Escondido Sunrise Rotary; Meeting to Serve our Community via Zoom; and “The California Center for the Arts and its Ongoing Impact in Our Region in Spite of the Pandemic and Some Interesting Historical Perspectives on Camp Pendleton”… April 15 and 22, 2021
Editor’s Note… This Bulletin will highlight our two meetings on April 15 and 22… This format is due to some family schedule issues the editor faced over the last two weeks… Apologies offered…
As we all try to conduct our professional pursuits in new ways, it’s appropriate to remind ourselves of who we are as a Serving Organization… Our accomplishments, our fellowship and the reminder of our many successes is valuable as we await the time we can gather together again…
President Chris opened the meeting… But, without his Presidential Bell…
Heaven Forbid… The Presidential Bell is still missing…
The Bell has gone from Covid isolation, to enjoying the NCAA Basketball finals, to its current station in life…
But, wait a minute, Rotary Friends…
Here is a pic of the possible ‘seating’ for the bell… Is that an Electric Chair??
Will the Bell be punished for President Chris’ careless handling of this precious commodity??
Then there is the ransom note… The junk heap??
Or, in President Chris’ wildest dreams, he has a bell found in a bucolic ‘Hidden Valley’ setting…
Even with our Presidential Bell missing, and only partially accounted for… We had the beginning of two great Sunrise Rotary Zoom meetings…
Past Presidents Jeff Johnson and Bob Burson led our salutes at each meeting to our Nation’s Flag…
Invocations were offered by President Elect-Elect, Tina Pope and by President Chris Miller…
Guests and Visitors:
Nancy Murphy was our only guest at these meetings…
Now, some Sunrise Rotary member milestones…
Birthdays:
Celebrating birthdays were:
Past Presidents Jim Ponder and George Beitner and Kim Henson…
Anniversaries:
Some Day President, Andy Ommen and his Bride, Dana celebrated their 17th wedding anniversary… Check those Clubrunner details President Chris, Andy and Dana must have been married longer than the age of their oldest child…
Rotary Anniversaries:
Past President, Tony Criss and Andy Ommen both had Rotary Anniversaries over the past two weeks…
Rotarians Having Fun and Serving…
All kinds of fun and service these two weeks… Pictures are worth a thousand words…
Padre Fun…
A couple of members were at a Padre game, and there was a video of Past President George Beitner imitating Harry Caray singing “Take me out to the Ball Game“… Thankfully, the video was very short…
Some members also celebrated the Padre No-Hitter tossed by Joe Musgrove on a road trip in Texas… TV gives us all a great, front-row seat…
New Wheels…
Past President, Dave Herbert celebrated the near-success of the Zags by splurging for a new mustang… And, his 70th birthday…
One can only imagine the slowness of his former “Old Nag” mustang ride… The Past Presidents considered a fine for this speedy mode of transportation… and Past President Dave showed his Retired Deputy “get-out-of-jail” card… And if that wasn’t enough to satisfy the local constabulary, he pled to holding an AARP Card… Expecting that would free him from traffic court and new car fines…
Marrying Her Two Daughters Off in a Single Year…
President Elect-Elect, Tina Pope and Allen have their hands full this year with daughters, Liz and Kelley both tying the knot this year… Congrats to all the Popes…
Enjoying Some Cabo Refreshment…
Past President Mike Dunlap is celebrating the passing of the old ‘April 15’ Tax Day with some refreshing time in Cabo… Margaritas galore!!…
The Baja 250 and Some Sailing…
Club Secretary, John Schwab was south of the border watching some daredevil drivers and re-launching his sail boat…
Even Dogs Enjoy Earth Day…
President Chris looked long and hard for the culprit that ‘un-earthed’ his favorite plant… A little detective work and surmising that the excavation took place near the doggy door… No Alpo for two weeks!!…
A Brand New Grandbaby for Rich and Donna Aeling…
Riley Morgan came slowly into the world as Grampa Rich and Gramma Donna’s newest granddaughter. Weighing in at a robust, 8 pounds, 8 ounces, her mom needed some surgical assistance to bring her into the world… She’s a beauty and the family is rightly proud…
Sunrise Rotarians Serving, and Announcements:
Mark you Calendars…
Note some activities coming up…
Support for Neighborhood Health Vaccination Clinics…
Throughout April and May there is a need to assist with traffic control and support for the vaccination clinics. An email was sent to all members with available dates…
District 5340 Golf Outing, May 3 at the Rancho Bernardo Inn…
Past President, Scott Putnicki reporting...
Rotary Foundation Support as the Third Quarter Ends…
Past President and Foundation Chair, Kevin Svetich thanked those members that have responded to his recent appeal…
…
Rotarians at Work Day
Our focus will be on supporting the Vaccination Clinics through Neighborhood health… Please help where you can…
High Fives:
Past President, Jeff Johnson, President of Milo Johnson Automotive, a 75-year business in Escondido, announced that the business will be sold and will become part of the Gerber Auto Body Corporation… all of Jeff’s employees will remain with the new company as will Jeff. Congratulations to the Johnson Team…
Tina Pope enjoyed a make up meeting with the Temecula Sunrise Rotary Club... She was also an excellent program speaker... Way to go Tina!
Programs:
California Center for the Arts
On April 15, our program was presented by Jerry VanLeeuwen, Executive Director of the California Center for the Arts. Past President Brian Murphy introduced Jerry…
Jerry Van Leeuwen speaking to Sunrise Rotarians…
Jerry spoke about the impact of the pandemic on the Arts Center, and that his Board’s goal was to remain relevant during the pandemic as some levels of programming was unable to be presented.
A challenge, as for many businesses, was maintaining revenue; the Arts Center has two primary revenue streams, earned income (production revenue, ticket sales and event rentals) and donated income… The earned income struggled, but the donated income grew over the primary, 2020 year of shutdowns…
Jerry shared information about some productions that are in planning, one in particular relates to diaries from the Holocaust that have been acquired and musical scores are being composed from those shared experiences…
Another significant event during the pandemic was the Frida Callo exhibit… Very successful and well received by members and the community…
Education programs remain a mainstay of the Center, with over 18,000 students involved through connections with local school districts and charter schools…
To top off the year of challenges, over $500,000 in grants were received supporting Center programs…
Successful programs blending outdoor performances with appropriate social distancing have been the ‘Cabaret in the Courtyard’ series… Fun music and food in a great setting… many shows have sold out…
Camp Pendleton History
Past President, George Beitner introduced our program speaker, Faye Jonason, Director of the Camp Pendleton History Museum.
Faye Jonason speaking to Sunrise Rotarians…
Faye shared lots photos of the Marine base history including, its size of 125,000 acres incorporating 17 mile of coastline. Camp Pendleton is the larges amphibious base in the world. The First Marine Expeditionary Force “IMEF” trains over 50,000 Marines and Sailors…
History of the land was shared, being part of the Rancho Santa Margarita Las Flores… Pio Pico and Juan Forster operated the ranch land…
The property was purchased by the Navy Department in 1939… And the base was part of General Joseph Pendleton’s vision to have a west-coast training site for Marines, especially with the completion of the Panama Canal…
Construction began in 1942 with Vandegrift Blvd…
Quonset Huts were brought in to replace the ‘tent camps’ first used by Pendleton Marines…
In the spring of 1942, Navajo Code Talkers were trained at Pendleton, and they became a key to our success agains the Japanese in the Pacific theater…
Many films have been made at the massive base; this photo shows John Wayne at Pendleton as the movie, “Sands of Iwo Jima’ was made on the base.
In 1975, 50,000 Viet Namese refugees were welcomed to the United States and Camp Pendleton was one of four welcoming camps throughout the nation…
Part of the history of the Rancho remains today, with the chapel and Santa Margarita Ranch House restored to their original adobe structures…
Next Week’s Meeting:
James Rowten (JR) the President of the Escondido Chamber of Commerce will be with us…
Thanks for Attending Today’s Meeting…
Support for our Escondido Community …
Our great community and the success of its businesses is all of our responsibilities… Support the businesses that are doing all they can to survive during this challenging time… Take out some chow… Be ready to support them when the economy begins working again…
The ‘Giving Arch’ on Grand Avenue and Centre City Parkway reminds us that Escondido is a caring, giving community…
To all; be safe and be well…. God Bless those men and women that carry the load at our medical facilities, and God Bless the first responders… May our governmental leaders be wise, thoughtful and smart as this pandemic is overtaken by our hard work and collective support…
Online Meetings:
Technical Support for Online Meetings:
Our on-line meetings continue to be technically managed by President Elect Richard Agnew… Thanks for that Richard… And, Richard is prepared to support all of our attempts at joining the on-line meetings… Look for his email with details and links to log on to the upcoming Zoom meetings…
Watch for emails defining the next online meeting. The system works fine, dependent upon your technical support available through your PC or laptop…
SEE YOU SOON… ON LINE OR IN PERSON….. Next meeting; Thursday April 29; 7:30 AM… Check President Chris’ or President Elect, Richard Agnew’s email for the Zoom Link…
