Tidings

Club Secretary Karina Sousa started our virtual meeting welcoming several guests in our Zoom room, along with some of our newer and prospective members:

• Brittany Curran
• Lance Grob
• Ashley Moran

Then, after a quick recap of recent events, long-time member Chuck Day, introduced our guest speaker:  Deacon Jim Vargas, President & CEO of Father Joe's Villages.

Deacon Jim spoke on Father Joe's Villages Comprehensive Approach to Preventing and Ending Homelessness.

Members were engaged about this growing problem and asked many questions.

At the conclusion of the talk, we celebrated April birthdays:

• 4/18 - Doug Frost
• 4/23 - Steve Morris
• 4/25 - Shaun McArdle

Then, we looked ahead to what's on the horizon.  If you missed out, you can watch the replay:

Our breakfast meeting began when President Susan Day rang the bell, and we said the Pledge of Allegiance.

Board member Glen Honig introduced our speaker Tim Patterson, retired Supervising Deputy Attorney General and UCSD Lecturer who spoke to the Club about environmental law in San Diego.

After the interesting presentation, we celebrated Club birthdays:

• 4/18 - Doug Frost
• 4/23 - Steve Morris
• 4/25 - Shaun McArdle

Then we celebrated member milestones and collected Bill's Bucks:

• Doug Frost - birthday plus many new Kiwanis badges

• Carl Nettleton - no pin plus the birth of his first grandson

• Drue Jordan - no pin plus Go Aztecs!

• Jeremy Alexander - no pin pls his promotion to Captain

• Karina Sousa - enjoyed the Just in Time gala and book launch plus Easter

• Louie Ocana - no pin plus it's great to be back

• Glen Honig - Passover and Easter plus a wine tasting trip in Napa/Sonoma

• Steve Morris - birthday, five years in Kiwanis, and his 2 year wedding anniversary

Next we auctioned off a couple of items:

• Carl Nettleton brought back a "Dancing Queen" t-shirt from Sweden and Karina Sousa won it!

• Kevin Currier won the water bottle sent to the Club from Rancho de Sus Ninos.

We did a quick recap of events past and look forward to future events.  Then we closed out the meeting, in anticipation of our next get together.

We were pleased to gather virtually on March 21.

President Susan Day welcomed members and guests, which included 2 members from San Diego Loyal -- Weston Breay and Shannon MacMillan.

After a warm introduction from member Jay Jeffcoat, Shannon MacMillan spoke to us about the exciting things San Diego Loyal is doing to really be part of the San Diego community -- things we are also passionate about like volunteering time with great local non-profits.

The Club is looking forward to our San Diego Loyal game and fundraiser on April 29.

After Shannon concluded her remarks, we wished members happy birthday:

• Joe Sigurdson - March 1
• Louie Ocana - March 27

When asked for Bill's Bucks, we received generous contributions from:

• Jay Jeffcoat - in honor of his 2 upcoming trips to cheer on SDSU and the Padres.
• Lauren Cook - grateful to receive a 15-year pin as a volunteer with AYSO

We recapped prior events and looked forward to those coming up before our meeting concluded.  

If you missed it, you can watch the Zoom recording here:

President Susan Day opened the March 7th breakfast meeting by ringing the bell and leading the Pledge of Allegiance.

She welcomed guests Traci Knight-Cortez and Marcel Kasmer, along with members.

We celebrated March birthdays:

• March 1 - Joe Sigurdson
• March 27 - Louie Ocana

New member Evan Kay was given his "ugly" name tag and Kiwanis pin by his Kiwanis sponsor Ryan Callan.

$146 in Bill's Bucks was generously donated by members, to welcome Evan Kay and celebrate Joe Sigurdson's birthday.

There was a quick recap of past events and announcements of upcoming events, all of which are posted on the website.  Lots of excitement to come!

President Susan Day started the virtual meeting by welcoming guests from several other clubs, including:

• Bonita
• Grantville-Allied Gardens
• Escondido
• Scripps Ranch.

Then she introduced and welcomed our speaker, Dr. Sonia Ancoli-Israel,  Professor Emeritus of Psychiatry and Professor of Research at the University of California San Diego School of Medicine.  Dr. Ancoli-Israel spoke about Sleep in Aging and Insomnia, then answered the group's questions.

After the speaker, we celebrated the birthdays of members:

• 2/1 - Heather Robinson
• 2/5 - David Gugerty
• 2/9 - Tim Callan
• 2/9 - June Frost
• 2/14 - Glen Honig
• 2/21 - Lauren Cook
• 2/21 - Vic Bianchini
• 2/24 - Scofield Hage

The group was generous in donations to celebrate:

• Carl Nettleton - a great trip to Norway and Sweden.
• Doug Frost - throwing his hat into the ring for District Governor
• Karina Sousa - welcoming new members, thanking Ryan Callan for dog sitting, and pleased that Ruby is now an airplane veteran
• Gordon Boerner - successful medical treatments
• Randy Ortlieb - pleased to be joining us from the Escondido Club

Prior to concluding the meeting, we reviewed past events and looked forward to future ones.  

You can view the meeting online:

Our members were pleased to return to UC San Diego Park & Market for our January breakfast meeting.

President Susan Day rang the bell to open the meeting.

We had several guests in attendance:

Traci Knight-Cortez, friend of member Lauren Cook

Victoria Robertson, friend of member Jim Floros

Lance Grob

Then we welcomed two local FBI agents who gave an engaging, informative presentation on crime in our region.

After a Q& A period, we resumed the meeting to celebrate two member birthdays:

• 1/16 - Mike Boland
• 1/19 - Drue Jordan

Next, we honored member Gordon Boerner with a pin for his personal donation to the Kiwanis Children's Fund.

Before recapping previous events and previewing what's to come, we completed required Kiwanis Youth Protection training.

President Day rang the bell to conclude the meeting.

We were back at UC San Diego for our breakfast meeting.  

President Susan Day welcomed everyone by ringing the bell, followed by the Pledge of Allegiance.

We were happy to welcome several members of Kiwanis Club of Bonita:

• Walter and Sandra Groves
• Peter Matz
• Alynne de Vilmorin
• Lance Jordan
• Fernando Orozco

We also welcomed:

• Alison Aragon - Pro Kids 
• Teresa Valenzuela - San Diego Futures Foundation
• Taylor Henderson - Home of Guiding Hands
• Ashley Morey - Home of Guiding Hands

Michael Brown spoke about the Port of San Diego to an enthusiastic audience.

After an enlightening presentation and yummy breakfast, members were feeling generous and gave money to commemorate:

• Walter Groves - happy to be at the event and not having gotten lost

• Sandra Groves - hosted a lovely Thanksgiving

• Lance Jordan - happy to be at our meeting

• Alynne de Vilmorin - excited to do a service project together tomorrow

• Justin Frisco - no pin

• Glen Honig - enjoyed 2 parades with the Corvette Club

• Karina Sousa - Ryan Callan watched her dog Ruby so she could host Thanksgiving

• Joe Sigurdson - happy to meet Teresa Valenzuela who just hired one of his previous employees to work at San Diego Futures Foundation

• Jim Floros - happy to wake up

• David Jay - his child scored very high on the PSAT and may be a National Merit Scholar

• Steve Morris – he and his wife are expecting a baby boy in April

• Carl Nettleton - making a special presentation this evening

• Monica Ball – 3 tutoring sites are opening in person after COVID

• Taylor Henderson - getting married

• Ashley Morey - her dog learned how to do a high 5

Mostly, all enjoyed the fellowship of being together.

Our virtual luncheon began with a warm welcome from President Susan Day.

Then Susan introduced our speaker, Chief John Wood, who spoke about the operations of fire rescue in San Diego.  The members in attendance virtually were engaged and asked some interesting questions including:

• Who pays for the food at the fire station?
• How long before a fire truck is retired? In years and mileage.
• How are the numbers on the trucks determined?
• Do fire stations have solar panels on their roofs?

For these and more answers, you can watch the video.

After our speaker, members were pleased to learn of Carl Nettleton's recent successes with his organization Open Oceans Global.  Lauren Cook updated the Club about her recent received grant for Survivors of Suicide Loss.

The meeting ended with a quick recap of past events and look forward to future events.

If you missed it, you can catch it online:

We are grateful to our hosts from the Comic-Con Museum who provided a lovely breakfast and tour of the museum.

Our abbreviated meeting began when President Susan Day rang the bell.

We welcomed guests from the Grantville-Allied Gardens Kiwanis Club -- George and Kathy Butterstein and Vic Enchelmayer.

Then we wished Brian Krause happy birthday in absentia.

Our members gave Bill's Bucks to celebrate:

• Jeremy Alexander - a successful Salvation Army BBQ
• Gordon Boerner - a variety of events plus paying of old fines
• Kevin Currier - his daughter's soccer success
• Judy Leitner - so many good things plus an upcoming trip
• Heather Robinson - a family wedding
• John Rush - happy to be back in San Diego

We were delighted to receive a private tour of the makerspace.

And the rest of the museum.

ending at the Spiderman exhibit.

Vice President Steve Morris opened our virtual luncheon in our President's absence and welcomed 13 members, 3 guests, and 6 members from the Escondido Kiwanis Club.

Immediate Past President Mike Boland introduced our speaker Dr. Federico Rossano, who spoke about the research he is doing at UCSD on dog cognition.  He shared his research findings and played several videos showing dogs communicating to their owners using buttons that play words.  The virtual audience was fascinated and amused by the topic and the videos.

The Club had celebrated most of the October birthdays at our in-person meeting earlier in the month, so we went on to Bill's Bucks.

Thank you to:

Karina Sousa - pledged money in honor of the great program and because she enjoyed seeing guest Heidi Callan (Ryan Callan's wife) and long-time member Eldon Thompson in the Zoom room.

Doug Frost - pledged money in honor of Stanford's recent win over Notre Dame.  When asked, Doug claimed he didn't know about the Padres recent success.

After reviewing the last few weeks' successful events and looking forward to events to come, the meeting ended on time.