The San Diego Kiwanis Club did not have its usual first Tuesday meeting in June due to Memorial Day, so it really made the SECOND Tuesday lunch count with a great speaker, guests, and activities! President Mike Boland opened the meeting shortly after 12:00 pm with the ringing of the official Kiwanis bell. Club member Gordon Boerner presented the invocation which set the tone for the rest of the meeting.

Guests Mary Darling from SDSU was welcomed and she thanked the Club for their continued “Aztec Zeal” as the stadium site continues its construction project. Gordon stepped back in to introduce his guest Sanam Charlton, who is the Youth Services Managing Coordinator with Just in Time for Foster Youth.

President Boland handed the gavel to Chairperson of the day – Judy Leitner who was thrilled to introduce her guests and the speaker for the day from Mana De San Diego. Samantha Jimenez, who is the Executive Administrative Assistant for the organization was in place to assist with the technical aspects of the presentation for Executive Director, Dr. Inez González Perezchica. 

Dr. Perezchica told the Club more about Mana De San Diego which began in 1986, when five insightful local Latinas recognized the significant need for a unifying force – a strong Latina voice advocating for a greater Latina presence and a deeper Latina involvement in the educational, economic, political, and social arenas.

Those pioneering and resourceful women created that unifying force and voice by establishing the San Diego Chapter of MANA, a national Latina organization whose mission is to empower Latinas through education, leadership development, advocacy, and community service.

MANA short for “Hermana”, the Spanish word for sister, is a dynamic sisterhood of Latinas bound together by common history, culture, language, and goals.

Eri Nall joined the meeting to talk about what is being done and continues to be done with the funds from the San Diego Kiwanis Club grant award. Eri has been a Counselor with the San Diego Unified School District for over 15 years and had a lot to say. She zoomed in from a classroom and walked the members through the different programs, resources and materials that have been provided in the last 12-months by the Club as well as pointing out other curriculum items that have been gifted in the past. The Club could not be happier with what she is doing to help the children of San Diego.

If Club members missed recent events they are probably sad. Mike Boland was happy to share that the in-person Summer Social at Karina Sousa’s place in Crown Point was a wild success with 20 current and prospective Club members rotating in and out of the meet-up. Thank you to Karina for her gracious hosting!

The fines, and happy/sad dollars were next with a few members being called out. Jay Jeffcoat seems to be quite the man about town with a video clip from a local news station being shown of Jay discussing the Padres. There was no mention of the Club, so he was asked to pony up some cash. Which he did willingly!

The Club also saw photo of its NEWEST member (we hope) baby Scotty West LeBeau who was welcomed by parents Claire and Grant on May 30th and while we will not show it here for privacy reasons – she is an amazingly cute baby! Congrats to the LeBeau’s!

We will take July 6th off due to the Independence Day Holiday and see everyone back IN PERSON at the Club’s Annual Meeting on July 20th at the Bali Hai Restaurant.

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