July 21st, 2015
Rotary Hootenanny!
Tuesday’s meeting began with a decidedly down-home vibe when President Lora Fisher introduced Grammy Award-winning banjo player Alison Brown. The talented performer delivered an informative and fun history of the five-string banjo, while demonstrating the evolution of strumming and picking techniques with a few favorite tunes. Calling the banjo “America’s instrument” while noting its African origins, Alison claims it is one of the easiest instruments to learn to play. To make her point, two young “volunteers” joined her for a banjo finale with a little singing, picking and excellent “hoof work” by the youngest of the trio. |
| Video of Allison Brown Performance Video Thanks to Carlos Guiterrez |
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| A Few Highlights from our Club Meeting: |
Welcome and Introductions: President Lora Fisher
Invocation: Ted Rutter
Pledge: Bill Boehm Song: Lee Vida, ‘Take Me Out to the Ball Game” |
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| Visitors: |
Lora Fisher and Club Members welcome…
- Leonard Barbosa of City National Bank, guest of Ellen Kardashian
- Angela Polidor, manager of League House, and Bob Scott, a League House resident who coordinates activities with Rotary, guests of Penny Shurtleff
- Garry West, Alison Brown, John and Barbara Brown’s daughter and grand children Hannah West and Brendan West.
- Evelyn Nelson, a medical intern from UCSD, guest of Jane Reldan
- Tom Fisher, from San Diego downtown breakfast club
- President, Tim Smith – from Lichtfield Park, AZ Rotary Club
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| Happy Bucks: |
- Sally Fuller was fined for again appearing in the La Jolla Light. Her pleas that it was the same photo as last week’s went unheeded!
- Cindy Greatrex spent happy bucks announcing the La Jolla Recreation Center centennial event on July 25
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Win a Banjo and Benefit La Jolla Rotary Foundation!
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| Take home a Deering Goodtime Banjo (suggested retail list price $499) as the winning bidder of our one-week online auction. The winner will also receive an autographed copy of Alison Brown’s CD, “Stolen Moments,” and a 30-minute banjo lesson next time Alison is performing in San Diego. All proceeds benefit the La Jolla Rotary Foundation. The auction will end at the end of the business day on Tuesday, July 28th. WIN A BANJO @: www.compassrecords.com/iwantabanjo.php |
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Rotary Tijuana Scholars Lab
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| Rotarian David Shaw reported on the Rotary Tijuana Scholars Lab graduation ceremony this past weekend. Four students (pictured) graduated from the program: Victor Gomez, who will study Accounting at Technological University of Tijuana; Ruth Padron Velasquez, who will study Medicine at Autonomous University of Baja California; Beatriz Narvaez Obeso, who will study Teacher Education at Autonomous University of Baja California; and Christina Resendiz Areltlano, who will study Business at Autonomous University of Baja California. Over 26 students received certificates of participation including the graduates.Jorge Escalante Martinez, a member of the Rotary Club of Tijuana who serves as Community Service Chair, announced that the club will begin construction on the first phase of a Rotary Club of Tijuana Central Building, which should be completed in 2016. A second phase, to be built once funds are secured, will serve as a permanent home of the John A. Vaughan Rotary Tijuana Scholars Lab, enabling the program to expand in the future. |
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League House Picnic Survives Deluge!
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Pat and Bob Schroeder engage residents in a lively game of baseball trivia.
Event Chair Kevin Quinn with Rotary President Lora Fisher and her granddaughter Mackenzie. |
| Giving a moving presentation complete with film footage of the parting of the Red Sea from the Ten Commandments, League House Picnic Event Chair Kevin Quinn did not overstate the apocalyptic challenges that faced last Sunday’s picnic. That’s right, it rained. But no spirits were dampened as residents enjoyed the “Take Me Out to the Ball Game” theme, feasted on hamburgers, hot dogs and Cracker Jacks, and won a variety of prizes in a 10th inning raffle. Bob and Pat Schroeder delivered the opening pitch with a trivia contest on the life and times of baseball great Ty Cobb. |
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Speaker: Claude Anthony (C.A.) Marengo
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President of the Village Merchant Association C.A. Marengo informed members of the Association’s role in the community and current issues. The Association is a Business Improvement District (BID), supported by La Jolla merchants through a voluntary self-tax. In addition to participating in La Jolla events and helping promote local businesses, the Association represents and advocates for local merchants to the City of San Diego. C.A. noted the following work of the Association:
- Continuing the “Sparkle & Shine” initiative spearheaded by Nancy Warwick to keep sidewalks clean
- Hosting a successful 4th of July fireworks event
- Advocating removal of the Planned District Ordinance (PDO), which the Association believes is outdated and defeats the goal of keeping La Jolla a “walkable community.”
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From the Pages of
July 2015 Edition
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K.R. Ravindran’s life was molded by family, country, and Rotary. Serving as Rotary president is his way of giving back to each of them.
Before he gives a speech, K.R. “Ravi” Ravindran doesn’t like flowery, adulatory introductions. They make him uncomfortable. The 2015-16 Rotary president would rather keep a low profile and share the credit. If it were up to him, you probably wouldn’t even be reading this article.
Negotiating Days of Tranquility during the Sri Lankan civil war so that health workers could administer drops of polio vaccine? Although it was on his desk that the agreement landed, he says, a lot of people worked to make that happen. Rebuilding 23 tsunami-damaged schools for 14,000 children? He merely led the committee. Taking a label-printing business from a small outfit operating in a space the size of a garage to a global powerhouse in the packaging business that has helped change the value-added tea industry in his country? Well, he simply happened to be in the right place at the right time.
“I’m sometimes introduced as a self-made man,” says Ravindran, a member of the Rotary Club of Colombo. “You’ve got to be utterly egocentric to believe you are self-made. Each one of us is made because so many people helped us become who we are.
One of the reasons I work so much for Rotary is that I have been helped by so many people, and often you never have a chance to reciprocate,” he explains. “The only way you can is by helping others. When the people I help ask me, ‘What can I do?’ I say, ‘Go and help someone else in return.’”
For Ravindran, paying it forward isn’t a fad, it’s a way of life. His theme for this Rotary year, Be a Gift to the World, also summarizes his personal philosophy.
Read More in the July 2015 Edition or Click Here |
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