I hope you are all having a great week! We are meeting this Friday on Zoom and will resume in-person meetings on Friday, February 11th at Fratello's at noon so I hope you can join us!

Before I begin, I would like to ask that you all keep our dear friend and Fellow Rotarian Vito Ferlauto in your thoughts and prayers. His wife Karen contacted me to inform you all that Vito will be taking a little break from Rotary meetings to focus on his health. We will not be seeing him at meetings for a little while and Karen asked that we all give him some time before we stop by to visit. She did say phone calls are welcome and we will be sending him a card from all of us to let him know we are thinking of him and will send our prayers for a quick recovery.

Rotarians that arrived on the Zoom early enjoyed a little virtual socializing time with our amazing guest speaker Wendy! We had a good laugh watching Mark run around June Lake on a quest to find WiFi and told us a funny dog walker joke! Chandra volunteered to lead Rotarians in the Pledge of Allegiance and brought her own flag! Your President Eileen provided inspiration and read a quote by Nick Vujicic from the 90-Day Gratitude Journal that states, "Often people ask how I manage to be happy despite having no arms and no legs. The quick answer is that I have a choice. I can be angry about not having limbs, or I can be thankful that I have a purpose. I chose gratitude." This quote made me feel very grateful for so much in my life.

Our in-house comedian John Veytia provided humor for the day! He explained to Rotarians that you know you are in a new year and age when you have to enter a password into your microwave, you haven't played solitaire with a real deck for years, you have a list of 15 phone numbers to reach 3 people in your family, and your grandmother blows up your email inbox asking you to send her a JPEG of your newborn so that she can create a screensaver!

It was great to have our awesome Sergeant-At-Arms Rischi Paul Sharma go around the Zoom room to ask everyone what they are thankful for. He started with expressing his gratitude for his family, friends, and supportive members of the community and he loves being part of this group! Our guest speaker Wendy Cullen was grateful for for her health, her family and her friends! Mark was grateful for being able to find WiFi in June Lake! President Eileen was grateful for being in a wonderful community with supportive, loving people for the past 7 1/2 years and especially for Rotary!

John was grateful that all his appliances, doors and drawer slides are starting to arrive slowly but surely! Chandra was grateful that she will be getting together with a group of long-time friends to celebrate birthdays! RoseAnne was excited to be working with Caroline to learn how to be a travel agent! Caroline was also excited to have RoseAnne on board and was grateful to be celebrating her daughter's 25th birthday! Kristin was sad about her daughter losing her first pet which was a hedgehog that lived longer than expected so she was grateful for the time they had with him. Janet was grateful for God, her life, health, her two adorable Japanese Chins, and even the beautiful weather! Ken Tokash was able to join us and was thankful for dog training!

Dick Glassock

2/4

Marilyn Crary

2/10

RoseAnne

Ruccello

2/23

Tammy Letourneau

2/26

Jim McGinley

2/27

John Veytia

2/19

Elaine Gennawey

2/20

Rocky Cifone

2/25/2020

Vito Ferlauto

2/10/1988

Dick Glassock

2/29/2000

David Weiss

2/29/2000

RoseAnne reminded Rotarians that she resent out invoices for membership dues and for Happy Bucks. If anyone would like to mail a check, the address which is at the bottom of this President's News Flash!

I love social media for keeping up on the latest! I received a notification from the Laguna Niguel Chamber of Commerce which was their newsletter and guess who was on the front page? Our own Sweet Caroline Swift! At the 2022 Laguna Niguel Chamber of Commerce Installation & Awards Dinner, President and CEO Scott Alevy announced that Sweet Caroline's Travel was recognized as the "Small Business of the Year" in Laguna Niguel! Congratulations Caroline! We know you are the best!

We all were able to see a great PowerPoint presentation by Wendy Cullen, Executive Director of the First Tee of Orange County!

As you all know, due to the surge in COVID cases in Orange County, and in an effort to make sure all of our members stay healthy and safe, tomorrow's meeting will also be held via Zoom. This will give members the opportunity to stay safe at home or at their office while the COVID numbers hopefully start to decrease.

Please follow the link below to join our Rotary meeting this Friday, February 4, 2022, at noon to hear our own Dr. Mark Montgomery to take us all on his amazing journey to Panama and Africa!

Meeting ID: 867 2955 5984

Passcode: 361725

Your Rotary Club thanks you for your support and for continuing to volunteer for this amazing organization!

Serving To Change Lives,

Eileen Gomez

2021-22 President

Rotary Club of Laguna Niguel

Mark Montgomery

This week's Craft Talk will be provided by our own Past President and current Programs Chairman Mark Montgomery! He will be giving us a presentation about his recent service trips to both Africa and Panama.

See you all on Zoom this Friday at noon! We'll be back at Fratello's on February 11th.

Meeting ID: 867 2955 5984

Passcode: 361725

This year, our club has paid to sponsor up to three junior high school students for Camp RYLA. Rotary Youth Leadership Awards (RYLA) is all about Rotarians working with youth in leadership development. It is an intensive training/experiential program for students in District 5320 who are chosen for their potential leadership abilities. RYLA provides a memorable opportunity to learn, grow, have fun, make new friends, and gain a new and improved focus. Students participate in an all-expense paid event running from April 26 to May 1, 2022: