Posted by Jack Anderson on Aug 30, 2017

Sunrise Rotary August 17 & 24, 2017; Human Trafficking and the Alabaster Jar Project and Club Assembly

  

District 5340 Governor, Scott Carr will be at our meeting this week… Thursday August 31; Be There!!

 

President Dave called the meetings to order… He’s getting really good at that!!

 

Past President Mike O’Malley and Past President Alan Miller led the Pledges to our Flag at the respective meetings… Invocations were offered by Past President Jack Anderson and Father Bill Dopp.

 

Guests and Visitors:

 

August 17:

 

Ann Van Leer, Executive Director of the Escondido Creek Conservancy…

was installed by Linda Bailey as the newest member of the Escondido Sunrise Rotary Club.

 

Please extend the warm hand of Sunrise Rotary friendship to Ann at our meetings…

 

Ann Van Leer with President Dave and Club Secretary and Membership Chair, Linda Bailey.

August 24:

 

Matt Pound of Escondido Materials, a guest again of Past President Kevin Svetich

 

Jan and Tom Velte, in the Mortgage Lending Business; former members of the Fallbrook Rotary Club

 

 

Birthdays:

 

August    26    President Dave!! Woo Hoo!!

 

Anniversaries:

 

August     28    Past President George and Erin Beitner, 35 years…                     Congratulations!!

 

Rotary Anniversaries:

 

None this week…

 

Photos of the Week:

 

On August 17, Bill Dopp shared photos of his recent trip to Uganda and the Rotary Vocational School that is being built there.

 

On August 24; photos of Past President Mike O’Malley doing what he does best at O’Sullivan's… 

 

And, George Beitner’s son Owen viewing the eclipse with his Middle School students…

 

Dates to Remember:

 

August:    31    District Governor Scott Carr will visit our Club

 

September:    23    Rotary Foundation Seminar, Poway Center for the Performing Arts

 

October:    7    Escondido Sunrise Grape Day 5K Event; 44 days away

        

Hi-Fives and Announcements:

 

August 17:

 

Past President Jack Anderson found the President’s Precious Gavel floating around the meeting room… A real no-no for the new leader of the best Rotary Club in the District…

The Past Presidents in attendance unanimously agreed on a $150 fine for President Dave because of his “cavalier attitude” toward his Precious Gavel

 

 

Grape Day 5K:    44 Days till the big event…

 

Past President Mike O’Malley reminded club members of the need for ‘goodies’ for the goodie bags. There will be 1,000 bags; items in any major increment are welcomed, even if you don’t have 1,000 items. Coupons, sun screen, golf tees, water bottles, etc., etc.   Are all valuable to include in the bags….

 

Mike O’Malley also commented on the remaining few openings for the Escondido Sunrise Fantasy Football League; contact Mike if you’re interested.

 

Past President John Boyce was fishing in Wyoming and brought President Dave a tee shirt…

 

Past President Jim Ponder was recently in Mammoth; he promised President Dave that he had a ‘drinkable’ treat for him at home in the fridge… Hope it’s still there when he remembers to bring it to a meeting…

 

Past President Rich Aeling announced the Chamber of Commerce golf event on September 15 at the Vineyard… Proceeds benefit the Police Athletic League. Interested golfers can contact Rich.

 

Club Secretary Linda Bailey announced that County Supervisor Kristin Gaspar committed $15,000 to our Grape Day 5K event… Thanks Linda for your work on this great gift…

 

Past President and Foundation Chair, Kevin Svetich presented her first Paul Harris Fellow Award to Rorie Johnston… Thanks for your generosity Rorie!!

    

 

 

Programs:

 

August 17; The Alabaster Jar Project. Past President Tony Criss introduced our speaker, Susan Johnston. The efforts of the project focus on support against human trafficking and work with homeless and runaway girls. Susan share some statistics regarding the extent of the problem in San Diego County. Specifically, 80% of the victims are U.S. citizens; California is in the top 4 states in the country as to incidents of this activity and San Diego County has the 8th largest number of incidents in the country. it is estimated that human trafficking is an $800 million dollar industry in San Diego.

 

Susan described the kinds of situations that the trafficked girls find themselves in, and described the vulnerability characteristics that may cause victims to become victimized; including; abusive, unstable homes, lack of education and mental health and substance abuse issues…

 

The Alabaster Jar Project works closely with law enforcement and social workers to identify victims and rescue them from the abusive and human-trafficked settings. Their goal is to break the cycle that leads to the abuse. The project needs include housing support, educational enhancement, support for overcoming substance abuse and PTSD.

 

Last year the project supported 86 girls in Escondido and North County alone.

 

The Sunrise Rotary Club presented a check for $2,500 to support the program…

Pictured are Past President Tony Criss and Susan Johnson of the Alabaster Jar Project

August 24: Club Assembly

 

The Club Assembly is the annual meeting during which the President and the Board present the Club’s plans for the year. A busy year of service lies ahead for Sunrise Rotarians…

Consider all the service opportunities discussed below and begin planning to join in…

 

Mexicali Project: Past President Rich Aeling spoke about the Mexicali Project; The project dates are yet to be finalized, however it will be in April. There are five possible schools in Mexicali that need our efforts; a scout trip will take place in December to determine the focus of our work effort.

 

Tijuana Housebuilding: This project will take place in early 2018; a partnership with the After Five Rotary Club and with the Calafia Rotary Club from Mexicali will help us complete this work along with Project Mercy.

 

RYLA: Past Presidents Jim Ponder and George Beitner described our work with RYLA which will take place April 19-22 in Idyllwild. There are many ways to connect with this very worthy leadership program; become a facilitator or just visit on Saturday.

 

Our club is a key operator with this program having three members on the District Team; Past Presidents, Jim Ponder, Kelly Mayberry and George Beitner…

Last year, we donated a rear-screen projector to the program to enhance the programs and activities.

 

LEAD: A leadership program for Middle School students; Past President Alan Miller and Elana Karoly are part of our team that works with this program

 

Bikes for Kids: Past President Rich Aeling discussed the program that we will sponsor again this year. Through the Bikes for Kids Foundation, we will acquire 120 bicycles for third grade students at an Escondido school yet to be chosen.

 

North County Veteran’s Stand-Down: President Dave outlined the program set for January 25-28 at Green Oaks Ranch in Vista. Volunteers are needed, and there will be a clothing drive to support this event and the homeless veterans.

 

Global Grants: Past President Jim Ponder informed the Club of the status of the grants for Flying Kites Orphanage in Nairobi, Kenya. A total of $37,000 is amalgamated through ESR Club funds, District Funds and the Rotary Foundation, plus a partnership with a Club in Nairobi.

 

CSUSM Scholarship Endowment: Past President Rich Aeling outlined the preliminary plans to create a student scholarship endowment at CSUSM. Our ultimate goal is an endowment of $25,000 to be seeded this year with $10,000 in ESR funds. Our goal is to be directly involved with evaluating and selecting recipients. It was suggested that we may also want to work with the MAP Program through the Escondido High School District and the Chamber of Commerce.

 

Cabins by the Lake: Past President Mike Dunlap outlined a plan this year to purchase and install two additional handicapped accessible cabins at a County Park.

These would be the twelfth and thirteenth units in our program that began back with a cabin at the Dixon Lake Campground.

 

 

Next Week’s Program:

 

Rotary District 5340 Governor, Scott Carr

An important meeting for all of us to attend…

 

 

 

Opportunity Drawing:

 

Lunch Money:    $22.00    Past President Kevin Svetich  

 

Big Pot:        $160.00    Linda Bailey… Sorry, better luck next time