Escondido Sunrise Rotary; Meeting to Serve our Community in Person and via Zoom; and “Lawrence Morris from Project Rebound at CSUSM”
December 8th, 2022
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 seek new opportunities to serve…
We met again in person at the Chamber of Commerce… Great to enjoy the fellowship again and see all your smiling faces…
Gerry Fay led the salute to our Flag and, an invocation was offered by Jack Anderson
Visiting Guests:
Marcia Agnew
Gayle and Ray Brasga from the “Friends of Scott Foundation” introduced by Kevin Svetich and attending this meeting to pick up PJs donated by Sunrise Rotarians
Now, some Sunrise Rotary member milestones…
Birthdays:
Spouses Birthdays:
Erin Beitner 12/10
Pam Putnicki……A special birthday ending “Zero”…..Scott shared that the amily is taking Pam to Palm Springs this weekend
Tom Fitzgerald 12/12……Another special birthday ending in “Zero”…..Judy and friends are going to Las Vegas
Anniversaries:
No Anniversaries this week
Rotary Anniversaries:
No Rotarian anniversaries this week
Rotarians Having Fun and Serving…
All kinds of fun and service and fun…
Pictures are worth a thousand words…
Jim Ponder shared about a Disneyland trip with Kelly, JD and Jim and Carol… Both parks in
one day, encompassing over 30,000 steps and lots of cash…
Rich and Donna Aeling enjoyed a visit with their daughter and granddaughter in Tennessee and
a community tree-lighting…
Rich brought President Tina a wine glass…
Installation of new member:
Carl Reed… Carl is a Social Worker with Veteran’s Village of San
Diego…
Past Presidents, George Beitner and Jim Ponder conducted the installation… Their process
revived an old tradition in our Club where by the prospective new member was escorted out of
the meeting by the President and Club Members voted on admitting the proposed member…
As President Tina stepped out of the meeting with Carl… a magical bell-stealing process took
place… Kendra Koed had been prompted to guard the bell by Tina, but Past President Rich
Aeling was too quick…
As Tina re-entered the room with Carl… she noticed the bell was gone… And exclaimed
“Dammit”…
A real “Dammit” moment for our esteemed President…
Jim and George did a great job of sharing about Carl’s new opportunity for service with
Escondido Sunrise… And as Jim shared… Escondido Sunrise is a “We do it” group of fun-loving
Rotarians…
High 5 & Announcements:
Past President Kevin Svetich spoke about the pajama drive for the “Friends of Scott
Foundation”… Commenting about the many years of work by Gayle and Ray Brasga whose
own daughter suffered from Leukemia and were thankful for the donated PJs for her… They
have collected over 15,000 pairs of PJs over the years for children that are hospitalized…
John Schwab announced the Chamber of Commerce “Community in Unity” event that will take place on the evening of the 8th at City Hall…
John also thanked the Salvation Army bell-ringers as this Saturday is the last day of our activity supporting this great cause… John thanked members that filled in on the previous Saturday, including Alan Miller…
Mark Your Calendar:
President Tina reviewed the Calendar… Included are the following activities:
- Saturday December 10; the Bike Build at Aelott at 7:30 AM
- Board and Scholarship Committee on Monday December 12 at 5:00 PM
- Club Christmas Breakfast and gift exchange on the 15th
Target shopping on the afternoon of the 15th with Past President Mike Muehl in charge
No Sunrise meetings on December 22 and 29
Rotary History:
Past President Barry Baker shared some international and local Rotary history…
1911; Club 33 (Downtown San Diego) was chartered
1934; Escondido Rotary (Main Club) was chartered
1976; Escondido East Rotary was chartered
1980; Escondido West (now Sunrise) Rotary was chartered…
Barry also spoke about the Rotary Avenues of Service…
Club Service
Vocational Service
Community Service
International Service
Program:
Past President Richard Agnew introduced our program, Lawrence Morris speaking about
“Project Rebound” at CSUSM
Project Rebound serves to support CSUSM students that have previously been incarcerated.
Lawrence himself was in the program which began in the CSU system in 1967 at Sacramento
State…
Lawrence was incarcerated for 29 years, and with his education and the support of the Project
Rebound, has completed both a Bachelors and Masters degrees… He began his education
career after parole at Palomar College and finished his educational efforts at CSUSM…
Some history; in 2019, CSUSM had 19 students in Project Rebound, with 2 graduating… in
2020, there were 17 students, three of whom graduated… In 2022 14 students participated in
the program and 6 are slated to graduate…
The program provides books, academic support and counseling …
Education is a key for parolees to overcome the stigma of being a convict… 78% of parolees re-
offend… Of those who complete high school, 60% will re-offend; Of those completing an
Associates degree, 30% will re-offend, and of those completing a Master’s Degree, only 3% will
revert to a life of crime…
Project Rebound and its mentoring focus enables students to become contributing members of
society… Those involved in the program have a 97% success rate in completing their education
state wide…
Opportunity Drawing:
$714 in the big pot… Brian Murphy held the lucky ticket… Ah, but no luck with his card…
Tony Criss took home the consolation prize off $27
Next Week’s Meeting:
We will be celebrating Christmas with our annual Christmas breakfast and fellowship. Please expect to stay a little late, it most likely will go over
Will be in person and online at the Chamber of Commerce at 7:30 AM on December 15th……
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 our 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 meetings will begin as a hybrid setting with in-person and on-line opportunities…The meetings will be technically managed by Past President 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 meeting. The system works fine, dependent upon your technical support available through your PC or laptop…
SEE YOU SOON…… In Person or ONLINE… Next meeting; December 15th, 7:30 AM at the Chamber of Commerce…
Check President Tina’s email for the reminder…
