The Venice Marina Rotary Club meets each Thursday at 12:15PM, at

Shanghai Red’s Restaurant, Marina Del Rey, CA, except in the case of special

meetings. If there are any questions or comments, call 310 995 1228.

Rotarians are asked to send all and any changes, modifications and additions

to their addresses, telephone numbers and email information to 310 745 3502.

The meeting was opened with a prayer by Howard Pollack, the Pledge by

Jeffrey Solomon and a song led by Dr. Vince Scott. Thanks to each of these

Rotarians. Adiba Shaby brought raffle prizes. President Maxwell brought

the raffle prizes for last week’s winners.

Guests attending were Bill Roscoe from Culver City Club and special guest

Peter Aprato. Rotarians, please take the time to meet and greet Peter. Peter,

the COO at Daniel Freemen Marina Hospital, has requested to be a member

of our Rotary Club.

The District meeting is this coming Tuesday, June 29, at 7:15AM at the LAX

Marriott. We have six Rotarians going as of now. If anyone else wants to go,

just let us know. The price is $25 which includes breakfast and parking. The

speaker is a Chancellor from UCLA who is speaking on Leadership in the

Community..The District Literacy Meeting is Friday July 15, 2003 at Lawry’s Restaurant

in Beverly Hills. David, Giselle and Adiba are attending as of now. More are

welcome.

President Maxwell is attending the District’s President’s Dinner tonight in

Santa Monica, the host Club for this first quarterly event.

In August, the President will work with Tim and others on the Club website.

Anyone, who wants to help, please contact David Maxwell.

The meeting on July 31 will have as speaker, Peter Dunn, California

Community Foundation. The August 7 meeting is a lunch at and tour of the

Daniel Freemen Marina Hospital. We will be dark at noon on August 14 –

led by the vivacious Carol Williamson. Sounds like FUN.

Brags were varied. Jeffrey Solomon bragged $1200 for his wedding

anniversary – congratulations to Jeffrey and his lovely wife. Tom Ryan

talked about his board difficulties and the trip Susan and others took to

Hawaii to meet him even though a mast break caused him cancel the trip to

Honolulu this time. Tom donated $35. Howard talked about finding a new

motor for his car at a great price. He graced our coffers with $30. JR Dzubak

bragged $35 in honor of the Tivoli Street block party, just held. The "Tivoli

Mafia" has set the goal of having 10 members in our club from Tivoli Street.

I’m all for that! The President fined himself $5 for not having the spare raffle

prizes in his car at the last meeting.

Peter Escobar donated wine for an auction item which brought another $55 to

our club treasury. JR was the winner. Thanks to PETER and to JR.

Admiral and Past President Willie presented the program. She talked about

the District awards gathered by our Club during her Presidency. She

presented President Maxwell and President Elect Carmen Portnoy with copies

of the paperwork she submitted last year. Thanks Willie for all your work on

behalf of the community and our club. She presented framed pictures of all

the members to each member. THANKS WILLIE. I know that you will have

good luck at the Bingo parlors – you earned it!!!

Our Club granted two requests for money. Giselle had three young girls come.to our meeting who thanked our CLUB for helping them financially, to

continue their gymnastic studies. It was great to see these young girls’ smiles

as they read their writings. We will pass their notes for all to see at the next

meeting. It makes me remember that we do make a difference in the lives of

people – the reason we are here – to help and to serve. The Rotary Club is the

number one service club in the World. We also gave money to the Francisco

Sandoval Family to help in the burial of Francisco’s nephew. They presented

us with a lovely thank you note. Francisco is one the waiters who serves us

each week.

Maxwell reminded everyone of the Club trip to Mexico, which is set for

October 18 and 19. We will build a house for a family. Sign up now. Bring

your spouse. A great time will be had by all.

The raffle prizes resulted in much fun and Adiba brought "nice" items.

Grandma Winnie drew for the money in our card game. Sorry-once again no

winner. We have had 12 cards drawn so far with no winners. Keep coming

back. We will NOT have a card drawing on August 7 and August 14.

Meeting was then adjourned. By the way, so far we have been served and

had our food eaten by 1PM in the month of July. Thanks Shanghai.

ANNOUNCEMENT

There will be a board meeting on July 31 after the regular meeting for the

month of August. Come if you can. We will also auction off the Club "No

Fine" Badge for August at the July 31 meeting.

President Maxwell had work sessions on Tuesday July 22 at Joni’s Coffee

Shop and on Saturday July 26, at Champagne Bakery. Tony Medley and

Willie Hjorth were present on Tuesday. A lively discussion was held about

membership drive. Willie identified 10 people who have exhibited interest in

joining. The goal is to add a new member a month this year. The more

workers we have, the more we can do. On Saturday, Adiba presented me

with many ideas and she refilled my coffee cup..Thanks to all who attend. It helps me. There will be no President’s work

sessions this week – due to the District Breakfast on Tuesday and due to

personal commitment for me on Saturday.

CALENDAR OF CLUB ACTIVITIES

I am working on a calendar to present to each member and to have it

accessible on the Internet.

PRESIDENT’S DISTRICT MEETING

The President’s Kick-Off party for Rotary District 5280 was held on

Thursday July 24, 2003 at 6:30PM. John Lee of Mrs. Garcia’s catered

dinner. Small world. Emphasis was on International Service. District 5280

International Director Scot Clifford, Wilshire Rotary Club of Los Angeles,

presented the main program. He emphasized overseas projects as well each

Club establishing the TWIN Club relationship. Each Club President is

expected and encouraged to make a few comments about the status and the

activity of their Club.

Networking brought an invitation from the El Segundo Rotary Club to have a

joint meeting at Shanghai Red’s. We picked a program dealing with the LAX

Expansion. A date will be selected soon.

The Malibu Rotary President presented me an article from the July 24,

Malibu Times. It had a picture of Peter Escobar, his daughter Catherine

and his son Joey as well as others. There was a nice article about their new

Casa Escobar Malibu restaurant. The Malibu Rotary Club is having a dinner

meeting on July 30 at the restaurant. CONGRATULATIONS to Catherine

and Peter.

It was announced that the District Urban Peace Initiative Task Force meeting

would be held on August 4.