Bulletins - 2008 - 11/12/2008
This
Week's Bulletin Was Written
By Sandra Schrift
President Mel began our meeting at 7:30am.. Dave McKee gave us his invocation followed by the Pledge of Allegiance and Jim Mulvaney lead us in “From the Halls of Montezuma” to celebrate the 233 anniversary of the US Marine Corps.
Many guests today.- including a member from the International Police Chief convention being held in San Diego.
Paul Marsh held his weekly raffle which was won by President Mel. A few more Bitches and Braggs from our members.
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Maureen Eberle – gave a report on her recent visit to Rotary UN day. We are the only organization that has a “seat” at the UN. She also asked us to sign up for the January Foundation Gala on January 10 at 6pm. Sign up at the district website.
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Leah Swearingen thanked us for our support of a hospital in Ensenada.
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The Rotaract event at the Mingei Museum in Balboa Park brought in $2000 (matched donation) to provide an opportunity for school children to see the museum. yeah Rotaracts!
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Bobbi Spinner-Flack announced that on Nov. 19, the women from the Tomorrow Project will bring their items for sale. Bring your check books. We donated $3,000 to this organization.
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Lynn Hamilton– provided trash bags for our annual Xmas gifting to Tijuana school children. We play Santa Claus through our donations. I am sure there are many happy faces when they open their gift bags. (value $55-75) All shopping must be completed by Dec. 10.
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Judy Bambace– introduced the student of the month from San Diego High School. She is Liz Torres from the school of Theatre and Arts. Liz came to San Diego two years ago from Tijuana. Certainly a very gifted and ambitious young woman. We look forward to seeing her perform on a San Diego stage in the future.
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The annual Rotary Holiday Party will be held on December 13th at Melissa Chapman's house. There will not be any fundraising at this purely social event. Mark your calendars!
Larry Nuffer introduced our speaker, Alex Montoya, a triple amputee , who reminded us that the words “can’t” and “faith” can not co-exist. “Every journey worth taking requires overcoming adversity.” Alex is the Director of Latino Relations for the San Diego Padres. In that role he is responsible for the team’s outreach and event coordination to the Latino fan base in San Diego County and Mexico. It is an area Montoya knows well after seven years with the San Diego County Hispanic Chamber of Commerce.
He is also involved in motivational speaking about issues pertaining to success, education, and overcoming disability obstacles. His debut book, Swinging for the Fences: Choosing To Live an Extraordinary Life, will be released by Tate Publishing at a date soon to be announced. Montoya is a 1996 graduate of the University of Notre Dame and will receive his Master’s Degree in Sport Management from the University of San Francisco-Orange County in 2008.
Alex asked us to focus on what we have, not what we are missing. Faith is the cornerstone of his life. He stays connected with the cables in his arms that help him open his prosthetics. We are all connected with our faith, our family, our friends and with Rotary. If we are not part of the solution, we are part of the problem. Alex speaks annually to the students at Rotary sponsored RYLA camp for high school juniors in San Diego. RYLA reminds him of what we can be when we are all connected. He shared that David Nuffer (Larry’s dad) gave him his first job in his PR firm. Montoya’s dreams have come true; to work in major league baseball and to write his first book. His challenge to us. . . “what would we really like to do?”
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