ABOUT THE ROTARY CLUB OF SANTA BARBARA

The Rotary Club of Santa Barbara was chartered by Rotary International on January 1, 1918 and has been serving those in need in Santa Barbara, our region, and the world since. Our Club Members are dedicated to community service projects, both at home and abroad, including supporting foster youth in Santa Barbara County, working with Mayan families in Guatemala, and more. Rotary Club of Santa Barbara members are a diverse group of local leaders in business, non-profits, education, government, and more.

Are you interested in making Santa Barbara, and the world a better place. Join our next meeting and talk with members about how to get involved!

L.A. Disaster Relief Fundraiser: Rotary Trivia Night at Brass Bear-UPTOWN

Join us March 11th from 5-8 PM for a Trivia Night fundraiser to collect donations for Direct Relief to be used for the L.A. Fire Disaster Relief. Don't miss this fun night with friends working for a great cause.

Click HERE to register your team and see you at Brass Bear!

 
 
RECENT ROTARY NEWS
Monday Message from Prez Jim
Good afternoon Santa Barbara Rotarians,
Hope you all had a great weekend and are enjoying the great spring weather.  It was so nice that I decided to go flying today just to enjoy the beautiful coastline and see enjoy the view of the Channel Islands.  We are so lucky to live and work in such a beautiful community.

Just a reminder that we don’t have a meeting this week.  Our next meeting will be on Friday, April 4.  Both of our meetings in April have great programs that you will not want to miss.  On April 4, our speaker will be Bill MacFadyen, the founder and publisher of Noozhawk, the online local newspaper that probably offers the best coverage of local news in Santa Barbara.  Bill will be talking about the current news environment in Santa Barbara and the challenge of running an online news outlet. 

At our April 18 meeting, we will have a real treat, our own Chris “Tarzan” Clemens. Chris has been a member of our club for 16 years and served as President of our club in 2013-14.  At the time he was 29 years and still holds the record for being our youngest president ever.  Chris has lived an incredible life, combining his love of hiking, long-distance endurance running and cycling with his love of travel.  He operates his online marketing business from wherever he happens to be, whether its Nepal, Thailand, South America or Europe.  He calls himself a digital nomad, with lots of adventures to talk about.  He is clearly an influencer, since he’s been featured in several publications and articles, even the Rotarian International magazine. It should be a very interesting presentation.

Last week at our meeting, Sue Carberry attended on behalf of our long term member Jim Carberry.  Jim recently suffered another mini-stroke and is undergoing rehabilitation.  She indicated that he is doing well and we hope to see Jim back at a meeting very soon.  Also, best wishes to John Self, Micahel Self’s husband who has been in the hospital for several weeks.  We wish John a speedy recovery.

At our meeting last week, we heard from the delegation who traveled to Guatemala at the end of February.  The gave a wonderful presentation and our entire club should be proud of their efforts in Guatemala.  We were glad to provide the group with special pins recognizing their many efforts.
From Prez Jim

Hello my fellow Rotarians.  I am back in sunny California after a week spent with friends from the Seattle area skiing in Whistler, British Columbia.  Lots of great snow, skiing, meals, and creating new memories. But it’s also great to be home in Santa Barbara.

Kudos to everyone involved in our very successful Trivia contest fundraiser last week. We had a fantastic turnout and from what I understand, everyone had a wonderful time.  Hopefully, we can do something like this every year to raise monies for the causes we care about. Thanks so much to everyone who helped to make this such a fantastic event.

We have a meeting this Friday and I hope everyone can make it.  The program will conducted by members of our club who recently visited Guatemala.  They will be talking about the general situation in Guatemala, and their activities on the trip.  If you have ever considered going with the group to Guatemala, this is a great chance to learn more  about the country, the many challenges the country faces, and especially, about the wonderful Guatemalan culture and people. Linda and I have been to Guatemala twice, once with our club and once on our own, and it’s a beautiful place to visit.

Enjoy the week and I’ll see you on Friday.

Jim

 
From the Prez

Happy Monday on a beautiful snowy day in Whistler British Columbia.  I am here until Friday for probably my last ski trip of the season.   Three feet of snow of snow fell here in the last week, and the mountain is beautiful.

We had a great meeting last week.  We recognized another fantastic teacher from the Santa Barbara School District’s Middle college and presented him with a check for $1000 to be used in his classroom.

We also heard a presentation from author Pat Caird, on her book about her grandfather, “Grandpa Doc.” It was a good way to learn about Santa Barbara’s history during it’s formative years after the 1925 earthquake. Her grandfather was also a member of our Rotary Club for many years, as one of the “movers and shakers” in the community.

Our club is sponsoring Trivia Night on Tuesday, March 11 at 5:00 PM at the Uptown Brass Bear.  The event is a fundraiser to support victims of the Los Angeles County fires, in cooperation with Relief International.  It looks like we will have over 100 participants.  President-Elect Jennifer LeMert is still looking  for volunteers to help out.  And if you just want to stop by for a drink or dinner, the restaurant will be sharing proceeds from their sales for the benefit to the fire victims. I am so sorry I won’t be able to attend.  But my wife Linda will be representing the Armstrong family.

Enjoy your week.

Jim

 
From President Jim
Happy Tuesday morning my fellow Rotarians. I am back from another ski trip and ready for Rotary this Friday.  Our speaker, Pat Caird will be discussing her recent book, “Who was Grandpa Doc,” which is all about William Mellinger, one of the leaders of Santa Barbara during its most formative period right after the 1925 earthquake. He was also a member of our Rotary Club.  If you love Santa Barbara history, this should be a great meeting.

This Friday we will also be recognizing another outstanding teacher with our third award of the school year.  Recognizing teachers is always one of the highlights of our meetings and is a fantastic way to learn about the great work being done in our local schools.

Please try to RSVP as soon as you can, since the restaurant is asking me to give them a count early in the week. Although we always expect a few late many additions and cancellations, we still need to give the restaurant a guarantee, so please try to let us know if you can make it.

Also, I hope you are planning to attend our March 11 Trivia Night fundraiser for Los Angeles fire victims. It will be held at the Uptown Brass Bear from 5:00 to 8:00 PM. Kudos to President Elect Jennifer LeMert for organizing this event.

Enjoy your week and I’ll see you on Friday.

CLUB MEETINGS

Rotary Club of Santa Barbara Meeting

First and third Friday of each month.


Costa Kitchen and Bar at the Mar Monte Hotel

1111 East Cabrillo, Santa Barbara, CA 
View our Calendar to see upcoming meeting dates.
Time: 12:00 PM Pacific Time (US and Canada)

UPCOMING EVENTS
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