RB Rotary Club
Meeting Notes of March 16th, 2023
Pledge – President Alan led the Pledge of Allegiance.
Greeter – President Alan was our greeter for the day.
Inspiration – Toby Westbrook’s inspirational moment helped to demystify who inspired Leonardo da Vinci’s famous painting, the Mona Lisa and her enigmatic smile. The book, “Il Sorriso di Caterina”, claims that Leonardo was the illegitimate son of a slave named Caterina who was granted freedom by Ser Piero da Vinci, Leonardo’s father. Leonardo lived with Caterina the first five years of his life before living with his father and new wife.
President Alan reminded us that according to the Vista Hill Foundation, the first six months of a child’s life is the most impressionable; so, it’s indeed likely that Caterina’s smile could have inspired Leonardo’s depiction of the Mona Lisa.
Guests – Mike Fuqua introduced our guest speaker, La Jolla Sunrise Rotarian Steve Andres and his wife Louise, a past District Governor.
Gary Saks introduced Drew Moser, San Diego Club 33 Rotarian and Executive Director of the Lucky Duck Foundation.
Arilla St. Laurent introduced her guests: Bobbie Davis and Elaine Russell.
Announcements
March 17th – Volunteer at Anvil of Hope golf classic: President Alan thanked the Rotarians who have volunteered to help Anvil of Hope in their charity golf classic on Friday.
March 23rd – Ken Heinz announced there were 18 outstanding finalists for RYLA. There will be 7 awardees but Ken is hoping the budget will accommodate 12.
Mar 25th - District Training Assembly: President Alan encouraged members, especially “Red Badgers”, to attend the free district training from 8:am-2:00pm at Liberty Station.
Mar 29th – V&V Mixer at Lucia Capital from 4:00-6:00pm: Miguel’s has donated food for the event and wine and beer will be hosted by Cork n’ Craft. This is a club social and kick-off event to thank our V & V donors and potential sponsors.
Apr 22nd – Community Clean Up: Jim Hyldahl reported that the Oaks North Clean Up Day will be from 7:30am and conclude after lunch at 1:00pm. Mt. Carmel students will assist RB Rotarians in collecting surplus items from the senior community.
April 25th – Joint Rotary Breakfast Meeting at Country Club of RB, RB Sunrise, and Poway, with Ukranian Refugee Olga. RSVP to Alan.
April 28th – Register for NAMI walk San Diego
Check Presentation – Lucky Duck Foundation: Athenea Luciano presented a $2,000 check to Lucky Duck Foundation CEO Drew Moser on behalf of the RB Rotary Foundation, recognizing their important mission in serving the homeless. The check will be matched by Lucky Duck founders. Athenea noted that the RB Rotary Foundation has donated $51,000 this year to over 25 nonprofits.
President Alan received a thank you note from the Vista Hill Foundation thanking us for our $22,000 check collected from 7 local Rotary Clubs to support their work.
Family of Rotary/Fine-master – Arilla St. Laurent
On behalf of Leprechauns everywhere, Arilla collected a $5 fine from each Rotarian not wearing green for St. Patrick’s Day.
Happy Bucks – ShelterBox: Fines and Happy Bucks were donated to Rotary International partner ShelterBox, USA for providing housing to the earthquake victims in Turkey and Syria.
Bill Brehm supported the effort because he was “happy” that he wore green.
Jim Hyldahl donated “happy bucks” in honor of Bill Brehn for sharing his photographic talents and brightening our newsletter each week with his many photos of Rotarians at work and play.
Jim also recognized Ken Heinz for chairing our RYLA project and managing many student applications, interviews, and selections each year – a project he devotes many hours to on behalf of our club.
Bravo Zulu to Bill and Ken! Thanks to all Rotarians for assisting with the RYLA applicant reviews and interviews.
Paul Harris Awards – Frank de Francesco: In recognition of Frank’s 31 years of Rotary membership in San Diego Downtown Breakfast and RB Noon Clubs, President Alan presented him with a Rotary medal with 5 blue sapphires – one for each of his 5 Paul Harris medals. Congratulations, Frank!
Arilla St. Laurent honored her friends Bobbie Davis and Elaine Russell, presenting each with a Paul Harris Fellow in gratitude for their service to Rotary over the years.
Vines & Vittles – Sunday, May 21st
Tickets are now on sale – please buy them online by clicking: Buy tickets for the Vines and Vittles Festival; or through Eventbright: Vines & Vittles Western Family Festival Tickets, Sun, May 21, 2023 at 2:00 PM | Eventbrite
Sponsors are currently at $50,000 which is 85% of target.
Our Speaker
Intro – Mike Fuqua introduced our speaker, Steve Andres: Steve retired as a Captain from the Navy in 1997 after 30 years of service and worked in the private sector before retiring from IBM in 2006. Besides being a Midway Museum docent with over 5,000 volunteer hours, he is also a docent at the Maritime Museum narrating the Pilot boat harbor cruise and weekly operating the 120-year-old triple expansion steam engine aboard the Berkeley ferry boat.
Book presentation – To thank Steve for an engaging program about the Maritime Museum and its historic fleet of classic ships, Cheryl Roop presented him with a book “Secrets of a Civil War Submarine” that will be donated in his honor to the Bernardo Heights Middle School library.
