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At precisely 12:32 our President, (the man, the myth, the legend), Steve Day, brought our Club meeting to order, as the friendliest Rotary Club in the world!
Guests -
- Guest speaker Leo Grillo and daughter May Grillo
- Terry Power - friend of President Steve and past Rotarian
- Angel Fuentes (UCLA Rotaract)
President Steve’s program to raise donations for our Club Foundation through the exchange of books brought in $200, according to Janet Schwartz, who collected the funds.
- The pledge of Allegiance - Christine Clayburg
- Thought For the Day - Sean McMillan
- Song - Ed Gauld, leading us in “America the Beautiful”.
- National Boy Scout Day - Brian Whitney explained that in the local Boy Scout District (now known as Scouts BSA), there are 4934 scouts including 200 Eagle Scouts requiring 21 merit badges. Brian is involved in a troop in the Palisades. WVRC chartered two scout troops one of which was at UCLA with 63 youth.
Student Exchange - This week, Marcia and President Steve hosted two high school students in an exchange. The students spent several days in the Day’s home, with the permission of their dog, Cooper!
P.E.T.S. - President Steve showed us all a video of PE Ben Fisher singing Frank Sinatra’s “I did it my way” in karaoke at last weekend’s PETs training. PP Steve Scherer and several other members immediately pulled up news tapes on their iPhones of the January 6th insurrection at the Capitol, so they would know what to do in case PE Fisher actually takes office!
Clean-Up Your Act - David Stover reminded all of us about another clean-up Saturday at 10:00 in Brentwood. Next Saturday (Feb 17th), another clean-up is scheduled in Westwood.
Club Social Event - PP Mark Rogo, universally recognized as the handsomest Past President in the Club’s history, reminded the Club of our upcoming social event on February 28th in a private venue. RSVPs are required in order to attend, and members were encouraged to bring “special guests”. (Late news - our DG will be joining us). The Club will be dark on Thursday, Feb 29th.
Money Laundering - On the matter of the football pool, Teya McCockran and John O’Keefe are the only two left standing. We shall see on Sunday. (late notice – Kansas City won).
District Dodger Game - Rotary District 5280 will be sponsoring a district event at a Dodgers game on May 3rd. Half of the tickets are sold out, so go on-line to order tickets at https://www.rotary5280.org (PP Mark is looking to carpool).
Get Away Car - President Steve got a new car; a pm all-electric Lexus colored gray, and fined himself $100 to benefit the Club Foundation. Again, it was with Cooper’s approval. 🐶
Guest Speaker - Leo Grillo of D.E.L.T.A.
In 1977, Leo came here to launch his acting career. He had a dream about a black Doberman and then rescued it along the road. (Yeah, you read that right). Leo named the dog Delta, which later became the name of his organization, standing for Dedicated & Everlasting Love to Animals, to rescue dogs.
Today it is the largest sanctuary animal care facility in the world, caring for more dogs and cats than anyone else. Every year over 3.0M dogs and cats are euthanized in this country alone. D.E.L.T.A. is a 115-acre sanctuary with no government funding, only private donations. He recommends a commitment of $18.00 /month. “No innocent animal should be left to die in the woods.” His initial batch of 35 dogs really launched this campaign, now housing over 500 dogs and 600 cats.
In 1980, Leo had to make a choice between his acting career and saving dogs. Now he is doing a YouTube series thru Angel studios, which did The Chosen. (The director, Darryl Eves, Crowd Funded The Chosen at $55M). There is a full-time cinematographer on site now, shooting a variation of A day in the life of DELTA.
Then we get into the real meat of the presentation, The Cat House. Yes, it houses the cats. Leo bought it from Richard Moore who was artist for Winnie the Pooh, and he calls it the Best Little Cat House in Acton. Go to their website; Deltarescue.org.
D.E.L.T.A. is a fully operational facility designed to rebuild dogs and bring them back to life. It’s a no-kill sanctuary. They have a full staff of dedicated personnel and a kidney analysis unit at UC Davis with physical therapy and laser muscle development at the Sanctuary. Now they are throughout the world. Watch the documentary online at the website called The Rescuer.
D.E.L.T.A. is a sanctuary for the life of the animals, and no adoptions are allowed. According to the pet industry, people on average only keep their pets for 2-1/2 years. The facility does have occasional members tours. About 500 dogs and 600 cats are there with other farm animals as well.
Next week our speaker will be Margaret Vinci, Caltech programs chief.
“Anything one man can imagine, other men can make real.” Jules Verne, born 1828.
At the end of the meeting, President Steve presented Leo with a gift from the Club.
Respectfully submitted,
PP Mark Rogo,
now also serving as the chairman of the Diane Good Fan Club
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