Events

Gordon Lu ( Lu Chi Fa ) was born in 1942 in Jiangsu Province of China.  He grew up there and in Shanghai HongKong and Taiwan.  As an orphan, he was shuffled from one house to another; he often was hungry, beaten and forced to beg to survive.  In 1969, he immigrated to the United States, and through hard work and perseverance realized the American dream of success.

Double Luck - Memoirs of a Chinese Orphan, the account of Lu Chi Fa's early years in China, was written with the hope of inspiring others to seek opportunity in times of crisis,  to believe in the rewards of hard work, and to succeed in their personal and professional lives. Double Luck has been a successful book : some 70,000 copies have been printed, and the book received a gold award for non-fiction from the Parent's Choice Foundation.  Three education classes at California Polytechnic University include Double Luck on their required reading lists.  Lu Chi Fa has been invited to speak to numerous school classes and community groups. 

With a Masters in Public Administration, Jamie has over 30 years of experience in local government program management.  From 1989 until she retired, Jamie was well known in Orange County for the development and management of Waste Reduction programs.  As a consultant, she initiated and managed curbside recycling programs for 5 cities, including educational programs and presentations.  Though finishing her career as the Deputy Director of Public Works for the City of Orange, her heart remained loyal to the importance of waste reduction.  Her presentation to us will involve San Luis Obispo County information.   

Roger H. Ridley has a Bachelor’s and Master’s of Arts degrees in history and has enjoyed the study of history all of his life!  The best job of his life was teaching history at Riverside Community College, though he has taught history on both the high school level and college level.  He happens to also be a lawyer specializing in estate planning in Nipomo.  

    He is a past president of the Rotary Club of Magnolia Center in Riverside. He has taught law classes at Michigan State University, Lansing Community College (in Michigan) and at the UCR Extension to paralegals, estate planning to insurance professionals, and has given numerous seminars on this subject.      

    He has been married to Christine J. Ridley for over 40 years, and together they have five children and seven grandchildren.  

Our mission is to create safe and affordable, high quality housing solutions for women veterans through immediate housing placement while creating a long-term farming tiny house on wheels community where women veterans will be encouraged to rebuild their lives through empowerment, camaraderie, and community support away from the distractions of day to day life.

RICK GRETHER

          Operations Manager for Shower the People

I was born and raised just east of Stockton, California in 1946 and attended Linden High School, graduating in 1964.  That summer my father offered to pay for my Private Pilot's license, and I continued building flight licenses from then on, including Instructor Ratings, which I used during my college years.  

I started college at San Diego State in 1964, but my education was interrupted by the Vietnam War.  As I assumed I would be drafted, I enlisted for a six year commitment with the National Guard, and thus avoided a tour of duty over seas.  

Graduating from San Diego State in 1970, I partnered with another pilot friend and started Spirit of Palo Alto Aviation, a flight school and air charter service in the San Francisco Bay area.  In 1979 I was hired as a pilot by United Airlines and worked there until retiring (age 60 required) in 2006.  The following year, 2007, I was hired by Boeing as a B777 and B787 flight instructor, retiring from that in 2015.

My wife Claire (married in 1976) and I raised 4 children in San Luis Obispo, and were involved in all the usual child activities; baseball, soccer, 4H, church mission trips, etc.

In September of 2017 I was introduced to Becky Jorgensen of Showers of Hope, who needed a driver with a large truck that could pull her mobile showers trailer.  That lasted until February of 2018 when I met Gwen Watkins who wanted to start Shower The People, a nonprofit, all volunteer organization showering the homeless.  And now I'll live happily ever after as Operations Manager for that organization!