Our program speaker for our club meeting on July 21, 2021, was Robert Price, the author of The Bakersfield Sound.

Each month, all Rotary clubs in our town pick a local business that we all visit with our Rotary pin, clothing or some other item that identifies us as a Rotary member and we try to buy or do business with that local business. This month's business is "Lemonade Locks Wig & Gift Boutique" located at 1712 "K" Street, Bakersfield, California.

Every month, we have a social event. This month's social event will take place on Wednesday, July 28, 2021, at 6:00 p.m., at Bakersfield Museum of Art. Everyone is welcome to come and see The Bakersfield Sound exhibit.

Past-President, Li Gibbs, wrote a beautiful inspirational poem for our first in-person meeting of the Rotary year:

 

We held our first meeting of the Rotary year at our new location, Four Points by Sheraton Bakersfield. President Paggi had a full house for her meeting with some people even joining us on Zoom. She recognized number of club members who made last year's club meetings and activities special and effective despite the challenges presented by the world pandemic, COVID-19. She also recognized the wonderful things that were accomplished by our club and Centennial High School Rotaract Club. She also set out her goals for our club and our members for this coming year.

 

Another great program last Wednesday with our RYLA Grads and Interactors. We had a great Zoom turn out. These students never cease to amaze us. They were mature and very eloquent in their responses and they did an outstanding job especially by Interact Board Members, Diego Caceres and Samuel Wisnoff. They had planned a fun informative program complete with great slides and description of Virtual RYLA components. The students had such sincere show of gratitude to us Rotarians. These incredible young people like were President Li Gibb's first Rotary moment and the main reason why she is a Rotarian.

Charter Night celebration was held in person at the lovely home of Jeremy Swanson and his beautiful family. Kat and Brad were able to join everyone on Zoom. A very special thank you to District Governor, Deb, and District Governor Nominee, Scott, for joining us also via Zoom. A huge thank you to Jeremy and Teresa Swanson for allowing us to use their beautiful home. A thank you also to Sam (soon to be member) coming by to help with the technology even though he could not stay. Despite challenges and strong winds, we made it work with an ingenious idea from Nancy. Huge thank you to Shonna for making it happen and monitoring Zoom. Congratulations to Past President, Sandy Foster, and Past President, Nancy Pollard, for earning Paul Harris Fellow level pins presented by District Governor, Deb. Congrats to Peter Swanson, our newest Paul Harris Fellow.