Home Page | Rotary Club of Capitola-Aptos

Capitola-Aptos Rotary would love to meet you! Come to one of our meetings and see what we are about. Visit our Calendar (link in above menu!) to learn where our upcoming meetings & events are!

We are working towards a new format where our lunch meetings will be on the 1st & 3rd Thursday's (at noon, Seascape Golf Course in Aptos) and our dinner meetings will be on the 2nd & 4th Thursday's (Happy Hour at 4:45pm, Dinner served at 5:30pm and Meeting from 6-7pm, at Fairfield Inn & Suites By Marriott at 1255 41st Ave in Capitola).

**During this transition please check the calendar to confirm our meeting place, time and speaker, and to determine if an advance RSVP is Required!**

2023 Derby Party Photos Download Link

Posted by Kendra Cleary

LINK to download photos from the 2023 Derby Party Fundraiser!

https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/11ebmaxyfW3w0V7U3OrA4VrJC4lr1z8gR?usp=sharing

All photos were taken by our amazing photographer (and Rotarian!) Mardi Padilla of Marmi Photography!

https://www.marmiphotos.com/

And a HUGE Thank you to our event sponsors:

Costello Wealth Strategies:

http://www.costellowealthstrategies.com

Aptos Travel Clinic:

http://aptostravelclinic.com/

Penrose, Chun & Gorman Law Offices

https://www.pcg-llp.com/

Bay Federal Credit Union

https://www.bayfed.com/

Fast Eddy's Billiards

https://www.facebook.com/fasteddysbilliards/

1st Capital Bank:

https://www.1stcapital.bank/

Franklin Templeton Investments:

https://www.franklintempleton.com/

Our In-Kind considerations to make this event a success were provided by:

Specialized Helicopters

https://www.specializedheli.com/

Marmi Photography

https://www.marmiphotos.com/

Integrity Wines

https://www.integrity.wine/

And donations made that were used in our raffle and as contest prizes were donated by:

Revelry Coolers

Cantine Winepub

Trader Joe's Capitola

Thank you to everyone who came and supported this event, we cannot wait to see you next year for the Second Annual Capitola-Aptos Rotary Kentucky Derby Party Fundraiser on Saturday, May 4, 2024!

MARK YOUR CALENDARS NOW!

The Hub | May 25th, 2023

Posted by Ken Gorman

Our May 26 meeting was dinner at the Fairfield Inn in Capitola, our speaker was Supervisor Zach Friend and we had three of our seven scholarship recipients in attendance!

We had about 25 members in person, none on zoom, five guests and three of our scholarship recipients. We had to borrow chairs from the lounge and napkins from the restrooms. We had far too much macaroni salad, but that sweet potato casserole (AKA the Vegan tofu meal that everyone thought was for them, not just the vegan eaters!!) was a big hit and the chicken with optional barbecue sauce was delicious

Remember that there is no bar there so we are relying on members to bring wine! Several of us did but not enough-we ran out of wine too: that’s bordering on inexcusable, especially since there’s no corkage fee (unlike the notorious rule at one of our other venues).

Music was provided by an illustrious trio. Members could be forgiven for mistaking their voice for the Kingston Trio or the Three Tenors while their rock ‘n’ roll evoked memories of rock god trios like Cream or Emerson, Lake and Palmer. But it was our very own Al DeCamara, Sam Nigh and Rich McAdams, performing under the moniker of Under the Influence. Which might explain Al's exuberance as detective.

By now, most everyone knows of the tragic death of our dear Suzi Hamlin, killed by a drunk driver, crossing the road in Virginia in the middle of Rich and Suzi’s cross country vacation. Co-PE Pam flew back to help Rich. Rotarians have been sending him our heartfelt condolences. Despite the unimaginable grief and shock, Rich took the time to send thanks for our support and for the camaraderie and compassion of Rotary that has been shown to him.

Prior to the start of the meeting, Laura led us in observing a moment of silence in memory of Suzi and in support of Rich.

Two of our three new red badges were in attendance, Rich McAdams, and Lisa Harvey-Duren.

Our three scholarship recipients in attendance were Olivia Harris from Soquel HS and Samantha French and Jordi Martinez from Aptos HS.

Michele brought her friend Gayle Pitman, VP of Institutional Equity, Effectiveness and Success at Hartnell College.

Eric brought his friend David and David's daughter. The daughter is Samatha French, one of our Scholarship recipients.

Michele announced that Sip for Second Harvest is June 25 from 1-4 pm at Seascape Golf club.

Our next Membership Monday Happy Hour is at Cantine at 5:30 to 7:00 on June 5th.

The Hub | May 11th, 2023

Posted by Ken Gorman

Our second May meeting was at dinner at the Fairfield by Marriott in Capitola.
We had about 25 attendees in person and 3 on zoom. The catered food got good reviews. Several people remembered to bring wine and we could use
more next time.

We have tentatively admitted 3 new members, including Claire McAdams’ husband Rich, or as he is formally known, the Honorable Justice Richard McAdams. He was the youngest Superior Court Judge in California and served in Santa Cruz County for 30 years before being appointed to the court of appeals.

Our club now has 3 lawyers, a judge, and the son of one of the most prominent lawyers in the Bay Area. An unfortunate demographic?
The jury is still out (sorry).
Fortunately our 2 other new members are not in the legal profession. Jack Hunt is an ‘almost retired’ mechanical engineer. Lisa Harvey-Duren, wife of member Paul Duren, is a patient advocate and advisor for pharmaceutical companies.

Kendra ran the meeting with her usual exuberance.
Sam and Al were absent and the welcome song appeared lost until Kelly lead an impromptu a cappella version, and his signature baritone. Kelly had a lot of energy in this meeting, much like he had behind the bar at the Derby party.

The Inaugural Derby party raised over $5000. We had more than 50 attendees. It was a bit disappointing that only 13 of them were members. Everyone had a great time, good venue, pleasant, and as always, it was for a good cause. We hope to have much better club turnout next year.

Eric picked the winning horse, rumors that he can retire on that are unconfirmed.

The winner of the ladies hat contest was Michele‘s neighbor. And it cost $3000. Just saying

Co president in waiting Lowry discussed the survey that will be going to the members regarding meetings.

Kendra reminded everyone of Saturday’s car seat drive

In Dr. Art's absence Craig has a thought for the day : we should make our passwords “incorrect“. Makes great sense

Deposed president, Ken was the detective. There were a number of questions about Rotary History and unrelated historical events that occurred on May 11.

Kelly correctly answered: what actor starred in Casablanca, the big sleep , and the Maltese falcon? Humphrey Bogart

He also correctly answered: who married Lauren Bacall, won an Oscar for the African Queen, and died in 1957?
Also, Humphrey Bogart
The problem is that the question posed was: who was the first Rotarian to walk on the moon? Twice because it seemed he didn’t hear it the first time.

Our guest speaker was Sophia Shwierzke of Central Coast Community Energy.
She gave a PowerPoint on her company that purchases alternative energy from various sources in California and Arizona and sells it to PG&E customers for less than PG&E charges.
Their rates are about 18% less for residential customers

Rick asked why California energy prices were so much higher than other states. She did not know. Per the state of Nebraska, which has the cheapest energy in the country, California energy costs are more expensive than every state except Hawaii, Washington, about 80% above the national average.

Rick also asked if the high prices were because California is a one-party state.

Your author has been a California attorney for 35 years and has not seen the law limiting us to one party. Is that per year, per household? Does it apply to nonprofit corporations?
Without admitting anything, your author might be a serial offender – we have birthday parties, Mother’s Day, Father’s Day, parties, football parties, pool parties and I’d better stop there. I will ask the rest of the clubs legal brain-trust to make sure we are not running a-foul of the one party rule.

Laura pointed out to our guest speaker that actually some of the power sources on the map on her PowerPoint were in Arizona, and Nevada, not California. That type of tactful, cross examination, might warrant admission into the legal brain-trust.

The debunking of Kendra and Laura will be July 25 at the Watsonville yacht club, otherwise known as Michele Bassi’s residence. Start time will be 5–5 thirtyish. More details to follow.

5/17/23 || Last call for Car & Booster Seat drop off!

Posted on May 17, 2023

If you got our email address on Saturday to arrange a later porch drop off of booster & car seats, we need them by mid afternoon TODAY! Please get in touch with us right now if you were one of the people we were talking to!!

May 13th County Wide Car Seat Drive!

Posted by Kendra Cleary

The Hub || April 20th, 2023

Our April 20 meeting was at Seascape.
We had about 20 attendees in person and Sue, Becky and Nelson on Zoom

We had no musicians, so no opening songs.

Very nice to see Stan Abraham in person - that should happen more often

Dr Art gave the thought for the day: Righteous indignation is just jealousy with a halo!

Ken related a story from a client, upon visiting a clinic in a town in New Zealand, saw a plaque honoring Dr. Art Dover of Santa Cruz, California for stemming a local epidemic. Years later, Dr Art cured the same client of a parasitic infection that no other doctors had been able to diagnose, let alone!

We were graced with the presence of Paul's wife Lisa who is a new prospective member. Lisa is a pharmacy rep. She also attended our last Membership Monday at Cantine. Lisa impressed everyone and by consensus will be a great addition to the club.

Lowry brought a prospective member too-Jack Hunt, a retired engineer. Jack was also at the Membership Monday and has a fascinating background. He would also be a great member.

Kendra reminded everyone of the May 6 Kentucky Derby party. We were treated to suggestions for hats via from Kendra and Laura. It was hard not to believe we were not at Paris Fashion Week. Until Laura modeled the St. Patrick's Day hat.....

Remember to bring wine to tonight's meeting at Fairfield. To clarify- 2 bottles to donate to the Derby party-not to drink....

Win hosted the pickleball tournament for which Matt Weinstein was the successfull bidder at the Willy Roast and auction. Lowry and Laura rant the event. Matt, his wife Eileen, and six others attended. By all accounts it was a great success.

The Area 7 social is May 9 at Kaiser arena in downtown Santa Cruz- tickets are $5 at the door.

Laura and Nelson provided more information on District Governor Savita's Independence Through Hygienes project in India and Africa. Feminine hygiene products are generally unavailable to impoverished girls/young women who miss school during their cycle and eventually drop out, limiting their life choices. The club is making a $1,000 donation.

The Detective was Rich
He chose golf and SIRS as his topics- clearly catering to a select audience but geographically appropriate. We learned that SIRS stands for something generic like Seniors in Retirement but that other than playing golf they serve no function, so that's 2 strikes. Rich, Doug, Lowry and Stan are members

Our guest speaker was veterinarian Marianne Burtch the founder of Birchbark Foundation. Birchbark is a non-profit corporation that provides donated/discounted vet services for people and families who can't afford expensive procedures for pets when the pets are important to their owner's health and peace of mind.

The Foundation arranges 24-hour hospital services for domestic animals with the goal of providing the necessary treatment to reunite the pets with their loved ones. They work with veterinarians in the community to give discounts for their services and Birchbark pays 50% of the remaining bill. They have frank discussions with pet owners to make sure there is a good prognosis for the pets or, if not, the need for euthanasia. Birchbark also provides grief support and educational webinars on pet care, emergency preparedness and preventable conditions. One of the biggest conditions they face is urinary tract infections in un-spayed females.

Dr. Burtch noted the increased emotional reliance on pets during the severe parts of the Covid epidemic and how important the human-pet bond is. She also said what we pet-lovers know- our pets provide unconditional love and are not judgmental.

Birchbark saved its first pet in 2013. That animal lived another ten years-just recently passing away. The Foundation subsidizes emergency services for several pets every week, 32 so far this year.

Dr. Burtch showed a touching video about Birchbark's services. We had some audio problems but the visuals alone were moving. To see it with sound, click here.
BTW- Dr. Burtch is also a Stanford grad...

See everyone at Fairfield TONIGHT, not today. $20 fine for anyone caught going to the wrong place and/or the wrong time.

Buy your Derby Party tickets!!

May 6th Kentucky Derby Party Ticket Link

Posted by Kendra Cleary

Get your tickets TODAY via Eventbrite!

https://www.eventbrite.com/e/kentucky-derby-party-hosted-by-capitola-aptos-rotary-tickets-595423075447

May 6th Kentucky Derby Sponsorship Opportunity

There are still sponsorships available, contact kcleary.rotary@gmail.com for more details or to confirm your interest!

We want to thank our Sponsors who have already committed to this event!

The Hub || April 13th, 2023

Posted by Ken Gorman

Fellow Cap-Ap Rotarians:

Our April 13 lunch meeting was at the Fairfield Inn.
Those of you who haven't been yet should check it out to see how you think it compares with other venues.
It's on 41st Ave, about 1/2 mile past the Capitola Mall. We have a large, well- lit dedicated room, functioning wifi and cell service. But no bar...
The a/c functions well, a bit too well at one point as the board meeting turned glacial for a few minutes. But that was resolved.

Lunch was deli sandwiches catered by Garden Deli.

Co-Pres Kendra ran the meeting.

We had about 20 members and a few on zoom including Secretary Nelson, Mardi and Doug D.

Dr. Art provided the thought and joke of the day: It is risky to speak to the press they might report it

Al did the welcome song a la Herbie Hancock on his portable keyboard.
Konstantin chimed in on glass percussion.

Announcements:
Please bring two bottles of wine (~ $20 each value) to Kendra this meeting as we will be using them at Kentucky Derby Fundraiser as game prizes.
Please use the Eventbrite Link to purchase your Derby party tickets today! There are quarter page fliers that Kendra can print and get you to hand out to your friends and neighbors and dog walker! Invite your kids and their friends, literally everyone you KNOW!

Derby Party Sponsorships: $500 sponsorship gets you Public Recognition including your logo on event materials, being mentioned at the event, your logo being used on all our social media channels (fb, IG, TikTok, Twitter and YouTube) along with on our club website. Please contact CPOM Kendra at kcleary.rotary@gmail.com to sign up.

Huge Thanks to our current Derby sponsors:
Costello Wealth Strategies
Penrose, Chun & Gorman
Aptos Travel Medicine
1st Capital Bank

The Hub || April 6th, 2023

Posted by Ken Gorman

Our April 6 meeting was at the Seascape Golf Clubhouse

We had 23 attendees in person and 2 on zoom- Becky and Sue

Co-President Kendra presided

Dr Art gave the thought for the day: It talking was more important than listening we would have 2 mouths and 1 ear

Visiting Rotarians were
Dave Culver and Tom McCullough from Sunrise

We also had a neophyte potential Rotarian- recently retired Jack Hunt

Al led us in the Welcome song
And made references to his Portuguese heritage

Pam and Mardi managed to be the only women sitting at tables with 6 men
Where are our women members????

Becky celebrated her 40th wedding anniversary- of course she looks like she must have been a teenage bride- her husband has lived a charmed life
Rich is going on a months- long road trip circling the US with his dog- we expect many Rotary flags

The Hub March 22nd, 2023 || UCSC Field Trip for ‘22-‘23 Piatt Scholar, Kevin Weatherwax

Our 3/22 meeting was a field trip to UCSC to celebrate the award of the Piatt Scholarship and honor Kevin Weatherwax, this year's recipient in the Baskin Engineering Building lab/office where he and his colleagues work.

Our Rotary crew pictured with Kevin, Dean Biehl, Almut, Kevin's Mentor Kate Ringland, and the other UCSC Foundation staff

We had about 22 club attendees in person Sue on Zoom and about 8 folks from UCSC.
We were hosted by Graduate School Dean Dr. Peter Biehl and Almut Wulf (who both visited us last year for the presentation) and Advising Professor Kate Ringland.
One of our guides/chaperones/bouncers (needed as Al was in attendance today) was Alexandria Leckliter who was in RotarAct and, as importantly, her dad was a gymnastics coach.

Special memories for Trish who is a UCSC alum.

Parking was like Scouts on a scavenger hunt though we were eventually directed to the Core 4 parking garage where Almut had reserved spots for us. Found out the hard way that the parking lots identified on the on-line maps as "no-permit required" are only "no-permit required" after 4pm....

Once we navigated our way (or were rescued) we were led to the lab where Kevin and some of the other students who work in his department gave summaries of their projects aimed at assisting neurodivergent people. They call their workplace "the Misfit Lab." It was clear from just the brief statements the younger students gave that they were brilliant but they managed to translate the techno-lingo so we could understand it.

Perhaps the most discussed subject was the 2 foot high robot in the room who looks like a non-flying version of EVA from Wall-e. We were also continually scanned and colorized images of us projected onto a screen as part of the team's ongoing studies of human movement that is being used to help robots interact with humans in public. We were assured that our DNA was not being replicated for insertion into our roboticized replacement clones.

There was a keyboard for Al and Sam brought his ukelele and led us in the Welcome Song and the 4 Way test song. The UCSC folks all said they loved the music. They were not just being polite.

Kentucky Derby Party || BUY YOUR TICKETS NOW!

Posted by Kendra Cleary

March 2023 Storms & Flooding Response || Rotary in Action

Posted on Mar 24, 2023

CPOM Kendra here: “I want to make it abundantly clear we are not writing this page and it's contents to merely toot our own horn. We do want to acknowledge the Rotarians in our club who heard the call for help & showed up to do the work that was needed by our neighbors and community.

But also The Capitola-Aptos Rotary Club's Board of Directors feels that transparency in what we do in our community, both during the good times and the bad is necessary.

Since the community at large donates to our efforts (both via direct donations for specific projects and with support of our fundraising events like the Beer Booth and Pickleball Tournament) for the work we do in "Y/OUR Community" we want to be very clear on the activities we do and support, both monetarily and via our physical labor/boots on the ground approach.”

Special Storm Cleanup Edition of The Hub

March 2023

Date: Sunday, March 12, 2023

Location: Watsonville Fairgrounds Shelter

Once we heard about the Pajaro Levee Break Co-Presidents Laura & Kendra headed out to the Fairgrounds to see if they had any immediate needs. A list of items they needed was going around, but from our club's experience in the '89 earthquake there was such an immediate response that the needs were changing by the hour. So we headed out to meet the Shelter Coordinator on site and see what they needed that we could look them in the eye and say "we'll be right back with XYZ." We met the On-Site Shelter Coordinator who was fantastic, they needed new Blankets, towels and washcloths, and men's & women's underwear. But they could not accept the items until tomorrow as they didn't have the room to store anything since it was a Sunday late afternoon. They had volunteers coming first thing Monday to sort through and organize all the donations. Armed with a donated 20% off Kohl's Coupon and $7 in Kohl's Cash, we headed to Kohl's and Ross to see what we could get.

We spent $460 and got 9 blankets, 12 bath towels, 12 washcloths, 11 packages of men's underwear, 8 packages of women's underwear, and $30 in Kohl's Cash which was used later in the week to buy 12 pairs of Under Armor Compression Crew Socks.

Unfortunately by late Monday Morning the Fairgrounds had sorted and had no more room to accept anything.

Date: Monday, March 13, 2023

Location: Cabrillo College Shelter

So on Monday Lunchtime as soon as we heard that the Cabrillo College Shelter would be opening at 5pm we decided to head down with our purchased items and see if that was what they needed.

Pictured on this table are the men's and women's underwear we had purchased the day prior!

We met the On-Site Coordinators, Georgina and Jessika, and they needed the blankets and towels and underwear! We gave them our phone numbers and said we had a budget to fill any immediate needs and to not hesitate to call us if there was something that came up that was needed.

Date: Tuesday, March 14, 2023

Location: Coral St. Clinic & Cabrillo College Shelter

On Tuesday Afternoon we heard from Georgina, they needed someone to transport a few evacuated houseless people (who had lived on the San Lorenzo Levee are that was flooded) from the Coral St. Clinic to the Cabrillo Shelter in a van.

Since we did not have a van, and we needed a van since some of our riders had mobility issues and they all had all their possessions with them, the club rented a minivan from Enterprise (Shout out to Enterprise on Ocean who gave us a 10% discount on the rental!) and we did three round trips to transport people to the Cabrillo Shelter.

After our last transport, we talked to the On-Site Coordinator of the day (they are assigned in 12 hour shifts) and they had a family arrive from Pajaro---we had seen them walk in as we walked in some of the people we had brought from Coral St.

Laura (L) walking in one of our transportee's, Andrew (middle), along with a Twin Lakes Soup Kitchen Volunteer (R) we met at the Shelter.

The family had toddlers in diapers but there were not diapers in the sizes they needed at the Cabrillo Shelter--only newborn size diapers. So a translator and Co-Pres Laura headed over to see if there was anything else they needed since we were going to get diapers and to confirm the diaper size they needed. They explained they left so quickly the father only had the clothes he was wearing and asked if we knew of any clothes he could get. And they needed Size 5 & 6 Diapers.

So off to Costco we went and we got Sizes 4, 5 & 6 diapers (since we didn't see size 4 in the shelter inventory). We also got two boxes of wipes.

We got 1800 wipes and 798 diapers in three sizes!

On our way back to Cabrillo with the diapers and wipes we called two of our members who were about the same size as the Pajaro father, and asked if they had any clothes in good condition they could donate. They did and we want to shout out to IPP Ken and Rotarian Sam who stepped up and provided bags of clothes for this gentleman.

Date: Wednesday, March 15, 2023

Location: Second Harvest Food Bank

On the way to our Second Harvest Food Bank food sorting shift Co-Pres Kendra dropped off some of the donated clothes from IPP Ken, and checked in with the shelter's immediate needs.

Then four of our club's Rotarians, CPOM Kendra, Eric, Co-PE Lowry and Nelson, arrived at Second Harvest Food Bank for a volunteer food sorting shift.

They boxed 4,000 lbs. of Oranges, and 8,000 lbs. (which was 208 cartons) of Grapefruits!

The Rotary crew's pre-shift photo!

Lowry and Eric with the big barrel of oranges we were filling the boxes from.

Nelson with the Oranges Box!

Nelson and Lowry.

Eric stacking Orange filled boxes!

Nelson filling bags of Grapefruits.

Lowry filling the bags with Grapefruits.

Our little crew at the end of our shift!

#RotariansInAction #RotariansAtWork

As usual Dr. Art did his weekly volunteer shift at Pajaro Valley Loaves & Fishes, and CPOM Kendra had a discussion with Executive Director Ashley about the needs their organization will have in the coming months, as they serve the displaced migrant community during this tragedy. They are preparing for the next few months as it will be a time of grave food insecurity among the evacuated & displaced population because the crops that they should be harvesting and getting paid for their work to do, they will not be (due to the flooded fields), so in addition to losing their homes and belongings, the steady work they count on will also not be there in the quantity it usually is.

The cleanup from this set of storms and the levee break will take months if not years to fix the reverberations throughout the community. This is project will not be a sprint; it will be a marathon. And we Rotary Clubs are working together and have committed to being HERE and doing our part long after everyone else’s initial surge of help and attention is long gone.

Capitola-Aptos Rotary is supporting Pajaro Valley Loaves & Fishes both with volunteer time and with funding, and we encourage you to do so also.

https://www.pvloavesandfishes.org/

Additionally our club has set aside at minimum of $4000 to go directly to Storm & Flood Disaster Relief, our only contingent on the money is that our club has to be involved in a project, we will not just be making a blind donation to another group in our area who is collecting money. We are requiring what we call "boots on the ground" involvement by some of our Rotarians. If you would like to add to our storm and flooding disaster relief funds, we will add them to our money and spend them the same way we are spending our own money, you can donate via PayPal or Venmo.

(I want to mention that we are a PayPal Certified Charity, which assures you of our integrity and also significantly reduces any transaction fee's that are usually associated with giving funds electronically.)

Save The Date! Car Seat Drive || Spring 2023

Posted by Kendra Cleary on Mar 18, 2023

To learn more about our Car Seat Drives, visit this link where we wrote about our December 2022 plan!

https://capitolaaptosrotary.org/Stories/rotary-car-seat-(-booster-seat)-drive!-dec-10th-11th

And visit our Facebook Photos to see the pictures from our event!

The Hub March 2nd, 2023

Posted by Ken Gorman

Fellow Rotarians:

Our March 3 meeting was held via zoom only because of covid concerns.
Turnout was small- 15 stalwart members, no guests.
The meeting was also short because we had no guest speaker.

Co-Prez Kendra was flush with excitement at her joke of the day:
Why were lawyers created?
So that toilet plungers would have something to look down on.

Laura reminded us that International Women's Day is 3/19. Please sign up to carpool to the Rotary International event in San Jose.
Last year there were 120 attendees, about 1/3 were non-Rotarians.

The Hub || First Rotary Dinner Meeting! || February 23rd, 2023

Posted by Ken Gorman

Dear Rotarians,

Our February 23 meeting was at the beautiful Episcopal Church of St. John in Seacliff. Thanks to Win and Nelson for making the arrangements.

25 members and a few guests attended.

Food was brought in by Rotary Owned Catering business Busy Bee's Cafe & Catering and served buffet via buffet- as was a generous assortment of wine. No corkage fee.
No jokes about changing water into it please.

Busy Bee's Chef Ty pictured with Co Prez Kendra, and the lovely buffet we were served! Feb 23rd's menu was Meat Loaf, Mashed Potatoes, Green Bean Salad and those amazing rolls we have all come to adore!!

The Hub February 16th, 2023 || Rep. Panetta Visit

Posted by Ken Gorman

Members:

Apologies for the late Hubs- emergency motions filed by opposing counsel in 2 cases and a sick wife and paralegal (2 different women but equal goddesses) have impeded progress. All are well and justice prevailed.

Rep. Jimmy Panetta pictured with Club Co-Presidents Kendra Cleary & Laura Grinder

Our February 16, 2023 lunch meeting was at Seascape. We had 31 members and guests attend. We were in the little room due to Seascape Construction. Our Speaker was our Congressman Jimmy Panetta, who absolutely noticed and commented on the smallness of the room we were in. No luck convincing him that our group size had increased and fill the room better!!

Curious about Capitola-Aptos Rotary?

Hello! 👋🏼

Did you see our (winning!) exhibit at the Santa Cruz Co. Fair Holiday Lights? Or maybe our sign in Aptos, & that's why you are visiting our website? Well, WELCOME!!!

We are Capitola-Aptos Rotary!

We are a non profit organization of like minded community leaders who want to have fellowship and be of service.

Our club was chartered in 1965 as the Rotary of Mid County, and we became Rotary of Capitola-Aptos in the 1980's. We are part of Rotary International's District 5170 (https://rotarydistrict5170.org/), Area 7 (which is all seven of the Santa Cruz County Rotary Clubs!).

The programs that we are most proud of are as follows:

1. Community Grants

The open application period is usually in Fall and local non-profits complete an application telling us about their organization and what they would be doing with the money if they are chosen.

On Dec. 8, 2022 we gave out our most recent year's Community Grants. We gave out over $18,000 to this year's twelve non-profit recipients! The 2022 focus that our club board & grant committee identified as top priority were food insecurity, mental health, children's issues and protection for parents & children (domestic violence).

In 2022 our Grant Recipient organizations were:

For Kids Foundation Monterey Bay https://www.forkidsfoundationmontereybay.org/
Grey Bears  https://greybears.org/
Monarch Services https://www.monarchscc.org/
Pajaro Valley Loaves and Fishes  https://www.pvloavesandfishes.org/
Safe Schools Project  https://safeschoolsproject.org/
Santa Cruz Symphony  https://santacruzsymphony.org/classical-music-classrooms
Veterans Memorial Building:  https://www.veteranshall.org/revised-home-page/
Volunteer Center, Literacy Project:  https://scvolunteercenter.org/programs/literacy-program/
Siena House  https://www.sienahouse.org/what-we-do
Teen Kitchen Project  https://teenkitchenproject.org/about-us/
Walnut Avenue Center http://www.wafwc.org/whoweare
Your Future Is Our Business  https://yfiob.org/about-us/
Meals on Wheels of Santa Cruz County https://communitybridges.org/mealsonwheels/

To support our Community Grants Program, our members pay annual and quarterly dues, weekly meeting fees, and this is in addition to any annual donations our members make. We also hold a few events annually that raise more money to fund Grants. 💸💰💸

🍻🎆 4th of July Beer Booth: 🎇🍻 After the Aptos World's Shortest Parade we sell beer & hard seltzers in the Aptos Village Party in the Park. So every time you see us after the 4th of July parade buy an extra beer & leave a tip, since all the funds we raise support your local community!

🍽️🎤Annual Dinner & Roast:🍽️🎤 in the late fall we hold a gala where a local community member is roasted at a gourmet plated dinner.

🏓🎾 Pickleball Tournament:🎾🏓 2022 was our inaugural pickleball tournament and the event went so well we'll be holding our 2nd annual Pickleball in the Park Tournament in September 2023.

🐎🌹Kentucky Derby Party: 🌹🐎 In 2023 we'll be holding our inaugural Kentucky Derby Party! Stay tuned for more details but put May 6, 2023 on your calendar!

For the 2023 Derby event tickets are NOW on sale! Buy your ticket here: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/595423075447

We have also fundraised and funded some very special large projects over the last decade alone!

2. High School Scholarships

We give about $6000 annually to students who are graduating from Aptos & Soquel High Schools. To receive these scholarships students apply & write an essay, then once they are chosen they must come visit one of our club meetings to meet us & tell us about themselves & their plans! They also must provide proof of enrollment & grades to Treasurer Julie for a check to be cut, which goes directly to their institution of higher education.

We also have a special scholarship called the John Fisher Scholarship---in honor of Past District Governor, RotaCare Bay Area Founder and our dear Rotarian Emeritus, John Fisher (1922-2020).

John is in the center, seated, in the blue blazer. Here he is pictured with fellow Rotarians at his 95th birthday celebration in 2017.

A little about our dear John:

John was active in Rotary for over 60 years, achieving perfect attendance for decades! John served as Club President in Cupertino (1966-67) and again for the Capitola/Aptos Club (1981-82). In 1988-89 he was named as District Governor of 5170. John was a founding member of the RotaCare Free Clinics, providing no-cost medical treatment to the uninsured and working poor in the Bay Area, including Santa Cruz. RotaCare was a vision John brought to reality. John served as an active member of the RotaCare Bay Area Board of Directors from its inception. In 2019 he was honored with the RotaCare Lifetime Volunteer Award for his 30 years of service.
In 2000, John was a recipient of the KSBW distinguished Jefferson Award presented to those who have exhibited outstanding service to their community as a volunteer. He traveled to Washington, D.C. to receive this award in the chambers of the U.S. Supreme Court.

We established the John Fisher Scholarship after John's passing and locally graduating high school students from Aptos & Soquel High Schools who are going to be attending Cabrillo College.

3. Piatt (pronounced Pie-IT) Endowment at UCSC

Capitola-Aptos Rotarian Henry Piatt and his wife Vera were children of Mid-America. Vera was born in Iowa in 1907 and Henry, in Missouri. In the late 1920's Henry was traveling the world with the U.S. Navy when he was stricken with Tuberculosis and
hospitalized for treatment in a CO military facility. Vera was a nurse in that hospital. They fell in love, Vera resigned her commission and after Henry's recovery began their lifelong marriage, which brought them to Sacramento.
Henry's business relationships led him to his first Rotary Club where he thrived in the "Service Above Self" philosophy. After relocating to Aptos, he became a member of The Rotary Club of Soquel in 1965, and remained a member until his death in 1984. His personable soft-spoken manner combined with vision & common sense made him a popular Rotarian and accounted for his long service as Club Secretary where he guided many Club Presidents during the 70's & 80's. Henry's vision of a Club Foundation to extend its capabilities to serve the community came to fruition, and in 1986 Vera established the Piatt Trust, which culminated in the Graduate Fellowship as it exists today. Vera passed on in 2007.

When asked why a graduate fellowship? Henry replied "I want to fund our community's best and brightest!"

Henry and Vera Piatt Fellowship is for Graduate Studies in the STEM Disciplines. The Piatt Fellowship provides a single award annually of $15,000 to a graduate of a Santa Cruz County Public High School who is pursuing a graduate degree at UC Santa Cruz in one of the science, technology, engineering or mathematics (STEM) disciplines during the academic year following their application. 🧬🔬🧫🧪🔭

The Henry and Vera Piatt Fellows are:

Kevin Weatherwax, Ringland Lab (2022-2023)

Megan Durham, Brooks Lab (2021-2022)

John Wenger, Johnstone Lab (2020-2021)

Veronica Urabe (2019-2020)

Alexey Munishkin (2018-2019)

Chad Townsend (2017-2018)

Keelan Guiley, Rubin Lab (2016-2017)

Christopher Deming, Chen Lab (2015-2016)

Kenji Kurita, Linington Lab (2014-2015)

Susanna "Susy" Honig (2013-2014)

4. Adopt-A-Beach and Quarterly Beach Cleanups: Rio Del Mar State Beach 🚮🚭🪣🚯♻️

We partnered with Save Our Shores (SOS) and have adopted Rio Del Mar State Beach in Aptos! Prior to the storm of January 2023 we even had a sign!

Adopting a beach means we do quarterly beach clean ups at our designated location.

What is a Rotary Meeting?

Want to know what to expect?!

The Hub February 2nd, 2023

Posted by Ken Gorman

Our 2/2/23 lunch meeting was at the Fairfield Inn on 41^st Ave. in Capitola-a few hundred yards West of the Capitola Mall.

Informal poll shows the attendees generally liked the room. Busy Bee's catered the meal. Michele the co-owner is a member of Santa Cruz Rotary and also catered deposed-President Ken’s debunking, informal food reviews were also mostly positive and Michelle came by at the end of our meeting to introduce herself and thank us for the business! The owner of the Fairfield Inn is a fan of Rotary--believes in and supports our mission and seems eager to accommodate us--a marked change from indifference/annoyance.
The board is soliciting further input on the location, venue amenities, parking, food, attitude….
Nelson sent out a schedule of the next several meetings- make sure to read it and to NOT show up someplace where you are the only attendee.
And please RSVP!

The Hub January 26th, 2023

Posted by Ken Gorman

Our January 26, 2023 lunch was at Seascape. Remember, our February 2 lunch is at the Fairfield Inn on 41st Ave. in Capitola. Do not go to Seascape at noon unless you want to avoid all of us AND get a $20 fine.

We had 18 attendees in person and 4 on zoom.

Kendra ran the meeting with her usual charisma and organization- impeded only by a new microphone system that randomly disconnected and announced the disconnection in a Lauren Bacall-esque sultry near-whisper that seems more appropriate for pay for view R rated movies than the wholesomeness of our meetings.

Kendra's announcement: PLEASE respond to her emailed RSVPs

Dr Art's thought for the day: Don’t argue with a fool in public because people might confuse the two of you. (Has he been to court lately?)

January 2023 Storm Cleanup || Rotary In Action

Posted by Ken Gorman

But also The Capitola-Aptos Rotary Club's Board of Directors feels that transparency in what we do in our community, both during the good times and the bad is necessary.

Special Storm Cleanup Edition of The Hub

January 26, 2023

Date: Saturday, January 21, 2023

Location: Aptos Hills and Soquel Village

CPOM Kendra did a fabulous job organizing teams for our volunteer cleanup work. Unfortunately she out-organized the volunteer center which waited until late Friday-early Saturday to assign us and instead of cleaning up the beach or a creek 7 of us ended up at a private residence in the Aptos Hills owned by a 66 year old woman. Her driveway was flooded by a seasonal stream that dumped tons of mud and debris and moved her large wood she about 50 feet off its foundation. The driveway was passable and the rest of the work required a bulldozer, not shovels and wheelbarrows, but the stalwart Rotarians moved mud and debris to widen the path for an hour or so and achieved as much as we could by hand. Kendra has some before and after photos. Some irony in that the owner asked for assistance in part because of her age and Kendra was the only one of us who doesn't have an AARP card.

Our second job of the day that The Volunteer Center assigned to us was in Soquel, near the Soquel Creek and homes on Soquel Wharf Road that were flooded/mudded out.

Kendra, Eric and Bert volunteered shoveling out mud from the residences. The more mud we shoveled the more mud appeared!

Date: Sunday, January 22, 2023

Location: Capitola Village

Sunday our small but mighty group of 5 club members joined a swarm of volunteers to clean up Capitola Village and move mountains of washed ashore trees, limbs, fence posts, decking, and in general storm debris. The volunteer descended upon the chaos like an army of ants among huge amounts of interlinked pick up sticks. We filled a humorous "green organic" dumpster to the top. While this was a great accomplishment, looking at the beach there is still lots to be done. Watch for more information about the ongoing efforts that are needed and our opportunities to help.

The Volunteering Storm Clean Up Team are real Troopers! Everyone was very busy working this weekend. Thanks to all our Rotarians who gathered together to help the community, Kendra, Ken, Eric, Laura, Dr Art and Grandson Noah, Lowry, Kelly, Becky, Becky's Husband Ed, Julie, Nelson, Paul and Rotarian Bert, you guys rock!

CPOM Kendra again:
“At the January Board Meeting club our club has pledged $4000 to go directly to our Emergency Storm Fund, but one thing we have learned from living through the ‘89 quake and the‘95 Levee breach and the ‘98 El Niño, is that cleanup will be a marathon not a sprint.
The only stipulation the board put on the committed funds is that it needs to be spent on or in conjunction with a project where we Rotarians are “boots on the ground” involved, we will not just be cutting a check to another organization and hoping they use the funds for storm response.”

March 2023 Edit:

If you like the work we are doing on the ground here in Santa Cruz County and want to support us by adding to our Storm Fund, you can donate via PayPal at this link:

https://www.paypal.com/donate/?hosted_button_id=EWX6GUJPCMMFA

or via Venmo or PayPal through this QR code. (On Venmo please put with the payment that you want the money added to our Storm or Flood Relief fund.)

The Hub January 19th, 2023

Posted by Ken Gorman

Our January 19, 2023 lunch meeting was at Seascape. The auspiciousness of the occasion was accented by a flyover by 3 Osprey heli-planes followed by a helicopter gunship and Marine One. They all would have joined us for lunch but we would have gone over our 25 person lunch allotment.

We had about 20 attendees in person plus 4 on zoom.

Dave was there in person- nice to see him again in person especially with his charming granddaughter-guest Ashleigh. Also nice to have Trish back and Jimmy K made it too. Good to have the full contingent of club lawyers.

Al did a very hip welcome song on his keyboard a la Herbie Hancock. Rumor is that Sam is working on a Hendrix-styled rendition of the 4 Way Test song. Think Purple Haze/Rotary.

Co-President Kendra ran the meeting and had a few announcements. Secret one- the reconnaissance team for an alternate venue was very pleased with the Fairfield Inn on 41st Ave.- working on a test run there soon. Watch this space and your e-mail inbox.

Kendra also relayed that we had over- volunteered for storm-related cleanup. The City of Capitola couldn't handle all of us, State Parks said they would only allow Rangers to help. So Kendra gave her contact info to the Volunteer Center and told us to stand by. More on that adventure below.

Thought of the day Dr Art: mask up and join for cleanup.

Dr Art was also the Detective. He asked several of the members to tell us how the storms had changed their lives. Most of us reported nearly no effects, but Co-prez Laura had enough happen to make up for that: long power outages, trees down, road blocked and a tornado (Auntie Em!! Are we in Kansas?)

Trish told about all the damage she saw at the beach.

Our guest speaker was Kent Benedict MD, a friend of Dr. Art's. He gave a talk and power point (slide show of the 21st century) on a 37 day pilgrimage hike that he and his wife Paula took over the Pyrenees in Southern France into Spain and over the Galicios Camino de Santiago and eventually to the Spanish Coast.

The Hub January 5th, 2023

Posted by Ken Gorman

Our 2023 Inaugural lunch meeting was 1/5/23 at Seascape.

15 intrepid members braved wind and rain to attend in person and 13 of them braved the lunch (kidding?)

4 members attended by zoom. The rest of y'all best have notes from PG&E that you were without power or equally convincing excuses for not at least zooming lest 'ye be fined (Assuming a Sgt at Arms attends)...(your reporter had a deposition all day 1/12/23 and you don't want to know).

Konstantin attended in full storm regalia which even matched- a tribute to his European stylishness.

Sam led us in the Welcome Song and 4 Way test song.

Mardi zoomed us a presentation about the Christmas gifts to the Watsonville Nursing Center- it was touching to hear and see how grateful the seniors were and how much small things meant to them.
Mardi also presented a rousing montage of photos of Capitola Aptos Rotary's Greatest Hits of 2022 Video here

None of the Red Badgers, which will not excuse them from fines nor giving their requisite autobiographies.

But as an additional affront, since they all whimped out in their debut we had no program. Co-President Kendra filled the time nicely. We won First Place in the Community Groups Division for our Christmas Lights exhibit at the County Fair!!! Congrats to all who planned, set-up, maintained and took down! Video here.

The car seat drive organized by our club and Area 7 Presidents in conjunction with Baja Bridges had 30 seats and 6 bases collected from our drop off sites, and the local Rotary total was 80 seats, eight additional bases and one stroller. There will be another round of donations in the Spring. ( No, past-prez Ken does not need a booster seat for our lunches.....) More pictures here.

Speech Contest 2023 launched today!

Posted by Lowry Fenton

[[For Immediate Release: Dec. 1, 2022]]

Capitola-Aptos Rotary Club's Youth Speech Contest to be held March 9th, 2023

LOCATION: Parish Hall of The Episcopal Church of St. John's

(125 Canterbury Dr. Aptos, CA 95003)

Happy Hour starts at 4:45pm

Dinner Served at 5pm

Speeches start at 5:15pm, Program concludes at 7pm.

RSVP for a dinner ticket to the event is required (this is so we have enough food!)

RSVP to kcleary.rotary(at)gmail.com by Sunday Evening, March 5, 2023.

Busy Bee's Catering will be doing our meal. The menu is Chicken Cacciatore, Polenta, Vegetable and those Rolls we all love! Meal ticket is $35/pp. See PayPal link below to pay in advance.

Richard D. King Speech Competition Theme:

Imagine Rotary - the future of a global network of 1.4 million neighbors, friends, leaders, and problem-solvers who see a world where people unite and take action to create lasting change – across the globe, in our communities, and in ourselves.

Imagine Rotary Info:

Video

Rotary International President Jennifer Jones wants members to imagine the possibilities in the change they can make to transform the world.

https://www.rotary.org/en/jennifer-jones-imagines-rotary-fulfilling-big-dreams

Form to Apply:

Speech Contest 2023 Application Form

Last day to submit participant applications is February 17th, 2023

Rotary Capitola Aptos Club, gives $25 award to all students making a speech after they enter.

Rotary Car Seat (& Booster Seat) Drive! Dec 10th & 11th

Posted by Kendra Cleary

Do you have a car seat sitting in your shed or garage that is unused (and perhaps expired too) and you find it collecting dust year after year?!

Well Rotary has the solution! The Rotary District 5170 Area 7 Clubs (which are the clubs of Santa Cruz County) are doing a car seat drive this weekend (12/10 & 12/11)!

We are partnering with Baja Bridges to get the car seats down to---and distributed among---areas of Baja (Mulegé and Santa Rosalia during this drive) where the mortality rate of children in automobile accidents is high.

Local fire houses in Baja are rolling out safety programs educating about the importance of car seats and booster seats (similar education programs to those done in the US in the 1970's and 1980's). Now that there is interest, the next problem being experienced is there aren't car seats available for the fire personnel to give out. Fire personnel are asking for more car seats to be brought down for them to distribute among their communities. That's where we come in!

Attached is information with four of our drop off locations.

We cannot wait to see you and accept your cleaned/all parts included and working car seats next weekend, December 10th & 11th!

Kendra Cleary

Co-President

Co-President

Co-President Elect

Co-President Elect

Immediate Past President

Treasurer

Secretary

Membership

The Rotary Foundation

Service Projects

Public Image Chair

Webmaster

Youth Services Chair

Club Foundation Chair

Al De Camara

Director/Membership Chair

Michele Bassi

Sergeant-at-Arms

Graham Stokes

Piatt Fellowship

Our Minute Book

The Piatt Graduate Fellowship

The Hub

Mailing Address

About Our Club

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Regular Club Board Meeting
Seascape Golf Course

Jun 15, 2023
10:45 AM – 11:45 AM
Beer Booth at 4th of July Party in the Park
Aptos Village Park

Jul 04, 2023
11:00 AM – 5:00 PM
Debunking of Co-Presidents Laura & Kendra
133 Cutter Drive

Jul 25, 2023
5:00 PM – 7:00 PM
Club Foundation Board Meeting
Jul 27, 2023 10:45 AM

May 2022 Pickleball in the Park

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Hybrid Meetings:

In order to keep everyone safe in this post-pandemic world, we are having hybrid meetings for all our regular Rotary club meetings, we meet at either noon or 6pm, check the calendar to determine if it's a Lunch or Dinner Meeting!

Join us in person at: ((Check the Club Calendar for location!!))

Join our Zoom Meeting HERE:

https://us06web.zoom.us/j/84395907131?pwd=RzcvMmk0NERnVXovVlVmU2ZwKzlqZz09

Meeting ID: 843 9590 7131
Passcode: 5170

(Exception: We do NOT usually Zoom from our scheduled Field Trips, as it's too difficult to set up the webcam, microphones, etc. as we are touring a facility!)