Irvine Spectrum Rotary News

Irvine Rotary Club meeting notes - RYLA

2012-05-16T20:16:00.001-07:00

Two Rotary Youth Leadership Award (RYLA) recipients brought us up to speed on the latest RYLA weekend in Idlewylld. Aly and Chelsea, granddaughters of IRC club member Ed, were apprehensive about attending, because their grandpa said they had to. But now they are delighted they attended, and have a new respect for "family","it was the best day of my life," says Chelsea.

The theme of this year's RYLA was "You Can Do It", and they shared with us the Boojum Institute of climbing trees to zip lining, bungee cord jumps and more, enabled them to "Do It". Their RYLA family of 10 became lifetime buddies now. The activities and family unit taught them how to trust each other, do things they never thought they could do, and be happy with others. The only downside, was the sad ride home. Chelsea and Aly plan to return to RYLA next year as leaders of the program. This was a great investment of our resources!

Irvine Rotary Club meeting notes - Laguna College of Art & Design

2012-05-16T20:08:00.001-07:00

Jonathan Burke, President of Laguna College of Art & Design brought us up to date on the amazing work this accredited four year college is doing. LCAD holds regional accreditation and national accreditation for its art programs, not all art department in colleges receive this level of accreditation.

The school follows classical tradition of art, with a vast range of representation of students of all economic strata. Each student must master great illustration, then be able to take an idea and make meaning of it.

The hottest curriculum at the school is a new major-Game Art/Entertainment Illustration and Art. It was a strategic move for the school, the majority of Game Art companies are located in Southern California. The students learn character design, background painting, storyboarding, environment design, animation. Gaming is story driven through animation. The faculty have worked at Disney, Warner Brothers and major studios in LA. Every second of animation takes 24 drawings. Graduate project is a 5-6 minute film. Students team with IT students at UC schools to be able to team to totally develop a game.

LCAD is located in Laguna canyon with vast housing, senior studios, teaching studios, main campus, administration, galleries, MFA Building. They are land banking for future growth of the students coming to the school.

The goal of teaching is each student has a comprehensive ability to design. For students, the most challenging is grants and paying for school. 44% of students receive Pell grants, which maybe reduced in the next round of state budget cuts. The school partners with corporations like Nike for internships and service clubs and others to provide grants.

We got to see our contributions in action, with Charlene-The Designing Machine, a graduating student who has received a scholarship from IRC, presented her variety of art projects including an App for volunteerism, package design for lighting, and a Game for kids in Haiti.

Irvine Rotary Club Meeting Notes-May 2, 2012--Irvine Police Department Public Safety Awards

2012-05-16T19:56:00.000-07:00

IRC has a partnership with the Irvine Police Department. For two years, on a Quarterly basis, the club recognizes and awards Irvine citizens that assist the police with solving crimes and catching criminals. We have the pleasure of hosting the police officers, police chief, and the citizens during a rotary meeting and presenting checks as their just rewards.

The latest award program presented tennis instructor Chuck Brymer with a check for $125 each for their involvement in solving a string of burglaries that was occurring around the South Lake Tennis Club during the daytime, over a four month period of time. A keen tennis instructor made the initial identification that a strange car was driving around the lot, and noticed his trunk was open. Chuck ran out to the car and tried to grab the suspect, wrestling with him. Police were called by other tennis members, but things moved quickly. When the suspect jumped in his car, with his three year old son in the car, the car jumped the curb and died. The suspect grabbed his son and started running away. Vested community members witnessed this, stayed a safe distanced and followed the suspect. The final outcome, the suspect was arrested for robbery, burglary and receiving stolen property. Wallets, jewelry and computers in his car trunk were identified from other burglaries in another community.

Chuck donated his check back to the rotary! What a great guy!

IRC Meeting Notes - April 24, 2012 - Meeting Notes

2012-05-01T19:41:00.001-07:00

Club member Tammy works at Grant Thornton International, and has traveled the world for her work as an accounting audit manager. Born in Taiwan, and raised in Hawaii, she graduated college from U of Michigan and moved to Washington DC in 2004where she began her work with GTI. She obtained a double major in economics and International Studies and is fluent in Mandarin Chinese. She conducts audits for international companies including the US Marine Corps, she's travel around the world to Marine bases. In 2008 she moved to Hong Kong and lived in Asia for 6 months working with GTI, then moved to Beijing where she lived for 3.5 years. She shared her South Africa travel photos with us, what a treat. Where will Tammy go next? Welcome our Red Badger to the club.

April 17, 2012 Meeting Notes - IRC Supports Epilepsy Alliance

2012-05-01T19:34:00.002-07:00

IRC member Diane Braasch advocates on behalf of children with multi-seizure epilepsy through the Epilepsy Alliance. Diane's granddaughter, Katlyn, has the disease. The statistics are staggering: 1 of every 50 children and 1 of every 100 adults are diagnosed with it. More than 50,000 people die annually from seizures. The Alliance provides support groups, community education, referrals to specialists, and education to empower people with epilepsy. Surgery may help relieve some or all of these symptoms. IRC made a donation to the alliance. Diane, we admire your perseverance.

The club also supports Cystic Fibrosis Society. Ed's grandson has CF, but he plays baseball, and deals with the disease. The test for CF is a sweat test. People with it do not absorb enzymes, mucus clogs up the body. The last two years there has been a big advance in drugs being approved by the FDA to affect the underlying causes. 30,000 Americans are impacted by CF. Lucy, Tom and Ed presented a $1,000 for CF research.

Richard was a teacher and today works in development for the Irvine Valley College. He's been a long time resident of OC, a resident of Signal Hill, and the last five years has worked at Mt. Sak College before coming to IVC. IVC has 45,000 students, with programs all around OC. 12,000 FT students at IVC with a diverse mix, 41% are Irvine residents. They offer 62 different degrees, and is the #1 transfer rate college in OC where students with an AA are able to transfer to a four year college to complete their Bachelor's degree. They acquired 62 acres in Tustin, being cleaned up now and will build the Advanced Technology Park, 50,000 sq. ft park where courses will be taught in high tech, clean tech, R&D, with corporate offices too. It's the College of the Future, right in OC.

Irvine Rotary Club meeting notes April 11, 2012

2012-04-17T19:51:00.002-07:00

Irvine Rotary Club's newest member Jason Roberts provided a Craft Talk. Originally from San Luis Obispo, CA, born, raised and schooled there,, it's "Happiest Place in USA", and has some of the best wineries and a great tourist area, says Jason.

Jason works for Serve First which provides all solutions in electronic mobile payments for retail and ecommerce. He meets with clients and prospects and provides solutions. According to Jason there are no contracts, and he'll provide a free savings analysis for clients. The company is small, family owned and growing. He moved to Irvine just four months ago, and recently graduated from CAL Poly in business, packaging design and graphics communications.

He loves meeting new people, is an avid sports fan, anything having to do with the outdoors.
Welcome Jason!

Rotary International Peace Progream - Irvine Rotary Club Meeting Notes April 4, 2012

2012-04-08T17:40:00.003-07:00

Long Beach Rotarian Alex Cotton is a candidate for the Rotary World Peace Fellows Program. Two Rotarians are awarded the fellowship each year. Alex's discussed his work for Merlin and his aspirations as a Rotary World Peace Fellow.

Alex was born and raised in France, and the first time he heard of Rotary International he heard of the World Peace Initiative. Then his father's involvement got him interested in the notion of world peace.

Merlin (Medical Emergency Relief International, a British non-governmental, non-profit organization ) does magical work, which is long lasting. Merlin's actions are focused on: Building Field Hospitals; Mobile Clinics going into rural areas; and providing primary healthcare hiring local health coordinators who conduct education on disease prevention. Worldwide the company employs 74 health promoters.

Alex met the organization and it's work when he was a volunteer for a Sudan humanitarian project. Today Alex is Merlin's Regional Director. Merlin specializes in rebuilding critical health services and systems in hard-hit areas of the world, including Sub-Saharan Africa and Haiti. . Merlin focuses on recovery and the belief that "everyone has a right to affordable healthcare".

According to Alex, the key threats in the world are conflict, natural disasters e.g. Haiti; disease outbreak e.g. fever, cholera. Merlin maintains strong international connections, and comes into a stricken area and rebuild collapsed health systems. In Haiti, due to it's tight relationships with the Dominican Republic partners, Merlin was on the ground within 72 hours of the earthquake building field hospital, getting seven tons of medical supplies into the country, carrying out 392 life saving operations and treating 7,338 people in the first three weeks in Haiti. Hitting the ground running in a developing part of the world is almost unheard of. In addition to their partners, they hire local workers. In Haiti, some of their workers had lost loved ones, but it was all hands on deck helping all kinds of people.

Haiti operations included tents for post recovery, and surgical operations. Alex says these types of dyer situations brings you back to reality. As great as their hospital was, they were not able to handle everyone's need immediately.

"Creativity meets necessity", says Cotton. Merlin spent two years in Haiti and today the company supports 30 health facilities, performing 200,000 consultations, responding to two disease outbreaks; visiting 10,000 households visits; treating 13,000 people per month in mobile clinics.

From his volunteer stint in the Sudan, he pitched Merlin to hire him to open a US office, he was hired and has been with the organization ever since. Alex says you cannot get development if people are sick, that is why Merlin attacks the health system issues. This work brought him to desire to be a Rotarian Peace fellow, if he is awarded the fellowship, he will spend two years working for his degree.

The IRC club chose to support Alex's nomination for Peace Fellow.

South County Outreach Presents to Irvine Rotary Club

2012-04-03T20:26:00.003-07:00

March 28, 2012....Nora, operations director for South County Outreach shared information about the valuable services this non profit provides. Most interesting, in Oct. 1996 Nora had a brain aneurysm, lost her job, home and husband. She received a second chance at life by surviving and now thriving, giving back through her work at this organization.

They provide emergency assistance and tools for the homeless to help themselves. They provide clients with food for five days; rental assistance; run a computer learning lab (2,000 classes annually), and give homeless the skills to get a job or increase their income. The Laguna Hills Thrift Store, located on Ridge Route, sells clothes for kids.

It's not all homeless they serve. During the summer, an increase in teachers who normally work summer school shifts, need assistance. Their backpack program provides for 700 kids. A holiday program, adopting 1,000 families by teaming with the community is popular (The Jewelry Box in Lake Forest also provides donations through their battery giveback). Seventeen homes provide transitional homeless program, and the social services tailored for each family as they move from homeless to a new home. Other services include:
-200 Easter baskets to give to families
-Homeless Prevention Program-helping people just making ends meet
-Donate food for their pets.
-Purchase food from Second Harvest Food Bank.
-They see singles, seniors, disabled, military, all living pay check to pay check. $6.72 buys food for a family of four for six days.
-Volunteers: 250 regularly scheduled volunteers help the six full-time staffers. 8% are seniors. 38,000 volunteer hours a year.
-Visit their website for a list of supply items they need, you can donate.
SCO goal is to keep residents in our community, we don't have alot of shelters in South County, so keeping them in their home is a goal. They provide a hub of service to help however they need help.
The Irvine Rotary Club donated $500 to this worthy organization; with a commitment to donate more later this year.

Irvine Rotary Club Meeting Notes - March 7, 2012--What is the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act? Obamacare?

2012-03-07T19:26:00.006-08:00

Lawyer Matt Kinley of a Downey Law Firm and member of the Long Beach Rotary Club, shed light on Obama Care and the Supreme Court Case to be heard later this year. Although he is not a supreme court lawyer or expert, he provided insight into The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, the official title of what could change the face of healthcare and health insurance for every US individual.

PPACA is a living law, not only did no one know what was in the bill when it passed, it gave many bureaucracies, like the IRS, Health & Human Services, the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services, the right to tens of thousands of pages of regulations.

This Supreme Court Case has the prospect of fundamentally changing the relationship between the states and the federal government. Not one Republican voted for this legislation. It is an intensely partisan manner compared to Social Security Act in 1935, or Medicare or Medicaid in 1965, or Medicare Part D in 2003. 26 states, all with Republican governors, have filed a class action against the US government to rescind the legislation; the first time ever this many states have joined in a case against the feds.

FYI, many states have filed amicus briefs in favor of the law, including CA.

The law does lots of things including: Insured can keep their children under their policy until age 26. No matter your health condition, you're covered, requiring insurers to offer the same premium to all applicants. Meaning insurance companies have to insurer the sickest along with the healthy. Also provides for a simplified enrollment in Children's insurance programs; requires rebate to purchaser of insurance if insurance companies fail to spend on certain things; co-payments are eliminated for preventive care; low income persons are subsidized; and minimum standards for health insurance policies are to be established and caps will be banned.

This is a unique law, called Individual Mandate, requiring all persons not covered by an employer sponsored health plan, Medicaid, Medicare or other insurance, to be covered or be in violation of Federal law.

For business, firms employing 50+ and not offering health insurance will also pay a shared responsibility requirement--about $2,000 per year per employee. Very small businesses will be able to obtain subsidies.

Effective Jan. 2, 2013: all employers with 200 or more full time employees must provide heath insurance. Under 200 not required.

The Act's provisions are intended to be funded by a variety of taxes and offsets. Major sources of new revenue include broadened Medicare tax on incomes over $200,000 and $250,000, for individual and join filers respectively. An annual fee on insurance providers, and a 40% tax on "Cadillac insurance policies.

Total new revenue from the Act will amount to $409.2 billion over the next 10 years. $78 billion will be realized before the end of fiscal 2014.

There are legal challenges: there are six cases filed against the law in federal court. The most significant is Florida v. US Dept. of Health & Human Services. Oral arguments are set for March 2012 with an extraordinary three days and five half hours for oral argument. At the time this is heard, there will have been over 150 briefs filed by parties and friends of the court brief.

Constitution and the Bill of Rights:
The Federal government can't do anything without authority to do so: Congress has certain enumerated powers. The constitution also has specific limits to what the federal government can do: Bill of Rights. These issues could redirect government in a way not seen since the New Deal.

The Administration's position is this is a $2.5 Trillion industry. It's an industry with particular need for federal intervention because if a state tries to reform healthcare, people who need healthcare move to that state. Classic intrastate commerce problem. Because there is mandated coverage, people can wait until after they are sick to buy healthcare.

The heart of the government argument is we must require people to buy insurance. And, we want to cover everyone, even people with preexisting.

The state's position: the young are the cash cows, needed to pay for all the sick out there. States argue the mandate is an inappropriate attempt to make people buy something or face a fine. If the feds can force you to buy something, what limits exist at all?

The Supreme Court has set 90 minutes for oral argument. If the court decides that the mandate is unconstitutional, the court will need to decide whether any of the rest of the ACA falls with it. Could Congress achieve its regulatory objectives without the minimum mandate?

So later this year we will know whether Obamacare stands or falls!

St. Andrew's Children's Center work project

2012-03-03T10:13:00.000-08:00

Erin Runnion - Protecting Kids

2012-02-29T13:04:00.001-08:00

The Rotary Club of Irvine hosted Erin Runnion, Founder of the Joyful Child Foundation. The Joyful Child Foundation was formed in the memory of Erin’s child, Samantha, who at age 5 was abducted, abused and found murdered the following day in July 2002. Erin’s mission is to inform the community about child abuse and abduction and to train children how to react and respond to attempts to do them harm. Her hope if that by making the public aware and training children how to react and respond abuse and abductions can be reduced or potentially eliminated altogether.

Erin Runnion - Protecting Kids

2012-02-29T13:04:00.000-08:00

Long Beach Grand Prix

2012-02-27T19:26:00.002-08:00

Connor DePhillippe, age 19, has been racing since he was five years old. He'll be racing in the Long Beach Grand Prix, and you're invited (more than 170,000 people are expended to attend) to join the weekend of fun which includes Practice, Sat., qualifying and the race on Sunday. Connor shared his long road to racing success.

From age 5-14 he raced go carts, at age 14 made the transition to race cars. He's worked his way up the circuit and this past May he won on a smaller oval near the Indy track, the night before the Indianapolis 500. When he won, he was given the opportunity to speak before the crowd, one of his most memorable races. Mazda is motor racing's major sponsors of racing. Connor raced in the Star Mazda race last year and won a $60,000 scholarship, which provides a transition and foundation from kart racing to auto racing, and got him to where he is today.

Auto racing is growing and provided the demographics nationwide. As the racers move up the ladder, win sponsors, they have the opportunity to race with more powerful race cars. Connor is looking for sponsors, unfortunately he did not win the most recent scholarship. But he has sponsors that are allowing him to race in Long Beach.

Auto racing requires physical and mental endurance, requiring the driver to be focued every minute and sustain durability, about 2 hours on a 3 mile racetrack with 17 corners. Connor endures 1.5 hours of training daily to get ready for a race. Formula cars are the pnnacle of the racing series. The cost is $400,000 per car to get to the game. Watch and route for Connor!

A Life in The Ukraine

2012-02-19T11:12:00.001-08:00

Lucy's sister, Colleen and her husband are Missioniaries who have lived the last 17 years in the Ukraine helping poor and former Soviet countries build churches where there are none. The church is a place for families to get help, where people can come together. The villages where they help build churches are so poor, the average family income is less than $400/month. These people do not have a mindset for humanitarian care.

In 1994, after the Soviet Union separated, they and their two young daughters moved to a small village in the Krimea (a peninsula of the Ukraine which was owned by Russia). It was a barebones existence, with bare shelves at the grocery stores, long cold winters--they spent days in the kitchen (a separate building) which was the only room in the home that was heated. They also were at a deficit because they did not speak the language.

Before moving to Ukraine, she was a realtor in OK, her husband Jeff was an engineer. They decided to change their lives after Jeff went on a short term mission to Ukraine; he was a Russian linguist in the military.

They eventually moved to Kiev, to be near an airport. The perception of Russians of Americans is not positive, there is alot of antimosity to us. Today she teachers "Summertime Ar Classses", she learned art in college. The themes are teaching ladies to create prayer scapbooks to strengthen their faith.

Twice a year she tours the US visiting churches to share their story of Missionary work with others, and to raise money to continue their works around the world.

Breaking The Cycle of Poverty Thru Education

2012-02-19T10:50:00.000-08:00

Irvine Rotary Club member Alex Ureche has a passion for helping children around the world, and he's put his passion to work to make a major different in many lives. In 2003, he and his wife created a non-profit organization to help educate children in developing nations. Alex says, "Education is the key to breaking the cycle of poverty." His program teaches English and literacy skills to help underserved kids compete in today's world. His organization has projects in Mexico, USA, and a special emphasis with projects in rural areas of Romania.

It all started with a toilet, says Alex. In 2004 in a village his grandparents lived in Romania, he got stuck in Romania on a trip. First they help build a toilet, and it went onto build a computer lab in the small local school. He was hooked...In 2005, the big project, $2000 seed money from a friend led to building a school in Romania. The school was finished (total cost of $20,000) in Oct. 2005; locals were hired to help build the school, workers make so little money they were thrilled to contribute and make some money doing it; parents of the kids worked hard and also pitched in.

Additional projects in Romania include English programs for 250 kids; 2008 an English Lab was dedicated; 2009 - 12 English Labs were built, funded with matching rotary grants. The Rotary Club in Romania has sister clubs- Romanian Kids have an opportunity to join Rotaract where they can share with kids from around the world thru Rotary.

In 2009, Give A Smile: Dental Screening in Romania provided 200 kids appointments with a dentist, some had never seen a dentist before. Dentists came from Holland and Bucharest to join in the event.

Twice a year, a Shopping Spree for Kids gives them the opportunity to buy presents for others; the poor are good at giving to others.

The results of the English programs: Mentoring 25 kids from school to college, otherwise they have no opportunities at all. These kids have become the shining stars, successful kids are going to top schools.

Mobile Media Center: Last year Alex's organization gave the Romania's a Bookmobile for kids, taking the show on the road, including internet access and books they can borrow.

Upcoming projects vary including: building a rugby field, leadership camps for kids, building a community center, literacy projects, and empowering and finding work for parents.

Visit www.children-aid.org to learn more.

Irvine Community Service Awards

2012-02-05T12:09:00.000-08:00

The Irvine Police Department came out in force to our meeting today for the IRC Community Service Award. Chief, Dave Maggard, also President of the California Police Chief Association, Commander Barry Aninag, Sergeant Amy Quiorz, Officer Tanya Ayalde and Dan Young, a special coordinator for the Irvine Police Department Community Partnership with Irvine Rotary, were on hand.
Young explained that Irvine Police Department has a program designed for public safety to help families register people that might be susceptible to danger wandering off with dementia. It is called the Return Home Registry. They get the endangered person’s name, personal information, description and emergency contact information of those caring for the vulnerable population. Also a juvenile run away program too. It is a new program that is successful.
Sergeant Amy Quiorz discussed an incident on 12/27/11, Tuesday night, in Irvine. Officer Tanya Ayalde and Sergeant Amy Quiorz were working the Tuesday night shift called “alpha”, also known as the grave yard shift that they work Mon.-Thur. from 9 p.m. until 7 a.m. Normally they have a briefing of the days events, assignments and boards of events from other local police agencies in O.C.
Of significance was a report of an 81 year old man with dementia, who had been missing for 18 hours from Santa Ana that his family had reported missing. At 10:30 p.m. on 12/27/11 a call went out to Ayalde and Quiorz that there was a suspicious person outside the block wall fence at the Husken’ family’s residence. The father Todd Husken’s called the Irvine P.D. because his daughter, Joli had heard some strange noises in the brush behind their home near Irvine Center Drive. There was an elderly man hidden in the bushes but he won’t respond to them. He was very cold and shaking. The police came to the Husken’s home and found the missing elderly man that was lost and disoriented. They called the man’s son and took the elderly man to the hospital. The Irvine P.D. later called the Husken family and thanked them for being such great citizens helping this disabled man. The conditions were such that this man would might never have been found as he was hidden by view of any road way or walk way.

The Irvine Police Chief said that there was a new project in Irvine’s Great Park the ground breaking of a 5,000 new residence plan. It would move more resources into Irvine even though Irvine is in good financial condition it is still difficult times.
There was a question about the movement of prisoners out of prison and also being transferred into County jails. There is impact in O.C. but the impact drastically varies from county to county. This was mandated by federal judge because the prisons were failing to give adequate health care to the prisoners. Some non-dangerous are released, others that need rehab are placed in facilities that help their addiction issues. The goal is less parole and more probation supervision. Like ankle braclets but it depends on the conviction. Releasing non-violent and non-sex offenders. So far the State has 35,000 people released from prisons into the communities of California.

Shari Friedrich, OC Treasurer

2012-01-15T15:31:00.000-08:00

OC County Treasurer Shari Friedrich is responsible for a $6.5 billion investment pool for Orange County. The good news, she keeps our money safe guarded and is responsible for investment of public funds and collecting taxes. She sits on OC Pension board and is a member of the public finance committee. Her responsibilities also include banker for school district funds (writing checks for payroll) and some OC districts also use her funds as a safe investment vehicle for their district's money. Her goal is safekeeping by providing safety, liquidity and yield (no risk). She has an unblemished record of safety, never having lost one dollar of tax payer monies.

Shari oversees a staff of 97 and a budget of $18 million. She's made changes to continue safety including reviewing exposure to risk, hiring a dedicated analyst for reviews investment instruments daily; she's redesigned reporting structures; streamlined investment operations; reduced administrative costs over 10%. Unfortunately our yields are at rock bottom. She conducts an annual treasurer's conference, is reaching out to each OC city to assist them with their investments through a monthly conference call. She has brought best business practices to the treasury. Her staff is responsible for collecting on behalf of 200 agencies; $4.7 billion in collections (a 97% rate); and 54% OC taxes have been collected before the end of the calendar year. 40% goes back to schools; 19% to each city and 34% to the state.

For us taxpayers, although she does not set tax values, she is working to make it easier to pay our taxes through online services. She's brought cost-effective practices to government,including restructuring her office. Including a better customer service office.

Irvine is the sixth largest economy in the US with 3.1 million people, we are doing better than state in revenues. Taxes collecitng rates are up for Irvine, 1.45% in 2011; .87% for California.

John Moorlach: OC - A Model During A Period of Municipal Meltdown

2012-01-08T12:01:00.000-08:00

John W. Moorlach, Vice Chairman, Orange County Board of Supervisors, Second District predicted the biggest municipal disaster when OC defaulted on its debt. He talked about what elected officials in California and around the country are facing. The global reality is they are all mired in debt for municipal debt, deferred maintenance, pension funds and more. Although employees are paying more into their pensions, there's no raises and new tiers for retirement (including the ability for a municipal employee to opt out of the retirement plans), we are still mired in debt for the default 20 years ago.

OC reforms helped the county reduce unfunded liabilities, but all of CA is looking at OC to see how they handle the future. The majority of our general purpose revenue, $653 million, 87% of the county revenue comes from property taxes. 2011 was a balanced budget, every year we are laying off more and more municipal employees. But we inherited a retroactive salary benefit, worth $1.5 billion. In a bull cycle we enjoyed amazing growth, but there's a train wreck in slow motion about to hit OC.

OC Pension plans are doing fairly well, investments are bouncing back, but pension costs continue to rise, revenues are flat, and employees on pensions are living alot longer than predicted. The pension burden is $.31.5 per $1 in pension contributions. Irvine's unfunded liabilities alone are $1,823 per capita. We are running on fumes. If we don't see an uptick in the economy we'll run out of cash

What should CA do? Downsize, ratchet back regulations, roll back pension formulas, create hybrid pension formulas, freeze pension plans, privatize, merge and consolidate management, address the underground economy, report all debts, create a moratorium on bond debt and do something with public pensions.

There's a net migration out of CA. Watch what will be happening in other municipalities!

Two new members join Irvine Rotary

2012-01-08T09:46:00.000-08:00

From left: Membership Chair Rick Topping, Alex Ureche, Bruce Lazenby, Club President Mark Brubaker.

IRC Member Craft Talk: Randy Woods

2011-12-26T16:05:00.000-08:00

IRC member Randy Woods shared his personal and work story with the members this week, he's come to his current profession via a circuitous route.

Randy is a Security Industry Solutions expert, his company Night Hawk Security Solutions inserts covert cameras, CCTV, and handles Loss Prevention Training and Interviewing for companies. He's been in the security field for over 25 years. And Randy says "his goal is to get a confession from someone." He demonstrated his techniques with his Polygraph invention, a hilarious looking contraption that seemed to work, from his demonstration! Randy's secret self --everyone has one -- is as a Gadgeteer--he's always played with gadgets and made some machines.

He's firmly planted in OC now, but moved back and forth from the Pacific Northwest to the Southwest and back a few times. Randy grew up in Salem, OR. His first job growing up was working at the corner grocery store selling candy to kids. Later he went to work for several different restaurants...at Bob's $.19 Hamburgers, and before long he was managing their 13 stores. In Hemet, CA where he managed the Railroader Restaurant. He went to a broadcasting workshop and for a brief stint worked on-air at KIIS-FM 102.7, and later as a disc jockey at the Newport Beach Marriott.

Say hi to Randy when you visit the club, he's a great guy!

Christopher Cabral

2011-12-14T16:29:00.000-08:00

This morning a young man by the name of Christopher Cabral attended our meeting. He came to tell us he needs help preparing for employment. Christopher’s disabilities do not in any way hinder his motivation to work and become a taxpaying member of society. Rotary is helping Christopher fulfill his dream.

Christopher recently entered the Irvine Unified School District’s Career Link program and is learning career preparation skills in his classroom. He comes from a close-knit family of nine children, five boys and four girls, and he lives in Irvine. He has a congenital disorder, which has affected four out of the five boys in the family, one who died over a year ago. Christopher is confined to a wheelchair and has very little communication skills. He currently uses a device called the DynaVox, which he is able to manipulate with a type of joy stick he uses with his finger. This is what he used today at our meeting to tell us, "I want to work.”

Linda O’Neil, director of Career links, and Paul Harvey, a volunteer in the program, gave a compelling presentation for a devise to help Christopher better communicate with others. They would like to purchase an iPad 2, and also a software program called Proloquo2Go. This device has been successful for those with Autism, or any person with a disability that involves communication disorders. This program will help Christopher with a more rapid method of enabling him to engage in basic greeting conversation.

When Career Links is able to provide Christopher with a new communication device, they will help him find employment in the community. An ideal job would be for Christopher to work at an Apple Store as a demonstrator for his Apple iPad 2 with Proloquo2Go. Christopher and his assistant would be a sales team to demonstrate the value of these two technologies and what it can do to help others with disabilities.

The estimated cost for the devise is $2,361. This morning our club presented Career Links with a check in the amount of $1,500, they still have a ways to go to purchase the device and pay for the required training for Christopher.

The Laguna Playhouse Youth Theatre Director Donna Inglima

2011-12-11T11:47:00.000-08:00

Donna Inglima, The Laguna Playhouse Youth Theatre Director, discussed the important work the Playhouse's youth education and theatre program provides, a program supported by IRC. The club recently supported the production of a world premiere, the first for the theatre, of Looking For Home, Stories From The Orphan Trains.

Beginning in 1853-1930's, Charles Lauren Brace, the founder of the Children's Aid Society of New York, executed a program to move more than 250,000 kids off the streets of New York City and into homes. Homeless and abandoned children were taken off the streets, clothes and fed, and then moved by train to homes in the midwest. The show is a tale of adults and youth, the memory is a play set in 1922. The music, lyrics and books were created by Mary Murffitt, playwright. She also was adopted, and interviewed an orphan train survivor, where she developed the play's concept. The train made different stops along a route, the kids were presented like slaves on stage. Some went to a wonderful family, others not so lucky.

The show explores abuse, love and the many issues in adoption with a cost of 38, 22 children ages 9-17. It's a deep story of laughter, sorrow and hope. The show appeared for two weeks, and had three weeks in production. It premiered in November during National Adoption Month. The club's contribution of $1500 helped to support Boys & Girls Club kids to come to the show.

Doing Amazing Work in our Communities-State of the Irvine Rotary Club

2011-12-11T11:28:00.000-08:00

12.7.11 Irvine Rotary Club Meeting notes

Photo: Richard Milo was awarded his Paul Harris +7 Pin.

Mody Gorsky presented President elect nominee Don Kennedy, who will take his presidency after Lucy Walther’s term. There were no additional nominees, Mark Brubaker moved to close nominations, and Don Kennedy was ratified by the members..

Community Service Report/Avenues of Service:

The Irvine Rotary Club is giving a lot back to our communities and working a lot.

Lucy Walther led the summary of our community service accomplishments:
1. Richard Milo reported on the success of our partnership with causes for diabetes and cancer.

The Juvenile Diabetes walk in Newport Beach recently held in November had a large contingent of Rotarians, 21 walkers from the club who added $2,000, one third of the event net revenue, for Juvenile Diabetes.
In addition, the club provided $1,000 to support the spring Komen Walk for the Cure.
Children’s Book Drive-Richard encouraged members to stop at garage sales and purchase books for children that we can donate during the Orange County Fair Book Drive. It’s a district wide project. Last year we donated more than 30,000 books for kids. Simply spend no more than $10 to buy books and the club will reimburse you.

2. Ed Hardenburg indicates we will have a walk this year at the Dana Point Harbor in April which includes a donation to Cystic Fibrosis.

3. Cisca Stillhorn reported:

Our support of South County Outreach is complete for the year, we provided a total of $1,000 to SCO. Our contact has changed so we will be engaging them to come to a future meeting to re-establish with them.
We provided a work day for the Irvine Animal Shelter with 13 Rotarians helping with the facility build out.
In addition, we will be doing a project to support Irvine Adult Day Health. We made a donation of $1,000 and will work on conducting a work day on their behalf.

4. Rick Topping reported on:

Injured Marines Simper If Fund which supports injured marines
Wounded Warrior Fund
Holes for Heroes
ALS Society

5. Leslie Mogul reported the $1500 support of The Laguna Playhouse’s Youth Theatre world premier of Looking for Home, a Story from the Orphan Trains, was made possible with the support of IRC. Children from Orangewood and Orange County foster care were able to attend performances free of charge.

6. Ray Benedictus reported that Community Service from our club members does a lot to make things happen in the community. He added we provided support this past year for the American Heart Association.

7. Mody Gorsky reported we continue our successful partnership with the City of Irvine with our Irvine Public Safety Partnership Awards. Lucy and Mody have had four meetings with the city and they are thrilled to continue the program.

8. Austin reported on our international projects:

Mexico (Ensenada area) Clinics-April 2012 we will conduct our 100th Mexico Clinic. We conducted four dental and two medical clinics during the year. These are fabulous opportunities for our club to team with our local Mexico Rotary partners, who identify the location, to provide needed medical and dental care. He would like more club members to participate. We stay in nice hotels, meet great people. He’ll be scouting some more locations in Mexico, including orphanages in Corazon, to continue this avenue of service. The Ensenada clinic cost $4000 for two clinics, and we provided $30,000 worth of service.
Haiti Adult Clinics-we’re determined to continue the project when the country provides us the opportunity.
India Clinic-were committed to doing a clinic in India, Austin will talk with Harry on this.
Bolivia Prosthetic project is being executed with 8 other rotary clubs. It is under review at the International Rotary Foundation. Our goal is to produce 135 prosthetic legs, the program trains people to manufacture the prosthetics, and give to local disabled.
Stove project is still being executed in Guatemala. The goal is to produce 1500 stoves, we are mid-way through production.
Romania Orphanage-we are in the process of determining is this is feasible.

Local and International Irvine Rotary Club projects are funded by our three major fundraising efforts including:

Bowlathon-this year raised $5,000
Cash Bash
Holes for Heroes-2012 will be our first year for this annual fundraiser. The San Diego Downtown Rotary Club created the successful model, in this their 10th year they raised $109,000 from the golf tournament. 75% of the proceeds are donated to International and the rest goes into their club foundation. Sign up now to be a donor or sponsor of this spring event. Wounded warriors are invited to play in each foursome.

New Member Projects: Jay Spencer suggested each new member adopt a fundraising project to participate in. Each week new members and red badgers man the Check in Desk so they can quickly get to know our members. It starts with a sincere smile and handshake, this effort is winning us a new member each week.

Finance Report: Tom Mahony reported our charitable goal for 2012 is $35,000. We currently have $70,000 in the bank. Our club does not charge dues. We are changing the name of our foundation to Irvine Rotary Foundation to match the new club name. Here’s how our club operates and where revenues are derived:

Rotary International Foundation-provides matching grants back to the district and club.
Club Operations –Dale Ford and his weekly fining pays for club expenses.
Irvine Rotary Foundation-is our charitable arm from where we donate money back to local and international projects.

Ed Hardenburg reported we have an accumulated cash balance in excess of $5700 which will be used to supplement sending the club president to International Rotary Conference: Lucy to Thailand in 2012, Don Kennedy to Lisbon in 2013.

Mark Brubaker added any extra money we raise is donated to new charitable opportunities to help individuals or organizations during the year.

Officers for the Irvine Rotary Foundation are:
President: Woody Jones
President Elect: Ray Sanford
Vice President: Kris Khurana
Secretary: Mary Mar
Treasurer: Tom Mahony
Club President: Mark Brubaker
Club International Rotary Foundation Chair: Ray Benedictus

Support for Boy Scouts

2011-11-30T12:20:00.000-08:00

Janet Wang and Mark Brubaker present a check for $500 to Scoutmaster Johansen to support the Boy Scouts.

New Member Jean Hobart

2011-11-30T12:17:00.000-08:00

Cisca Stillhorn and Rick Topping welcome Jean to the club. She’s a close friend of Cisca’s, a lawyer, post polio victim who spends 50 hours a week doing volunteer work.