Rotary Meeting of 2-7-2013 “It was the best of times, it was the worst of times”, by Gary Wilson, Bulletin Editor
The Meeting
We didn’t have much of a “meeting” per se since we had so many performers. Jim (Mr. Rothstein) was a visitor and he brought the President of his local club to see how running a meeting was done and he was there to observe Tom. I think he quit from Rotary the following day.
Chris Reiman (President of Interact) talked to us from the podium briefly about changes that he and his board are planning on implementing in the high school club. He eyed Tom’s gavel, Tom was nervous and Dave was proud. Dave is Chris’s Father and scored a touchdown once, but now he is just known as Chris’s Dad and Chris takes care of him.
We had a potential new member and I cannot remember his name, and Jokemaster Jack introduced him. Jack told the joke and picked one suitable for minors. It was.
I sat across from Peter Gianusso who is President of the El Segundo Girls Softball team and is the IT Manager for Prudential Pacific. He gave an extemporaneous speech about Softball and what the “team” means to youth growing up. He indicated that it was not about winning, but about building character. (Oh, by the way the girls won the championship). I thought he would be an excellent Rotarian and told him so, and put on a little extemporaneous recruiting presentation of my own. It turns out he knows a number of Rotarians and serves on the Softball Board with Julie Stolnack. I am assuming Julie will see him from time to time and invite him back.
The Program
And life goes on. We bid a good friend good bye one week, and then youth in our community come to visit and they have their entire lives before them. Life goes on.
They were there to perform, to compete, and maybe walk away with a few bucks in their pocket. They were nervous.
We had Young Artists, Young Musicians, and (Young Speakers will join us this week). Many of their moms and dads were there as well, with the beaming face of a proud parent, with just a touch of nervousness as, their children showcased their craft. One Student told us how much she loved her mom and how much her mom helps her. Her mom cried. Later when I was walking out I had a chance to chat with her. She was blown away and said her daughter had never said things like that to her. Rotary brings out the best in us, no matter how young or old you are. I love it. That is life at it’s Norman Rockwell best.
The Kids and Parents said thank you Rotary for the recognition and the rewards, and we mentally say thank you back for allowing us to watch your joy in your performance and experience vicariously the playful innocence of youth. We too were young. We too are grateful.
Thanks to Tom, Nancy and Jack for putting this type of meeting together, and always a big thanks to Joe for arranging the meeting rooms etc. And thanks to Phil for looking down on the meeting and making sure things went well.
The winners of the Art and Music contest are as follows.
Art
1st Tobi Ku
2nd Lianna England
3rd Tania Bustaments
Music
1st Christian Alva
2nd James Dahl
3rd Nicholas Muzuk
We didn't have a meeting last week because we had a combined meeting with Manhattan Beach. I for one forgot. I will bet I am not the only one. I use to like to make up and see what other clubs are doing. If anyone wants to “team up” on a Tuesday or Wednesday and go visit another club, let me know. I am game for that. I don’t suppose it would be appropriate for us to do that on a Thursday, but let’s see how interesting the meetings are for the new year and make up our minds later.
“Love ya, Tom. Let’s do lunch some time. I’ll have my girl call your girl. We’ll set something up. Love ya mean it. Call me maybe”