President Eileen's News Flash! |
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To My Esteemed and Fellow Rotarians! |
May is already here and there is so much to celebrate this month! As you know, today is Cinco de Mayo, or the fifth of May! Cinco de Mayo is a holiday that celebrates the date of the Mexican army's May 5, 1962 victory over France at the Battle of Puebla during the Franco-Mexican War. In the United States, Cinco de Mayo is widely interpreted as a celebration of Mexican culture and heritage, particularly in areas with substantial Mexican-American populations. I recently discovered that I am the first Mexican-American Woman President for our Club. I am truly humbled and honored to represent my family in this capacity. I continue to serve Laguna Niguel proudly and always work hard to pave the way for those coming up behind me! I hope you all were able to enjoy Cinco de Mayo celebrations and festivities throughout your communities! |
In recognition of Mother's Day, I would like to honor my mother and my favorite mothers in my family; my baby sister Madeline, my Auntie Pearl, and my Auntie Alma, my mother's sisters (all shown in the photo below). Although my mother left this world 30 years ago, her legacy of love, kindness, sacrifice, respect, and most of all, her heart for community service, still holds our family together with power and strength. We all still speak of the influence my mother had on all of our lives and we all know we are the women we are today because of her leadership, mentorship, her loving ways, funny spirit, and love for life! She taught us to be loving, kind and forgiving always. She taught us about the power of moving forward during the bad times, and the importance of embracing and enjoying the best of times, especially with food! I would like to wish my beautiful mother Mary Lou, a Happy Heavenly Mother's Day. I would also like to wish a Happy Mother's Day to all the mothers in our Club (including pet moms) and to all of your mothers as well! Please be sure to wish our members celebrating birthdays and anniversaries and happy one! Also, please keep our dear friend Jack Biggar in your thoughts and prayers. |
It was so wonderful to see so many members and visitors to show their support for our amazing Guest Speaker at our last lunch meeting, Dr. Harry White! Vito Ferlauto was looking healthy and happy while he led Rotarians in the Pledge of Allegiance! We were so excited to see Cecil Spearman join us after several months of being away from us! Mark Montgomery invited many guests to hear Dr. White so I felt it was appropriate that he provide the inspiration for the day! He read an anonymous letter from a Vietnam War Veteran that was on The Honor Flight that he and Jim McGinley participated in. He said it was very emotional to see hundreds of citizens stop, drop their luggage, and salute these fine men as they walked through the airport. The letter that Mark read made us all very emotional as he read the letter, and thanked The Honor Flight for this experience. |
We really needed humor after that and as always,John Veytia had us all laughing at his story about the couple that had been married for many years, a young bride that is now mature, and an old Volkswagen. We will leave it at that! Mark Montgomery introduced about half the room that was filled with his guests! John Veytia also had a guest that was associated with Toastmasters International, and of course, John invited him to join our club! John Veytia and Mark Montgomery also graciously handled the Sergeant-At-Arms duties for the day and many Rotarians had much to be happy about and grateful for! |
We were honored to be in the presence of Dr. Harry White, The Miracle Man, and his beautiful wife, Cathy! Harry nearly lost his life when he was hospitalized for 44 days! He spoke of his tragic experience with Abdominal Compartment Syndrome, losing complete function of all of his vital organs. When his heart had stopped beating and he could not take a breath on his own, when his kidneys and liver and all other systems had shut down, the doctors gave him virtually no chance of survival and asked Cathy and their son Harrison, to tell him their final goodbyes. |
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President Eileen Gomez's mother, Mary Lou Hernandez |
May
Birthdays
Jack Biggar
5/8
Devi Pillai
5/9
Wedding Anniversaries
Dick Glassock
5/21
Bob McCormick
5/5
Club Anniversaries
Bruce Birkeland
5/11/1999
Chris Doherty
5/25/21
James Fitzpatrick
5/14/2019
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SPECIAL ANNOUNCEMENT!
OUR SOCIAL THAT WILL BE HELD ON 5/12/22 WILL TAKE THE PLACE OF OUR REGULAR MEETING ON FRIDAY, 5/13/22
Next Board Meeting
Thursday,
May 19, 2022
5:00 p.m.
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He had us all in tears while he went through the details of how he literally died. Then Cathy, his loving wife that was there every step of the way, addressed our club with her experience during this time. She even wrote a book about her experience, "Back From Code Blue" and gave everyone in attendance an autographed copy! Harry's ultimate advice to us was, "Do not be afraid of death." |
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As our Covid restrictions are minimized and we are finally meeting in person on a regular basis, it is time to celebrate and call for a Rotary Social Event! Our fabulous Membership/Social Committee Chair Caroline Swift, along with her committee members, would like to invite Rotarians to our first social, "Spring is in the Air" event on Thursday, May 12th at 5:00 p.m. at the new OC Local Taproom, located at 30100 Town Center Drive in Laguna Niguel! This social event will take the place of our regular meeting on Friday, May 13th.
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Please feel free to invite friends and guests to be introduced to Rotary and to hear all about the great things our club has to offer! We are hoping this will be a great post-Covid social event to mingle, socialize and to get to know each other again so we hope to see you all there! Caroline also announced that the Membership/Social Committee is working on our next "New Year, New Board Social" event to be held at the end of July so stay tuned!
We are always looking for great speakers in our community so please be sure to email any individuals in our community that you would like to have come out and speak to our club! We have lots of great programs scheduled so don't miss out!
Serving To Change Lives,
Eileen
Eileen Gomez
2021-22 President
Rotary Club of Laguna Niguel
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Rotary Spotlight - Jim McGinley, 2021 Citizen of the Year! |
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We have many long-time members that have been part of our Rotary Club for many years. We also have newer members that have made our Club that much stronger!
Please join me in congratulating Past President, Rotaract Chair, and Laguna Niguel Chamber of Commerce Vice-Chair, Jim McGinley, on being selected as the 2021 Laguna Niguel Citizen of the Year! We are so proud of you Jim and are honored to have you as a member of our club! Keep up the great work and thank you for your service to your community!
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Thursday, May 12, 2022: Rotary Social at OC Local Taproom, Laguna Niguel
Saturday May 14, 2022: "We Are Fearless" District 5320 Conference, Lakeview Senior Center, Irvine
June 4-8, 2022: Rotary International Convention in Houston, Texas
June 25, 2022: District 5320 Denim & Diamonds End of the Year Celebration & Transition Dinner, Tanaka Farms, Irvine
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Our Next Meeting is on Friday, May 6, 2022 at Noon at Romeo Cucina Restaurant in Laguna Niguel! |
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Please join us to welcome a local fashion designer and fellow Rotarian, Tatiana Shabelnik!
Tatiana Shabelnik is a Belarusian-American fashion designer, educator and librarian who strongly believes in the mission of Rotary International: “Service Above Self.” A member of Rotary Club of Pico Rivera since 2006, she served as club president in 2010-11 and represented Rotary District 5300/Rotary International at the Pasadena Rose Parade.
Born in Belarus from Belarusian mother and Ukrainian father, Tatiana started her career as a library science instructor at the Belarusian State University of Culture and Arts. A recipient of many scholarships (Rotary Fellowship, IREX and DAAD scholarships, among others), Tatiana received her M.L.I.S. at Louisiana State University and completed Ph.D. coursework in Rhetoric and Technical Communications at Michigan Technological University. With over seventeen years of experience in library science and over twenty-two years of strategic web design/development experience in higher education, Tatiana retired from Claremont McKenna College and continues to pursue her childhood dream of fashion.
She also continues to help others pursue their modeling careers! These familiar faces photographed with Tatiana are Julianna Gerard and Brandon Ortega!
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Please join us at Romeo Cucina Restaurant at Noon on Friday, May 6th to show your support for Tatiana Shabelnik!
Next Meeting - Friday, May 6, 2022
Romeo Cucina Restaurant
28241 Crown Valley Parkway
Laguna Niguel, CA 92677
(corner of Greenfield Dr. and Rancho Niguel Rd.)
11:45 am - Socialize
12:00pm - Meeting Called to Order
12:30pm - Speaker Program Begins
1:00pm - Meeting Adjournment
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City of Laguna Niguel Events! |
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The Rotarian's Four-Way Test
of the things we think, say or do!
First - Is it the TRUTH?
Second - is it FAIR to all concerned?
Third - Will it build GOODWILL and BETTER FRIENDSHIPS?
Fourth - Will it be BENEFICIAL to ALL concerned?
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