JuLY 27, 2005

This week’s Bulletin was written by Karny Stefan

This Week’s Meeting

As sometimes happens in our beautiful city, the “marine layer” (every other place in the world uses the term “fog”, however southern Californian enjoy sharing the fact that we live in the most desirable place on earth, so we cultivate the envy of our Zoni neighbors by using a term “marine layer”) was very thick causing some Rotarians to pull up the covers and miss an amazing speaker.

For those brave souls who came out in this hazardous weather, they experienced another great meeting which started with an invocation by Frank De Francesco. The pledge of allegiance had a new twist. No flag could be found so Jim Mulvaney’s patriotic tie took center stage which then prompted a wonderful rendition of “She’s a Grand ‘Ole Flag” with the help of  Linda Jalving.

The meeting began with our illustrious guests (okay, maybe that’s an exaggeration) including Scott Silverman (guest of Gary Green), Brian McBride (guest of Jim Mulvaney … who is going for the world record of the most guests ever invited to a Rotary Club), Angela Hill (guest of Leah Swearingen-Millet), and Rachel Humphreys (guest of Karny Stefan for the third time … ahem … ticking off those “red badge” duties in a hurry).

announcements

Ø      We had visiting Rotarians from some “other” clubs including: Sheila Washington and Al Pavich (that other downtown club). Okay, having Al there was a treat because he shared the extraordinary efforts of the Vietnam Veteran’s of San Diego’s STANDDOWN event. Now this is really exciting, so take a sip of coffee to stay awake … 800 homeless veterans (yes, that was 800 folks who have served us in our military) came through Stand Down this year. Forty-nine (49) of them were children of veterans under the age of 12. Thirty-two (32) were women. There as even one mother with three children. That’s the sad news. The great news is what happened for these folks thanks to an “army” (I couldn’t help myself) of volunteers including many folks from the World Famous San Diego Downtown Breakfast Rotary. The results: 600 haircuts, 9,000 meals served, 496 medical exams/treatments, 259 pairs of glasses (imagine being homeless and not being able to see very well … ugh!), and much more. This Stand Down touted the most beds saved and available in the city for these vets ever …  meaning they didn’t leave and go back to sleeping on the streets! AND, more folks visited the Employment Tent than ever before. Great job everyone!!! Oh yeah, and one extra little detail, Al Pavich told us they’ve got a Capital Campaign coming up to build a new building around NTC, filling another tremendous need for our city and our former soldiers. I’m sure there will be more on that in the coming months.

Ø      Showing extraordinary dedication by taking up ½ a Saturday, Jay Sener and Maureen “Mo” Eberle attended the Rotary Membership Seminar and came back to share the importance of bringing in new members. The great news is that Rotary gains about 20% new members each year. The bad news is they lose about 20% each year … primarily new members who have been in clubs less than 18 months. Perhaps we should all spend a little more time talking to our “red badgers” (yes, this is a commercial).

Ø      Showing our love of our club, fourteen (14) people are planning to attend the Rotary District Council Meeting and Dinner tonight!!! 

Ø      Jonathan Stone spoke to us about “Relay for Life” which happens on August 27 & 28 and raises money for Cancer research and prevention. An unfortunately large number of club members raised their hands when asked, “have you or anyone in your family had an experience with cancer.” Jonathan is looking for more participants for Team Rotary.

Ø      Maureen Eberle asked us all to “Save the Date” of September 10 for a Rotary Foundation Seminar. Mo promised that it would be “AMAZING.”  Guess what amazing stuff the Rotary Foundation has accomplished? How about $600 Million to eradicate polio; treating AIDS in Africa, helping children in Nepal, providing water treatment systems in many third world countries and MUCH more.

Ø      Get on a Committee!!! That was the word again and many of you raised your hands that you already have. If you haven’t Melissa Blackburn is looking for more golf tournament committee volunteers. Next meeting is Monday at her office. The tournament is October 14, 2005 on Coronado. A portion of the proceeds benefit Voices for Children. Speaking of Voices for Children, tours of Juvenile Court are available through Voices for Children and will be set up in the next two weeks. Contact Melissa if you are interested.

Ø      A lovely “thank you” came from Barrio Logan College Institute. They truly appreciated our gift!

Ø      The saddest part of the regular meeting was that Larry Nuffer was absent … no Sergeant-at-Arms meant nobody got fined (my favorite part of the meetings).

Ø      Tom Sayer was looking to fingerprint members after the meeting … I didn’t stay to see if he found any willing victims. Oh no, that’s right, he meant photograph. J

Ø      Joe Ciokon, our Military Affairs Liaison, announced some great news … the 1,000,000th guest boarded the USS Midway and won and F-14 … okay, maybe that wasn’t the grand prize, but what an accomplishment for our beautiful city that thrives in part due to our booming tourist trade. On Tuesday they will add three new airplanes. More military news: the military will be commissioning a new Destroyer soon, and the Navy and the Coast Guard are teaming up on a special new ship … more to come from Joe on that front in the coming weeks.

BRAGS

Ø      Both Gary Green’s sons have gotten great jobs, so Gary will have lots more money to donate to our Rotary Club this year.

Ø      Tom Sayer got a Certificate of Occupancy for his home (finally!) and he’s going to invite us all over for dinner … he just hasn’t told us when yet. J

Ø      Michael Clarkson looked a bit grey this morning after partying for four days for his birthday … no, he didn’t volunteer his age, but he paid the till anyway.

Ø      Hugh Largey’s daughter has decided to get a “real” job and is going to nursing school … leaving behind “Leading Dogs for the Blind” in Michigan.

TOMATOES

Ø      We sold lots of tomatoes. Bring more cash next meeting ‘cuz it looks like we’re going to be in tomato heaven for several months to come.

OUR SPEAKER

First off, it was AWESOME!!! I am very sorry for anyone who missed this breakfast.

Nancy Vaughn introduced our speaker. His credentials included more acronyms than an Internet chat room, so we knew he must be important. He was also wearing his Navy Whites, making more than a few of the women a little weak in the knees (yes I did see you!).

Commander Frank Michael hailed from Dallas, Pennsylvania … after completing his Masters in Public Administration, he became a Naval Aviation Officer Candidate and joined the ranks of our illustrious Naval Aviators in 1988. His specialty … helicopters! Most notably, he served us in Desert Storm. Then as a Naval Flight Instructor, he “toured” such lovely places as Liberia and Bosnia. Today, he’s Commander of the HSL Squadron.

His latest tour of duty however, was a little different than you might expect. After being deployed to the Western Pacific (“Wes Pac” … yes, it took me a minute to figure that out), on December 26, 2004 his Aircraft Carrier group was in Hong Kong on “liberty” (I actually knew what that meant) when the call came about the Tsunami disaster. “We left port and took a Right instead of a Left and headed 2100 km to Indonesia.” They arrived on January 1st. The 9.0 earthquake (which he explained is 100 times greater than a 7.0 earthquake) had left extraordinary damage which he shared through a heart-wrenching PowerPoint of photographs. “It was devastation and destruction to the likes which we have never seen.” This coming from a man who served in Desert Storm was equally chilling.

His was the first HSL to embark with a carrier providing helicopter support for relief efforts … food, water, etc. Frank explained that the from 120-mile strip from Banda Aceh to Meulaboh, there were 95 bridges that were washed out, so driving supplies in was impossible. Everything had to come in my air. Unloading sometimes occurred while the helos were hovering when crowds appeared potentially unruly. This however, he said solved itself quickly when it was obvious more supplies would be coming.

Over the next 35 days, his team averaged 40 helicopter flights per day and delivered over 600,000 lbs of food. The entire Abraham Lincoln Strike Group delivered 6,000,000 lbs of food. Their resources? Five helo-capable ships, 17 helos, 4 cargo ships, and 6,500 sailors.  The challenges? Massive thunderstorms every day, and intense heat and humidity. When available, soccer fields became landing pads. When not, they would land in some very tight and precarious spots.

In addition, during that 35 days, they medivaced 200 people to field clinics run by the Chinese and other countries. Soldiers repaired generators and offered a myriad of support to the survivors.

VIPs to Indonesia included: Paul Wolfowitz, Colin Powell, Dan Rather, Diane Sawyer, and Jeb Bush. Local citizens sewed makeshift American flags and hung them near the makeshift landing fields.

In the end, 160,000 people died in the disaster. About 40 days after the disaster, the Navy turned over command when the United Nations Relief Efforts had been coordinated and implemented.

One favorite comment that will stay with us was “We were your agents there.” Thank heavens for our men and women in service.

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