Beach and from all appearances they are none the worse for wear even though they have been ‘roughing it’. Excellent news! Lowry Fenton has filled out an application to join our club. More to follow… Bill Witmer is our Foundation chair. He will be spending the next few months asking club members for their Rotary International Foundation contribution. It is time to make your RI contribution so let’s make it easy for Bill. Make your checks out to Rotary Foundation and mail or give to Bill. John Fisher (RIP) always encouraged double sustainer amount of $200 but do what you can. Julie Lambert was our detective and asked questions related to college in honor of the Boatwright’s attendance. A little known fact: only 41% of the student population actually graduate in 4 years! The average student debt after 4 years of college is a whooping $29,900.00 No welcome song but we did sing a delightful Happy Birthday to our future club President, Laura Grinder. Dagmar Leguillon announced the September 18th Coastal Clean-up Day. Anyone can volunteer. Just go to the beach and clean. There will be NO club clean-up on that day. Win Fernald announced he is starting the grants process by having all applications in by the end of September. The grants application will be on Capitola Aptos Rotary.org for downloading. Our grants program will be November 11th. Dr. Art is cautioning everyone regarding the rapid spread of the Delta variant. The next day the county announced required masking while indoors. The long and the short of it is that we are going back to Zoom meetings for the foreseeable future. It was so nice seeing everyone in person but we need to stay safe. Use N95 or KN95 masks as they provide the best protection. Thought for the day by Dr. Art: “Don’t ask what you can do for your country, ask what’s for lunch”. Our speaker was Larry Mabrey, who once was a circus ringmaster but is now Managing Director of the Santa Cruz Shakespeare Festival which is running now and until August 29th. (Photo). Larry has been a theatre professional for over 35 years in cities across the US. Previously he was Executive Director of Circus Flora in St. Louis, MO, Executive Director of West Virginia Public Theatre and was the co-founder and producing artistic director of Avalon Theatre Company. A California native, Larry returned to the state last year when he joined Santa Cruz Shakespeare as managing director one month before the pandemic. Larry summarized the plays they produced this season which included an adaption of King Richard and Agitator, a play about Susan B Anthony and Frederick Douglas. He explained the covid precautions taken for live performances. These performances take place at the outdoors Audrey Stanley Grove near DeLaveaga Golf Course. They ran with half capacity (200 instead of 425 seats) and had sold out crowds. Masks are encouraged. Larry described all the many wonderful services they are providing on-line and to children. I encourage you to go on their website to get all the glorious details. wwwsantacruzshakespeare.com. Consider becoming a member! Pam Goodman Club Hub Cub |
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The Hub August 12thLast week’s meeting was attended by about 24 members in person and a few folks on zoom. Kendra, Nelson and Mardi ran the show like a Hollywood crew; it’s only a matter of time before they will be nominated for Oscars. There are still some problems with the audio but that is being worked on- the board authorized the purchase of a good microphone. Lowry Fenton was our guest that we hope decided to join our club! Dr. Dover gave a brief reminder that the delta variant is causing covid surges even in highly vaccinated countries so we must, at a minimum, continue to wear masks except when eating and observe social distancing where possible, even in the close confines of our Seascape dining room. Other clubs in Santa Cruz County are doing hybrid meetings. Silicon Valley and other Bay Area clubs where there are mask mandates are returning to zoom only. Sam again led the Welcome Song soloing on guitar, this time with a rock and roll rendition that would have made Chuck Berry jealous. Michele Bassi and Bill Witmer presented a Paul Harris award to Sgt at Arms Craig Bagley for his charitable contributions. This was Craig’s 4th Paul Harris award. Bill reminded us that the Paul Harris foundation was started with $27 in 1916 and since has raised billions for the fight against polio. Dagmar gave a cheerful recap of the Beach Cleanup, including a count of the debris club members picked up and the camaraderie of trash collectors. She also disparaged the club President by suggesting that his large haul of recyclables was stolen. Not so. Age and decrepitude notwithstanding, and assisted by his daughters 2 intrepid dogs, your President risked life or at least dignity by retrieving cans and bottles from the treacherous bluff slope. Hold your applause, it’s part of the job description. Next time he will wear the Rotary flag as a cape. Dagmar also needs a co-chair to help her on the membership committee, volunteers are encouraged to contact her or President Ken. Rich was the Detective: true or false: he asked true or false questions about events that occurred in August, going back centuries? The worst question/answer was whether Eugene Diesel got the patent for the diesel engine in August 1898 the answer- false, it was his brother, Rudolf. Seriously? $5 Rich. A better question would have been whether Rudolf Diesel ran his engine on peanut oil at the 1900 Paris World’s fair….. President Ken asked for volunteers at Second Harvest’s food giveaways at the County Fairgrounds. They are 9am-1pm on August 20, September 10, and September 24. Michele Bassi added that the giveaways are drive-up so covid exposure is minimal. Please contact Ken if you are available and interested. Stan Abraham attended his third meeting in a row and felt compelled to explain his thrice blessing of our Rotary congregation with his presence by sort of accurately recounting the uh, inducements (threats is too strong a word) made against him by President Ken during an attorney-client privileged conversation….. Thanks to Pam and Dr Art for joining efforts to write about the Speaker! Our speaker today was Dr. Tanyss Munro. Dr. Munro and her husband Gem co-founded the Amarok Society which expands educational opportunities for children and their mothers. They began in Canada with disadvantaged persons, and she spoke to us today about her work in Bangladesh – a chronically impoverished country wedged between eastern India and Myanmar, below Nepal. Most of the world’s population growth occurs in Asia. Bangladesh is a very over-populated, Islamic majority country that suffers regular flooding from snow melt in the Himalayas and tropical storms that go north from the Bay of Bengal. The capital Dhaka suffers from severe crowding, infectious diseases, malnutrition, and year-round heat with chronic air pollution. The Amarok Society is working to educate children in the megaslums of Dhaka, where children have little opportunity to receive an education. Dr. Munro explained how the Society developed a new model of education to help break the cycles of illiteracy and poverty, and concurrently empower women and girls to overcome generational and cultural oppression including child marriage, child labour, sex trafficking and opposition to education for girls and women. Her talk was entitled “Making the world worthy of children.” The goal is teaching mothers to teach the world through their children. One in 3 children is illiterate. Amarok provides “shadow education” after-school teaching by mothers who are recruited to teach them. Amorak’s “Mothers of Intention” projects train mothers to be teachers. Each teacher then teaches 25 students in her neighborhood. The children receive co-ed education, which they never would experience in the public schools in Dhaka. They are taught human rights, peace, and tolerance. The results demonstrate changes in literacy, attitudes and greater age at marriage. Many young children go forward to high school and college and have improved opportunities for employment. Many contribute to their neighborhoods to pass along what they have learned to younger generations. The program has also resulted in shifts of cultural and institutional opposition to education for girls and women. In Amarok’s programs, mothers are the teachers and girls and boys are taught in the same classes. Men and boys are now pleased that women and girls are receiving an education. Many Rotary clubs support the work of this phenomenal and inspiring organization. Ms. Munro was awarded the Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Medal for her work. Photo of Dr Tanyss Munro Dr. Art Dover won the raffle!. He did not audibly announce his intentions of spending it, but he sure will be having fun Perhaps heeding Kelly’s diplomatic inquiries, Seascape actually prepared more food than we ate- there was 8 inches of pork roast and a few lbs of mashed potatoes left. Hunter, the very nice young man who has been serving us, said that he could not provide to go boxes because the law prohibits that for banquets; they can’t even donate it. President Ken checked with his cousin the catering manager and she confirmed. Julie Lambert “McGyvered” her way around that by stacking the plate she had left at Keith’s house and walking out the back door . Apparently it’ s OK if people bring their own to go boxes but we should be discreet about it. Per Kendra: Please remember that if you have marked "TBD" as your answer for a meeting date, edit your form with your updated "yes or no" answer. If no update is made your TBD will be counted as a "no" and Seascape will not prepare a meal for you. We have only two more weeks of the August RSVP Form and then a new link will be provided for September. |
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Rotary to the RescueRotary to the Rescue! We learned to our embarrassment last week that we sent scholarship recipient Alexandria Quintero an unsigned check! Tuition was due in a couple of days, so we arranged to deliver a replacement check by hand at a mutually convenient location. Our club member sent Alexandria a selfie so she would know who to look for. In return, Alexandria sent the below selfie of herself holding a model of the Scion cube car she was in. Clever girl! Love that photo! |
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The Hub August 5thMeeting of August 5th By Pam Goodman This was a one of a kind experimental meeting that required all hands on deck to put it in place. Our first ever ‘hybrid’ meeting—in person or on Zoom and it worked famously, especially with help from Kendra, Nelson, Ken and his able assistant, Hilary who is far beyond capable. (Nelson Crandall setting up) A visiting Rotarian from Los Gatos morning club, Sanjay Khandelwal was checking us out as he now works from home near the summit. Let’s hope he was impressed! Our Friend Marie Moseley was with us as well, her first visit since March 2020! Craig Bagley, our Sargent at Arms, was the first one to the meeting as in his words ”I wanted to make sure the meeting was going to run smoothly”. It did indeed, Craig. Thanks for your dedication! Trisha Glassey brought Edie Stein to our meeting via Zoom. Edie is a Soquel High School and took time took time from her leadership orientation at school today to talk to us about the RYLA experience this summer. The program was "Leading with LUV" for Location, Unlearning and Learning, and Vision and Voice. When asked about the location theme, she said it was about being a better leader by finding happiness and peace by going to locations you love. Dr. Art did not have a thought for the day as he “left it at home”. Sam told a very familiar joke (video) then proceeded to play a rip-roaring rendition of the Welcome Song. (Sam and the Welcome Song) Anissa Novak entertained us as detective, grilling us on little known Olympic factoids. Dagmar Leguillon announced this Saturday’s Beach Cleanup at Rio Del Mar beach. August 7th at 10 am so be there or be square (or at least missed). Our presentation was titled ‘Health and Home: Building Wellness in the Heart of Live Oak’. The speakers were Leslie Connor, CEO of Santa Cruz Community Health and Laura Marcus, CEO of Dientes Community Dental Care. These are two very smart and capable individuals who (along with MidPen housing) have been the driving force behind plans to build a unique housing facility on Capitola Rd in Live Oak. This site is breaking ground soon and will have 57 affordable housing units, a health center and dental facility. Therefore, comprehensive, integrated healthcare will be available for up to 10,000 patients including pediatrics, optometry and behavioral health to name just a few of the services. The clinics will be built first then the housing. The entire project should be completed by 2023. The best news is that we all have the ability to participate in funding this project as there is a $500,000 Challenge Match issued by Carol Fuller in honor of Cynthia Mathews. It was so exciting to hear of this most innovative and inclusive project. We were all so very impressed by the vision of our speakers and the tenacity it took to make this project happen. Dientes, Santa Cruz Community Health, and MidPen Housing are partnering to create 1500 Capitola Road, a vibrant 3.7-acre health and housing complex in the heart of Live Oak. This crucial first step toward increasing access to healthcare and affordable housing in Santa Cruz County will provide healthcare for up to 10,000 patients, along with affordable housing for 157 people. (Left to right, Leslie Conner and Laura Marcus) An announcement/discussion point was made at the end of our meeting that due to Delta Variant, Rotarian's RSVP's are needed more than ever so the board can identify two things; a ) Will members feel comfortable attending in person meetings at Seascape and b ) if they are, we need an updated head count since we need 15 confirmed, RSVP'd Rotarians by Sunday night in order to have the meeting as a hybrid and not go to Zoom Only. To accomplish this update you can either email Kendra and/or Ken, OR go into the Google Form and update your answers to reflect whether your opinion has changed on in person attendance, and then add to the comments whether you feel comfortable still attending as an in-person at the "hybrid meeting" or whether you will go Zoom, due to health concerns. For whom would like to join us on Zoom Thursday at 12:00pm: Join Zoom Meeting Meeting ID: 924 3590 6567 Passcode: 996521 One tap mobile +16699009128,,92435906567#,,,, +13462487799,,92435906567#,,,, See you next Thursday! Pam Goodman Hub Cub |
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Thursday August 5th - Hybrid meetingDear Friends of Our Capitola-Aptos Rotary Club In order to keep everyone safe during this pandemic we are having a hybrid meeting tomorrow Thursday August 5th starting at 12:15pm. Below you will find the link and password to log in as well as the meeting ID and number in case you would like to call it in. For whom are attending the meeting in person at Seascape Golf and Country Club (610 Club House Dr, Aptos) please bring a mask, practice social distance and enjoy your time with us and your lunch. Join Zoom Meeting Meeting ID: 924 3590 6567 Passcode: 996521 One tap mobile +16699009128,,92435906567#,,,, +13462487799,,92435906567#,,,, We look forward to see you and let's have a great time!
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The Hub July 29, 2021The Hub Meeting of July 29, 2021 By Nelson Crandall Featured Presentation: Cabrillo College Name Change The featured speaker for the meeting was club member Matt Wetstein, President of Cabrillo College. Matt was joined in his presentation by Governing Board members Adam Spickler and Christina Cuevas. Cabrillo Assistant Superintendent/VP Instruction Paul de la Cerda was also in the audience. A summary of their presentation appears below. Left to Right: Cabrillo College Asst. Superintendent/VP Instruction Paul de la Cerda, Governing Board members Adam Spickler and Christina Cuevas, and club member and Cabrillo President Matt Wetstein. Introduction of Visitors Following the pledge of allegiance, President Ken called for visiting Rotarians to introduce themselves. In addition to perennial visitor Constantin Gehriger, we welcomed Santa Cruz Rotarian Larry Wallerstein. Matt Wetstein introduced his three colleagues from Cabrillo College, Dr. Art Dover introduced his grandson, Noah, and Dave Watkins introduced his frequent guest, Sebastian. Left to right: Visiting Rotarian Larry Wallerstein, Dr Art's grandson Noah, Dave Watkins's guest, Sebastian Lopez. Club Song For the first time since March 2020, Al DeCamera and Sam Nigh led the club in a rousing rendition of the Club song. So enthusiastic was the crowd that they reprised the final chorus twice following inspired instrumental improvisations. Al DeCamera and Sam Nigh leading a rousing rendition of the club song. The fun was especially unexpected because Seacliff had said they would no longer provide use of their piano, forcing Al to lug his keyboard and amps to the meeting. After months of frustrating attempts to sing the club song on Zoom, our first in-person meeting last week had to settle for an anemic acapella version when Al didn’t have what he needed to set up. Chaminade Aug. 15 Brunch & Silent Auction Tix Auction Benefitting Walnut Ave. Center. At Immediate Past President Michele’s request, guest Adam Spickler presented the club with two tickets to the August 15 fundraising brunch and silent auction for the Walnut Avenue Family & Women’s Center, which our club is sponsoring. Michele asked Al to auction the tickets to the members on the spot, and Al rose to the occasion, raising $140. For more information about the event, go to wafwc.org Featured Joke, courtesy of President Ken. A lexicology professor was explaining to his students that in many languages, a double negative remains a negative. In other languages, a double negative is a positive. In no language, however, is a double positive a negative. To which a voice in the back responded, “Yeah, right.” Introduction of the Board. President Ken introduced most of the new Board members in addition to himself: Immediate Past President Michele Bassi, Co-Presidents Elect Kendra Cleary and Laura Grinder, Secretary Nelson Crandall, Treasurer Julie Lambert, Membership Chair Dagmar Leguillon, Rotary Foundation Chair Bill Witmer, Club Foundation Chair Al DeCamera, Service Projects Chair Art Dover, Grants Chair Win Fernald, Public Image Chair Mardi Padilla, and Sergeant-at-Arms Craig Bagley. Ken especially recognized Mardi for her work on upgrading the club website and encouraged everyone to visit it. Al the Detective. Demonstrating his flexibility once again, Al handed out fines to the following people with the following excuses for Al’s being unprepared: President Ken for his self-deprecating humor, Nelson for his off-key rendition of For She’s A Jolly Good Fellow at Michele’s nondebunking, Kelly for abandoning Nelson in that attempt, Craig for something having to do with badges, Trish for her 11 p.m. reminder that Ken had detective duty, Sam for enjoying himself camping in the Trinity Alps, and Dave Watkins for complaining about the chipper under his window in the property Al’s firm manages. Home for a Lost Hat. The previous week, Keith brought in a hat left at his house on the occasion of the nondebunking, but no one claimed it. This week, Becky was able to claim it and is happily reunited with it. Becky, write your name in the hat! Becky Peters claimed her lost hat! Featured Presentation: Opening Acts Before getting onto the subject of changing the name of Cabrillo College, Cabrillo President Mat Wetstein discussed the college’s response to COVID-19 and the ongoing housing shortage. COVID-19 Impact on Enrollment. Last year, only 20% of the college’s courses were in-person. The college hopes to increase that to 50% in the fall and be back to normal (whatever that may mean) in the spring. Following the lead of the UC and State College systems, vaccinations will be required, with limited exceptions upon good cause shown. Matt observed that the inability to meet in-person disproportionately affected the poor, Hispanics, and residents of the south county, leading to a 25% drop in enrollment last year. COVID-19 Impact on Health. Matt reported that only 12 faculty and staff were infected with COVID-19 last year, which he attributed to strict implementation of protective guidelines. Most of the infections were attributed to non-campus exposures. Of the college’s 10,000 students, the campus health center administered 226 COVID-19 tests, 45 of which were positive. Federal and State Financial Relief. The college has received $16 million in federal relief. The bulk of it will be spent on equipment, including computers for faculty and students and upgraded HVAC systems better able to keep classroom air pathogen free. $2.7 million will be used for direct student aid in the form of relieving students of $700,000 in accumulated debt for defaulted registration fees that prevent them from continuing their education and direct unrestricted grants of between $1,000 and $1,500 each. Matt observed that the cost of equipment upgrades is rising as multiple institutions compete for the same scarce resources. Housing. Last year, 22% of the college’s students report that they were homeless or getting by without a settled housing situation. This budget year, the state has set $2 billion aside for community college housing. The college has started to study the feasibility of erecting student and faculty housing on campus. It hopes to complete the study this school year. Featured Presentation: Name Change. Christina Cuevas reported that the college’s governing board was presented with petition from 100 members of the college community asking to change the name from Cabrillo because of the history of its namesake. Juan Rodriguez Cabrillo is best known for his explorations of the west coast of North America on behalf of the Spanish Empire. His critics allege that he amassed the wealth needed to undertake these explorations by exploiting indigenous South Americans as slave laborers and sex workers, and that the consequences of such exploitation manifest themselves as generational poverty to this day. In response to the petition, the governing board appointed Adam and her to a subcommittee to develop a process to explore the name change. They created an advisory taskforce of stakeholders to assist in the process, which met from October 2020 through June 2021. Relying on the work of other educational institutions named for slaveholders and other alleged perpetrators of human misery, the subcommittee and task force generated a set of guidelines the investigation process will follow, with key values being a methodology that is inclusive and educational in approach. More information is available at https://www.cabrillo.edu/governing-board/name-exploration-subcommittee Following the adoption of the guidelines, the college has offered a series of educational events focusing on Juan Cabrillo the man, the persons and process that led to naming the college after him, and criticism of Cabrillo. Facilitated by Zoom attendance, the audience was polled before and after the presentations. In all the presentations, the percentage of persons favoring a name change rose as a result of the presentation. In one case, the percentage rose from 25% to 51%. The next step will be a series of meetings in which the public will be invited to express their views, followed by a recommendation. Matt did not address the question of how the cost of a name change will be weighed against the perceived benefit of ceasing to honor Cabrillo and the perceived harm of continuing to honor Cabrillo. This question also was not raised in the 10 minutes of Q&A following the presentation. Most of the audience questions focused on the fairness of judging a 16th century personage by 21st century morality. In response, Matt paraphrased the philosophy of 18th century philosopher Emmanuel Kant: The ill treatment of a human being is always wrong and should always be condemned. How would YOU apply the 4-way test to this controversy?
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Tequila Tasting!To purchase tickets for Tequila Tasting....please find the link in Upcoming Events! Hope to Zoom with you then!!
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Meeting canceledPlease note! Meetings on March 12th and March 19th are canceled due to corona virus warnings! If further meeting cancellations are planned, the news will be posted here also. Stay home and stay safe!
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DDaVinci's knotsAnnouncements and Reminders May 29th is the official date for the Capitola Aptos Rotary annual fund raiser. We will roast the man and woman of the year and have a live and silent auction. It will benefit Meals on Wheels, as well as Cabrillo College and Grey Bears. Make your reservations soon! Meals on Wheels will be having a Ride Along so you can see how meals are delivered on March 16th thru 20th (or you can assist on site at Live Oak Senior Center). Michelle has sent around a sign-up sheet to participate in this event. Beach cleanup dates are April 4th, June 6th and August 1st (the first Saturday in each of those months) at Rio del Mar beach at 10 am. The area speech contest is on March 5th at the county office of education at 3:30. Come an support our club winner! The business showcase is tentatively scheduled for April 15th. We will get a table to promote our club. Doug will send us around a sign-up sheet. Dr. Art spoke to us about the corona virus. It’s not an airborne illness it’s passed on by touch; therefore handwashing is crucial. He says it will be very contagious. Sandra says we only got two RYLA applications; however If there is a last minute applicant we might take them. High school sophomores and juniors are eligible. There will be four scholarships for Cabrillo College . they will be named the Capitola Aptos John Fisher scholarships. We are taking applicants now for all four scholarships. Monday night at 5:30 is membership Monday here at Aptos Seascape. Join us to socialize with potential new members. Finally, Doug announced the death of Ron Derby, one of our most faithful members. Among other contributions, he was famous for his “Thoughts for the Day” and his always insightful comments on current issues. We will miss you Ron! Our speaker today, was an author who wrote a book entitled Leonardo’s Knots, Caroline Cocciardi. She detected a knot pattern on Mona Lisa’s dress which reveals something significant about Leonardo da Vinci the man. |
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engineering abroadAnnouncements and Reminders May 29th is the official date for the Capitola Aptos Rotary annual fund raiser. We will roast the man and woman of the year and have a live and silent auction. It will benefit Meals on Wheels, as well as a scholarship at Cabrillo College and Grey Bears. Make your reservations soon! Meals on Wheels will be having a Ride Along so you can see how meals are delivered (or you can assist on site at Live Oak Senior Center). Michelle has sent around a sign-up sheet to participate in this event. Michele announced that Digital Nest was awarded the James Irvine Award, the most prestigious non-profit award in the state of California. She also announced many March events. The area speech contest is march 5 3:30-5:30 at the county office of education. There is a mixer at the Kaiser Area March 10 5”30-7:30. $5.00 a person. Beach cleanup dates are April 4th June 6th and August 1st (the first Saturday in each of those months) at Rio del Mar beach at 10 am. Sign up For Meals On Wheels on March 16th thru 20th to go out to deliver meals or go to Live Oak Senior Center and serve meals there. Bill gave out Paul Harris fellowship awards today to Sandi and Stan Abraham. Our speakers today, Yuritzi Barranco and Brandon Farria were from the Cabrillo College Engineering Abroad program.They spoke about their trip to Costa Rica. The purpose of the trip was to clean the river but they also worked on the permaculture farm. |
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ucsc farmAnnouncements and Reminders May 29th is the official date for the Capitola Aptos Rotary annual fund raiser. We will roast the man and woman of the year and have a live and silent auction. It will benefit Meals on Wheels, as well as a scholarship at Cabrillo College and Grey Bears. Make your reservations soon! Meals on Wheels will be having a Ride Along so you can see how meals are delivered (or you can assist on site at Live Oak Senior Center). Michelle has sent around a sign-up sheet to participate in this event. Hariharan Ramesh, our district governor visited us today and spoke about the mission of Rotary, emphasizing role of the Foundation. Capitola Aptos Rotary is part of district 5170 and Mr. Ramesh said our district is the highest contributor of any district in the country to the Rotary Foundation (over 7 million dollars!) He also awarded three Paul Harris Fellowships to Kate Sutherland, Thomasjohn Wells Miller and Burt Lemke. Congratulations to all of you! Our speaker today was Dr. Stacy Philpott who is the Director of the Center for Agroecology and Sustainable Food Systems at UCSC. She spoke to us about the farm and the organic farming revolution. |
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speech contestAnnouncements and Reminders May 29th is the official date for the Capitola Aptos Rotary annual fund raiser. We will roast the man and woman of the year and have a live and silent auction. It will benefit Meals on Wheels, as well as a scholarship at Cabrillo College and Grey Bears. Make your reservations soon! Bill spoke about Rotary Foundation which has now raised over 7 billion dollars around the world. There are only three more people left for our own club to bring our giving up to 100% participation. Dr. Art got a chance to view some international service projects in Mexico, Africa and South America at a District Meeting last week. If you would like more information on any of these, see Dr. Art. Meals on Wheels will be having a Ride Along so you can see how meals are delivered (or you can assist on site at Live Oak Senior Center). Michelle will send around a sign-up sheet next week to participate in this event. Second Harvest annual fundraiser is March 5th. We have been offered a table honoring our Rotary Club for our contribution. There are three seats left for the dinner. If you are interested in going see Michele. Today was the area speech contest. A total of eleven students from Soquel and Aptos High school competed in the contest. They all spoke on the theme “Rotary Connects the World”. They were judged on adherence to the theme, vocal delivery, integration of the four way test and overall effectiveness. The winner will go on to compete in the district speech contest on the 5th of March. The contestants included: Roxanne Harris, Olivia Harris, Stuart Norse, Mia Beatty, Emily Marshall Niswonger, Jocelyn Castillo, Kai Gavin, Michael Murray, Maddie Fiona, Andrew Morrisey and Celia Ruiz. The winners of the contest were: First place ($200) Emily Marshall Niswonger; 2nd place ($1000: Andrew Morrisey; 3rd place ($50) Jocelyn Castillo |
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Cabrillo bondANNOUNCEMENTS AND REMINDERs Please note: Next week's meeting, the area speech contest, has been moved. It will be at Severinos/Seacliff Inn. We have the room from 11:30 to 2:00. (Lunch will be $30 but since Rich has already invoiced $10 it will be an additional $20. Rich will not be present to run credit cards, so please bring a check or cash. Every first Monday is membership Monday. Come and have a drink and bring potential new members. Every second Tuesday is for new red badgers. These are both at 5:30 to 7:00 PM and are at Aptos Seascape. We are planning on a Rotary Week for Meals on Wheels delivery. Sign up to deliver meals or work at the site (at Live Oak Senior Center) that day. Josh Selig from Jimmy Panetta’s office spoke to us today about current issues and measures in congress including dates for future town halls. They are working on making age discrimination illegal, road repairs, and mitigating potential flood damage from the Pajaro River Watershed. Scott also spoke to us briefly about measure V for Soquel Elementary School District which is a parcel tax. It needs a two thirds majority and would add $96 per parcel for 6 years. It would largely go to teacher’s salaries. May 29th will be our major fundraiser. We need both live and silent auction items, wine and help with sponsorships. Also we will have our wine wheelbarrow so bring two bottles to contribute. Tickets will be $150 and the major benefactor will be Meals on Wheels. On March 5th at Hotel Paradox there will be the Second Harvest dinner. We are being offered an award and we will be given a table for 10. Let Michelle know if you are interested in going. Dr. Art passed around information on a Rotary trip to Ethiopia sponsored by the Contra Costa club. Matt spoke to us about measure R, a bond measure for Cabrillo College. Included are infrastructure and technology improvements, as deferred maintenance is a real problem on a 60 year old campus. A new science building, renovation of the library and student services buildings are also on the agenda. It will be a 30 year bond. |
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recyclingANNOUNCEMENTS AND REMINDERS Every first Monday is membership Monday. Come and have a drink and bring potential new members. Every second Tuesday is for new red badgers. These are both at 5:30 to 7:00 PM and are at Aptos Seascape. Sandi announced that we will be accepting applications for RYLA. If you know any Sophomores or Juniors who might be eligible please let Sandi know. Our beloved John Fisher, member of Capitola Aptos Rotary for many years and inspiration for the RotaCare free clinic passed away on Tuesday. Among other honors he received the Jefferson award as a distinguished volunteer in the Monterey Bay Area. Al gave us a foundation report. Some of the Campbell funds have been distributed. Bill also mentioned that we still need 121 people for our 1005 participation. Dr Art announced that we all need to get our flu shots! Talk to him about getting your shot if you haven’t done it this season. It is not too late! Today our speaker spoke about local Recycling efforts. Christina Horvath from Santa Cruz County Department of Public Works gave us an update on recycling efforts in the county as well as new laws that will affect the way we recycle in the coming years. |
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Community GrantsCapitola Aptos Rotary celebrated the work of 20 community organizations in our awards ceremony on December 12. The awards supported a wide variety of projects in education, the environment, social services and the arts. Over $20,000 in grants were distributed to the following successful applicants:
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christmasANNOUNCEMENTS AND REMINDERS Every first Monday is membership Monday. Come and have a drink and bring potential new members. Every second Tuesday is for new red badgers 5:30 to 7:00 PM. Both of these are at Aptos Seascape. Our community grant award day will be next week, December 12th at 12:00. All are welcome to help us celebrate the many good things being done in our community. December the 8th (this Sunday) is Keith’s annual Christmas party! It is at his house at 4:00. Remember we are dark on the 26th of December and on the 2nd of January. Sandi announced that we will be accepting applications for RYLA. If you know any Sophomores or Juniors who might be eligible please let Sandi know. This week we were entertained by the music of Sam Nigh and Higher Ground. They sang Christmas songs and gospel music. We sang along and good holiday time was had by all! |
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biomedical engineeringANNOUNCEMENTS AND REMINDERS On the first Monday of every month from 5:30 to 7:00 the club will have social gatherings here. It is a chance to introduce new friends and prospective members to our club! The next one is December 5th! The “Second Badge Tuesday” for new red badgers will be held on the Dr. second Tuesday of every month. 5:30 to 7:00 PM Our community grant award day had been postponed. It will be December 12th at 12:00. All are welcome to help us celebrate the many good things being done in our community. December the 8th is Keith’s annual Christmas party. It is at his house at 4:00. A sign up list will go around in the next few weeks. Remember next week is Thanksgiving and we are dark! Veterans memorial hall courtyard renovation project is being sponsored by Santa Cruz rotary club. You can donate a brick by going to www.santacruzrotary.com Our speaker today was Dr. David L. Bernick with two of his students Marcella Mirabelli and Liana Beld (see above) . His address was on biomolecular engineering and he discussed ways that synthetic biology enables social change. They just came back from Boston where they won a silver medal for their work. |
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annual clubANNOUNCEMENTS AND REMINDERS On the first Monday of every month from 5:30 to 7:00 the club will have social gatherings here. It is a chance to introduce new friends and prospective members to our club! The next one is December 5th! The “Second Badge Tuesday” for new red badgers will be held on the second Tuesday of every month. 5:30 to 7:00 PM Our community grant award day has been postponed. It will be December 12th at 12:00. All are welcome to help us celebrate the many good things being done in our community. December the 8th is Keith’s annual Christmas party. It is at his house at 4:00. A sign up list will go around in the next few weeks. Sunday Nov 17th is our next beach clean-up. This one will be at Rio del Mar at 1:00 in the afternoon, not in the AM as we have traditionally done. Brings gloves and a bucket if you can and wear tour Rotary t-shirts! Our next meeting, November 14th, the club is taking a field trip to Second Harvest Food Bank in Watsonville. Our regular board meeting will be held at the Clubhouse, however, at 11:00. Today the club held our annual club assembly. Several cnotable activitie especially reflect the work of Rotary in our community and the world. Local foundation scholarships The Piatt fellowship is awarded each year to a local student who is a graduate student at UCSC. We also fund scholarships for RYLA (Rotary Youth Leadership Award) and six to eight scholarships per year to students graduating from both Aptos and Soquel High Schools. This year we are beginning to discuss expanding our scholarship efforts to include Cabrillo College. Community grants This year we will award 20 grants to non profit community agencies who are involved in a number of efforts on our community . this includes programs for youth, older adults, the arts, the environment , education and social services for the homeless. Rotary International Foundation: Rotary worldwide has been instrumental in the defeat of polio world wide. November is the month of our campaign and each member is encouraged to give so that we have 100% participation. Half our donations come back to us in the form of DDF or district designated funds which we have used for local and international projects, including this past year a water project with Santa Cruz Sunrise Club, RotaCare, our local free health clinic and Rising International, to prevent human trafficking. |
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JeopardyANNOUNCEMENTS AND REMINDERS On the first Monday of every month from 5:30 to 7:00 the club will have social gatherings here. It is a chance to introduce new friends and prospective members to our club! The next one is November 5th! The second badge Tuesday for new red badgers will be held on second Tuesday of every month. 5:30 to 7:00. Our community grant award day will be December 5th. All are welcome to help us celebrate the many good things being done in our community. December the 8th is Keith’s annual Christmas party. It is at his house at 4:00. A sign up list will go around in the next few weeks. Nov 17th is our next beach clean-up. This one will be at Rio del Mar in the afternoon, not in the AM as we have traditionally done. On November 14th the club is taking a field trip to Second Harvest Food Bank. Veronica Udura our Piatt fellow spoke to us today. She is originally from Watsonville. She is pursuing a PhD degree in molecular biology. Her work focuses on ways that might eventually help to treat cancer. Ron Morris from PG and E spoke to us about the power outages. There are tiers 1 2 and 3. 2 and 3 are the most at risk areas due to being heavily wooded. He said PG & E cannot be responsible for fires in our area. They look at wind direction and humidity levels and fire threat and then look at our circuits. We are fed from two places: Moss Landing and another feed that comes up over the mountains into the Green Valley substation. We have Rio del Mar sub, the Rob Roy sub (by Aptos High) and Paul Sweet sub by Dominican. In this last outage we had 22 circuits affected that had to be looked at once they ended the outages. Leslie Frates, well-known Bay area Jeopardy winner was our featured speaker today. |
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museumANNOUNCEMENTS AND REMINDERS On the first Monday of every month from 5:30 to 7:00 the club will have social gatherings here. It is a chance to introduce new friends and prospective members to our club! The next one is November 5th! The second badge Tuesday for new red badgers will be hfweld on second Tuesday of every month. 5:30 to 7:00. Our community grant award day will be December 5th. All are welcome to help us celebrate the many good things being done in our community. Today is world polio day. We received news that wild polio virus type 3e has been eradicated worldwide. Our goal is for every Rotarian to contribute to the cause of eradicating remaining types of polio and the campaign will begin in two weeks. December the 8th is Keith’s annual Christmas party. It is at his house at 4:00. A sign up list will go around in the next few weeks. Board meeting next week Oct 31st (Halloween!) at 11:00. Feel free to come in costume! Nov 17th is our next beach clean-up. This one will be at Rio del Mar in the afternoon, not in the AM as we have traditionally done. On November 14th the club is taking a field trip to Second Harvest Food Bank. Patrice Keet, Founder of the Museum of Discovery (MOD) and Rhiannon Crain, Interim Executive Director were our speakers today. The Museum is in the Capitola Mall and has been serving children in the area for five years. |
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gravity waterANNOUNCEMENTS AND REMINDERS Congratulations to Pam Goodman and Matt Wetstein who won Aptos Chamber of Commerce woman and man of the year. The dinner to honor them will be Oct 25th. Tickets will be $85 or $105 for the Rotary Table. See Doug or Michele or their website to sign up. Starting in October, on the first Monday of every month from 5:30 to 7:00 we will have social gatherings here. It is a chance to introduce new friends and prospective members to our club! The second badge Tuesday for new red badgers will be held on second Tuesday of every month. 5:30 to 7:00. The second harvest barrel warp will be held at Second Harvest in Watsonville on Saturday Oct 12th in the morning. Our community grant award day will be December 5th. All are welcome to help us celebrate the many good things being done in our community. Art will have senior flu shots at the end of the month. He also spoke about the Indian polio campaign at taj mahal the third thru the fifth of January. See him for more information. Danny Wright is a local Santa Cruz person who decided a few years ago to address the problem of millions of people who lack clean drinking water. He spoke to us today about his new organization Gravity Water. |
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red badgesANNOUNCEMENTS AND REMINDERS Our community grants application is due! It can be downloaded from this website. The deadline for submission is October 1st so submit now! The awards ceremony will be December 5th. Congratulations to Pam Goodman and Matt Wetstein who won Aptos Chamber of Commerce woman and man of the year. The dinner to honor them will be Oct 25th. Tickets will be $85 or $105 for the Rotary Table. See Doug or Michele or their website to sign up. Dagmar announced that beach clean-up day attracted 25 people on Saturday the 21st. Ryan took photos of the day and they appeared in this month’s issue of the Aptos Times! There will be another clean-up in November. Pam thanked us all for our support for the Alzheimer’s walk. It raised over $20,000! Starting in October, on the first Monday of every month from 5:30 to 7:00 we will have social gatherings here. It is a chance to introduce new friends and prospective members to our club! Constantine announced the Sunrise Rotary bicycle trip next Saturday. There will be a welcome party from 11:00 to 1:00 for the riders. For details go to Sunrise Rotary website. Today were our Red Badge talks for Dagmar and Jeff. (above) These talks give us a chance to find out something about our newest members. |
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new radioANNOUNCEMENTS AND REMINDERS Our community grants application has now been posted. It can be downloaded from this website. The deadline for submission is October 1st and the awards ceremony will be December 5th. We have scheduled Monday Sept 16th 4:00 at Aptos Seascape to assemble kits for Rising International. These are “safety bracelets” in Rotary colors with information on human trafficking. Sunday September 15th is the summer fun party at Keith’s at 2:00. To RSVP, sign up at a meeting. Dagmar announced Sept 21st will be our next beach clean-up at Rio del Mar beach. We did a great job last time picking up 25 lbs of trash which included a large amount of microplastics. Congratulations to Pam Goodman and Matt Wetstein who won Aptos Chamber of Commerce woman and man of the year. The dinner to honor them will be Oct 25th. Tickets will be $85 or $105 for the Rotary Table . See Doug to sign up. Rachel Goodman was our speaker today. She spoke about community public radio. KSQD 90.7 is the new station she has helped to establish in here. Their motto is ‘many voices one station’. |
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destress your childrenANNOUNCEMENTS AND REMINDERS Our community grants application has now been posted. It can be downloaded from this website. The deadline for submission is October 1st and the awards ceremony will be December 5th. The debunking of the president is rescheduled for Thursday August 29th at Santa Cruz Yacht Club at 5:30. We will be dark for the regular meeting that day. We have scheduled Monday Sept 16th 4:00 at Aptos Seascape to assemble kits for Rising International. These are “safety bracelets” in Rotary colors with information on human trafficking. Sunday September 15th is the summer fun party at Keith’s at 2:00. To RSVP, sign up at a meeting. Dagmar announced Sept 21st will be our next beach clean-up at Rio del Mar beach. We did a great job last time picking up 25 lbs of trash which included a large amount of microplastics. Congratulations to Pam Goodman and Matt Wetstein who won Aptos Chamber of Commerce man and woman of the year. The dinner to honor them will be Oct 25th. Tickets will be $85 or $105. See Doug to sign up. Sienna House will be having a dinner and auction on October 5th. See Michele for tickets. The Piatt fellow Veronica Urabe has been chosen for this year. She is from Watsonville High and Cabrillo and UCSC and getting her PhD in Cell and Molecular Biology. She will come and speak to us later this year. The speaker today was Alayna Hale. A retired teacher, she spoke to us about how to reduce stress and empower your children. |
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team rubiconANNOUNCEMENTS AND REMINDERS Our community grants application has now been posted. It can be downloaded from this website. The deadline for submission is October 1st and the awards ceremony will be December 5th. The debunking of the president is rescheduled for Thursday August 29th at Santa Cruz Yacht Club at 5:30. We will be dark for the regular meeting that day. We have scheduled Monday Sept 16th 4:00 at Aptos Seascape to assemble kits for Rising International. These are “safety bracelets” in Rotary colors with information on human trafficking. Sunday September 15th is the summer fun party at Keith’s at 2:00. To RSVP, sign up at a meeting. Dagmar announced Sept 21st will be our next beach clean-up at Rio del Mar beach. We did a great job last time picking up 25 libs of trash which included a large amount of microplastics. Michele talked about the ‘Sleeves Up’ Rotary sponsored blood drive campaign. Look at your e-mail for more information. Our speaker today was Adam Peterson from Team Rubicon which provides disaster relief both here in the U.S. and around the world. It has over 800 veteran volunteers. |
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water warriorsANNOUNCEMENTS AND REMINDERS Our community grants application has now been posted. It can be downloaded from this website. The deadline for submission is October 1st and the awards ceremony will be December 5th. The debunking of the president is rescheduled for Thursday August 29th at Santa Cruz Yacht Club at 5:30. We will be dark for the regular meeting that day. We have scheduled Tues Sept 17th 4:00 at Aptos Seascape to assemble kits for Rising International. These are ”safety bracelets” with information on human trafficking. Sunday September 15th is the summer fun party at Keith’s at 2:00. To RSVP, sign up at a meeting. Dagmar announced Sept 20th will be our next beach clean up at Rio del Mar beach. We did a great job last time picking up 25 libs of trash which included a large amount of microplastics. Al introduced Jim Zenner from Santa Cruz Rotary Club. He spoke to us about their trips to Kenya and India this past year, where they administered polio vaccines and did Rotary ‘water warriors’ projects which involve installation of clean water systems. There will be a trip to Guatemala this next January. |
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medication assisted treatmentANNOUNCEMENTS AND REMINDERS Our community grants application has now been posted. It can be downloaded from this website. The deadline for submission is October 1st and the awards ceremony will be December 5th. The debunking of the president is rescheduled for Thursday August 29th at Santa Cruz Yacht Club at 5:30. We will be dark for the regular meeting that day. We have scheduled Tues Sept 17th 4:00 at Aptos Seascape to assemble kits for Rising International. These are ”safety bracelets” with information on human trafficking. Matthew Morse our scholarship from recipient from Aptos High received his award today. He is going to Gonzaga university where he will major in business and environmental studies. Dagmar announced this Saturday July 27th is the beach clean-up. Meet right in front of the Rio Café (sometimes called Rio Flats) beach. There is free parking and there will be refreshments! Wear your sunscreen and closed toe shoes. Sunday September 15th is the summer fun party at Keith’s at 2:00. To RSVP , sign up at a meeting Danny Contreras director of the Medication Assisted Treatment Program for Santa Cruz county was speaker today. He spoke about their program which includes 3 clinics, two in Santa Cruz and one in Watsonville. |
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UgandaANNOUNCEMENTS AND REMINDERS The club has changed the schedule for our community grants awards this year. We are currently planning to post the on line application in mid -July. The debunking of the president is rescheduled for Thursday August 29th at Santa Cruz yacht club at 5:30. We will be dark for the regular meeting that day. We will be having our fundraiser at Aptos Park on the 4th of July beginning after the parade. See Al to sign up to help in the booth, with set up or clean up, or by taking cash and checking ID’s. Ryan and Aaron Bettencourt two of our three Aptos scholarship recipients were here to share with us their plans for the future. Aaron is entering the honors program at Cabrillo to study computer science and Ryan will go the University of Nevada as a pre-med student. Dr. Art received an award from Rotary International for donating $50,000 to the Polio Plus Program. We have six major donors in our club which is quite exceptional compared to other clubs in our district and around the world. Second Harvest received its check from our fundraiser today. Suzanne Willis accepted the check for Second Harvest. She thanked us for our support which will fund over 75000 meals and reminded us that Oct 12th is the holiday food drive barrel wrap. Peggy Pollard was here today to speak to the club about a Rotary International project in Uganda which was supported by the DDF funds of this club. |
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brain exerciseANNOUNCEMENTS AND REMINDERS The club has changed the schedule for our community grants awards this year. We are currently planning to post the on line application in mid -July. The debunking of the president is rescheduled for Thursday August 29th at Santa Cruz Yacht Club at 5:30. We will be dark for the regular meeting that day. We will be having our fundraiser at Aptos Park on the 4th of July beginning after the parade. See Al to sign up to help in the booth with set up or clean up, or by taking cash and checking ID’s. Saturday June 29th will be Rotary Day at Derby Girls. if you buy your tickets online, still sign up and let us know you will be attending. Tickets and information at Santacruzderbygirls.org June 27th is the RYLA barbecue at Mission Springs. All are welcome. Dr. Beth Finch, a neuroscientist and experienced researcher, spoke to us today about Lifestyle Factors in Healthy Brain Aging. She is from Durham, North Carolina and received her PhD from Harvard. |
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2nd district supervisorANNOUNCEMENTS AND REMINDERS The club has changed the schedule for our community grants awards this year. We are currently planning to post the on line application in mid -July. The debunking of the president has been postponed. It will be rescheduled as an evening event later in the summer. We will be having our fundraiser at Aptos Park on the 4th of July beginning after the parade. See Al to sign up to help in the booth, with set up or clean up or by taking cash and checking ID’s. Dagmar gave us an update on our participation in Save our Shores. We will again participate in the beach clean-up this year and our kick-off clean up will probably be in July or August. Saturday June 29th will be Rotary Day at Derby Girls. if you buy your tickets online, still sign up and let us know you will be attending. Tickets and information at Santacruzderbygirls.org June 27th is the RYLA barbecue at Mission Springs. All are welcome. Our speaker today was Zach Friend, our 2nd district supervisor and an honorary member of the club. His talk emphasized housing, traffic and income gaps in our county. |
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Habitat for HumanityANNOUNCEMENTS AND REMINDERS The club has changed the schedule for our community grants awards this year. We will delay the grant awards until fall of 2019 so that we can determine the exact amount of funds we have to distribute. Watch this site for more information. The debunking of the president will take place at a brunch at 12:00 on June 30th at the Santa Cruz Yacht club. Save the date! We will be having our fundraiser at Aptos Park on the 4th of July beginning after the parade. See Al to sign up to help in the booth, with set up or clean up or by taking cash and checking ID’s. We will again participate in the beach clean-up this year. Save the third Saturday in September! Matt announced that Saturday June 29th will be rotary day at Derby Girls. if you buy your tickets online, still sign up and let us know you will be attending. Tickets and information at Santacruzderbygirls.org All Rotary club members are invited to a party at Lifespan 600 Frederick St next Thursday on June 13th 1:00-4:00. Pam and Becky are celebrating the sale of the business and their won retirement. Come and widh them congratulations! Sandy announced June 27th is the RYLA barbecue at Mission Springs. She said we should all go and have a wonderful experience! Kristin Fabos, our speaker today, is the director or Marketing and Communications at Cabrillo College. She has been in this position since 2010. She spoke to us about her volunteer work in Cambodia that involved building a house for a family as part of the Global Village Arm of Habitat for Humanity. |
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our librariesANNOUNCEMENTS AND REMINDERS The club has changed the schedule for our community grants awards this year. We will delay the grant awards until fall of 2019 so that we can determine the exact amount of funds we have to distribute. Watch this site for more information. The debunking of the president will take place at a brunch at 12:00 on June 30th at the Santa Cruz Yacht club. Save the date! We will again be having our fundraiser at Aptos Park on the 4th of July beginning after the parade. See Al to sign up to help in the booth or with set up or clean up, or by taking cash and checking ID’s. We will again participate in the beach clean-up this year. Save the third Saturday in September! Susan Nemitz and Cindy Jackson from the library system were both here at the club to speak to us today. They were both active in getting measure S passed and are bringing our libraries up to date with these funds. We voted for 67 million dollars for the libraries to be modernized and rebuilt. However, it is not enough to do what they need to do and now they are raising funds for each separate project. |
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oneill surfANNOUNCEMENTS AND REMINDERS The club has changed the schedule for our community grants awards this year. We will delay the grant awards until fall of 2019 so that we can determine the exact amount of funds we have to distribute. Watch this site for more information. Rachel Kippen was our speaker today. She is the newly appointed director for O’Neill Sea Odyssey and she spoke on the importance of diversity in environmental issues and plastic pollution in the ocean, especially focusing on Monterey Bay. She has worked as a marine science educator for some years in various sites around California but is originally from Hawaii. |
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us censusANNOUNCEMENTS AND REMINDERS The club has changed the schedule for our community grants awards this year. We will delay the grant awards until fall of 2019 so that we can determine the exact amount of funds we have to distribute. Watch this site for more information. Win announced the district conference will be May 18 and 19th at the U.S.S Hornet in Alameda. Go to www.rotarydistrict5170.org to register. Doug announced we will be giving three scholarships to Aptos High School and three to Soquel High School seniors to be awarded at a ceremony for graduating seniors. Congratulations to all recipients! The meeting today began with Josh Sellers, Congressman Panetta’s local congressional aide spoke to us today about what is going on in congress. The Climate Action Now act is one of the bills that the congressman sponsored and has passed in the House.It holds the president responsible for upholding the Paris Accords. Our speakers today, Tory Del Fevero and Christina Granados are partnership specialists with the United States Census Bureau. They spoke about the importance of participating in the 2020 census.
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opera at ucscANNOUNCEMENTS AND REMINDERS The club has changed the schedule for our community grants awards this year. We will delay the grant awards until fall of 2019 so that we can determine the exact amount of funds we have to distribute. Watch this site for more information. Win announced the district conference will be May 18 and 19th at the U.S.S Hornet in Alameda. Go to www.rotarydistrict5170.org to register. The fundraiser was a huge success raising approximately $40,000 for Second Harvest and our community grants. Thanks to all of you who worked so hard to make it a success. (P.S. If you have made a pledge or need to pay for a silent auction item remember to turn the money into Michele as soon as you can!) Doug announced we will be giving three scholarships to Aptos High School and three to Soquel High School seniors. Congratulations to all recipients! Sheila Willey was our speaker today. She is the artistic director of opera at UCSC. She also appears with Santa Cruz Chamber Players and other local groups and has sung diverse roles throughout the Bay area. She is currently preparing the Pirates of Penzance which is opening May 30th.
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UCSC FellowANNOUNCEMENTS AND REMINDERS The club has changed the schedule for our community grants awards this year. We will delay the grant awards until fall of 2019 so that we can determine the exact amount of funds we have to distribute. Watch this site for more information. Win announced the district conference will be May 18 and 19th at the U.S.S Hornet in Alameda. Go to www.rotarydistrict5170.org to register. The fundraiser was a huge success raising approximately $40,000 for Second Harvest and our community grants. Thanks to all of you who worked so hard to make it a success. (P.S. If you have made a pledge or need to pay for a silent auction item remember to turn the money into Michele as soon as you can!) Keith announced that his party on Cinco de Mayo will be on a cold day so dress warmly. There is not a lot of parking: carpool if you can.
Sandy introduced Alexy Munishkin who is the Piatt fellow for this year and a graduate of SCHS and UCSC. He spoke about safe navigation of autonomous vehicle (or self-driving vehicles!). |
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Dr Paul HoffmanToday's program was Dr. Paul Hoffman - Understanding and Using Medical Marijuana Announcements: Sending healthy and positive thoughts to President Pam! Cinco De Mayo party at Keith's house...make sure you RSVP Sign up to attend the Lacy J Dalton Concert hosted by Scotts Valley and San Lorenzo Valley Rotary Clubs Roast of John Laird - Fundraiser benefiting Second Harvest Food Bank and other local charities. - April 26th. Sign up online under events on our website or Second Harvest's website. We are still looking for Sponsors and silent auction items. Our live auction looks fantastic!
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community bridgesANNOUNCEMENTS AND REMINDERS We will be having our major fundraiser April 26th to benefit Second Harvest. It will be a roast of John Laird. It should be very entertaining. Save the date and plan to attend. Our Polio Plus campaign begins on the first of March and runs thru April 30th. The goal is for every Rotarian to donate $50. This will be matched on a 2:1 basis by the Gates foundation. April 6th is the district training assembly from 8-2 at the Biltmore hotel in Santa Clara. See Doug for more information. April 14th is the Lacy J. Dalton concert at Roaring Camp in Felton. It begins at 1:00 and ends at 5:00. Tickets will be available on line thru the Scotts Valley Rotary website. There is a rumor that if come you will see our own Thomasjohn on the bass!! The club has changed the schedule for our community grants awards this year. We will delay the grant awards until fall of 2019 so that we can determine the exact amount of funds we have to distribute. Watch this site for more information.
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speech contestANNOUNCEMENTS AND REMINDERS We will be having our major fundraiser April 26th to benefit Second Harvest. It will be a roast of John Laird. It should be very entertaining. Save the date and plan to attend. Wed Feb 20th from 4:00 to 7:00 will be Aptos area Chamber of Commerce Business Showcase. We will have a booth there. If you signed up to help, please be there. Our Polio Plus campaign begins on the first of March and runs thru April 30th. The goal is for every Rotarian to donate $50. This will be matched on a 2:1 basis by the Gates foundation. April 6th is the district training assembly from 8-2 at the Biltmore hotel in Santa Clara. See Pam for more information. The Area 7 speech contest will be Mar 6th at SLV high school at 3:30 in the afternoon. Come and support our winner Holden Barker! Mar 15th is Rotary Day at the Warriors. A link will be posted on the Santa Cruz Rotary website for ticket purchase. . April 14th is the Lacy J. Dalton concert at Roaring Camp in Felton. It begins at 1:00 and ends at 5:00. Tickets will be available on line thru the Scotts Valley Rotary website. There is a rumor that if come you will see our own Thomasjohn on the bass!! The club has changed the schedule for our community grants awards this year. We will delay the grant awards until fall of 2019 so that we can determine the exact amount of funds we have to distribute. Watch this site for more information. Today was our area speech contest. Participants included: from Soquel High School Annie Nigh, Sophie Nigh, Stuart Morse, Maddie Piona, Roxie Harris, Aliya Ware, and Stella Gordon and from Aptos High: Emily Marschall Niswonger and Holden Barker. The winners were: third place ($50) Maddy Piona, second place $(100) Annie Nye and first place ($200) Holden Barker.Congratulations to all participants for a job well done!
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Uganda safariANNOUNCEMENTS AND REMINDERS Michelle reminded us that we will be having our major fundraiser April 26th. It will be a roast of John Laird. It should be very entertaining. February 14th will be the speech contest for high school seniors in the area. ] Please come early that day, no later than noon. We may have as many as 10 contestants so we will need every minute! If you are a volunteer, come a bit earlier. There will also be a board meeting on the 14th. Because of the speech contest it will begin at 10:30 and end promptly at 11:30. Wed Feb 20th from 4:00 to 7:00 will be Aptos area Chamber of Commerce Business Showcase. We will have a booth there. You can sign up to help with Doug Deaver. Our speaker today was Peggy Pollard who spoke to us about the Rotary safari to Kasese Uganda. It is part of a Rotary Global Grant for clean water. The trip is planned to be this April from the 1st – 15th.
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cell phone assessmentANNOUNCEMENTS AND REMINDERS Michelle reminded us that we will be having our major fundraiser April 26th. It will be a roast of John Laird. It should be very entertaining. February 14th will be the speech contest for high school seniors in the area. Save the date! Doug will send around a sign-up sheet to assist. There will be a meeting of the club foundation on Jan 31st at 11:00. That same day there will also be a meting of the community grant committee at 10:00 AM. All are welcome to come. Wed Feb 20th from 4:00 to 7:00 will be Aptos area Chamber of Commerce Business Showcase. We will have a booth there. You can sign up to help with Doug Deaver. Our speaker today was Nima Jafarian. He is the co-founder of ACI research labs. He has over 10 years of experience in R and D and multiple graduate degrees. He spoke today about a new method of cognitive assessment that he has developed recently that can be accessed by your cell phone.
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palliative careANNOUNCEMENTS AND REMINDERS Michelle reminded us that we will be having our major fundraiser April 26th. It will be a roast of John Laird. It should be very entertaining. February 14th will be the speech contest for high school seniors in the area. Save the date! Doug will send around a sign-up sheet to assist. The Aptos Times will be doing an article on RotaCare. Look for it! There will be a meeting of the club foundation on Jan 31st at 11:00. That same day there will also be a meting of the community grant committee at 10:00 AM. All are welcome to come. Wed Feb 20th from 4:00 to 7:00 will be Aptos area Chamber of Commerce Business Showcase. We will have a booth there. You can sign up to help with Doug Deaver. Margaret Putnam-Pite, LCSW was our speaker today (pictured at right above). She has spent many years in the field of palliative care (which includes hospice) and has now opened a private practice in this field. The goal of her practice is improving quality of life for those affected by a life-threatening illness. |
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VietnamANNOUNCEMENTS AND REMINDERS Michelle reminded us that we will be having our major fundraiser April 26th. It will be a roast of John Laird. It should be very entertaining. Today was Keith’s 93 birthday! We wish him a lovely day! February 14th will be the speech contest for high school seniors in the area. Save the date! The Aptos Times will be doing an article on RotaCare. Look for it! Brenda announced that Rising International could use help with bookkeeping. It you can help, speak to Carmel Jud at (831-429-RISE) Today’s speaker was Lew Jennings (on the right above) author of 19 minutes to live: Helicopter combat in Vietnam, a memoir of his years there. The title refers to the average time to live for a helicopter pilot in the worst days of the war. Lew flew over 700 combat missions. He gave us a review of the use of helicopters in warfare as well gripping stories of life on the battlefield. |
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Kaiser PermanenteANNOUNCEMENTS AND REMINDERS Next week there will be a board meeting at 11:00. Among other items we will be discussing community grants and the fundraiser. Michelle announced that we will be having our major fundraiser April 26th. It will be a roast of John Laird. It should be very entertaining.
Our speaker today, Rick Bar, (pictured above with past president Pam Goodman) is the area director for account management from Kaiser Permanente. He has several advanced degrees including one in international business administration and is on the board of directors of the Aptos Chamber of Commerce. |
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Rising InternationalANNOUNCEMENTS AND REMINDERS Dr. Art announced we will have another weed pulling day. He will send out details in e-mail. Craig Matthews today received his blue badge. William Gray received his Paul Harris-plus-Four pin today. Congratulations Bill! We received our DDF award today! Approximately half of the money will go to Rotacare and half to Rising International. This is a cooperative project and you will hear more about our contributions of time and labor in the future. Next week (December 27th) is dark! See you in two weeks (Jan 3rd). Happy holidays to all! Carmel Judd spoke to us today about Rising International (on the right above with supportive club member Kendra Cleary). It began 20 years ago focusing internationally on human trafficking , then tackled human trafficking here in our own community.
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new membersANNOUNCEMENTS AND REMINDERS Remember your Rotary Foundation pledges are due! You can pay up till December 15th. See John Fisher. Dr. Art announced we will have another weed pulling day. He will send out details. The regularly scheduled board meeting is cancelled next week, December 13th . We will meet as usual on the second Thursday in January. Today three new (red badge) members presented to us sharing their lives and backgrounds. They were: Michael was born in Guam. He lived in Washington and went to Pacific Lutheran University and went into the Army through ROTC. He worked for Pfizer for many years. He is now a financial advisor for Edward Jones. He has one son and loves golf! Marie Moseley is a teacher who has taught reading and cross cultural classes here in Aptos and in Alaska and Germany among other places. She had unusual pets including two tarantulas. She told us many interesting stories about her travels including a trip to Katmandu and one to Kenya. She likes photography and is learning to play the ukulele. Dave has lived pretty much his whole life in the bay area. He is a transfer from the Los Altos club. He went to UC Berkeley where he studied accounting. He did public accounting and was a specialist in real estate accounting and then moved on to commercial real estate. He has two daughters and granddaughters and enjoys water sports. |
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red badge talkANNOUNCEMENTS AND REMINDERs Keith reminded us that the annual Christmas party will be December 2nd at his house at 4:00. Remember your Rotary Foundation pledges are due in November but you can pay up till December 15th. See John Fisher. Dr. Art announced we will have another weed pulling day. He will send out details. Taylor Brevis from Congressman Panetta’s office gave us a legislative update. She said the Congressman is focused on the farm bill. She also spoke about his focus on the need to have a budget and not a government shutdown. In the new session, they will renew the voting rights act. The first piece of legislation will be on conflict of interest laws. It will focus on reining in dark money in politics. Other issues to be addressed in the new session will be lowering prescription drug prices, immigration reform and environmental protection.
We had two red badge speakers today. The first was Trish Glassey. She was born in Hawaii then moved to California. She did undergraduate work at UCSC and graduate work at Univ of Michigan and worked in politics and program analysis for many years, among them as an aide for Leon Panetta! Welcome Trish! Matt Wetstein , our second red badger, also worked in politics as an aide for Paul Simon. His dissertation was on abortion politics in the U.S and it turned into a book on abortion rates in the U.S., one of the first studies to look at all fifty states. He is in his ninth month as President of Cabrillo College and loves it and loves being here. Welcome Matt!
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cycling across americaANNOUNCEMENTS AND REMINDERs Keith announced that the annual Christmas party will be December 2nd at his house at 4:00. Please sign up on the sign-up sheet and indicate how many in your party. Remember your Rotary Foundation pledges are due in November. See John Fisher to pay. Sandy introduced our Piatt fellow from UCSC, Alexey Munishkin. He is a post grad student in the field of electrical and computer engineering department. He is studying programming related to robotics and automation and how to incorporate safety and time efficiency into areas such as air traffic control and automotive guidance systems. Remember next week is dark for Thanksgiving!
Chris Figureida was here today to speak about Cycle for the Heart, a program of Heluna Health, part of the American Heart Association. He described for us his first cross country ride. |
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rehab facilityANNOUNCEMENTS AND REMINDERs Keith announced that the annual Christmas party will be December 2nd at his house at 4:00. Please sign up and indicate how many of you are coming. Kate announced that the symphony league’s big fundraiser home tour will be December 1st and 2nd. See her for tickets…. Next Thursday is the Foundation Board Meeting at 11:00. Remember your Rotary Foundation pledges are due in November. See John Fisher to pay. Next Thursday November 15th there is a fundraiser for Rising International at the tech museum in San Jose. A special price for Rotarians has been set at $125. If you wish to go see Pam or Doug.
Our speakers today were Cynthia Chase and Sgt. Karen Wells from the re-entry and rehabilitation Rountree facility in Watsonville. The new facility was opened in July of this year. The facility is funded by AB 109 and SB 1022 for “prison realignment”. |
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Cabrillo CollegeANNOUNCEMENTS AND REMINDERs This Saturday November 3rd the club will be doing weeding at the The Farm Park in Soquel, a project for the restoration of Native Plants. The park is up from Soquel Drive (near Fairway). Go north on Harden, then to the right on Tee. This will replace our usual beach clean-up. There is a club board meeting on November 8th at 11:00. All are welcome. We will be hearing a presentation about the Capitola library. Keith announced that the annual Christmas party will be December 2nd at his house. Please sign up on the sign-up sheet and indicate how many you of you are coming. Kate announced that the home tour will be December 1st and 2nd for th symphony league’s big fundraiser. See her for tickets….
Today our club heard a presentation from two political science professors from Cabrillo College. Cabrillo President Matt Wetstein introduced Rory 0’Brien and Nick Rowell from the Department of Political Sciences. Dr. O’Brien focuses on forces in American politics and served two terms as faculty president. Dr. Rowell teaches courses on comparative government and has a research focus on Latin American politics.
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Beach and BoardwalkANNOUNCEMENTS AND REMINDERs We will be doing weeding at the The Farm Park in Soquel, a project for the restoration of Native Plants. The park is up from Soquel Drive (near Fairway). Go north on Harden, then to the right on Tee. It will be Saturday November 3 at 9:00 AM. This will replace our usual beach clean-up.
Today the club was welcomed at the Seaside company where Wes Walker gave us a presentation about the Seaside company and the security division and the Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk. |
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district governorANNOUNCEMENTS AND REMINDERs The dedication for Leo’s Haven will be Oct 13th. The address is 1975 Chanticleer Ave and the festivities will take place from 10:00 to 2:00. If you signed up to help set up please arrive by 8:30. We will be doing weeding at the The Farm Park in Soquel, a project for the restoration of Native Plants. The park is up from Soquel Drive (near Fairway): north on Harden, then to the right on Tee. It will be Saturday November 3 at 9:00 AM. This will replace our usual beach clean-up. Friday Oct 26th will be the date for the dinner honoring our own Michelle Bassi, this year’s Woman of the Year. Make checks out to Aptos Seascape for $85 and give them to Doug to reserve our table.
Our district governor Tim Lundell was our |