Rotarians At Work Day 2008 - project announced

This announcement just went out to the local press about our efforts on Rotarians At Work Day.

RB Sunrise Rotary Helps Repair Sikes Adobe Historic Farmstead…Again!

Supporters of the Rancho Bernardo Sunrise Rotary club will be spending Saturday, April 26, 2008 performing maintenance, repair and clean-up work for the Sikes Adobe Farmstead. The club members selected this project as their contribution to Rotarians At Work Day, and will be out there starting at 9am.

The only thing is they did the same work less than three years ago.

In June, 2005, The RB Sunrise and Escondido Sunrise Rotary Clubs invested significant time, energy and treasure to refurbish the property on the border of Escondido. Under a blazing summer sun, dozens of Rotarians, family, friends, and area historians worked to create and set in place a working replica of an 1870 windmill.

“It’s a day I won’t soon forget” says past president Mark Berdan, recounting how member Randy Williams was swinging at the top of a crane at great risk to his life and limb. “Rotarians do what needs to be done, when and where it needs to be done.” observes Berdan, noting “sometimes our enthusiasm gets away from us.”

Located in the San Dieguito River Park, the Sikes Adobe Farmstead is an official State Point of Historical Interest. Originally built in 1870, it is one of the oldest structures in the county and one of the few remaining adobes in the region. “Sikes Adobe Farmstead represents a legacy of Old California and our ranching and farming history.” says Sikes Adobe Museum Manager Anne Cooper.

The Sikes family was one of the first families to settle in the area in 1869, and their farm represented the beginnings of agricultural development in post gold-rush San Diego county. The owner and head of household, Zenas Sikes, was the first postmaster of the town of Bernardo, where he also served as president of the Grange.

And this past October’s Witch Creek Fires destroyed almost all of this registered historical landmark. “The house is a major loss” says club president Steve Sayler. He points out that while some adobe walls remain, the cumulative damage of the fire and this past winter’s rains were devastating.

“A beautiful sewing machine was brought in the day before the fire” points out charter member Rex Teets. “That was lost, along with books, maps, a history of the Sikes Family. It’s a huge loss for our community, and we aim to help set things right.”

And while it won’t be perfect after the April 26th event, the Sikes Adobe Farmstead will be in much better shape than it is right now. All courtesy of the Rancho Bernardo Sunrise Rotary and the Rotarians At Work program.

Rotarians At Work started in San Diego and is quickly gaining traction around the world with the objective of having all 33,000 Rotary clubs on the map working on community improvement projects simultaneously.

The Rotarians At Work program was conceived by former District Governor Bob Watson, and is being organized and run by District 5340’s 2006 Rotarian Of The Year Jim Roth. Roth is a member of the RB Sunrise Rotary.

Non-Rotarians are also invited to donate time or resources, as well as to visit the house and see what construction methods were used in that era. It is easily accessible off Route I-15, exit Via Rancho Parkway and go East. Travel 100 yards and turn right on Sunset Drive. Another 100 yards and turn left into the long dirt driveway.

More information about the RB Sunrise Rotary is available online at http://www.rbsunrise.org/. More information about the Sikes Adobe Historic Farmstead is available online at http://www.sdrp.org/.

Prior to the Witch Creek Fires of 2007, the Sikes Adobe Historic Farmstead was a piece of living history, showing the very roots of the Rancho Bernardo community.

Much of the 5.7 acre complex was destroyed or damaged this past October. The historic significance of the buildings, maps, and even the wallpaper demands the community pitch in to refurbish this registered landmark.

The Rancho Bernardo Sunrise Rotary will be out there at 9am helping do the right thing. Will you?

RB Sunrise Rotary Gets Worldwide Recognition

Okay, I couldn't resist the temptation. Maybe that's why I'm the publicity chair for my club. So I sent out this announcement to the press this morning. I don't think there'll be a dry eye in the house by the time people are done reading this story and watching that video.

RB Sunrise Rotary Gets Worldwide Recognition

The Rancho Bernardo Sunrise Rotary and Poway Rotary clubs have been recognized by Rotary International for their efforts in helping victims of the Witch Creek fires this past fall.

A five minute video is prominently displayed on Rotary International’s home page (http://www.rotary.org/). The presentation discusses funds the Poway Club raised, and the substantial “on the ground” support provided by members of the RB Sunrise Club for fire victims.

“Four of our members lost their homes, and there wasn’t a moment’s hesitation among the members of this club. Every one of them was there to help in any way they could.” says president-elect Kendra Jeffcoat (who lost her home in the fire). She adds; “Their support was overwhelming.”

“Rotary became the eyes, ears, and pulse for Rancho Bernardo following the fire,” says club member Jim Roth. “Families who lost everything looked to us for leadership and help.” And from financial contributions to time spent sifting through the rubble for anything of value, the help was there.

The video ends by telling the tale of former RB Sunrise Rotarian Mike Miller, who had resigned from the club a week before the fires. “We were happy to get out of our burning home alive” he says “and as soon as word got out that our house had been destroyed, I started getting calls, notes, and emails. Everyone from the club I had just left wanted to come and help us. It didn’t matter to them that I had resigned – they wanted to help.”

A tear comes to Miller’s eye as he tells the story. “Rotarians are very special people. My family was in pain, and nothing else mattered to them except that they were in a position to help us, and wouldn’t take ‘no’ for an answer.” The outpouring of practical and emotional support he received from Rotarians so moved him that he decided to rejoin the club a few days later.

“I will never leave this club. Ever!” he says now. And knowing what Rotarians can do when they set their collective minds to do something, it’s easy to understand why Miller feels his club is so special.

And now Rotarians around the world will also have a chance to see what’s so special about our community.

More information about the RB Sunrise Rotary is available online at http://www.rbsunrise.org/. More information about the Poway Rotary is available online at http://www.powayrotary.org/.

worldwide recognition

And have you seen the video about the RB Sunrise Rotary on the home page of Rotary International?

HOW COOL IS THAT?

speaker schedule for April 2008

March 26, 2008

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

RB Sunrise Rotary Speaker Schedule

The Rancho Bernardo Sunrise Rotary Club has announced their speaker schedule for early spring.

· Tue, Apr 1 Program: RB Sunrise project in Nicaragua - Nasrin Barbee

· Tue, Apr 8 Program: Rotary Ambassadorial Scholar Daniel Figueriedo

· Tue, Apr 22 Program: Ms. Orit Ostrowiak – trainer, public speaking

· Tue, Apr 29 Program: Veronica Baker – Kids Korps USA

· Tue, May 6 Program: Steve Dreyer, Executive Editor, Pomerado Newspapers

The meetings start promptly at 7:15 am at the Country Club of Rancho Bernardo, 12280 Greens East Road,
San Diego, CA 92128. Speakers begin their presentations at 8:00 am. Members of the public are invited to attend these meetings. A $14.50 fee will be charged to those staying for breakfast.

The public is also invited to review the blog of Arlene Cawthorne, one of the club’s newest members, as she traces her adventure in joining and participating in Rotary. It can be found at www.redbadgerotarian.blogspot.com. Another blog, maintained by club publicity chair Rob Weinberg, is tracing a year in the organization. That one – entitled THE ADVENTURES OF ROB THE ROTARIAN can be found at http://rbsunrise.blogspot.com/.

The Rancho Bernardo Sunrise Rotary club can be found online at www.rbsunrise.org.

Just keep breathing. Just keep breathing.

I went to pull up my blog and the system tells me it doesn't exist.

Uh oh - time to panic.

Actually, anyone who's been in Rotary for a while knows there's lots of stuff every day that could make you want to panic. The web site is down (or non-existent). Computers and projectors don't work for the speaker. The speaker doesn't show. The list goes on endlessly.

A week after I first joined Rotary the new president (who had helped recruit me and been in the position for ... a week) abruptly left office. Seems there was something unseemly going on, and what she was doing wasn't considered to be good for all concerned. So here I was, committed to being in a room full of strangers with absolutely no concept of what I'd gotten myself into.

I've been that speaker whose projector pooped out 30 seconds before going "onstage". And I've learned the value of the advice from Hitchiker's Guide to the Galaxy: - Don't panic.

Oh yes - and always carry your towel (it's a Ford Fairlane thing).

Anyway, I've obviously found my blog, more or less intact, though I still wonder whether anyone is reading the silly thing. No? Well, I'm no surprisedzzzzzzz...

Sorry - I kinda dozed off there myself. It IS kind of boring, isn't it? Well, Rotary isn't always exciting, but it is kind of fun.

The big event this week was seeing my friend Marc at the hospital. No, he's still sick. In fact, he looks terrible. But the fact is the son of a gun is still alive. They predicted he'd last three days after his brain surgery, and nine weeks later he's still around. Go figure. I like to think he knows I'm there, but even if he doesn't recognize me, his family appreciates my being there, and that's the most important part right now. So I go. And I want to hope there's a miracle. And I guess the miracle is that he's still alive. I'll take what I can get, I guess.

Oh yes - there was a meeting this past Tuesday. We held 4-way test speeches for the district. Eight speakers were due, five showed, four went on to the next level. And we need to find a more positive way of announcing the winners, since the young lady who came in last looked like she was going to cry.

This, too, is nothing to panic about. We'll learn from this and do better next time. So will that young lady.

I slept in this morning

Couldn't get out of bed today for a 7am meeting, so I slept in. I doubt anyone missed me, though the hat was probably missed. Ah well - there's goes my perfect attendance record.

Meanwhile, I got out this press release instead. There's my contribution to Rotary for the week:

March 17, 2008
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Greg Christensen Wins RB Sunrise Rotary Speech Contest

As part of an ongoing partnership with Abraxas High School, the Rancho Bernardo Sunrise Rotary recently held their annual 4-way speech contest.

Participants in the program each make a 5-7 minute presentation in front of an audience and team of judges. While the choice of subject is left to the individual speaker, the rules mandate their wrapping their subject matter around the 4-way test of conduct for each Rotarian. The four-way test asks of the things we think, say or do:

1. Is it the TRUTH?
2. Is it FAIR to all concerned?
3. Will it build GOODWILL and BETTER FRIENDSHIPS?
4. Will it be BENEFICIAL to all concerned?"

Topics presented to RB Sunrise Rotary this year were:

“Using the 14th amendment to benefit illegal immigration” (Greg Christensen)
“Teenagers replacing personal relationships with technology (Jennifer Rodriguez)
“High school dropouts drain the economy” (Zachary Seibel)
“The toll taken by Anorexia and Bulimia” (Amanda Covington)

Both Mr. Christensen and Ms. Covington, who finished in first and second-place, respectively, will be representing their school at Rotary district-wide speech contests later this spring. Mr. Christensen will compete at the RB Noon club and Ms. Covington at the Chula Vista club at dates still to be scheduled. Rotary district 5340 has 61 member clubs.

The RB Sunrise Rotary can be found online at http://www.rbsunrise.org/. Abraxas High School can be found online at http://powayusd.sdcoe.k12.ca.us/pusdahs.

From Left to Right - Connie Kenemnar, Rex Kenemnar, Amanda Covington, Rex Teets, Zachary Seibel, Esther Bloom, Greg Christensen, Jennifer Rodriguez, Carole DeBruin.

For additional information, contact:
ROB WEINBERG
rob@marketbuilding.com
858-673-9960

4-way speech contest

This morning we heard the 4-way speech contest. It's a contest of four high school students who are judged based on their content, organization, delivey and application of Rotary's four-way test.

That's Rex Teets, our connection to the school, on the left.

The subjects were very interesting, and included high school drop-outs and the drain they cause to the economy; how the 14th ammendment benefits illegal immigrants (presented by a young man with a great deal of suppressed rage); teenage over-reliance on computers and lack of socialization from too much television; and the impact of anorexia and bulimia on a person's health.

The young man with the suppressed rage won the contest, just edging out Miss Anorexia/Bulimia. He will go on to speak at the district level in two weeks.

Recruiting Younger Rotarians

We had Liz Raines, Britt Catton, and Bob James, Jr. of the New Generations Club in La Jolla, CA speak to our club this past Tuesday. Liz is the incoming president, Bob the current president, and Britt the PR director.

They spoke about how to get younger members into your club - a critical issue for any Rotary, and a message I'm trying to help them get out into the Rotarian magazine. The way I see it, if this organization doesn't recruit more young members, it'll be dead in 30 years.

Interestingly, Liz was cited at the PETS session last week, joining President Lee as an example of young Rotarians coming up through the ranks. By the time the conversation was over, it turned out there were seven incoming presidents all under the age of 30 - good stuff.

Here was Liz (left of president D. K. Lee) and the other six at Saturday night's dinner event.

new schedule of events

We've posted our schedule of events for March


March 6, 2008

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

RB Sunrise Rotary Speaker Schedule

The Rancho Bernardo Sunrise Rotary Club has announced their speaker schedule for March.
· Tue, Mar 11 Program: Four-Way Test Speech Contest
· Tue, Mar 18 Program: “How to Sink a Cruise Liner Barehanded” - Hans Norden
· Tue, Mar 25 Program: Four-Way Test Speech Contest – District Finals
The meetings start promptly at 7:15 am at the Country Club of Rancho Bernardo, 12280 Greens East Road, San Diego, CA 92128. Speakers begin their presentations at 8:00 am. Members of the public are invited to attend these meetings. A $14.50 fee will be charged to those staying for breakfast.
The public is also invited to review the blog of Paul Gorman, one of the club’s newest members, as he traces his adventure in joining and participating in Rotary. It can be found at www.redbadgerotarian.blogspot.com. Another blog, maintained by club publicity chair Rob Weinberg, is tracing a year in the organization. That one – entitled THE ADVENTURES OF ROB THE ROTARIAN can be found at http://rbsunrise.blogspot.com/.
The Rancho Bernardo Sunrise Rotary club can be found online at www.rbsunrise.org.

For additional information, contact:
ROB WEINBERG
rob@marketbuilding.com
858-673-9960

PO Box 270241 ö San Diego, CA 92198
858-673-9960 (phone) ö 858-673-7132 (fax)
results@marketbuilding.com ö www.marketbuilding.com
Unique Marketing Solutions.
Profitable Results.

I've finally recovered from PETS

I spent last weekend at PETS - the President Elect Training Seminar. It's held in Los Angeles each year, and is a four-day session to train incoming club presidents in what they need to know to run their club.

Since every Rotary club gets a new president every July 1, it stands to reason they will need to be taught how to fundraise, manage a meeting, and the like. My job this year was to teach these new presidents how to generate publicity and build a web site for their club.

I got to the LAX Hilton around 5 pm last Thursday, driving up with past president Carl Kruse and President Elect Kendra Jeffcoat. We stopped at the hospital en route to visit our friend Marc, who still lies in bed with his brain tumor and doesn't seem to be improving. I fear the worst for him.

After a brief stop there, we were off to LA. Checked in, and by 5:30 I was at a reception for instructors, speakers, and bigwigs. Then it was dinner and I spent the rest of the evening loading my PowerPoint presentation onto the seven laptop computers I'd be using on Friday. I was asleep before 11.

Friday was when all the fun started, of course. First off to breakfast, where I got into a rather lengthy (and energetic) discussion with a gentleman named Lynn. It seems he wants to include references to Jesus Christ in public discussions at RI, while I maintained the group is non-denominational. I fully respect his right to believe anything he will, but object to the idea that he's going to force his beliefs on anyone else in the organization who believes otherwise. Let him keep his prayers in church, but not at my Rotary meeting.

There were the usual opening sessions, then a quick lunch, then the actual training. Now I got to sing for my supper. What followed were four back-to-back sessions, each one 50 minutes long, of me blathering on about my hat, the value of branding, and how it all ties in to public image, public relations, and web sites.

I was well-received (another way of saying nobody beat me up for what I spouted off about), and tried to incorporate the criticisms I received from last year's presentations (didn't use the microphone in one session, didn't move from behind the podium, didn't leave enough time for Q&A).

Friday night was much more interesting - dinner, then parties galore. The nice thing about being just one of seven trainers in a group this size (550 participants plus about 150 support staff) is that they treat you like you're a celebrity. People want to meet you, to shake your hand, and to ask your advice. Even if I don't know what I'm talking about (hey, it COULD happen!), people there THINK I know. And as my old friend Chris once advised me; "If they want to think you walk on water, who are you to disagree?"

Saturday was more of the same - breakfast, two sessions, a break, and a final session. Then came dinner and five more parties - two of which were shut down by security for being too raucous.

I learned from last year's event by not drinking NEARLY as much as I did then. Last year I drank so much on Saturday night that I thought I was going to die (and was afraid that I wouldn't). This year I kept it light, kept my head (and my breakfast), and didn't wake up with any headaches.

By Sunday at noon, I left with hundreds of people having heard my message. I know what I say works, because I'm opening the newspaper more often and seeing press from many more area clubs. Of course, their success makes it harder for me to get my stuff in the papers, but I can work with that.

Now I'm home and trying to find my desk. A few more days and I hope to be more or less caught up. WHEW! I had fun, met some great people, made a few new friends, and even got to meet D. K. Lee, the incoming president of Rotary International. I think it went well - should be interesting to see the responses from those actually in attendance who listened to my drivel.