CARLSBAD HI-NOON ROTARY CLUB

The club meets at the Westin Resort on Mondays at noon (except Federal holidays).

Jim Brubaker President 2025-2026

Mike Metts, Rotarian of the Year 24-25

Christian Chapman, Rookie of the Year 24-25

Bob Kreisberg, Kulchin Service Award 24-25

Oktoberfest 2025

Army/Navy Academy Award

Welcome to Carlsbad Hi-Noon Rotary Club

Welcome to Carlsbad Hi-Noon Rotary Club!

The Carlsbad Hi-Noon Rotary Club (CHNR) welcomes Rotarians and other visitors to its Monday meetings. The club meets at the Westin Carlsbad Resort and Spa, 5480 Grand Pacific Drive, Carlsbad, CA 92008. A buffet lunch with salads and hot entrees is open at noon, with the business meeting beginning at 12:20 pm.

The Club, chartered in February 1980, has over 60 members. The membership is very active and committed to the Rotary principle of "Service Above Self." The club sponsors an energetic Interact Club at Carlsbad High School and each year sends both facilitators and students to the annual RYLA (Rotary Youth Leadership Award) conference for high school juniors and the Rotary LEAD symposium for eighth graders. The club sponsors Oktoberfest a Family Fall Festival--Oktoberfest 2025 is Number 42 and will be held on September 20 at The Strawberry Fields in Carlsbad. It includes German food, German music, costume contests, games and a beer garden. Check out the website for event specifics: www.RotaryOktoberfest.org. This event has been designed and implemented since its inception by BOTH Rotary Clubs in Carlsbad: Carlsbad Hi-Noon Rotary and Carlsbad Rotary. Proceeds from Oktoberfest are shared with Carlsbad charities and used by each club for its many local community service projects.

Additionally, CHNR also supports our Carlsbad students via the AVID program at Carlsbad High School with a business and ethics conference plus college and trade school scholarships, a literacy project and book fair at Jefferson Elementary School, Junior Achievement and What Grown-Ups Do For Work, music instruction and a competition for middle school students, an essay contest for middle school students, and a speech contest focusing on the Rotary Four-Way Test for high school students. CHNR members provide extensive community: service every weekday, all year, through meal delivery to seniors; once a month to Brother Benno's to serve breakfast to the homeless; once a month to the North County Food Bank; and a massive 20,000 food packaging event to assist the Food Bank. Additionally, the club provides financial support (resulting from our fundraising events) to a variety of nonprofit organizations in Carlsbad assisting food insecurity, the homeless, Solutions for Change, the Carlsbad Educational Foundation, Hospice of the North Coast, Casa de Amparo, the North County Food Bank, the Veterans Association of North County, La Posada, Stand Up for Kids, the Carlsbad Boys and Girls Club. We are People of Action.

During the 2024-2025 Rotary year, club members provided over 5,400 hours of volunteer service to the local and international communities. Through over 60 projects club members provided:

1. Food insecurity - 24 projects for 1,308 hours delivering, packaging, serving, or organizing food products for the needy.

2. Schools - for elementary schools built/gave away 40 bikes and provided a book fair for 500 students; for middle schools provided speakers to open eyes to What Grown-Ups Do For Work on a routine basis throughout the year and taught the Junior Achievement curriculum; for high school students coordinated the Interact Club at Carlsbad High School, created two competitions (speech and music); designed and implemented an AVID conference, raised $45,500 for scholarships for college and trade school students; and analyzed and interviewed students for those scholarship awards.

3. Seniors and Families: designed and implemented Oktoberfest #42 with the Carlsbad Rotary to raise $117,575 for Carlsbad projects; bought gifts for 14 needy families during the holidays repaired elements of two seniors' homes.

4. Environmental: Worked at the Buena Vista Lagoon Nature Center to clear trails and separate wood pulp from debris for 107 hours.

5. International: Bought desks for a school in Kenya, Africa; provided funds for gardens at three schools in Cape Town, South Africa; provided funds for solar energy generation and wastewater treatment in Poland; distributed funds for food supplies and music therapy for mental health of PTSD refugees at a peace shelter in Ukraine; helped rehabilitate a school in El Salvador; helped fund gifts and special needs supplies for disabled children in Tijuana, Mexico; continued work on a water project in Kibera, Uganda; and helped the club's CHS Interact Club gather and ship books to schools in Africa.

Making a difference is important to each member of Carlsbad Hi-Noon Rotary Club . . . if YOU want to make a difference too . . . come JOIN US. For further information look at carlsbadhinoonrotary.org for membership information. CHNR meets Mondays, noon, at the Westin Hotel (above the Flower Fields); buffet lunch is $25. Come check us out . . . you'll like what you see.

Hi-Jinx Bulletin 11.24.25 Meeting

Posted on Nov. 24, 2025

DARK: Dec. 1, 2025

DARK: Dec. 8, 2025

NEXT MEETING:

Monday, Dec. 15, 2025

at the Westin

Volume 9, Issue 18

Reporter: Julie Walker

Photographers: Wendy Wiegand

and Julie Walker

Carlsbad Hi-Noon Rotary

President Jim Brubaker

President Jim Brubaker, wearing his turkey hat, called the meeting to order and welcomed all members and guests, including Ana Maria Fernandez, from the Tijuana Rotary Club’s International Services Team. George Sullivan led the pledge, and Pres. Jim led the Smile and Welcome song.

KEY HI-NOON DATES

• Dec. 1 - DARK / Thanksgiving

• Dec. 6 - Holiday Party

• Dec. 8 - DARK due to holiday party

• Dec. 15 - Regular meeting / Westin

• Dec. 22 - DARK for holidays

• Dec. 29 - DARK for holidays

• Jan. 6 - Regular meeting

ANNOUNCEMENTS

Club Meeting & Dues Vote:

1. Pres. Jim said the CHNR meetings will moved to the Holiday Inn in Carlsbad beginning in January. Onsite meetings will be held there twice a month, with offsite meetings to be announced. The change is due to a major jump in the per-meal cost at the Westin.

2. Dec. 15 Meeting Dues Vote: Members will be voting on CHNR board-rcommended dues changes at the Dec. 15 meeting at the Westin. Pres. Jim recently sent all members information about a possible change in our dues structure, including the club board recommending a return to two levels: Active membership and Rule of 85, the latter available to members whose combined years in Rotary and their age equals 85 or more. Anyone wishing a resend of the recommendations should contact him at brutwo@outlook.com

IN SUPPORT of TIJUANA ROTARY & INVITATION TO CHN ROTARIANS

Pres. Jim presented a CHNR check for $1,000 to Ana Fernandez, a member of the Tijuana Rotary Club, for its annual Three Kings Day event in January. The annual Dia de las Reinas/Three Kings Day event brings in some 400 very poor, disabled children for “a day of joy,” Fernandez said, sharing a video from last year. The event includes breakfast, toys and blankets for the kids, bounce houses, games, Disney characters, and, for some in need: wheelchairs. It costs $9,000 to do this event for the kids, and last year, 17 Rotary clubs from five districts helped Tijuana Rotary put it on, including our club. CHNR’s check will help with this year’s costs.

“On behalf of Rotario de Tijuana, I am hoping this (collaboration) will inspire even more work for the betterment of humanity,” Fernandez said, and she invited our members to attend the Three Kings Day event.

It will held Saturday, Jan. 17, at a children’s museum in Tijuana, followed by a barbecue later that afternoon, but Rotarians are invited to come early, on Friday, Jan. 16, for dinner at a restaurant and overnight stay. “Let us know, and we’ll make sure you get here, can help with hotels, or we can escort you from the border,” said Fernandez, who lives in downtown SD. Anyone interested in more info can contact Joan Boughton: joanboughton211@gmail, or our International Services Director Rick Huenefeld: rick.huenefeld@gmail.com

Pres. Jim and Joan Boughton present a $,1000 check to Ana Fernandez, center, for the Three Kings Day event.

NEW MEMBER INDUCTED

Mark Steinoien is CHNR’s newest member, inducted at this meeting by Samantha Richter. Steinoien was sponsored by Viveka Kjellgren. He and his wife, Sholeh, are newcomers to Carlsbad, but he already has been active with the club, volunteering atr Bro. Benno’s and the North County Food Bank. He said, “It is a pleasure and an honor” to join this club.

Sholeh and Mark Stenoien, with Viveka Kjellgren

CHNR HOLIDAY PARTY, Dec. 6

This year’s event will be hosted by Richard Weston and wife, Maria. White elephant gift exchange and potluck, with attendance, volunteer and potluck signups going on now. Wendy Wiegand has sent out signup info by email. Or contact her at wendy@wendywiegand.com.

2025 GOLDEN ENVELOPE CAMPAIGN

• Samanatha Richter, president of the CHNR Foundation board, and board treasurer Tom Applegate, provided an update on our foundation and a reminder of what the foundation does. And they introduced this year's Golden Envelope campaign to boost the club foundation's philanthropic efforts. The Golden Envelope campaign is an opportunity for members to make a tax-deductible donation of any amount to the CHNR Foundation, with those donating $500 or more being recognized as Manuel Castorena fellows, modeled after Paul Harrs fellows. Donations to the CHNR Foundation are invested, with the annual income off those investments used to fund the club's annual projects, scholarships and trade school grants.

• Donation forms were on the tables at the meeting, and can be mailed, with a check of any amount, to CHNR Club Foundation, PO Box 130175, Carlsbad, 92013. Or go online to carlsbadhinoonrotary.org and use the Donate button.

• The CHNR Foundation is a 501 (c) (3) non-profit established in1989 as the charitable arm of this club. The federal tax ID is 33-0345307. It is governed by a board of directors comprised of CHNR members. It is funded by member donations as well as from community members and annual fundraisers, such as Oktoberfest and the scholarship raffle.

• Opportunities to give to the CHNR Foundation include immediate tax benefits: cash donations, securities donations, direct transfers from IRAs; legacy and estate bequests via wills and trusts, life insurance policies and retirement accounts, and of course, the Golden Envelope campaign going on now.. For information, contact Tom Applegate: tjappleg8@gmail.com

PROGRAM

Carlsbad Food Tours

Speaker: Sherimarie Poulos

Sherimarie Poulos shared information about the food tour business and her own journey into this business, with her Carlsbad Food Tours. She calls herself “the owner and chief foodie.”

She left a career as a nurse working with heart patients after she and her husband took a vacation in Carmel, CA., that included a guided walking food tour. They loved it, and she learned this is something that was becoming popular in destination cities. It intrigued her so she did her due diligence, including meeting other tour operators and taking a food tour class in Chicago—and began her business 10 years ago.

A guided walking food tour, she said, is all about great stories, great food and relationships. A tour usually includes about six unique family-owned restaurants, wine bars or similar gathering places—places within walking distance of each other, that have an interesting story and are known for good food.

These tours shine a unique spotlight on a city, a community, a downtown destination, and of course, the family-owned eateries.“Taste the food, hear the stories, live the local experience,” said Poulos.

Walking food tours, lead by a guide who shares the stories behind the area and the food sites, can be offered on a regular basis or private tours can be scheduled. Each food tour guide, Poulos said, has a unique personality and has created their own script based on the history, architecture and culture of the area and the stories behind the restaurants being visited.

Such tours are not only visitors to an area, but for couples, seniors, corporate teams, staycationers, day trippers, food lovers and special occasions and celebrations.

Carlsbad Food Tours offers tours daily at 11:30, except holidays, plus private options: group, corporate and holiday tours. All tours require an online RSVP and payment. Poulos noted Carlsbad Food Tours has developed a relationship with Visit Carlsbad, Carlsbad Chamber and the Carlsbad Association in an effort to best promote the city and what it has to offer. Carlsbadfoodtours.com

NEXT MEETING:

DARK: DEC. 1, 2025

DARK: DEC. 8, 2025

MON, DEC. 15 at the Westin

Program: Crime Stoppers