satchmo web design 9/3/21 satchmo web design 9/3/21

Delivering School Supplies to Alvarado Elementary

Volunteers from the Signal Hill Rotary, the city council, and the Long Beach Unified School District transported the school supplies to students at Alvarado Elementary School, completing the project by delivering the supplies directly to 400 students.

We are grateful for our generous sponsors in making this project a reality.

satchmo web design 9/2/21 satchmo web design 9/2/21

Welcome Arian Nava

Arian comes from a family with a steep Rotary tradition. Her grandfather introduced her to a life of service, and she’s hooked from the start. She’s excited to become a Rotarian herself and give back to the community. She has already participated in assembling school supplies for Alvarado Elementary School last week, but she is looking forward to getting involved in many more service projects.

Chris Romero from the Outreach Program introduced us to a host of potential community projects. We are planning to liaison with other service clubs to distribute food to communities in need, locally and possibly internationally.

satchmo web design 8/29/21 satchmo web design 8/29/21

School Supplies Assembly

Tom Benson graciously hosted us again to assemble 400 packs of school supplies for the students of Alvarado Elementary School. The school supplies project was started by Bob and Nancy Long, and we carry on the tradition in helping the students prepare for the new academic year.

Rotarians invited their friends to pitch in, and we were able to complete the assembly by early afternoon. We enjoyed a potluck in the backyard and basked in good fellowship afterward.

satchmo web design 8/28/21 satchmo web design 8/28/21

eRYLA Reunion

After meeting virtually in April, students, counselors, and Rotarians finally greet each other in-person at Doheny Beach during the reunion organized by Mike Darnold. Everyone had a chance to catch up and get to know each other better while enjoying the beautiful Dana Point. Mike recruited Interactors and Rotarians to have a cook-out right on the beach.

The 2022 RYLA is going to have both an online component as well as in-person activities. We are literally going to have the best of both worlds. There will be a two-hour virtual session on Wednesday and Thursday, and students are going to meet in the mountain of Idyllwild on Friday for a weekend full of outdoor adventures and team-building.

We vouch that participating Rotarians are going to be transformed and rejuvenated by the experience.

satchmo web design 8/26/21 satchmo web design 8/26/21

Welcome Jose Quintanilla

We welcomed Jose Quintanilla to our club this morning. He has been actively involved in many club events already, including the Bolsa Chica habitat restoration project last weekend. We look forward to working alongside him for many service projects in the years to come.

We will be inducting Arian Nava to the club next Thursday. Be sure to join us in-person if you can at Mother’s Market.

Les’ long-time friend Tim Caron also shared his experience as a Rotary scholarship recipient 30 years ago, when the English Rotary clubs sponsored him to travel to England and introduced him to the world of Rotary and fine English pubs. Tim credited the trip as a life-changing event that set the course for his career. Tim is now the Dean of the College of Arts and Humanities at California State University, Dominguez Hills.

Thank you, Tim, for sharing your Rotary exchange experience.

satchmo web design 8/22/21 satchmo web design 8/22/21

Habitat Restoration at Bolsa Chica

Five Rotary clubs, including Long Beach, Lakewood, Garden Grove, Huntington Beach, Surf City Huntington Beach, joined the Signal Hill Rotary to eradicate invasive plant species in the Bolsa Chica wetlands to make room for future planting of native plants in the same area.

Rotarians worked together and removed more than 300 lbs of invasive plants, which filled 46 trash bags of detritus. New connections were established and members of the Signal Hill Rotary met up for lunch after the completion of this service project.

satchmo web design 7/30/21 satchmo web design 7/30/21

Boy Scouts Build Garden at Alvarado Elementary

Jack Dunnick and his father led his boy scout troop to collaborate with the Green School Campaign and Ground Education to build a garden at Alvarado Elementary School.

satchmo web design 7/16/21 satchmo web design 7/16/21

Governor Cisca Stellhorn Visits Club

This morning, the Rotary Club of Signal Hill was honored to host District 5320 Governor Cisca Stellhorn and her leadership team (Assistant Governor Mark Dameron and Chief of Staff Ali Danta) for the Governors Official Visit. The meeting program included Governor Cisca presenting the Inspirational Rotarian Award to Leslie Young, and the Toffee Challenge - a fundraiser for The Rotary Foundation.

satchmo web design 6/19/21 satchmo web design 6/19/21

Rotary Leadership Transition June 18, 2021

This was our first in-person event since the beginning of the pandemic. We thoroughly reveled in each other’s company, after a 15-month hiatus to gathering. We appreciate Tom Benson for lending his spacious backyard to host the event.

We are grateful for Phyllis Hayes-Reams for serving two terms as our club president. Her unwavering leadership took us through the pandemic, as she adapted the meeting format to Zoom and continued our community service projects, including the school supplies projects and the grocery delivery for the City of Signal Hill.

Congratulations to Albert Chang as our incoming club president. His sense of humor and larger than life personality will take the club in new directions.

Unfortunately, the Rotary International Convention could not take place in Taipei, Taiwan this year. Nevertheless, we celebrated Taiwanese culture by savoring traditional Taiwanese cuisine from a local restaurant, Lucky Number 1 Chinese Food, as our “food evening”.