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WESTWOOD VILLAGE ROTARY CLUB

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Our weekly Rotary Meeting opened at 12:33p with President Steve Day, after recovering from his cold.

Following standard protocol, President Steve Day opened up with a reminder of the RI President's theme this year "Create Hope in the World". Today is the 82nd anniversary of the attack on Pearl Harbor. President Steve thanked Nanci Cohen for being the Greeter. John O'Keefe was called upon to lead the Pledge, and PP Ron Lyster to express the Thought of the Day, reciting Pres Franklin’s speech the day after the attack with the famous opening line "....a day that will live in infamy...". PP Ed Gauld led the members in "Rember Peral Harbor". And most importantly, he thanked the incredibly handsome PP Mark Rogo for writing the Windmill.

When President Steve asked for "Visiting Rotarians", PP Mark Rog rose to introduce Curt Smith as a member of the Incline Village RC as a joke. We all know that Curt Smith has been a longtime member of our RC but spends half his time up north. Guests of Rotarians - Meir Nemetsky's wife, Perla, and Chris Bradford's wife Sharon, who Steve reminded everyone is a regular member.

1^st Night of Hanukkah – Janet Schwartz

    Janet Schwartz gave a brief synopsis of the story of Hanukkah including the Maccabees and the Syrians. And the famous story about the little oil they had that lasted 8 days and nights, resulting in the miracle of Hanukkah. 

There was a full house today, testimony to the Club’s fascination to Craft Talks. 

Craft Talks - Meir Nemetsky

Meir Nemetsky is a new member, sponsored by PP Mark Rogo. His pet peeve is a speaker reading from his notes, so he chose to speak directly to the Club.

 Meir was born in upstate New York, city of Binghamton. His father was the principal of the Jewish day school. The family moved around the Catskills (Monticello). At age 7, with an opportunity to take over a Jewish Day School, the family moved to south Florida. One of five children (he is the oldest), at age 23 he was seriously dating but wanted a quieter environment. He can read Hebrew and the Aramaic commentaries and inscriptions in Torah. Meir attended Jewish day schools, which helped to explain the Aramaic text in the Torah. “It gave me another layer of perspective” by getting a Jewish education.

 He eventually applied to the Univ. of Pennsylvania for dental school. But in less than six months he got married, his new wife became pregnant, they moved to Philly, he entered dental school and then he left it. “I was a perfectionist”. A lot happened in six months. During Sukkot he was too stressed out. His wife was supportive of his decision to leave dental school and move to LA where his wife’s family is from. (His parents are divorced). She is an only child.

 Now that he was in Los Angeles and starting a family, he needed to focus on a career path. His mother’s 1^st cousin in L.A. offered him a job. The cousin brought him into the office and talked him into employment, even though he was very hesitant. Eventually “by osmosis” Meir learned the mortgage business over six years. Then he took his cousin’s position in real estate and learned that for seven years. He’s been working in his own real estate company ever since.

 Meir and Perla have four children; Avi oldest turning 14 this month, Ariella 11, Sali 8 and one that is 3. He had sticker shock when he arrived here and saw the price of housing. His parents were not in the position to help him, so he knew he needed to make it happen himself; to buy a house and generate the down payment. Experience and perspective and understanding are the important things to him. He joined WVRC because the members are focused to do “good for others”. He was flattered to be invited to join Rotary and looks forward to the Friendship this Club provides.

Craft Talk - Sean McMillan of Heyler Realty

PP Tom Barron introduced Sean as his sponsor. The first thing Sean did was apologize to Meir for reading from his notes. The second thing he did was yield the microphone to John O’Keefe, so John could talk about West L.A. Homeless. (They are trying to collect new and gently used coats, gloves and scarves). Back to Sean who was installed last week. 

 Sean was Introduced to Rotary by Tom several years ago and spoke to our Club about ten years ago. “An interesting exposure and a little intimidating”. “I am in the pursuit of what is true”. Sean has a philosophy he lives by, which is to be “on time, in time all the time.” All the time is the hardest part of the equation. He had a tumultuous upbringing. Sean was born Dec 6, 1955 (58-year-old yesterday). He’s a multi-generational Angeleno; his grandfather was in one of the first graduating classes of UCLA.

 He was raised in a middle-class manner in a structured environment. ‘I learned how to earn; I learned nothing came for free”. At an early age, he got a job cleaning up the local Church on Saturdays. He has a younger brother and sister.

 In real estate his father (Fred) was one of the original salespeople in the Jon Douglas Company. His mother was in charge because his father was never home. It was a strict Italian Catholic home. Sean went to private Catholic schools. He got an academic scholarship to Loyola High School.

 That summer changed his life; his father told him his mother was not his biological mother. That began his search for the truth. He scored very high academically in high school but eventually flunked out of school and choose the school of hard knocks as a rejection of structured education. They put him into University High School, where he had too much free time, which led to some bad choices. His father was challenged by Sean as a searching young adult. Sean floated around in a lot of trouble, including having a child out of wedlock, born premature at 2lb 2 oz. and on life support. Sean was 19 years old. 

 He went to see the child and experienced unconditional love as he watched her in the hospital. This got him thinking about his mother who he realized loved him unconditionally, and it turned him around. Sean enrolled in Santa Monica City College, and he went to work as a runner for a Title insurance company, arranged by his father. He also learned to play chess which helped him to learn a new way of thinking. He was approached by a major real estate agent, Charles Pence, and joined their group. One day he decided to joined mortgage lending and did very well. “I seemed to have a real aptitude for it”. He averaged $20M/month. Sean did really well in the mortgage lending business up until 2007 and 2008, which became the mortgage meltdown. He just had his 4^th child with his wife. There was no income for the next two years. But he put together a complicated deal that pivoted him into residential real estate as an agent. He got involved with Heyler Realty, founded in 1927, bought it with Jae Wu and they average about $80M in sales. Sean's goal now is to “I do what I can to make the world a better place”.

Meeting closed late at 1:40p with a promise to continue both presentations at a later date since there was so much interest.

Respectfully submitted,

PP Mark Rogo

Executive Assistant to Lynn Rogo

President of Diane Good Fan Club

• On December 7, 2023, the annual shopping spree for the Salvation Army Transitional Village youngsters will take place. Starting at 6:00pm.

• Saturday December 9th, 2023, at 10am (David Stover) will be at the University High School property "Beautification of Kuruvunga Village Springs" Site on southwest corner for cleanup and Rotarians are invited to participate.

• Saturday December 9th - "The 5th Dementia Band" holiday concert at 2:00 - 4:00p. Our very own Ed and Kathy Gauld will be singing at the Brentwood Presbyterian Church on San Vicente as part of Music Mends Minds with our very own Carol Rosenstein flyers on the table.

• President Steve urged all Rotarians to participate in holiday donations.

-Chips for Kids Toy Drive

-Stuffed Animals for UCLA

Mattel Children's Hosptial

• Thursday, December 21st - our Holiday Party at Hillel UCLA 12p-2p organized by PE Benjamin Fisher with spouses with white elephant presents and a raffle.

• Wednesday, February 28th - a social evening at Hillcrest Country Club.

• April 2nd thru 9th - District 5280 Humanitarian Trip to Ecuador.

• Monday, May 13th - RI President Gordon McInally will be joining us at the Beverly Hills Hotel.

DECEMBER MEETINGS

• December 14th, 2023: At Hillel, Paul Greenberg a trail lawyer on employment cases will present.



• December 21st, 2023: At Hillel, the WVRC annual Holiday Party. Be sure to bring a "WHITE ELEPANT" wrapped gift to exchange.

WVRC 2023/2024 Leadership Team