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President Kelly Ricker called our virtual meeting to order at about 7:35am. However, not before she shared a few really cool pictures of some of our members in high school. I noted, none of us have changed a bit!

Many members attended this morning and we were honored with our one guest, Savi Bhim, our Rotary District 5240 Governor. She was our speaker today and offered some very inspirational thoughts. More on this later.

Roger Ridley presented our Moment in History with events from as early as 1199 through 2016 that occurred on this day. Here are a few highlights:

1199: John Lackland, brother of King Richard, became the King of England

1837: James Butler Hickok, better known as Wild Bill Hickok was born

1927: Ford Motor Company ceases production of the Model T

2016: President Barack Obama is the first President to visit the Peace Memorial Park in Hiroshima

Ed Harris enlightened us with a Rotary Minute from the publication The ABCs of ROTARY. The topic, located on page 25, is titled, No Personal Privileges. In essence, this ethical belief of Rotary states that no member of Rotary shall receive personal or business benefit as a result of membership. The primary purpose of Rotary membership is to serve others. Having said that, members develop personal relationships and friendships that will naturally lead to increased business and this occurrence, is not inconsistent with the ethics of Rotary. For more info on THE ABCS OF ROTARY: https://www.google.com/books/edition/ABCs_of_Rotary_Fifth_edition_2012/LDiDDQAAQBAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&printsec=frontcover

Nicely done, Ed!

Our speaker and Governor of Rotary District 5240, Savi Bhim, gave a moving presentation on the current challenges facing our society and Rotary in light of COVID-19. She shared that this is not the first time Rotary has faced challenges due to global issues. Governor Bhim highlighted 3 global events wherein Rotary rose to the occasion and helped others in need. These events were World War I in 1914, The Great Depression in 1929 and World War II in 1942. In all events, Rotarians overcame the challenges of these times and found ways to help others in need.

For example, during WWI, Rotary founded the Boys to the Farm Program. This program sought out teen boys to work farms to ensure there was enough food for the needy. In the midst of the Great Depression, Rotarians promoted home improvement/hardware store sales to support local businesses. And during WWII, Rotarians supported The Red Cross and helped the injured. Governor Bhim emphasized that Rotary survived each global crisis and came out stronger. We evolved and she encourages us to do the same as we navigate through the current COVID-19 crisis.

She closed with stating the Rotary is the strongest and largest and most impactful world-wide organization in existence today. Thank you Governor Savi. You made me proud and humble to be a Rotarian.

Our Virtual Meeting 5-13-2020

President Kelly Ricker opened our 2^nd virtual meeting of May this morning. There were many smiling Rotarian faces and two guests. One guest was our Past District Governor of District 5240 and friend, Sandy Schwartz. She attended because she said, “I missed you so I joined your meeting”. Our second guest was our speaker, Sarah Robinson, and you’ll read more about her below.

Roger Ridley presented our Moment in History with historical events from 1846 – 1968. Here are a few highlights:

1846: US declares war on Mexico

1934: Dust Bowl Storm occurred

1940: Winston Churchill first speech to Parliament, “I have nothing to offer but blood, toil, tears and sweat”

1950: Diners Club created the first credit card

1958: Velcro was trademarked

1968: Reggie Jackson had struck out 2,000 times

For our Rotary Minute, Ed Harris provided some interesting details about a Rotary tradition from the publication title, The ABC’s of Rotary. https://clubrunner.blob.core.windows.net/00000003068/en-ca/files/homepage/abc-s-of-rotary/abcsofrotary.pdf Ed shared with us the tradition of using first names or nicknames, rather than formally addressing someone as Mr., Ms., doctor, etc. Sometimes in the Asian countries, nicknames have been used. Such as in the case where a Rotarian whose business was the manufacture of chemical gases and his nickname, “Oxygen”. Or a Rotarian in the lumber business whose nickname was, “Trees”.

Ed suggests some nicknames for a few of our members: Judy being in the fair food concession business could be called, My Fair Lady; George being a scientist could be called, Standard Deviation; Odell being retired from the CIA could be called, CYA and Lee being in the trail management business could be called, Transcendental. Fun stuff Ed! Thanks

Our speaker, Sarah Robinson, joined us today to share about a wonderful program called ShelterBox.

A little bit about Sharah: She is the Director of Development of ShelterBox USA, Rotary International’s project partner in disaster relief. She has a love for service and finds ways to help others, as a community volunteer and through her non-profit career. Sharah is on the boards of The National Museum of Nuclear Science & History and the Rotary Club of Albuquerque Rio Grande, where she is immediate past president and a member of the Paul Harris Society.

There is much to share about the worthy cause, but not enough space here. So, I’ll provide just a brief overview with a link to the ShelterBox website. ShelterBox provides temporary shelters and basic equipment to people throughout the world whose homes have been destroyed by natural disasters or conflict. They respond within 24 – 48 hours bringing shelter kits to the needy. Shelter kits include items such as tents, cooking equipment, solar lights, water filters and basic tools. For more information see their website: https://www.shelterboxusa.org/home-page/meet-the-team/sarah-robinson-shelterboxusa-250px/

Thank you, Sarah, for attending our virtual meeting and making us aware of ShelterBox. We hope to see you in person at a future meeting.

Our Virtual Meeting 5-6-2020

Always a pleasure to have our lovely President, Kelly Ricker, open our rotary meeting as she did today. Albeit, in person or virtual. Today it was virtual and we all look forward to it being in person again soon.

Many of our club Rotarians attended today and amazing how “virtually proficient” we’ve all become. Never too old to learn something new! We enjoyed attendance by one guest who was our speaker today. More to follow on him.

Our Moment in History presented by the dazzling Roger Ridley included historical events that occurred on this day from 1626 through 2001. Here are some interesting examples:

1626: Peter Minuit, a Dutchman, purchases Manhattan island

1837: John Deere invents the steel plow

1889: World’s Fair in Paris, France featuring the Eiffel Tower

1937: The Hindenburg disaster occurs

1940: John Steinbeck earns the Pulitzer Prize for The Grapes of Wrath

1941: Bob Hope performs the first USO show in Riverside, CA at March Field

2001: Pope John Paul II visits Syria and is the first pope to enter a mosque

Ed Harris, who is always enthusiastic about Rotary, presented our Rotary Minute. He attended virtually the Rotary Covid-19 Response Telethon this past Saturday sharing that is was most inspirational and uplifting. Ed said, it connected the world and we received comments from all over. If you didn’t have a chance to attend, Ed highly recommends you watch it on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Ts_awDr7kc

Next Ed spoke about an honorary Rotarian, Mother Teresa. She was the speaker at the 1981 Rotary Convention in Brazil. He shared many of her peaceful and meaningful comments made during her speech. Great Rotary stuff, Ed!

Our speaker today was Scott Phillips. Scott has been a member of the Goleta Noontime Rotary Club since 2013. He is also involved in our Rotary District 5240 with the current title of District Administrator. He is in line to take on the responsibilities of District Governor in 2022-23. Scott is also the CEO of Synergy Computing, Inc. which is an IT support and security company.

He presented on the topic of cyber security informing us of the high frequency of computer fraud taking place daily. It was kinda scary. At the same time, he provided numerous suggestions to protect oneself from becoming a victim of cybercrime. Some really useful tips on something seemingly as simple as passwords. Some of his useful tips, and other information on his company, can be found at his website: https://www.synergyinc.net/rotary-cybersecurity-resources/

Thank you Scott for your time and valuable information!

Our Virtual meeting of 4-29-2020

Hello all. Rotary Club of Nipomo is alive and well!

Our weekly virtual meeting took place this Wednesday morning with a lively group of Rotarians. Our two guest speakers, Bob Ferguson and David Doran were in attendance. More on them later. President Kelly opened the meeting, followed by the pledge of allegiance to our United States of America, and then a heart-felt and time-appropriate invocation by Ken Shadle.

Roger Ridley, once again entertained and educated us with his Moment in History. He cited 13 momentous events that took place on this day from 1587 to 2004. Nicely done Roger!

1587: Sir Frances Drake attacks Spanish naval forces in the Bay of Cadiz

1701: Netherlands adopts the Gregorian calendar

1863: William Randolph Hearst is born

1967: Aretha Franklin’s famous version of “Respect” is released

2004: The last Oldsmobile car rolled off the assembly line

Ed Harris was next up with his “Rotary Minute”. The Rotary Club of Ojai has donated food and cash to help those in recent need due to the impact of Covid 19. Ed also shared that there will be Rotary Covid 19 Response Telethon on May 2^nd. The goal to raise $1,000,000. Think about it………….if each of rotary’s 1.2 million members donated just $1, just one little dollar, rotary would significantly exceed it’s goal. For more information click here: https://my.rotary.org/en/join-us-2-may-our-special-covid-19-rotaryresponds-telethon

Our guest speakers were David Doran, Financial Advisor with Edward Jones located in Nipomo; and Bob Ferguson, Vice President of JP Morgan Asset Management for the Northwest region. Bob shared valuable historical information regarding the behavior of the financial markets. He highlighted the current impact of Covid 19 and the oversupply of oil in the world. He provided suggestions on dealing with the current market volatility and investing principles. Thank you to both David and Bob for this interesting and useful presentation.

Our Virtual Meeting 4-22-2020

Today’s virtual meeting was opened by President, Kelly Ricker with many of our members attending. Our speaker, Kelly L. Swann was our only guest that you’ll see more about below.

Our Moment in History was presented by Roger Ridley naming numerous milestone events that took place on this day from as early as 1500. A few of those events were: 1823 – R.J. Tyers patents the roller skate, 1864 – the words “In God We Trust” were engraved on our 2-cent coin, 1914 – Babe Ruth makes his debut with the Boston Red Sox and in 1981 – Fernando Valenzuela pitches a shutout. Roger always brings to light interesting historical events. Thanks Roger!

Ed Harris informed us of some of the meaningful things Rotary International is doing during the current Covid-19 pandemic crisis. One of the areas is working with the infrastructure of the Global Polio Eradication Network, and Partners, to stop Covid-19. Many volunteers from countries throughout the world are participating. Thanks Ed!

Our speaker, Kelly L. Swann is a cartoonist and long-time friend of President, Kelly Ricker. Kelly Swann’s presentation included stories of her grandparents who inspired her interest in history. She loves to share history through her cartoons and as you will see in the link below, she is quite talented at it. One of the many highlights she shared with us was a project that joined veterans with cartoonists to share their stories. What an honor to our veterans and you can see it for yourself right here:

https://www.cartoonstudies.org/css-studio/cartoonist-veteran-project/

Kelly was interesting and most passionate about what she does. And, I would say, she does it so very good. Thank you, Kelly, for joining our meeting and sharing with us!