Hello and Happy March! This year is just flying by and we are now well into 2022. At this time, I would like to ask that you continue to pray for Ukraine and for the million plus Ukrainian refugees that are fleeing for their lives during this tragic time. As one of the world's largest humanitarian organizations, Rotary has made peace the cornerstone of our global mission. There is deep concern about the Ukraine crisis and our Rotary Foundation is asking for your help. Rotary is made up of people of action, especially in difficult times. In response to the deepening refugee crisis, the Rotary Foundation Trustees have decided to prioritize contributions made to the Disaster Response Fund until April 30, 2022, to support disaster response grants for districts affected by these events. These expedited disaster response grants can be used to supply water, food, medicine, shelter, and clothing. This is primarily an appeal for individual donations so please feel free to give any amount possible. Please follow the link below if you would like to make a person donation for this worthy cause. There is also information in the flyer posted at the end of this President's News Flash.

This is a gentle reminder that the "Celebration of Life" services for our dear friend Robert Ming will be held on Saturday, March 19, 2022 at 9:30 a.m. at Saddleback Church. There is information on the flyer that is included in this President's News Flash below that also asks that in lieu of flowers, individuals consider honoring Robert with a gift to South County Outreach or the Laguna Niguel Military Support Foundation.

We had an excellent program on Friday with an awesome speaker! We were all star struck by the presence of Former Major League Baseball Player Steve Kemp! He gave such an inspirational speech and I was so excited to see so many people were in attendance including many visitors that were invited by our own Mark Montgomery! Mark even had his son Miles and his wife Sean present for this exciting meeting! Past President Madame Kim Douglas led us in the Pledge of Allegiance which sounded amazing as it was recited in sync by a full room of attendees! Our Treasurer and Birthday Girl RoseAnne Ruccello provided inspiration for the day and stated this famous quote by Henry Ford; "Failure is simply the opportunity to begin again, this time more intelligently!" John Veytia also gave a quote as he was inspired by RoseAnne and stated, "Experience is what you get when you don't get what you want!"

He then told a humorous story about a New Yorker who decided that after he had a successful career in the stock market, he decided to raise chickens in Alabama but when he placed them in the ground they didn't grow! Mark introduced his guests including Neil O'Connor, his son Miles' baseball coach; Dr. Harry White, Orthodontist; Brian Hendon, President and Co-founder of Docent Brewing, along with his son Dillon! It sure was a special treat to see his son Miles and his wife Sean!

Our Sergeant-At-Arms Rischi Paul Sharma went around the room encouraging Rotarians to give a Happy Bucks donation for anything they are thankful for! He started by sharing his personal story about how he and his wife end their week by celebrating all their successes they experienced during the week which they refer to as "Champagne Friday!"

Caroline Swift was happy she was able to take a Caribbean Cruise, and was grateful for wonderful friends and clients, a successful business, and for being recognized as "Small Business of the Year" by the Laguna Niguel Chamber of Commerce! Rocky Cifone was happy to be accepted as a member of the Laguna Niguel Chamber of Commerce! RoseAnne Ruccello was grateful for her February birthday month and was excited about her big celebration this weekend! John Veytia was happy to be celebrating his 30th leap year anniversary! Steve Kemp was happy and grateful to see his long time friends and was excited to be with us!

Mark Montgomery was happy to announce that his youngest daughter Marley who recently graduated from San Diego State just landed a job as a flight attendant with Alaska Airlines! He was also excited about his 7th row ticket to see Wicked! Cecil Spearman gave happy bucks for his favorite Duke University Basketball Team! Bruce Birkeland was grateful for the time he had with his 99-year-old father-in-law and was happy to announce that his family is planning a big celebration in his honor! Bruce also announced he would be a grandfather again with his 4th grandchild!

David Weiss gave happy travel bucks for his trip to D.C. to see his son! Stewart Mims was happy to be at the meeting with everyone in person again! Past President Madame Kim Douglas was happy that Marilyn Crary was in the house! Marilyn Crary was happy to be in attendance and announced that all 6 of her grandchildren have fully recovered from COVID and are doing just fine!

President Eileen was grateful for baseball coaches, especially being part of a family of coaches and announced that she and her son Brandon were also baseball coaches! Mike Gerard had happy travel bucks for his amazing ski trip with his 15-year-old daughter! Dr. Harry White was happy to be surrounded by good friends! Dr. White also announced that his wife had her first book published titled, "Back From Code Blue" which was inspired by his real life experience being in the ICU in a coma with no heartbeat for 45 minutes! Rischi also announced birthdays, wedding anniversaries and club anniversaries for the month of February!

Mark Montgomery introduced our Guest Speaker, Steve Kemp, local celebrity and Former Major League Baseball Player! He proudly announced that he was sporting his USC shirt in his honor! Steve gave Rotarians an excellent and inspiring speech on what it takes to make it in the Majors! He gave us an overview of his life and how all the adversity he had to overcome made him a stronger baseball player and a better person! He spoke about how great coaches, and bad, impacted his future in baseball. He advised Miles and Dillon to never lose their confidence and stated that, "When you start to doubt yourself, that's when you give the other person the advantage!" He emphasized the power of positive influence that coaches have on players! We were all impressed by his amazing life story and will be watching and waiting to see what he will do next!

This week, our we will be hearing from Mary Ann Sprague-Denison, Founder and Executive Director for Active Discovery! We will be meeting both in person at Fratello's so please join us for lunch!

11:45 am - Socialize

Eileen Gomez is inviting you to a scheduled Zoom meeting!

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