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Caryn Bosson, Editor
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July 20th, 2007
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Upcoming Programs and Events
Presented by
Program Chairperson Suzanne Collingsworth-Smith, Maggie Cerminaro, Sheila Cluff, Allan Jacobs, Peter Haggerty, and Scott Smith
July 27th-District Governor Jane McClenahan
August 3rd-Derek Poultney-Ojai Meadows Update
August 10th-Keith Nightengale-Update on Iraq
August 17th-Celtic Spring-Celtic Music and Dance Youth-Bring a guest or loved one to this special program.
August 24th-John Zeretzke-The World of Cultural Music
In the Beginning....
President Marty convened the meeting, thanking Jim Anderson for the flag salute and Dana Huffman for her invocation (which concluded with the catchy “Bless this bunch as they munch their lunch.”)
Visiting Rotarians and Guests
Jim Berube led introductions of guests and visitors: Richard Heller , a guest of Bob Daddi's, Junia Childs , a guest of Jerry Kaplan, Andrew Bradigan, son and guest of Bret Bradigan , and speaker Michelle Kiel of the American Heart Association, introduced by Suzanne Collingsworth-Smith .
Announcements:
President Marty announced that today is the last day for signing up for Avenue of Service committees. His goal is for every member to serve on at least two committees in at least one Avenue of Service.
On Sunday, November 4, 2007, the Duck Derby will take place in a larger Rotary sponsored event called Youth Fest. Funds raised will benefit the Rotary initiative, “Fit Kids/Fit Ojai.”Volunteers are needed for that day. If you are interested, contact Mike Weaver or Larry Beckett.
Jim Anderson made a plea for volunteers to support the overall effort, pointing out handouts at every table describing Fit Kids/Fit Ojai and what you get as a sponsor of YouthFest. This year we only have two fundraisers: Taste of Ojai and Youth Fest. No one else is going to be asking for money at meetings for outside causes. This is it!
If you are willing to step up as a sponsor, go to Bill Gilbreth , who is in charge of raising funds from within the club to support Youth Fest. Save him the effort of tracking you down! Youth Fest will not only be sponsored by our club, but…in late breaking news…by Rotary West. Ojai Valley Community Hospital is also a sponsor.
We want this event to grow and build…next year it may even reach to Ventura!
Bill Monnot raised the question of what is going to happen to the money raised at Youth Fest. Dana Huffman answered: The two organizations currently receiving Fit Kids/Fit Ojai funds are Smart Start and the Ojai Valley Youth Foundation. They are currently running obesity prevention and health and nutrition programs for children. We want to be wise and have a master plan of what we want to do in the community. This is new ground for us
and we are learning as we go. We want to get the most bang for our buck.
President Marty added that Rotary will play the role of coordinator in this effort.
Two places are still available to accompany Deepa Willingham , Assistant District Governor, to Calcutta, India from December 7 – 15 to visit the girls' school she started. The cost is approximately $3,000 per person. If you are interested, see Mike Weaver or Nic Frank.
Welcome back Randy Roth, from your travels in China!
House Jester:A fountain of jokes, Frank Finck poured forth.
Character Counts:
Larry Simpson gave another installment of this regular feature of this Rotary year, noting that the Rotary Ethics movement came about because of Dr. Michael Josephson and his program “Character Counts.” Larry uses some of his material, sometimes adding to it, and sometimes writing on his own. In the coming weeks, Larry will discuss and review the Six Pillars of Character. They are: Trustworthiness, Respect, Responsibility, Fairness, Caring and Citizenship.
Rotarians of the Week:
Scott Smith introduced us to little known facts about two members of our club. Who knew that Maggie Cerminaro's middle name is “Seven,” or that Leland Hammerschmitt stepped into the footlights in a wooly mammoth suit?
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Rotarians of the Week Maggie and Leland |
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Fining:
Past-President Marty led the fining session, with many confessions of special celebrations, anniversaries, birthdays.
The Program:
Suzanne Collingsworth-Smith introduced Michelle Keil , the Business Development Director for the Ventura County chapter of the American Heart Association.
Michelle led us through a slide show that dramatically illustrated the increase in rates of overweight and obesity of Americans over the past twenty years and gave us ample evidence of the toll this is taking on our health, with dire predictions of what lies ahead for our increasingly overweight children and youth. Fully 65% of Americans are now overweight or obese.
The American Heart Association's Start! Program is a good way to motivate and encourage people to take up walking and other healthy habits as part of their daily routine all year round, in order to live longer, stronger and more heart-healthy lives.
You gain approximately two hours of life expectancy for each hour of regular exercise you do, even if you don't start until middle age.
Michelle encouraged all of us to start today…more information can be found at www.americanheart.org .
Final Thoughts
“What we're trying to do is use some of the same legal tactics that have been so effective against the public health problem of smoking against the other public health problem of obesity,”
George Washington, Our first President
