President Eileen's News Flash!

June 23, 2022

To My Esteemed and Amazing Fellow Rotarians!

As I wrap up my year as your President, I would first like to recognize all the amazing fathers in our club! I hope you all had a wonderful time enjoying your special celebrations with your families and friends! Each and every one of you has special qualities that I admire, and I am immeasurably grateful for your strength, love, energy and support that you have shown me during my year as your President! From what I know of all of you, I believe your favorite title is "dad" and I always love to hear you speak of your children with pride and love! This quote is one of my favorite for Father's Day; "Dads are most ordinary men turned by love into heroes, adventurers, story-tellers, and singers of song." I believe this to be so true of our Rotary fathers in our club and I thank you all from the bottom of my heart for your wise counsel and for leading by example! Happy Father's Day and enjoy celebrating fatherhood every day!

What an amazing year this has been for me! The last 6 months have been especially challenging since leaving City Hall. With the help of my family, fellow Rotarians, community members and friends, I have embraced my new retirement life! Living, working, volunteering, and playing in Laguna Niguel for the past 8 years has been such an amazing experience and I look forward to spending much more time enjoying my new journey! It has been such a pleasure publishing the President's News Flash this year and I hope you all enjoy it as much as I do! Your President-Elect, Chandra Chell says she is ready for her presidential year and I know she is well-prepared! Chandra has carried out her duties as my "right hand" with patience and grace like no one else! I will be leaving you in excellent hands and will join all of our past and future presidents in providing all the support she will need during her presidency!

Our Citizen of the Year Jim McGinley started our meeting off right by leading us in the Pledge of Allegiance to the flag!We were then inspired by Dr. Mark Montgomery as he read an excerpt of an article by Jeff Minick about how fathers lead by example and change their children. He read the "7 Aims for the YMCA Adventure Guides Bear Circle of Fathers and Sons" which are as follows: 1) To be clean in body and pure in heart; 2) To be friends forever with my dad/son; 3) To love the sacred circle of my family; 4) To listen while others speak; 5) To love my neighbor as myself; 6) To respect the traditions and beliefs of all people; and 7) To seek and preserve the beauty of nature in forest, field, and stream.

What wonderful "aims" for sons to live by! As a mother of a son, I absolutely understand the importance of instilling such significant and important guidelines for life into a boys heart because he will eventually become a man and maybe even a father and a husband himself someday! Mark made sure to let us know that it also pertains to dads and girls! Mark reminded us all how important it is to invest our love, time, good morals, and values into our children and their future. He encouraged us all to support local programs in our community such as the YMCA that provide programs just for them!

We also enjoyed some humor by our favorite comedian John Veytia! He told Rotarians a funny story he heard from our Fellow Rotarian Bob Brown about his friend Ole from Minnesota moved to Laguna Niguel and is now working in our local post office! Our two guests, Joyce King and Nancy are both interested in joining our club! David Weiss and John Veytia volunteered to handle the Sergeant-At-Arms duties and they did a great job going around the room collecting Happy Bucks!

Our newest member Ivy Leeson, Director of Philanthropy for Southern California Opportunity International, gave a wonderful Craft Talk considering she volunteered to fill a last minute cancellation! She spoke about her first Rotary meeting she attended in Long Beach on the Queen Mary and how impressed she was by Rotary International's efforts to eradicate polio and to provide clean water to people in developing countries. She gave us a brief overview of her impressive background and spoke about her work with Opportunity International. Great job Ivy!

President Eileen Gomez

June

Birthdays

Chris Doherty

6/13

Elaine Gennawey

6/7

Bill Nguyen

6/6

Dale Stinchfield

6/16

Wedding Anniversaries

Bruce Birkeland

6/12

Kristin Epperson

6/21

Ellen Fine

6/13

Stewart Mims

6/6

Ron Waters

6/15

Club Anniversaries

Miles Sterling

6/29/1999

Dale Stinchfield

6/1/1977

Upcoming

Guest Speakers

6/24

Scholarship Recipient Lunch with Parents

7/1

Cancelled in observance of Fourth of July

7/8

Gregory Taylor, Senior Vice President Corporate Audit Partners

7/29

Dan Ouweleen, District Governor

Special Board Meeting on June 29, 2022 at 5:30 p.m.

Attention Board Members - There will be a Special Board Meeting on Thursday, June 30th at 5:30 p.m. Board Members both current and incoming, please check your emails next week for your agenda!

We are always looking for great speakers in our community! Please be sure to forward names and email addresses to me for any individuals in our community that you would like to have come out and speak to our Rotary Club! We have lots of great programs scheduled and we look forward to many more with your help! We are planning some great programs so please be sure to join us for lunch on Friday's at noon so you don't miss out!

Serving To Change Lives,

Eileen

Eileen Gomez

2021-22 President

Rotary Club of Laguna Niguel

Our Next Meeting is on Friday, June 24, 2022 at Noon at

Romeo Cucina Restaurant in Laguna Niguel!

Aliso Niguel High School and Dana Hills High School Scholarship Recipients

Please join us to welcome the scholarship recipients and their families from Aliso Niguel High School and Dana Hills High School! We also have a few special guests that will be joining us so please come out and show your support!

The following students were awarded scholarships that were named for past donors and Rotarians:

Aliso Niguel High School

Madison Mairs, Robert Ming Scholarship - $3,000

Britney Benitez, Dennis Mulvaney Scholarship - $3,000

Ashley Korbonski, Jerry McCloskey Scholarship - $3,000

Katherine Van Hoomissen, Harry Cheshire Scholarship - $3,000

Madison Pearce, Robert Margolis Scholarship - $2,500

Amrita Singh, David Koontz Scholarship - $2,500

Daniel Gunderson, David Koontz Scholarship - $2,500

Jack Gunderson, Harry Cheshire Scholarship - $2,500

Dana Hills High School

Mehsra Gohardoust, Robert Ming Scholarship, $3,000

Ian Tang, Dennis Mulvaney Scholarship - $3,000

Jacob Sleeth, Jerry McCloskey Scholarship - $3,000

Cassidy Lo, Harry Cheshire Scholarship - $3,000

Valeria Abarca, Robert Magolis Scholarship - $2,500

Anthony Cisneros, Robert Margolis Scholarship - $2,500

Kaitlyn Kim, David Koontz Scholarship - $2,500

Camila Vasquez, David Koontz Scholarship - $2,500

Derek Simpson, Harry Cheshire Scholarship - $2,000

Aidan Elumba, Harry Cheshire Scholarship - $2,000

Please join us at Romeo Cucina Restaurant at Noon on Friday, June 24, 2022, to show your support for our scholarship recipients!

Next Meeting - Friday, June 24, 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 and Enjoy Lunch!

12:30pm - Speaker Program Begins

1:00pm - Meeting Adjournment

Rotary "A Night In Tuscany Transition Dinner"

Please be sure to RSVP by clicking on the appropriate link below to let us know that you will be attending "A Night In Tuscany Transition Dinner" on July 16th at 4:00 p.m. at Mark Montgomery's House! The cost is $50 per person which includes a delicious Italian dinner, dessert, raffle prizes, wine, and more! You should have received a special invitation by US mail as well with information on where to provide an RSVP to let us know you will be there! Also, please bring a bottle of wine for the raffle!