The groundbreaking ceremony at Covey Cottages was held on the morning of November 12, 2019. This is the Kern County Rotary all-Club project that our Club is helping to fund by providing money to build the Common Room. There will be 12 homes (400 sq. ft. each) which will be rented to homeless veterans. The Common Room will have the laundry facilities and a meeting and gathering space. Outside, there will be space for a bar-b-q area and we hope, a community garden. Others who attended the event this morning were organizations and people helping fund the project and others who are providing in-kind services for the construction, landscaping, and furnishings. Several public officials (or their representatives) were there, as well as residents who live in the near-by neighborhood. The Kern County Rotary Club Presidents who attended the event were so pleased to see the 1st step of the construction phase begin.
This is the link to the site plan and an article that was in the Bakersfield Californian newspaper in September about this project:
Kern County Rotarians, including Bakersfield Mayor Karen Goh (2nd from left, member of Rotary Club of Bakersfield [Downtown]); Assistant Governor Group 2, Jackie Maxwell (4th from the left, member of Rotary Club Bakersfield Breakfast); Bakersfield City Council member, Ward 2 Andrae Gonzales (6th from left/behind me); Rotary District 5240 Governor Savi Bhim (5th from the right, member of Rotary Club of Simi Sunrise)
At our meeting on November 13, 2019, our past-President, Jeremy Swanson, spoke about his job with the District as a District Parliamentarian. His job is to make sure all protocols are followed in the District. He advises on procedural issues. His biggest job is to attend the elections and make sure that it is administered correctly according to the bylaws. His job is to make sure that everyone gets a fair shot in all elections.
Speaker Mike Stepanovich is a wine teacher, expert and judge. He is also an adjunct professor at California State University in Bakersfield. He started his journey to becoming a wine expert when he lived and went to college in Sacramento and he would venture to Napa wineries. He eventually became the wine writer for the Californian. In July of 1987, he finally gave in and agreed to be a wine judge. For the last 32 years, he has been judging wine competitions and he explained to all of us how judging works including what foods he likes to eat to keep his pallets fresh and in shape to judge. Contrary to popular belief, he says that they do not actually swallow the wine. He also told us that he created the DNPIM (Do Not Put In Mouth) label for those wines that do not taste good at all when he is judging.
At our regular club meeting on November 6, 2019, Mr. Josh Dhanes from the Kern County Veterans' Services spoke about his time in the military and his military training. He gave us an insight into the services and advocacy that is provided to our Kern County Veterans and their families. Those services are not limited to just Veterans in the Bakersfield area, but they provide services throughout our vast County. They often try to meet with Veterans in the far reaches of our County rather than making them travel to Bakersfield. They try real hard to explain to all Veterans the benefits that they are entitled to and why they are not entitled to certain benefits under the law.
Centennial Interact Club members, sponsored and mentored by our club, have been busy giving their time to different events around town. They have supported the annual American Heart Association 5K run, our local schools and making our FOX Theater shine even brighter.
Before the start of our meeting, everyone who showed up early to the meeting pitched in and we put together over 40 birthday bags to give to the Bakersfield Homeless Center. They will give those bags to families with children who have birthdays coming up. Donna Bell gave the inspirational moment by using Audrey Hepburn quotes. It was obvious to everyone that Donna is a huge Audrey Hepburn fan. Number of Centennial Interact Club members joined us. Angelina, one of their Co-Service Project Directors, presented to our club and asked us to help them ring the Salvation Army Bells for the holidays. President Nancy's coworker, Mr. Ron Dill, CPA, was one of our presenters. He talked about what a traditional CPA firm does. They have over 50 employees and thousands of clients some of which are international clients. According to Mr. Dill, security and privacy is a major issue in their industry. Our own Donna Bell of Walter Mortensen Insurance insurance agency was another presenter. Donna has 40 years of experience in the insurance industry. The other presenter was our own, Denise Thomas, who admitted that she passed the first two CPA tests, but never went back to finish the last two. She considers herself an accountant, just not a Certified Public Accountant. For those of us who were in the Breakfast Rotary Club, we remember Denise being the club's accountant and she has done the same for our Club for years now. Finally, Amy and Cecil talked about the sponsorship packages for our fundraiser and, as usual, they did it in a very entertaining fashion.
On October 23, 2019, Anselmo was walking around before our meeting and asking for donations from everyone for a great cause, Polio Eradication Campaign, while coloring every donors’ pinky fingers with a purple pen. On October 24th, World Polio Day, Past Governor, Sandi Schwartz, was schedule to be on her stationary bike going no where for 100 miles. Our club donated $659 to Sandi’s ride. Amy and Cecil talked about our foundation's annual fundraiser. Amy did an amazing job getting our members to commit to getting people or companies to purchase a sponsorship to our event. Steve Gibbs talked about his job with the District as the Rotary District Youth Protection Officer. Steve is the initial contact person for any complaints about adult treatment of children in our District.
Our program was Mr. Mike McCoy, Executive Director of Kern County Museum, who spoke about lessons he learned from his parents and lessons he tried to teach to his own children. His willingness to say "yes" to opportunities that were presented to him has led him from being a teacher to being a photo journalist in West Africa to meeting his wife and moving back to Kern County. The Board at the Museum has nine people on it and one of them has to be a Superintendent of School who is Mike. The Museum has 14 employees. According to Mike, the Museum has failed to represent four major groups in Kern County, the Basque community, the Veterans, American Indians and the Bakersfield sounds. He and the Board members are aiming to change that real soon.
At our regular meeting on October 23, 2019, our club members donated over $650 toward Rotary PolioPlus in support of our Past District Governor, Sandi Schwartz's "Ride To No-Where" fundraiser. She was going to ride 100 miles on her stationery bicycle on Thursday, October 24, 2019, to raise awareness of Rotary's campaign to eradicate polio around the world and in memory of Rotarians who have died while helping in the effort to immunize people around the world. Every member and guest in attendance painted their pinkie finger with purple to show support for the Rotary PolioPlus eradication efforts and to commemorate their donations to the campaign.
We held our regular club meeting at The Mark restaurant. Our speaker was Michael Turnipseed, whom some of us know from the Bakersfield Breakfast Rotary Club days. Mike is with Kern County Taxpayers Association. He gave a brief overview of the “disruptive” qualities of the organization and how the members help bring about “more accountable, effective, efficient, and reliable government.” He attributes much of the success of the organization to the dedicated and intelligent members of the organization’s Board. He then welcomed questions from club members including one about efforts to solve the problem of the homelessness of people in our community.
Stephen Penner, the Music Director of the Shafter Symphony Orchestra, gave a short talk about the partnership between the Shafter Symphony Orchestra and the Civic Dance Center and the fund-raising campaign he is leading to have a live orchestra play for the local Nutcracker Ballet.
We had several visitors with us including Guy Veach, a member of the Florence, Oregon club and his friend, Judy, who were on the last leg of a 36 day cross country motorhome trip. We also had Sandy Fosters’ friends, Robert and Nina, visiting from Scottsdale, AZ. Ashli Diaz joined us also again.
Our President, Nancy Pollard, attended the 2019 District 5240 Conference this past weekend in Santa Ynez, California. Here is a picture of Nancy and other Bakersfield Presidents with their club flags about to walk in the District 5240 Parade of Clubs.
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