Hi-Jinx Bulletin of April 22 2024 Mtg

President-elect Velyn Anderson, standing in for a vacationing Jeff Segall, opened the meeting. Julie Walker led the pledge, and Ken Clark led the club in the Smile Song. Joan Boughton shared Words, praising and recognizing all Hi-Noon members who are working as club leaders and committee members for their service. Guests were introduced, including Asst. District Gov. Dawn Van Siclen. Clark led the Welcome song. Anderson shared her own thoughts on service: “This club is all about service and building good will in the community. Service big or small. You never know when you’ll be in a position to help people.” She shared a recent story that exemplifies that, about a young surfer who suffered a heart attack while surfing off Carlsbad last week, helped to shore by fellow surfers he didn’t know, but saving his life.

 

IMPORTANT DATES


 

An off-site Rotary lunch meeting will be Mon., May 6, at the Carlsbad Safety Training Center, 5750 Orion Street and focusing on active-shooter survival. RSVP is a MUST and via Signup Genius by May 1, with family and friends welcome. Lunch will be included for Active CHNR members (RSVP reqd). Guests, Flex and Rule 85 members will be able to purchase a meal when signing up. NO meeting at the Westin or via Zoom on this date!

 

Dawn Van Siclen, a past CHNR president and now a member of the Carlsbad Rotary Club (evening), was at the meeting in her capactiy as a Rotary District 5340 assistant governor. She announced that taking on this role beginning with the new Rotary year in July will be Raegan Matthews, also a CHNR past president. This district position is for three years, and Matthews, as Van Siclen has been doing, will serve as district liaison for the two Carlsbad clubs, plus clubs in San Marcos and Vista.

 

• Treas. Alan Cobb has emailed members who still owe 2023-24 dues. He needs to close out this Rotary year with a zero balance, and those who still owe as of May 15 will be contacted directly.

• Rotary’s Clubrunner website is undergoing an upgrade; some slowdowns or access issues may occur.

• Cal State San Marcos students who have been working on a Carlsbad community survey at the behest of CHNR, are sending those out now to Carlsbad residents. The goal is to determine what residents consider to be the city’s biggest needs and to assist CHNR with project planning.

 

• Rotarians at Work Day—Garrow just emailed details for the Sat., Apr. 27 work party, 8am-noon at the Army Navy Academy, with a barbecue after, hosted by the academy for the volunteers and 170 cadets. Family and friends welcome to join the work party. Bring your own water bottle; refills will be available onsite. Also needed: volunteers to provide cookies or cupcakes for the barbecue. Garrow emailed work day details on Mon., Apr. 22, or contact her: bethgarrow@comcast.net

 

• AVID RECAP: Ken Clark gave a glowing report of the club’s AVID Conference for high school juniors.  He thanked members who helped set up the event, and/or participated. Three former AVID attendees were among the presenters. Club members included Miguel de Jesus as the emcee, and Rachel Ivanovich and former member Walt Waggener as presenters.

• MUSIC FINALS RECAP: Kreisberg talked about this successful competition that was just held for the first time since pandemic-stricken 2020. Four student finalists performed at Dove Library last week, with a violinist garnering top honors. He was presented with $2,500 and the Robert Hartsfeld Award, named in honor of CHNR’s late member who was key in organizing the District 5340 competition several years ago.

• STUDENT ESSAY CONTEST: Kreisberg needs a few Rotarians to read middle-school student essays on the importance of the Four-Way Test, with winners to receive prizes. Bob@OpusProductivity.com

 

Kreisberg called up Nancy Starling, Tom Applegate and JoAnn Ross. Using AI, Kreisberg learned that among the most common topics for jokes are golf, rabbi-and priest—and Rotarians. Each of the three read a joke from one of those topics, with a Joker ticket for whomever club members deemed the winning joke-reader. All three got seemingly equal applause, but Kreisberg was ready for that, with three Joker tickets, one for each.    

Ross and Tom Applegate who were his targets. 

 

                  Winners of this year’s scholarship raffle were: 1st place/$5,000: Beth Garrow; 2nd/$1,500: Paul Dwork, of Encinitas Rotary; and 3rd/wine and gift card basket: Helen Wells. Garrow also was among the top ticket sellers this year.

                  JoAnn Ross, fundraiser chair, had set a goal for $50,000. She said $46,000 was raised, with $39,500 for scholarships, after raffle prize expenses. When she wondered if anyone would be willing to give a little more, six members then donated $100 each—bringing the scholarship funds to $40,100. Then Garrow donated $2,500 of her winnings, raising the total for CHNR scholarships to $42,600. 

                  CHNR Scholarship Chair Christian Chapman called the club’s scholarship program “one of the most exciting things our club does; helping the next generation.” He noted that overall, per Steve Ahlquist, CHNR’s former, but longtime, scholarship chair, Hi-Noon has presented more than $2 million in scholarships to local students. The Scholarship Committee soon will be interviewing 26 candidates for this year’s grants, including at least four planning to attend vocational and/or trade schools.

                  Chapman introduced Kenneth Pilco, who received a Hi-Noon grant in 2022 and is about to graduate from MiraCosta College, where he has been focusing on political science. Pilco has offers from UC Berkeley, UC Davis, UCSD and Occidental, among others. He thanked Hi-Noon for its financial support. “I have benefitted tremendously,” he said, and has learned “it’s not just about pursuing a career path but about bringing change in my community . . . Your contributions really do make a difference, especially for community college students, where there are many insecurities.”

                  Chapman led applause for Ross for another successful scholarship fundraiser, explaining that before she initiated this fundraiser three years ago, scholarship monies came out of the CHNR Foundation’s funds. Now, 99.9% of the scholarship funds come from the raffle fundraiser, he said.

                  Before this year’s raffle drawaing, Ross thanked her fundraising team: Reagan Matthews, Viveka Kjellgren, Yvonne Finocchiaro, Paul Kartzke, Gloria Foote, Tom Applegate, Beth Garrow and Eric Lodge. She also thanked everyone who sold and/or bought tickets.