I hope you are all enjoying this amazing weather although it has been a little warm lately! Spring is here to spoil us with beautiful flowers blooming everywhere after just a little bit of much-needed rain! I love driving around Laguna Niguel with a big Rotarian smile on my face feeling so grateful to see it every day!

We had our first Rotary Club meeting at Romeo Cucina Restaurant in Laguna Niguel which is now our new meeting location! We received first class treatment thanks to the fabulous Ada, Owner and Manager of Romeo Cucina, along with excellent service by our awesome waiter, Luigi! Rotarians came out in full force and everyone enjoyed great food, amazing conversation, and an outstanding presentation!

It was great to have Bill Nguyen begin our first meeting at our new location by leading us all in the Pledge of Allegiance! David Weiss inspired us all with great quotes about community service that included, "Service to others is the rent you pay for your room here on earth" by Muhammad Ali! And one of my favorite quotes that David read was by Leo Buscaglia; "Too often we underestimate the power of a touch, a smile, a kind word, a listening ear, an honest compliment, or the smallest act of caring, all of which have the potential to turn a life around."

And on this April Fool's Day, our in-house comedian did not disappoint! He showed up wearing a crazy wig and hat which was hilarious, then he told a funny story and a joke about the smart dog which had us all laughing! David Weiss and Kim Douglas volunteered to handle Sergeant-At-Arms duties and went around the room collecting Happy Bucks and were even able to get our group to sing Happy Birthday to Chandra! A few of us even celebrated with Chandra at brunch on her birthday and dinner on another day!

Rotarians in leadership attended the District Training Assembly on April 2nd at Chapman University! A huge thank you to those that joined me including Chandra, Janet, Mike and Rocky! The sessions were very informative and we all learned so much more about Rotary! Below are upcoming District events so please be sure to put them on your calendar! You can register at MyRotary.org through your personal account or email me at egomez.lagunaniguelrotary@gmail.com and I would be more than happy to register you!

The Honor Flight Network serves veterans who served from World War II to the Korean War and through to Vietnam. They also serve catastrophically ill and injured veterans from all service eras. Jim McGinley announced that he is participating in an Honor Flight trip where he will escort veterans to Washington, D.C. to visit our nation's memorials. He stated that they will also be visiting The Tomb of the Unknown Soldier where "mail call" will be announced and notes from people thanking them for their service will be handed to them.

The flight will leave from LAX on Friday, April 22nd, returning on Sunday, April 24th. He invited anyone interested to be part of the welcoming committee to sign up to be at LAX at Terminal 1 at 12:45 p.m. on Sunday, April 24th. We will have a sign-up sheet at our meeting on Friday for anyone that is interested. Also, Jim will be taking hand-written cards to provide to the veterans so I will have blank cards at our meeting for Rotarians to write a kind message to thank those that served our country.

WE NEED VOLUNTEERS! The Niguel Botanical Preserve & The City of Laguna Niguel are coordinating an Earth Day Celebration on Saturday, April 23rd from 8:30am - 11:30am. A sign-up sheet will be available at our next meeting and you can also click on the "I'll be there!" button below. We would love to have our Rotary Club represented by having as many volunteers as possible! We will meet at the Crown Valley Park Amphitheater by 8:00 a.m. to check in. They are asking for volunteers to plant, weed and clean up so I hope to see you all there so we can work together to keep our community looking beautiful!

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 Friday, May 13th 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 so 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 and 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!

Please note that we are cancelling the lunch meeting on April 15th since it is Good Friday and Easter Weekend so please enjoy this time with your families and friends! I look forward to seeing you all at Romeo Cucina Restaurant on Friday at Noon!

This is a gentle reminder that we need everyone that has not done so already to be sure to pay their membership dues! Our Club has already paid for each member's Rotary District 5320 and Rotary International dues that cover the period of January 2022 - July 2022. Let's do our best to make sure our Club does not lose valuable funds! If you have recently received an invoice from our Treasurer RoseAnne Ruccello, please be sure to respond and submit a check to the following address if you are not able to pay through Givsum:

Saturday April 14, 2022: Global Grant Training, District 5320 Office, Orange

Saturday April 23, 2022: City of Laguna Niguel Earth Day Celebration

Sunday April 24, 2022: Honor Flight Network Return to LAX

Friday, May 13, 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

This week, Janet Park, our newest member and Secretary-Elect will be giving her amazing Craft Talk!

Janet Park received her BS from Boston College & MBA from Northeastern. She worked as Marketing Director for shopping malls & won Marketing Director of the Year. She was also Assistant Advertising & Marketing Manager at HJ Heinz in Long Island. After receiving her MBA she was 1 of 5 selected out of thousands of applicants for the prestigious Port Authority of New York & New Jersey’s Executive Management Program in the World Trade Center. Janet created a real estate recruiting company (on a dare) which was profitable from day 1 despite having no knowledge of real estate. It was a win/win for all & her clients included Remax, Coldwell Banker, ERA & Century 21. She was able to obtain clients, assess & motivate candidates without meeting in person. She loves the telephone! After the real estate market crashed, Janet switched to caring for those who were struggling after a stroke or major surgery. 

28241 Crown Valley Parkway

11:45 am - Socialize

In a continued response to the deepening refugee crisis, the Rotary Foundation Trustees have decided to prioritize contributions made to the Disaster Response Fund until April 30, 2022, to support disaster response grants for districts affected by these events. These expedited disaster response grants can be used to supply water, food, medicine, shelter, and clothing. This is primarily an appeal for individual donations so please feel free to give any amount possible. Please follow the link below if you would like to make a person donation for this worthy cause.