SEPTEMBER 20, 2021 MEETING in-person and via Zoom: President Raegan Matthews welcomed all, Tom Applegate led the pledge, Jos Magaña led us in the Four-Way Test, and Maureen Simons shared “The Top Ten Reasons for Volunteering,” with the No. 1 reason: It makes a difference; every person counts.
ANNOUNCEMENTS
• Tuesday, October 19, 5:30pm: The club’s first Fireside of this Rotary year will be held at President-elect Mary Fritz-Wilson’s home. Dinner will be served, and new members are invited to meet board members and learn more about Rotary and Carlsbad Hi-Noon Rotary. Blue badgers who would like a refresher and/or just want to get to know our newest members a little better also are invited. More information to come.
• Sunday, October 24, is World Polio Day, recognizing Rotary’s efforts worldwide to “End Polio Now.” The dastardly disease remains only in a very few of the world’s countries. Maureen Simons said our club will be taking a group walk at the beach that day, wearing End Polio Now t-shirts to draw attention to Rotary’s efforts. More information to come, but anyone interested in one of these shirts should contact her.
Maureen Simons with End Polio Now shirt
PAUL HARRIS FELLOWSHIPS
Mimi Gaffey announced Jos Magaña as the recipient of an anonomously donated Paul Harris fellowship in recognition of his service to Rotary and to our club. Gloria Foote then recognized LeAnn Rytz and Nancy Starling, with Paul Harris fellowships she had funded in their names, also for longtime service to Rotary and the club. Each Paul Harris fellowship is the result of a donation of $1,000 to the Rotary (International) Foundation. For information, contact Gaffey.
Jos Magaña at left; LeAnn Rytz, Gloria Foote and Nancy Starling, right
OKTOBERFEST / FEAST
Flyers and tickets for our #1 fundraiser this year were handed out during the meeting. The two Carlsbad Rotary clubs are sponsoring OktoberFest, being held noon to 8pm Saturday, October 2, at the Carlsbad Strawberry Fields—and OktoberFeast, which will be going on throughout October via discounts offered by local restaurants. Rachel Ivanovich reported 91.375% of the goal of raising $40,000 via sponsorships has been achieved or pledged. She said if just seven members would each find someone to donate $100, we will meet that goal.
OktoberFest at the Strawberry Fields will feature a Rotary-hosted beer garden, speakeasy and German food booth—surrounded by the many activities for all ages already offered at the Fields and available to our attendees. Making this a success is how we will raise even more funds for our scholarships and local beneficiaries. Co-chair Vince Ponce said six OktoberFest tickets are being provided to each Rotarian and will entitle the holders to a full German meal ($16 value) from our Strawberry Fields’ food booth. The tickets include a QR code to access information on the Carlsbad restaurants offering discounts during October. Please share them with family members, friends and/or associates.
Ponce then thanked those who have already signed up to work in our beer garden, speakeasy and food booth at the Strawberry Fields on October 2. However, another 32 volunteers are still needed—from our club and the evening club—especially for the 4-8pm shifts. Alas, our club is lagging behind evening club signups. Tom Applegate had his iPad at the meeting and signed up at least five more volunteers.
Ponce recognized Samantha Richter and her marketing team for the flyer and ticket design, the updated Okt website and coming social media postings. Richter said to contact her for additional flyers.
COMMUNITY SERVICE
LeAnn Rytz thanked the club members who donated their time on September 17 at the North County Food Bank to package food. As a result of their efforts, 406 boxes of food were donated to those in need at local schools. Tuesday, October 12, is our next date with the North County Food Bank. Watch for an email from Rytz.
Carlsbad Hi-Noon Rotary members at the North County Food Bank: Top from left: Beth Garrow, Ken Clark, LeAnn Rytz, Maureen Simons, Mary Fritz-Wilson, Sharon and Steve Alquist. Bottom photo, from left: Nancy Starling, Steve Alquist, Beth Garrow, Maureen Simons, Tom Applegate, Mary Fritz-Wilson, LeAnn Rytz and Ken Clark. Man in center back is a food bank warehouse worker.
Rytz said Bryan Geisbauer is getting the bikes for our Bikes for the Barrio program, with his team of Steve Alquist and Mike Metts. She said our club has been able to expand our participation in the Senior Meals Delivery Program because new member Viveka Kjellgren has stepped right up and joined the team.
On Monday, November 15, we will be repeating our “10,000 meals” food-packaging event during our regular meeting. Members will be encouraged to attend with friends or family members to help make quick work of this project (last done in 2019). The meeting will start a little earlier than normal. More information to come.
CLUB SERVICE
• Save the Date: December 4, CHNR holiday party.
WHO AM I?
New member Viveka Kjellgren. originally from Sweden, discovered San Diego as an exchange student at Patrick Henry High School many years ago. She so loved the area she wanted to live here sometime later in her life. She described her life, education and work in a number of countries through the years, including her native Sweden, and meeting Per, who would become her husband. They and their two sons came to the US when he accepted a job in Connecticut, and stayed there for 22 years. It took her several years before she could get her green card, allowing her to work in the US, and she became a Realtor. It was then she was invited to join Rotary, and loved it. Their sons now live in California: one in Oceanside and the other in Monterey, and last year, when she and Per retired, she finally made it back to San Diego County, settling in Carlsbad. In addition to joining Hi-Noon, she loves sailing, gardening and discovering the vineyards. She also is self-described car-freak.
Viveka Kjellgren
ROTO-ROOTER
Tom Applegate asked everyone to hum the Birthday Song for those with September birthdays: Ed Rouquette, Julie Baker and Danny Quisenberry. He then recognized members who joined Rotary during September: George Porter (48 years), Bud Carroll (20), John Estill (15), Raegan Matthews (4), Estela Mitrani (4) and Alan Cobb (1). He asked Mo Taylor for her most memorable moment from her recent overseas travels, and she said it was all the time spent traveling with family members, including her still spry 102-year-old mother. He asked Rachel Ivanovich is she had an announcement, and she did, reminding all that October 15 is the last day of the 2021 tax season.
PROGRAM
Les Arbuckle
Author of “Saigon Kids”
Les Arbuckle
Bob Kreisberg inrtroduced Les Arbuckle, of Carlsbad, whom he met when he was in the market for a saxophone. He learned that not only is Arbuckle a fantastic musician, but he has written a fascinating book about his experiences growing up as a military brat in Saigon in the 60s.
Arbuckle began by mentioning drinking beer, smoking, late-night and all-night escapades among his experiences as a rebellious 13-year-old hanging out with like kids in one of the poorest areas of the world.
The Vietnam War was going on, and his dad had been sent there to start the Armed Forces’ radio station in Saigon—the same one that became the basis for the Robin Williams’ movie, “Good Morning, Vietnam!” For the first several months, his dad was hardly home because he was the only one at the station and had to do everything once he got it established: programming, dj work, news, etc., leaving Les, his brother and other kids plenty of time to find their fun wherever and whenever.
There was no military base in Saigon, so the American families lived among the local people. “It’s interesting to see what real poverty looks like; nothing I've ever seen to compare with it,” he said. There were two million people, with one million living on the streets, “entire families.”
Arbuckle called himself a “rebellious youngster,” noting he could do just about anything for very little money. “If I had a son 13 who did all I did, I'd have locked him up for 40 years!” There was an American-community school, but classes were only for four hours a day, leaving the kids lots of time to find ways to keep busy. None of them knew how dangerous it was; that the Viet Cong could, and often were, hiding just about everywhere. He recalls a day when he and his friends were walking to the movies, still blocks from the theater, when it was blown up.
Arbuckle, who was in Saigon for 18 months, said he wrote “Saigon Kids” because he could find no books about military kids in Saigon and very few books about the life of military kids at all; a life that he said is all about adjusting to new friends, new schools, new places and often, new languages.
NEXT MEETING
Service Above Self
Carlsbad, CA 92008
United States of America