Westwood Village Rotary Club | |
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Coming up on September 1st
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PP Tom Barron
PP Tom Barron hosts a "Kickoff to Football Season," with quizzes, prizes, etc. The All-American football star at USC, Bob Klein, will be a guest of Tom's. He played 10 years with the LA Rams and San Diego Chargers.
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Westwood Virtual Rotary Club Meeting for August 25th 2022 | |
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View as Webpage
To see this again, click here to see our Club meeting on YouTube
We started a little late at 12:35p by President and PP Chris Gaynor (the man, the myth, the legend) after a fascinating dialogue between Music Mends Minds Carol Rosenstein and Phil Gabriel talking about molecular markers. The meeting began with PP and current P Chris leading the pledge, followed by a beautiful prayer given by PP Aly Shoji, followed by PP Ed Gauld without a hat presenting, “Singing in the Rain” (something we could use right now), followed by the usual weekly “Joke of the Day” from PP & P Chris Gaynor about a hard landing by an airline pilot!
Announcements:
- PP & P Chris Gaynor is looking for contacts with schools in the area, especially private schools, interested in having a presentation on Human Trafficking for their students. Please let PP & P Chris know if you have any contacts.
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Rotary Impact Club - Steve Day – met with former employees of his accounting firm about Impact and several other groups. There appears to be strong ground support for a service organization. He is Interested in moving this along with a good nucleus of past Rotarians a like-minded people interested in participating in community service projects in the west Los Angeles area.
- PP Steve Day presented PP Marsha Hunt with a Paul Harris Society pin and certificate signed by PDG Guity Javid and Judy Nuval.
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Steve Day also mentioned the 2023 Rotary International Convention in Perth, Australia, from Saturday May 27th thru Wednesday 31st Steve Day, Gordon Fell, Mark Rogo and several others are signed up. https://convention.rotary.org/en/melbourne/registration-fees) (thank you Gordon Fell)
- Carol Rosenstein of Music Mends Minds announced that “Making Good” (television show located in Utah) will be filming Carol about MMM with an eight person crews, 3 days of shooting at several locations.
- PP Mark Rogo (the author here) offered any Rotarian listening the opportunity to go with Mark on a trip to Israel and Istanbul in November (at your own cost of course)!! Please let PP Mark know if you are interested.
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GUEST SPEAKER – CAPTAIN TIMOTHY PEMBERTON
OF THE SALVATION ARMY (TSA)
ADULT REHABILITATION CENTER (ARC)
PP Diane Good introduced The Salvation Army’s Captain Timothy Pemberton as our guest speaker.
Captain Timothy Pemberton has been an officer in the Salvation Army for the last seven years, serving as the Administrator for the Adult Rehabilitation Center. He is a fellow Rotarian member of the Beverly Hills Rotary Club. He is appointed as the Administrator/Executive Director of the Santa Monica Adult Rehabilitation Center, where his primary goal is to help Addicts and Alcoholics find a new way of life. Timothy knows firsthand how addiction can destroy lives. Therefore, he connects with the addicted population on a level that most cannot. Fentanyl has been a scourge on society for the last several years. Timothy's life has been touched by many individuals he has worked with who have died of overdoses. Timothy joined forces with the Parents Against Fentanyl Deaths group based out of San Francisco last year, which motivated him to do more. Since August 31st is Opioid Overdose Awareness Day, Captain Pemberton has combined his two greatest passions of Bike riding and saving lives into “A Ride for Recovery” event.
Captain Pemberton is a past addict from 15 years ago now running the Santa Monica ARC program to help addicts recover and reunite with their families.
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Captain Pemberton showed a beautiful Video presentation from the national commander, labeling homelessness as an epidemic. Between 2016 – 2017 the number of unsheltered homeless grew by 9% in one year. Covenant House just released a study that showed that 2,000,000 kids are homeless annually. “No other organization is equipped to address this issue like the Salvation Army”. Asking for our help to “lend a hand of assistance and love” to those that need it. “Together we can do this”.
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All of this from the National Commander. His vision was to double the Army’s capacity to assist those in need in the western region when Covid hit, and they hit their goal anyway, with partnerships with the city of Riverside, Los Angeles, and a program called Operation RoomKey, using shut down motel rooms to provide additional shelters beds.
The video went on to show kids being interviewed about their parent(s) addiction and their feelings after their parent’s recovery where the kids stated their parent became “reliable”, “honest”, “able to be count on” and, “there for me now”. It was a very touching video that mentions “We (TSA) are in the business of giving fathers their sons back.” There is no greater joy than seeing a family that is restored, thanks to TSA’s ARCs.
After a six-month initial rehab program at TSA’s (ARC), the successful client may transition into PP Diane Good’s program that brings families back together who have been separated due to homelessness and/or addiction at TSA’s Westwood Transitional Family Center on Sepulveda Blvd.
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Captain Timothy then addressed the issue of drugs. Today, many children are experimenting with different drugs that are on the market or available through the internet which can kill them. All it takes is one pill to cause a child to die of an overdose. Fentanyl laced drugs have killed 155 deaths so far this year. | | |
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August 31st and the month of September is Opioid Awareness Day where TSA will commit resources at various sites around Los Angeles to get out the word out about Fentanyl.
A lot of people especially children still do not understand the gravity of one minor mistake that can change your life for the worse, including death from experimenting with drugs.
TSA ARC works with Alcohol Anonymous, Cocaine Anonymous, and other groups that have a proven track record of helping addicts.
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There is an existing 12-step program to help people navigate through whatever their problems are
Minimum eligibility requirements include the hurdle that TSA cannot take on someone who is currently under the influence.
The Santa Monica ARC includes 52 beds for men, and one bridge house with 6 bed all of which are full right now. TSA is currently searching for additional housing in the area to add more beds to help addicts. It’s a phased program broken into 4 phases.
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The programs follow from the time the addict needs help to the point he becomes a constructive member of society.
Many times, they can transition into permanent low-income housing with their families.
The graduation rate is 3 times the national average, measured as six months of sobriety.
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Another aspect of TSA is they divert a lot of materials away from the landfill including donations received. According to Captain Timothy, “We were green before green was cool”.
The Santa Monica ARC need psychologists and counselors who donate their time, volunteers for advisory boards, volunteers to help teach classes, and donations of “in kind” gifts such as theatre and sporting event tickets, clothing, gift cards and, outings for men. The money made from selling items in the thrift stores help to fund the ARCs.
There are numerous employment opportunities for program alumni, an especially worthwhile venture for employers to consider now in this low-employment environment.
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Now the good Captain opened the floor for Questions. (a pretty gutsy move in this wild and crazy group!)
PP and President Chris Gaynor started with the first question – The Salvation Army Rehabilitation Centers have a 34% graduation rate which is 3x the national average of 10% to 12% at the six-month mark. Of the remaining 2/3rds, some die, some try repeatedly and again, and some remain living in open air tent communities.
Captain Pemberton also talked about having the ears of the politicians to help address the homeless issue, along with other organizations. Some hesitate to work with Salvation Army because it’s a Christian organization.
PP Mark Rogo asked about the captain’s ability to stay sober where others did not. Captain Pemberton attributes his success to staying connected to AA and his TSA support network and, never leaving the system that helped him get sober.
PP and President Chris Gaynor suggested he was a role model and Captain Tim admitted he connects with addicts seeking help because he understands it from a personal perspective.
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Captain Pemberton invited all of us out on Sept 3rd to the Venice Boardwalk for their event.
PP and President Chris Gaynor thanked Captain Timothy Pemberton for his presentation.
There will be an In-person meeting next week. Come earlier prior to 12:30. There will be surprises and prizes. Maybe a sports theme or two of “tennis” and football with some videos.
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WVRC 2020/2021 Leadership Team
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President: Chris Gaynor
President Elect: PP Steve Day
Vice President: Benjamin Fisher
Treasurer: Terry M. White
Youth/Vocational Service: Diane Good
Director/Peace: PP Marsha Hunt
Foundation: PP Steve Day
Global Scholarships: PP Chris Bradford
Webmaster: PP Ron Lyster
District Governor: Olivia Patterson Ryans
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Immediate Past President: Nancy McCready
Secretary: PP Nancy McCready
Community Service: Aaron Donahue
International Service: Nevin Senkan
Director: PP Tom Barron
Membership: PP Mark Rogo
Director/Social Media: PP Aly Shoji
Windmill Editor: Teya McCockran
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