With incoming president, Eric Barter, at the helm, the 2012 Arcadia Rotary year began with the 2012 Club Assembly. After Eric’s introductory statement to the membership, several of the Directors spoke about their plans and initiatives for the forthcoming year.
President Eric emphasized that we must have programs to attract people to our meetings. In order to accomplish public awareness of Arcadia Rotary, we will circulate articles about our activities and meetings to fourteen newspapers. By publicizing Rotary, to the community and the area, we hope to grow membership in the club and increase our ability to fund future and more dynamic projects. The goodwill that will accompany our activities will have a positive impact on the community and help us to grow. This year’s theme for Arcadia Rotary will be,”We can make a difference.”
Turning then to our Directors and their projections for 2012 to 2013, Eric introduced each person and they made their presentation.
First up was Steve Pelletier, Director of Public Image or Publicity. Steve’s job is to provide awareness to the community of what Rotary does for the community and other needy areas. He said we will be advertising the Club in local newspapers, as well as monthly ads and Face book stories.
Jay Harvill is now the Director of Environmental. He will be working on writing and obtaining grant applications for projects the Club is working on this year. As an aspect of environmental will be a project at the Arboretum and the Children’s Garden under consideration. Richard Schulhof, CEO, of the Arboretum echoed Jay’s thoughts on the pending project near the Pavilion in the Arboretum.
Mary J. Salcedo, the new membership director, hopes to follow in Mike Ojeda’s footsteps in attracting qualified applicants to the club. She is asking all members to help out in finding and recommending people to apply for membership in Rotary.
The Vocational Director for this year is Rob Granger, who could not attend the meeting.
Aaron Rose is the International Service Director for 2012. The Club wants to expand its service internationally and in that regard, Aaron will be seeking matching grants for projects such as fresh water in Tijuana, Mexico, and Fiji. Another potential project is working with people in Fiji to expedite production of coconut oil and helping to get the product to market. Interestingly, with the closure of an elementary school in Altadena, we will assist in having the classroom furniture is sent to needy classrooms in Tijuana.
This year’s Community Service Director is Dr. Tom Miles. She spoke about providing wheelchairs to needy, handicapped persons in Mexico. Under his directorship this year, we will be involved in the Relay For Life, which incidentally this year generated $2500 in donations, and in November, the Walkathon For Jr. Diabetes. Under his directorship, we will be recognizing teachers and students of the month and in May, the annual Salute to Seniors Luncheon. Another potential project is a Community Garden for which we will seek a matching grant.
This year’s New Generations Director is Celeste Kelley. Under her directorship this year is RYLA, TLS and the Scouts. We will need help in working with youth this year. One of the projects is working with the Boy’s Club of Monrovia. An interesting project is PACE Universal, which is helping to educate women in third world countries to become self-reliant and helping them to better themselves. On October 5, Sylvia Whitlock will be at Rotary to speak about this program and its benefits. Arcadia Rotary is donating $3,800 to help in the education of ten girls from these countries.
Vice President, Mike Ojeda, gave an overview of what to look forward to this year. The High Gear will be better than ever, meals will be supervised by Dave McMonigle, Pat Barnes is in charge of Greeters and Salutes, and Andy Bundesmann is Social. We are bringing back, Rotarian of the Month, so look for that. We will have Email training. Each Speaker’s Gift will be the donation of a wheelchair to a needy person in Tijuana. All in all it promises to be an exciting year in 2012 and 2013.