Pres Velyn Anderson called the meeting to order, Ken Clark led us in the Smile song and Julie Walker led the Pledge. In honor of St. Patrick’s Day, Clark led the singing of Irish Eyes Are Smiling. Clark then led the Welcome song and the brief birthday song in honor of Mark Packard’s birthday on Mar. 19. Joan Boughton shared inspiring Words, and Pres. Velyn had a St. Patrick’s Day limerick.
KEY HI-NOON DATES
• Mar. 20 - North County Food Bank
• Mar. 22 - Student Music Competition
• Mar. 26 - Social/Pizza Challenge
• Apr. 3 - AVID Conference
• Apr. 11 - Social/Wine Tasting
• Apr. 14 - Scholarship Raffle @ Harding Center
• Apr. 26 - Rotarians at Work Day
• Apr. 26-27 - RYLA Weekend
• Sept. 20 - Oktoberfest
ANNOUNCEMENTS
• Foundation Paul Harris Match: The club currently has a 50/50 match available, so your $500 donation can be turned into a $1,000 Paul Harris award. See Mimi Gaffey dfor information.
• Polio Plus Update: Our Polio Pig, always ready to collect spare cash at each of our meetings, has now collected just over $1,000 for RI’s Stop Polio campaign.
• Rotary District 5340 NAMIWalks: Bob Stonebrook invited members to join the District 5340 team for the National Alliance on Mental Illness in San Diego’s 1.5-mile walk beginning at Liberty Station on Sat Apr. 26 from 8-11 am. See Stonebrook if interested.
SCHOLARSHIP UPDATE: HELP!
$30,000 of $50,000 Goal Raised: With less than a month left until the prize drawing for our scholarship fundraiser on Apr. 14, Chair JoAnn Ross urged all members to sell their tickets, or buy them. “Think about where the money goes and how it changes students’ lives.” She reminded that our Apr. 14 prize-drawing meeting will be held at Harding Center, due to Westin/Sheraton not being available that date. Ross is presenting “gold star” pins to the member who brings in the most ticket money each week. This week co-winners were Bob Kreisberg and Eric Lodge, bringing in $460 each.
OKTOBERFEST 2025: BIG CHANGES
Jenna Dotson
Okt. Treas. Bryan Geisbauer gave a final report on Okt. 2024 and CHNR Okt. Chair Jenna Dotson said there still are openings on this year’s committee for those interested in helping. Dotson then gave an update on the changes in the works for our annual major fundraiser, saying the commitee’s goal this year is putting fun back into Oktoberfest.
A major change this year will be moving Okt. back a few weeks, to Sat., Sept. 20. It will again be at the Strawberry Fields, but those fields will not yet be open, so Oktoberfest will have the entire venue. Other changes:
• Much larger beer garden area, with beer vendors managing their own booths and % to us
• The Speakeasy will return
• Food sales again via food trucks but both inside and outside of beer garden.
• More games, some just for kids
• Concessions to be provided by vendors, with 15% of sales to us; inside and outside beer garden
• Volunteers formerly in beer garden and food services will be re-allocated to games, Speakeasy, etc.
• Maybe more than one stage; maybe local talent
• Maybe an Okt. merchandise booth
To join the committee or for more info, contact Dotson at jdotson@republicservices.com
COMMUNITY SERVICE
Harvest Pack Update: Beth Garrow read a thank-you letter from the Jacobs Cushman Food Bank regarding our recent Harvest Pack food packaging event. We packaged 21,000 meals, with equates to 1,695 pounds of food. “Thank you for making a difference,” the letter said.
North County Food Bank: Next Food Bank opportunity will be March 20, from 1–4pm. Adult friends and guests are welcome, but EACH needs to register. Beth Garrow will email registration link and requirements, or contact her at bethgarrow@comcast.net.
Rotarians At Work Day: This year’s date is Apr. 26, and the projects will be at the Buena Vista Ecological Preserve/Lagoon. We will do trash pickup, weeding and cattail trimming, with gloves, tools and trash bags provided. Three crew leaders for this family-friendly event are needed now; workers, later. Contact Beth Garrow: bethgarrow@comcast.net
YOUTH SERVICE
Speech Competition: Maureen Taylor announced our speech contest winner Danielle will be competing in the next round at the San Marcos Rotary Mar. 19. We will be hosting Regional Speech Contest at our meeting on Apr. 7.
Music Competition Invite: District 5340’s Student Music Competition moves to the next level on Mar. 22 at the Dove Library, beginning at 1pm. All are invited to attend.
AVID Volunteers Needed: Our AVID Conference will be held Apr. 3 at the LDS church across from Carlsbad High School, at Chestnut and Magnolia. Help is needed for setup, during the event and/or teardown. Contact Julie Gibbs: cajulieg@gmail.com
OUR INTERACT CLUB
Julie Gibbs thanked all who have donated books for our Interact club’s African Literacy Project. Books can be brought to our meetings until mid-April. The Interact club has set a goal of collecting 1,000 new or gently used general-interest books for this project (please, no books on religion, war, American holidays or politics).
SOCIAL ACTIVITIES
• Pizza Challenge #2: The final contest will be held at Maureen Taylor’s house on Mar. 26. See Tommy Hersant to sign up.
• Wine Tasting: Viveka Kjellgren and her husband, Per, will be hosting a wine tasting at their home on Apr. 11, beginning at 6pm. Anyone who would like to attend or suggest a wine for the tasting can contact Hersant: thersant@me.com. Limited space available.
PROGRAM #1
Mark Ealy: CHNR Foundation
Mark Ealy
Mark Ealy, past CHNR presidet and current manager of our CHNR Foundation’s Endowment Fund, gave an update on how the fund works, its holdings by investment and talked about different options for tax-advantage giving. The fund’s goal is conservative investing, and last year, our portfolio was up by 10.2%. So far this year, up 9%. He said about 30% of the portfolio is in short-term bonds or cash; the rest in a variety. The goal, he said, “is to keep growth reaasonable without having too much risk.” Anyone wishing to see his report can contact Ealy at 760-994-4039. Ealy accepts no payment for managing our foundation’s endowment fund.
PROGRAM #2
Calli Kelsay: HOPE Champion
The Power of Hope / Building Up Youth Through Positive Experiences
Calli Kelsay
Calli Kelsay exemplifies the difference one person in the world can make. the mother of four is a HOPE program champion, as well as a community and school education advisor at Rady Children’s Hospital, president of Safe Kids San Diego, co-chair of a K-12 subcommittee, founder of the Skate Rising youth program—and an alpaca rancher.
She is bundle of enery who believes tht every person deserves:
• nurturing and supportive relationships
• safe, stable, protective and equitable environments in which to live, learn and play
• to be part of something bigger than themselves
• to continue to grow socially and emotionally
HOPE, she said is grounded in the science of the positive. “The vision is that we have a world that recognizes, honors and fosters positive experiences because they are fundamental to people’s health and well-being.”
Kelsay is especially focused on youth, explaining that positive experiences prevent, mitigate and support healing from childhood trauma. The four building blocks of HOPE are children’s:
• relationships with other children and other adults through interpersonal activities
• safe, equitable, stable environments for living, playing, and learning at home and at school
• social and civic engagement to develop a sense of belonging and connectedness
• emotional growth through playing and interacting with peers for self-awareness and self-regulation
She talked about the value of being a “trusted adult” in one or more children’s lives. Trusted adults are reliable and consistent, empathetic and non-judgmental, encouraging and supportive, respectful and safe. It’s something we all should strive to be, Kelsay said.
Finally, she thanked Hi-Noon Rotarians for all we are doing for children in our community and showing how HOPE meets the Rotary Four-Way Test:
• Truth: backed by science and research
• Fairness: ensures all children have access to support
• Goodwill: builds mentorships and strong relationships
• Benefit: strengthens youth, families and communities
Service Above Self
Carlsbad, CA 92008
United States of America