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M O N T H LY N E W S L E T T E R
ROTARY E-CLUB
of The Greater San Fernando Valley
DISTRICT 5280
E-CLUB MEETINGS:
2nd Mondays,6:15 p.m.
(Board Meetings)
AND
4th Sundays,12:30 p.m. L O C AT I O N :
ROY GLICKMAN ELECTED 2015 - 2016 PRESIDENT
Several weeks ago, in a unanimous vote, Roy Glickman
was elected as the fourth President of the Rotary E-Club
of The Greater San Fernando Valley, to serve during the
2015-2016 Rotary Year. Here he shares his thoughts after
the annual and mandatory Presidents-Elect Training
Seminar, 20-22 February.
February 20-22 was the training session for
Rotary club presidents for Rotary year
2015-2016. It was a very full weekend of
classes, speakers, and many opportunities to
meet with other club presidents and share
ideas. The group of over 600 people included
374 Presidents-Elect from six area Districts.
Having so many dedicated Rotarians sharing
their experiences makes you realize the
uniqueness of the clubs and the power of
cooperation among clubs.
Some thoughts from the weekend—
1. Rotary clubs operate under the umbrella
of Rotary International and its guiding
principles of ethics and community service.
However, each club is unique and creates our
own service projects. We decide what we
want to do and how to accomplish it. That
gives all of us as club members an
opportunity to present ideas for projects and
service opportunities.
2. Clubs raise funds in a variety of ways home tour, music concerts, talent shows,
wine festival, crabfest. You name it and
some club is doing it. I hope we can find a
signature fundraiser that will use our E-Club
resources to raise money for worthwhile
projects in our area.
3. The essence of Rotary is "service above
self " and our focus is service projects in our
community. Howe ver, we should also
recognize the positive impact that Rotary has
on us as individuals. Through our club and
our service projects we grow personally and
professionally. We learn to lead and to
organize, we work and become friends with
other community leaders, and we set an
example for our families and friends. As one
speaker put it, Rotary is about service,
fellowship and personal and professional
development.
4. Having ongoing relationships with worthy
community organizations is an important
step in effective service projects. Our ongoing
relationship with the Valley Food Bank is a
good example. Our quarterly drives average
900 pounds of food in just six hours on a
Sunday. I hope we can ongoing relationships
with other organizations to enable us to use
our time effectively. The food drives are a
good example of efficiency, simplicity, and
productivity, the themes our District
Governor wishes to emphasize this coming
year. I hope we can find additional partners
that will allow us to leverage our service
efforts.
I am excited about being President for the
2015-2016 Rotary year. We are a unique club
with unlimited potential. I hope that in the
coming year we wil l add to the solid
foundation that we have already built. Bring
in your ideas and your energy and let's look
back in June 2016 and say "wow, we sure got a
lot done last year!"
Denny’s Restaurant
THE FIREPLACE ROOM
5525 N. Sepulveda Blvd.
Sherman Oaks, CA 91411
UPCOMING CLUB
MEETING DATES
MONDAYS, 6:15 p.m.
MARCH 9th (Board meeting)
April 13th (Board meeting)
SUNDAYS, 12:30 p.m.
MARCH 22nd (club meeting)
APRIL 26th (club meeting)
ONLINE PROGRAM DATES:
MARCH 2, 9, 16, 23
APRIL 6, 13, 20, 27
VISIT OUR E-CLUB 24/7 at:
http://www.rotaryeclubgreatersfv.org
Email: rotaryeclub818@gmail.com
Facebook: facebook.com/
rotaryclubgreatersfv
Twitter: @RotaryESFValley
Voicemail: 818-465-TEAM
E-CL U B N EW S
TENTH “ONE MORE ITEM”
FOOD DRIVE GATHERS
1,051 POUNDS
DEFEATING POVERTY
THROUGH MICRO-LENDING
Karon Wright, President and Co-Founder
of The Greater Contribution, visited the
Rotar y E-Club of The Greater San
Fernando Valley as special guest speaker
for the monthly Fourth Sunday gathering
on February 22.
On February 8, the Rotary E-Club of The
Greater San Fernando Valley hosted its
tenth ONE MORE ITEM Food Drive, in
support of Valley Food Bank. Generous
shoppers at Gelson’s Sherman Oaks were
asked to add just one extra item to their
shopping and leave it with us. At the end
of the day, once again five barrels were
filled and overflowing with non-perishable
goods to help the food-insecure around the
San Fernando Valley.
A record number of Rotar y E-Club
volunteers, including family members and
friends, participated in accepting the food
from the generous Gelson’s customers (and
a couple of employees, who bought some
cans and brought them to the barrels).
The total for the day was 1,051 pounds of
donated goods, bringing our all-time total
over ten events to more than 9,000
pounds. Valley Food Bank reports that
1,000 pounds of food feeds approximately
200 families, and the cash equivalent of
donations the Food Bank would need to
collect in order to go buy that much food
instead of receiving it in-kind is $4,000.
The next public Food Drive is set for May
3, again at Gelson’s Sherman Oaks.
In 2006, Karon and her three friends,
mindful of the abundance of their own
lives but seeking an opportunity to make a
positive difference, created The Greater
C o n t r i b u t i o n t o s u p p o r t “a m o r e
prosperous future for the most
impoverished women in the world using
the power of micro loans.” Their efforts
are focused in Uganda.
Explaining that nearly half of the
population of sub-Saharan Africa survives
on the equivalent of $1.25 US per day,
Karon showed that a micro loan of as little
as $100, to help a woman start or grow a
small business, perhaps making school
uniforms, or selling surplus produce, can
help women lift their families out of
poverty. An interesting and very positive
additional benefit is that the men begin to
see the value and help the wife’s business
become a family business.
In general loans are given to women in
community groups of twenty borrowers,
who guarantee each other’s loan and thus
increase their incentive to help each other
succeed. Financial counseling and training
are part of the plan, and soon Karon hopes
to add more literacy training as well.
To date, The Greater Contribution has
provided more than 900 micro loans,
benefitting more than 45,000 people.
Karon’s presentation is available on the
C l u b’s w e b s i t e a t h t t p : / / w p . m e /
P1EHRD-11b.
Rotary E-Club of The
Greater SFV
ion
mat
r
o
f
n
I
Club
2014-2015 Officers
PRESIDENT
Linda Catran
rotarylindac@gmail.com
IMMEDIATE PAST PRESIDENT
Sara Vasquez
sara.kaltgrad@gmail.com
SECRETARY
Nancy Schmidt nlschmidt@earthlink.net
TREASURER
Yoko Matsui
goyoko@gmail.com
BOARD OF DIRECTORS
David
Brenda
L in da
Roy
Arnold
Bradford
Catran
Glickman
Yoko
Mel
Na ncy
S ara
Matsui
Po wel l
Sc h midt
Vasque z
Club Committees
ADMINISTRATION
Chair: Mel Powell
rotarymelpowell@aol.com
ROTARY FOUNDATION
Chair: Roy Glickman
rglickman@wgn.net
MEMBERSHIP
Chair: Mel Powell
rotarymelpowell@aol.com
SERVICE PROJECTS
Chair: Brenda Bradford
bwbradford@aol.com
Club Brochure
http://www.rotaryeclubgreatersfv.org/wpcontent/uploads/2013/05/
BROCHURE20130529.pdf
March is Literacy Month for the
Rotary E-Club of the Greater
San Fernando Valley
E-Club President’s Message
Recently I have been researching ways to
replace our water-hungry lawn with native,
sustainable landscaping in order to reduce
water usage, and of course, the costs
associated with it. But as I sit here in the
comfort of my home, with a full belly and a
roof over my head, I cannot help but think
of those whose most basic needs are not
met; people in our community, in this
country and around the world who have
little or no food to eat, nor shelter from the
elements; and people who live with the
spectre of violence around them. It
certainly puts my lawn dilemma into
perspective. It also brings to mind how
important it is for people like me to give of
myself in whatever way possible to help
improve the situations of those less
fortunate. The countless opportunities for
such humanitarian service is why I, like 1.2
mil lion others worldwide, became a
Rotarian.
In addition to their various jobs and
careers, the dedicated members of the
Rotary E-Club of the Greater San Fernando
Valley are all actively involved in serving the
needs of others. Just last month the Club
held another successful “One More Item”
Food Drive, delivering over 1,000 pounds
of food donated by generous shoppers at
Gelson’s Sherman Oaks to the Valley Food
Bank for distribution. The Valley Food
Bank helps “food insecure people through
the San Fer nando Val ley region and
surrounding communities.” Most of the
canned goods and other non-perishable
food items it receives come from food
drives. That’s what inspires the Rotary EClub to hold its “One More Item” Food
Drives at least four times each year. Our
next Food Drive is scheduled for Sunday,
May 3rd, from 10 AM to 4 PM, at
Gelson’s Sherman Oaks. Stop by with a
food donation, and help us deliver even
more food to the Valley Food Bank.
In addition to the Rotary International
theme of Literacy during the month of
March, the Rotary E-Club will also be
presenting a new monthly E-wareness
campaign - AIDS Awareness, curated
and led by Todd Gurvis. Since we began
our E-wareness campaigns last July, we have
compiled information and resources to raise
awareness of a number of issues, including
Skin Cancer, Suicide Prevention, Breast
Cancer, Bone Marrow Donation, Foster
Children, Blood Donation and Domestic
Vi o l e n c e Pr e v e n t i o n . Ad d i t i o n a l l y
scheduled programs include those on Tissue
& Organ Donation, Lupus, and Diabetes.
Select the E-wareness link from the Home
Page on our website, or click here (http://
goo.gl/HVsZ0b) to access the E-wareness
portal on our website for all our E-wareness
programs. Many thanks to all our Ewareness leaders for creating meaningful
presentation pages, with useful information
to raise awareness and provide practical
resources for those whose lives have been
touched by these importation issues.
As always, more information about our
upcoming and completed projects may be
found on our Club website
(www.rotaryeclubgreatersfv.org), on
Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/
rotaryeclubgreatersfv), and on Twitter
(@RotaryESFValley).
Linda Catran
President, Rotary E-Club of The Greater
San Fernando Valley
C y n d i M c A u le y
Friend of our Club
UPCOMING EVENTS
May 3, 2015
One More Item Food Drive, Gelson’s, Sherman Oaks
Organization: Thera
peutic Learning Cente
r
What year did yo
u start with TLC:
I started
in 1995 as the Recre
ation Therapy Cons
ultant
for the residential pr
SAVE THE DATE!
ogram. In 2001 I
cam
e on
bo
ard full-time to de
D a n c e f o r t h e C h i l d re n velop TLC’s partn
ers
hip
wi
th CS UNor th rid
September 19
ge . I wa s na me
d th e
Associate Director
in 2004 and moved
into the
Executive Director’s
position in 2010. Tell us a little abou
t TLC: TLC is celeb
rating
its 40th birthday th
is year. We were fou
nded
MARCH BIRTHDAYS
Daniele Della Gala - March 21
Mel Powell - March 29
by eig ht fam ili es
wh os e ch ild re n fac
ed th e
prospect of spendin
g their adult years
in
large,
isolating, and often
uncaring state instit
uti
ons. Th es e fo un din g fam
ili es so ug ht to cre
ate
a
ho me y, fam ily -st yle
en vir on me nt th at
wo
uld
nurture their child
ren and enable them
to live
rewarding and prod
uctive lives. How did you ge
t involved with
working
with Rotary Club
s: We were introdu
ced to
th e Ro ta r y E- Cl
ub by on e of ou
r
Bo
ar d
Members. The tim
ing couldn’t have be
en
mo
re
fortuitous: we were
beginning to research
wh
at
we would need to
establish TLC’s first
librar y,
and a focus of the
Rotar y Club is literac
y. We
we re th ril led wh
en we we re ab le
to
wo
rk
together to establis
h TLC’s librar y wi
th
bo
ok
s
and manuals (man
y of which are br
ail le) for
families, children, an
d professionals.