The Proclaimer A Publication of

Rotary District 5280 Serving the Greater Los Angeles Area

Upcoming Events… • August 18, District Literacy Break-

fast, Lawry’s Restaurant, 7:30AM, Reservations required through District Office.

• August 28, Urban Peace Task Force, Shriners Hospital, 6:00-8:30PM, Dinner $20, Email reservation to John Greenwood at johnrgreen-wood@comcast.net.

• August 30, Bellflower Rotary Club Annual Charity Golf Classic, US Navy Golf Course, Cypress.

• September 9, District Family Picnic, Rancho Dominguez, 11AM-3:00PM, sponsored by the Rotary Club of Carson-Gardena-Dominguez.

• September 16-17, Palos Verdes Concours D ’Elegance , v is i t www.ConcoursTickets.com for more info and await article in future The Proclaimer.

• September 23, District Membership Seminar, Carson Community Cen-ter, 8:00AM-12:00PM.

• October 17, Second District Break-fast, LAX Hilton Hotel, 7AM, $25 in advance, $30 at door.

• November 4, Paul Harris Dinner, Raleigh Studios, Hollywood, 6PM, $100.

For more information regarding District and Club events, contact Rochelle Toutounchian or Tori Hettinger at the District Office: 8939 S. Sepulveda Suite 312 Los Angeles, CA 90045 (310) 670-9792 office@rotary5280.org facsimile: (310) 670-9795

EL SEGUNDO MOVIE NIGHT ANOTHER SUCCESS

Volume Clifford, Issue 6 August 11, 2006

On August 5, 2006, the El Segundo Rotary Club held it's 9th annual Movie In The Park. The movie screened this year was Madagascar. This event has become very well known within the South Bay community. Attendance was between 2500-3000 people. The event only cost $4.00 per person with children

2 and under free. Children of all ages came and enjoyed this family event. The gates opened at 4:00 p.m. with activities ranging from jumper houses for the small children to a beer garden for the adults. The El Segundo Rotary Club has al-lowed other clubs to make money for their organizations by selling booths. This year the South Bay Sunrise Rotary Club participated by selling hot dogs. The LAX Rotary Club also participated by selling desserts. What movie event is complete without a popcorn booth? The funnel cake booth was so busy, they had to take cell phone orders. When your order was ready, they contacted you via your cell phone. This also was a good CONTINUED ON PAGE 4

The Literacy Breakfast is upon us!! Chair Rev. Donald Colhouer has planned a fantastically in-formative morn-ing session that will begin at 7:30AM next Fri-

day, August 18, 2006 at Lawry’s La Cie-nega. Breakfast is provided courtesy of the generosity of the Frank family and their manager of the La Cienega loca-tion, Rotarian Todd Johnson. Make your reservation with Rochelle or Tori at

the District Office as soon as possible. Don has arranged for seven literacy providers to attend the breakfast to ac-quaint attendees with their literacy pro-grams and how these services can be used by Rotary clubs to improve literacy within their communities. These pres-entations are in addition to the keynote speaker, John Corcoran, who will tell his fascinating life story of dealing with his inability to read through age 49. In another life, Don was in the televi-sion industry and he has never lost his love of communicating through this me-CONTINUED ON PAGE 5

PLAN TO ATTEND DISTRICT 5280 LITERACY BREAKFAST

THE PROCLAIMER VOLUME CLIFFORD, ISSUE 6 PAGE 2

MESSAGE FROM POLAND

Wojtek Reichel was a youth exchange student during the 2005-2006 school year. He was sponsored by the Rotary Club of Kolobrzeg in Poland and was hosted by the Rotary Club of Bellflower where he attended Mayfair High School. He re-

turned home late last month and sent this email to his hosts in District 5280 this week. Hello: Finally I have found some free time to write this e-

mail. Recently I was really busy with family and friends back home. I just wanted to thank to all of you for all your help and care during my stay in United States. I have really wonderful time there and I am so grateful for every-thing that I have learned about your culture and life, and I think I have learned a lot from each one of you. I know that one day we will meet again. I wanted to let you know that you are always welcome to come visit me here in Poland, and I hope that you will, so I can teach you something about my culture and my country this time. Once again, thank you for everything, and I hope that we will stay in touch. Love, Wojtek Reichel

The annual Japanese Youth Exchange Program reached the California shores the last weekend in July when the seven members of the District 2550 group from the Tochigi Prefecture and the seven members of the District 5280 contingent arrived in Los Angeles. Local participants Robby Rupp, Danielle Parsons, Brittany Ace, Bradley Re-beiro, Caroline Reiser Trevor Solt and Mallory Zickfield were filled with once in a lifetime memories of their month in Japan, happy to see their families and to share their experiences with them. Japanese participants Maiko Ogura, Miki Ishizawa, Satomi Kimijima, Yurika Karasawa, Mai Maruyama, Keisuke Akasaka and Hayato Morofushi were filled with anticipation and excitement at the month that lie ahead.

Following a week of activities hosted by the Rotary Clubs of Manhattan Beach, Palos Verdes Sunset, Lomita/Torrance Airport, Los Angeles Morning and Palos Verdes Peninsula which included many Rotary Club meet-ings, visits to Sea Lab and the Point Vincente Lighthouse and a walking tour of Downtown Los Angeles, District Governor Scot Clifford and family throughout all the stops with a Mexican Fiesta welcoming party at their home on Saturday afternoon, August 5th. The recep-tion, sponsored by Scot’s home club, the Wilshire Ro-tary Club of Los Angeles, was attended by the fourteen participants as well as many of the host families that are housing our Japanese visitors during their stay, the District 5280 Japanese Youth Exchange Committee consisting of PDG Vicki Radel, PP John Jaacks (nice shirt!), and PP Scott Shiota, and, last but not least, cur-rent and past District 5280 leadership.

As an aside here but an important one, special ac-knowledgment and appreciation needs to made to PDG Rick Mendoza and PDG Pat Cashin for their dedication *********CONTINUED ON PAGE 5*********

DISTRICT 5280 WELCOMES

JAPANESE VISITORS

THE PROCLAIMER VOLUME CLIFFORD, ISSUE 6 PAGE 3

TIDBITS FROM THE LA 2008 HOC—

WHAT HAPPENED AT LA 1962?

Here is a summary of the so-cial happenings at the 53rd An-nual Convention of Rotary In-ternational held in Los Angeles, June 3-7, 1962. The descrip-tions of the activities are taken verbatim from the published (hardcover bound) General Pro-ceedings of the Convention.

Sunday, June 3: “Even though the opening feature was not scheduled to begin until half past seven in the evening, con-vention participants began to arrive at the gates to the world-famous Hollywood Bowl lat in the afternoon…..Seated in the open air, with the weather on the chilly side, thousands of spectators [actually in excess of 22,000 people] viewed the ribbed shell arcing over the stage, set against a natural backdrop of wooded hills. As an hors d’oeuvre, an array of fountains shot their streams up into the evening sky, spontaneously applauded by the audi-ence….Billed as “Hollywood Under the Stars,” the en-tertainment of the evening could have been called “Hollywood With the Stars.” Television and motion pic-ture star Ronald Reagan, acting as master of ceremo-nies, presented a varied but select choice of talent, ranging from Jose Greco and his dancers, boy-saxophonist Attila Galamb, and the dancing team of Chiquita & Johnson, to singers Vivienne della Chiesa and John Craig and pantomimist Gene Sheldon. Con-cluding the evening was a performance by the impres-sive Mormon Choir of Southern California.”

Monday, June 4: “President Abey’s theme of communi-cation was also implemented musically on Monday eve-ning when the convention hall [Los Angeles Memorial Sports Arena], transformed for the occasion into a vast ballroom, served as the scene for the president’s recep-tion and ball. Thousands of elegantly dressed Rotarians and their ladies had an oppor-tunity of meeting and chatting with President and Mrs. Abey, as well as with other interna-tional officers. The Lawrence Welk Orchestra clipped a

steady beat for the dancers, as others stood shoulder to shoulder in front of the stage watching the band. At times, during the performances of the Lennon Sisters or accordionist Myron Floren or rag-time pianist Jo Ann Castle, dancing was forgotten altogether in favor of a close look at the entertainers whom many, including visitors from overseas, had seen on television sets at home.”

Tuesday, June 5: “While the men were...engaged, the ladies also got ideas—though of a different sort—at what was reported to be the largest fashion show ever held in Los Angeles. Titled “A Dream Garden of Beautiful Fashions,” the show was presented in the Shrine Auditorium by Ethel Joutras, producer and narrator. The show featured Hollywood models in 110 gowns from the collections of 30 designers. Of particular interest to the 5,000 ladies were the fashions made famous by such early motion picture stars as Clara Bow, Mae West, Ginger Rogers, and Carole Lombard. Edith Head, motion picture dress designer, narrated this part of the show. Brimming over with their separate impressions of the day, Rotari-ans and their ladies were united again in the evening… Rotarians of Los Angeles and nearby communities, by extending personal invitations to out-of-state visitors, demonstrated the spirit of California hospitality in an impressive manner. The get-togethers in private homes ranged from small groups to large parties, and in these set-tings people of different lands came to know one another bet-ter…”

Wednesday, June 6: “To accommodate the large num-ber of registrants, it was the largest Rotary convention ever held in the United States…—Wednesday evening’s entertainment feature, “A Night in Hollywood,” was presented twice [at Sports Arena]. In swift succession of scenes, with motion picture star George Murphy act-ing as the master of ceremonies, the audience saw wiry Eddie Peabody atop a grand piano playing his banjo with dazzling virtuosity; suave ventriloquist Edgar Ber-gen and his famous puppets engaged in barbed and humorous exchanges; the Mills Brothers, who brought the past to mind with such all-time favorites as “Paper Doll;” the comedy team of Rowan & Martin offering maladroit satires of people and events; and last, but not least, Gordon and Sheila Mac-Rae whose vocalizing was a fitting cli-max to a star-studded evening.”

THE PROCLAIMER VOLUME CLIFFORD, ISSUE 6 PAGE 4

—-CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1 EL SEGUNDO MOVIE NIGHT

fundraiser for the El Se-gundo Interactors. They sold, soft drinks, pizza, and glow necklaces (which is always a big hit). Before the movie began, a large raffle was held. $1.00 and $5.00 raffle

tickets were sold on a pre-sale basis and the day of the event; prizes for the $1.00 raffle consist of items such as gift certifi-cates to restaurants, gon-dola rides with the top seller for this event being the Lightening McQueen Car, donated by Mattel. The largest prize for the $5.00 raffle was two pairs of Southwest Airlines Tick-ets, good for round trip airfare anywhere in the conti-nental USA. An unusual raffle item this year was a home Movie In The Yard, which was donated by Bell Event Entertainment (Rotarian who is quite instru-mental in putting on this event). This is a mini version of Movie in the Park, but held in your back yard, with a

few of your closest friends, and the movie of your choice. This event could not be executed without the help of Chevron Park, and Bell Event Entertainment. Chevron donates the time,

and multiple "in kind" donations. In order to off set the cost of such an event, the El Segundo R o ta r y C lu b o b -tains sponsorships from the community. Major sponsors, such as Time Warner Cable, LAWA, and Plaza El Segundo. Each club member provides a raffle prize with a mini-mum value of $25.00. We are already looking forward to our 10th anniver-sary next year. Plans are already being made for a spe-cial celebration! Your Editor wishes to thank Mari Peters, President of the El Segundo Rotary Club, for writing this article and providing some photos; additional photos were pro-vided by PDG Rick Mendoza. Put the first Saturday of August on your calendar for next year so you can attend a fantastic family event.

URBAN PEACE TASK FORCE TO MEET ON AUGUST 28TH

Urban Task Force Chair, John Greenwood invites all interested Rotarians to become a member of District 5280’s Urban Peace Initiative Task Force. The first meeting of the Task Force will be on Monday, August 28 from 6:00 to 8:30 PM at the Shriner's Hospital near downtown Los Angeles (Virgil at C,,,,). Dinner is avail-able for $20 per person District Governor Scot Clifford has asked each club to participate in the Task Force and design what we in Rotary can do to improve urban life. As you know, the aim is to educate ourselves and our club members about the issues involved and devise projects which could have a lasting impact on our communities. This task

force will meet four times during the year on Monday evenings. In the past our Task Force has initiated several spe-cific projects and produced a pamphlet entitled "50 Ways Rotary Helps." Greenwood says, “And we have a good time doing it! I look forward to seeing you again. I hope you can join us or find a representative from your club to come.” The other three meetings of the Task Force will be Monday, October 23, Mon-day, January 22 and Monday, March 26. Please email Cha i r Gr ee nwood a t johnrgreenwood@comcast.net as soon as possible if you plan to attend on August 28.

PAGE 5 THE PROCLAIMER VOLUME CLIFFORD, ISSUE 6

—-CONTINUED FROM PAGE 2 JAPANESE YOUTH EXCHANGE

and support of the activities of District 5280. Both Rick and Pat and spouses, Helen and Betty, attended both this reception and the El Segundo Movies in the Park event (see article on Page 1) on Saturday. Rick sup-plied your Editor with an ar-ticle on the Mexican Fiesta and pictures of both events and is maintaining the photo gallery of District 5280 events on the District web-site. The dedication of these PDGs and their spouses to Rotary and this District is exceptional and they serve as wonderful role models for all Rotarians in this District.

Back to the party!! As can be seen from the pictures on this page, the First Lady of District 5280, Wendy Clifford, did her usual magical job of party planning, transforming the Clif-ford backyard into a Mexican Fiesta. During the formal part of the program, the returning D5280 participants were introduced individually and shared some of their experiences in Japan.

The Japanese participants were then introduced and they individually shared the expectations of their visit to Los Angeles and were given a welcoming gift selected for them by Wendy Clifford. The group feasted on a buffet of Mexican dishes pre-pared by master chef and DG son-in-law, Shane Smith, and was entertained by a Mexican Folklorico group performing traditional Mexican dances culminat-ing in the Mexican Hat Dance. The fiesta themed party would not have been complete without the traditional breaking of the piñata which was ably done by none

other than DG Clif-ford. All in all, a won-derful day of cele-brating a 40+ year tradition of sharing cultures between Districts 5280 and 2550, one that we hope will continue for many generations to come. Once again our sin-cere thanks to the Japanese Youth Ex-change Committee and the host families for their time and effort in continuing this fabulous part of the fabric of District 5280.

—-CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1 LITERACY BREAKFAST

dium. In his current life as a minister, he has imple-mented a web casting component to his ministry and is utilizing it for his chairing of the District’s literacy pro-jects. So, Tuesday morning at 11:00 he will answer questions of the District in preparation for Friday via web cast. Visit www.wchrisla.org and click on the Broadcast Services button on the left side of the web page. Follow his instructions for asking questions once

he is web casting and you are now officially in the 21st Century of communication. Don has also arranged to web cast the actual Literacy Breakfast for those that are unable to attend and are interested in the subject matter. Follow the same pro-cedure as outlined above at anytime during the break-fast (7:20AM through completion) and you will be able to share in the event on line. Don’t miss this information packed kickoff event to help your Rotary Club improve literacy in your commu-nity. See you on Friday at 7:30AM.

The Proclaimer

March 8th

First Class Mail

A PUBLICATION OF ROTARY DISTRICT 5280

8939 S. SEPULVEDA BOULEVARD, SUITE 312 LOS ANGELES, CA 90045

310-670-9792 WEB SITE: WWW.ROTARY5280.ORG

LEADERSHIP TEAM 2006 -2007

DISTRICT GOVERNOR R . SCOT CLIFFORD CHIEF DEPUTY GOVERNOR MARC “THE DAWG” LEEKA TREASURER PDG DENNIS BENKO FOUNDATION AND FUNDRAISING DOUG BAKER MAJOR EVENTS LEW BERTRAND RISK MANAGEMENT RANDY MAGNIN PUBLICITY AND PUBLIC RELATIONS JOHN BOVARD MIRON SERVICE AND ACTIVITIES HELENE PIZZINI EDUCATION AND TRAINING CARMELA RAACK MEMBERSHIP SUSANNE SUNDBERG SPECIAL PROJECTS FERRIS WEHBE CLUB SERVICE AND SUPPORT ANGI MA WONG

ASSISTANT GOVERNORS CLUB SERVICE AND SUPPORT

ELYSE BEARDSLEY WILSON BENITEZ PAT BENNETT RAY BROWN JERRIE HESL OV LEE JACKMAN LARRY JOHNSON TOM MCCULLOUGH PETER MORE JULIA PARTON SAM PIRNAZAR HAL QUIGLEY ROBERT RUBIO RANDY VAN AUSDALL

ASSISTANT GOVERNORS AVENUES OF SERVICE

YOUTH SERVICE JOE HARDING VOCATIONAL SERVICE WAYNE WILCOX INTERNATIONAL SERVICE EARLE R. VAUGHAN I II COMMUNITY SERVICE SHIRLEY GILTZOW

DISTRICT ROTARY FOUNDATION CHAIR

PDG PATRICK CASHIN

ROTARY INTERNATIONAL PRESIDENT WILLIAM “BILL” BOYD —ROTARY CLUB OF PAKURANGA, NEW ZEALAND

Saturday, September 9

Event: District Picnic Place: Rancho Dominguez Time: 11:00AM-3:00PM District 5280 Rotarians...THIS IS WHERE YOU WANT TO BE ON 9/9/06. The Carson-Gardena-Dominguez Rotary Club has planned a very special day. They have games, dunk tanks, food, drinks, Rancho Dominguez tours, etc., etc., etc. To allow everyone to come for free, the CGD RC asks that each RC in the Dis-trict contribute $50 per club to the (make checks payable to) CGD RC to fund the event. See you there.

Friday, August 18

Event: District Literacy Breakfast Place: Lawry’s La Cienega Time: 7:30 AM All Rotarians and guests are invited to attend the Dis-trict 5280 Literacy Breakfast (Seating is limited). This event is the kickoff to Literacy projects and programs around the District. Our speaker is John Corcoran, a passionate advocate for literacy throughout the United States and the author of “The Teacher Who Couldn’t Read.” John is a member of the National Institute for Literacy, appointed by Presidents Clinton and Bush. See m o r e a b o u t o u r s p e a k e r a t http://johncorcoranfoundation.com. To reserve a place at this high demand event, call Rochelle or Tori in the Dis-trict Office.

Upcoming District 5280 Events

Proclaim Rotary & Lead The Way

CHECK OUT THE NEW LOOK AND CONTENT OF OUR D5280 WEBSITE (UNDER CONSTRUCTION)