Bulletins - 2008 - 03/05/2008
This
Week's Bulletin Was Written
By Jenny K. Goodman
President Mike Whitehurst did a yeoman's job of time management for today's meeting and, with fair warning, started the meeting a little early. Paul Downey, already checking off his duties for blue badgedom, gave us all a creed to live by, to wit, live each day one day at a time so that you can live ALL the days of your life. Life is a journey to be savored. Pat Cowett lead the Pledge of Allegiance. Jim Mulvaney, warming up for his favorite holiday, shouted out a heartfelt Irish Eyes.
Jonathon Stone reported that the recent wine tasting event had been very successful netting over $1,500. Outstanding. I scored the Opening Day Padres tix and Jeff Christie paid a fine for his mention in San Diego magazine. Mel Gallegos reported on the P.E.T.S. training he received recently. He now knows how to sit, heel and stay like a good Rotarian.
Today it would have been easier to introduce the members rather than the guests as it was a full house. We haven't heard Pete McGuire talk so much in a long time. There were numerous former Rotarians and Paul Harris Fellows, a Rochester Rotarian with his daughter and a member of the Golden Triangle club, an Ambassadorial Scholar from Japan, guests from the Midway, and, of course, our usual contingency of club 33 members.
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Lucy Killea reported on some volunteer work she did at the Women's Resource Fair where she helped women fill out a seven-page form prior to getting screening for a mammogram.
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Mike Whitehurst asked for some feedback on whether he or Al Gore have better camera presence. Mike presented the Humane Society with a check from our club at their annual telethon last weekend.
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Bobbi Spinner-Flack and Steve Seligman introduced Darby who promoted the upcoming Stand Down event and reminded us all of how important this event is. The dates are July 11th through the 13th at San Diego High School. Gary Green is heading up our volunteer efforts. He says its the most rewarding day you can spend. This event requires 2,500 volunteers and there are a lot of jobs for everyone.
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Our guests from the Midway reported on the success of the No Child Left Ashore program as monikered by our own Ron Erbetta. They are planning on a summer program where the kids will spend two weeks on board the ship. Cool. 
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- John Addams introduced, Allison, the executive director of Rolling Readers who provided a quick overview of the program. The members of our Rolling Readers volunteers are John Addams, Larry Nuffer, Mary Engles, Bobbi Spinner-Flack, Pat Cowett and Jenny Goodman. If others are interested in forming a group, I can speak from experience in saying this is a really fun way to volunteer. The kids are awesome and it makes you feel like a rock star to be greeted by them with excitement to read.
- Marge from the Golden Triangle club and a soon-to-be District Governor, who introduced our club to the Rolling Readers program, also advised of an opportunity to donate or purchase for donation, books for this program and to provide to low-income children. We will have reminders about this in the coming weeks.
 Mary Dawe happily introduced her friend, Judy Bambace, whom she browbeat into becoming a member. We are confident once she knows us, she will stay of her own volition! Judy is a judicial research attorney for the Court of Appeal which must make her walk to the office after our meetings absolutely horrendous. She has done lots of volunteer work and has lived with Rotary all her life since her father was a Rotarian as well. One surprising revelation is that Judy is a former opera singer. That should really help with our weekly chorus practice. Welcome.
 George Mullen, fresh off his four-week sabbatical from emcee duties, introduced Mayor Sanders better-half, Rana. Rana has many accolades and accomplishments including being a former NYPD police officer and she has a law degree as well. She serves as an international crime consultant. San Diego's First Lady was very gracious in thanking us for our collective volunteer efforts. In the mid-1990;s, schools began asking for police presence on campus to avoid Columbine type events. But once the officers got on campus, they didn't know what to do. The issues were more behavior problems than criminal actions but given the correlation between bullys and later interaction with the criminal justice system, school leaders realized that this future criminal behavior could be abated if attention was paid to the students when they needed it most. Rana wrote up a guidebook that officers nationwide use to address bullying and other issues in schools. Today's schools have to deal with much more behaviorial issues with less resources. Many schools do not have nurses, or counselors. Many of the problems are because there are children with mental health issues. We cannot wait until kids are going through a trauma to address mental health issues. The San Diego Center for Children is a facility that helps address these problems before its becomes criminal issues. It provides a soothing environment for children providing wrap-around services. Their annual dinner is June 19th and Rana encourages us to attend and to tell our friends and colleagues about this very important organization. Not only are there opportunities for financial support, but there are many rewarding volunteer opportunities as well. Rana has invited us to come visit the Center to check out this fabulous facility. The Center operates on a 17-million dollar budget with not a lot of state funding. They serve over 2,500 kids each year many of whom have been kicked out of schools and/or homes.
Thanks to all for a very invigorating and uplifting meeting.
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