Escondido Sunrise Rotary; Meeting to Serve our Community via Zoom; and “Solutions for Change Making a Difference for Those Experiencing Homelessness” … January 7, 2020
Editor’s Note…
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…
So, we met via Zoom… On January 7 … Sunrise Rotary members talking about service and connecting through fellowship in new ways…
President Chris opened the meeting… Even with a gavel and the familiar chime of a gavel striking a bell… 18 Sunrise Rotarians joined the Zoom meeting… Nice job all of you for joining us…
Past President George Beitner led the salute to our Nation’s Flag…
Past President Jack Anderson offered an invocation…
Guests and Visitors:
Marcie Walker was a guest of Past President Dave Herbert…
Chris Megison of the Vista Club was with us; Chris was also our program speaker for this meeting…
Now, some Sunrise Rotary member milestones…
Birthdays:
January 3: Future President, Mark Maus
3: Donna Boyce
12: Past President, Jack Anderson
Anniversaries:
January 2: Past President, Constance Larsen and Bob Witte; 34 Years
3: Chris and Kristin Leso; 20 Years
Congratulations to both Couples!!
Rotary Anniversaries:
January 1: Past President, Jeff Johnson, 29 Years
2: Past President, Mike Dunlap, 36 Years
3: Past President, Kevin Svetich, 27 Years
5: Past President, George Beitner, 22 years
5: Past President, Jack Anderson, 41 Years
6: Past President, Jim Lund, 41 Years
7: President, Chris Miller, 31 Years
7: Past President, Susan Maney, 23 Years
Tally it up Boys and Girls,… 250 Years of Combined Rotary Service!!
What a gift we have in our leadership and service tenure in the Escondido Sunrise Rotary Club!!
Sunrise Rotarians Having Fun…
Past President Mike Muehl pictured with his pet Bison… The editor is certain there is a story to go with this… Mike ???
Bikes for Kids… Distributed at Camp Pendleton through the YMCA
Past Presidents Rich Aeling and George Beitner spoke about our project to provide bikes for kids of Marine families at Camp Pendleton… Much appreciation to the Armed Forces YMCA for their help with this …
Kids and their new bikes at Camp Pendleton…
Community in Unity and Donations of PJs, Blankets and Toys…
A number of Sunrise Rotarians were at the California Center for the Arts on December 17… Delivering PJs for the kids at Ronald McDonald House… Blankets for Elizabeth Hospice… And, toys for the youth in the Police Athletic League…
Some pics of our charitable efforts benefitting a most worthy cause…’Posing’ at the event were, President Chris, Past President Rich Aeling, Tina Pope and Liz Phillips…
This photo shows more of the same, with Past President Rich dropping off all of the items brought to his business for the event…
Past President Constance Larsen is Retiring
A fun photo depicting a major life event… Past President Constance Larsen retired from her law practice on December 31… Pictured here with her colleague and fellow Sunrise Rotarian, Silas Harrington…
Congratulations, Constance on your successful career serving your clients… By the way, Constance is looking for a new hobby (other than her cats)… If you have any suggestions, pass them along!!
Keep your ‘fun’ photos coming to President Chris…
Sunrise Rotarians Serving, and Announcements:
Mark your calendar Sunrise Rotarians…
North County Veteran’s Stand Down Clothing Drive…
Past President Rich Aeling reported that the clothing drive will be held in March in preparation for the Stand Down in April…
Sunrise Rotary Women in Rotary Award
President Chris found an opportunity to present Tina Pope’s ‘Women in Rotary’ Award for December… Nice social distancing…
High Fives:
Sunrise Club Board Report
President Chris provided an update from a recent Club Board Meeting… Finances are tight, but our successful Virtual Grape Day 5K had set us well for the rest of the year
Chris also reported on the global grants that are in work; Five Global Grants are in process, including: The Guatemalan Literacy Project with about 500 Rotary Clubs Worldwide; The Navajo Family Water Project; The Clean Water for Ecuador Project; The Green Houses for Ecuador Project, and another Nairobi School Project…
Program:
President Chris introduced our program… Solutions for Change.
Chris Megison was with us to discuss the important programs and ‘Campaigns’ undertaken by Solutions for Change. Below is Chris speaking to Sunrise Rotarians…
The theme embraced by Solutions for this campaign is “We are One US”… Simply stating that the problem of homelessness is all of our problem… And we are solving it along with our fellow community members, some of whom are facing challenging times… Often because of choices they have made in life.
Chris shared that many efforts to combat homelessness are about providing affordable housing. The problem is much deeper than that; and Solutions’ support for 200 families a day is about teaching them skills to navigate life and to recover from the bad choices they may have made.
Solutions for Change focuses on the root causes of the individual’s and the family’s problems and the effort to make change at the grass roots level.
This photo shows one of the ‘Overcomers’ from the Solutions program… The same woman is in each of the photos… A significant change in her life both physically and in her spirit…
Many agencies working to bring about change for homeless individuals and families are more than 70% reliant on the government for support. The cost of housing is immense; an average cost of over $500,000 per unit… Which then becomes an ongoing support cost of nearly $70,000 a year for ongoing living support.
Those numbers make the whole process under the government support paradigm beyond cost efficient…
Solutions for Change teaches and trains individuals and families through ‘Solutions University’…
Then, working with the clients and the communities, create entrepreneurial programs so that commodities can be created for economic sustainability for the families and the organization… People grow stronger as they learn to be self sufficient and to remove reliance on governmental subsidies…
Success comes about through the efforts of Solutions, the families and the communities in which their centers and programs are located.
Chris closed his presentation with suggestions through which volunteers and philanthropic organizations can support the Solutions for Change process…
Second Half of the Rotary Year Begins Now…
A reminder to all of Escondido Sunrise Rotary Members; President Chris has led us artfully through the first half of his presidential year in spite of the pandemic impacting our ability to meet in person. We accomplished a significant event with our Virtual Grape Day 5K, and raised an amazing amount of money for all of the good things we do as a group of “Sunrise Rotarians…
But now, we have the last half of President Chris’ year to continue being the beacon of good hope and strength to our community…
Keep attending online meetings and supporting all of our efforts to care for those in Need…
Next Week’s Meeting:
David Simmer; Navajo Reservation Water Project
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 January 14; 7:30 AM… Check President Chris’ or Richard Agnew’s email for the Zoom Link…
