Rotary Club

The Rotary Club of Simi Sunrise is increasing to $6,000 the college scholarships it awards to graduating high school seniors. In past years, the club has offered $1,500 to graduates from each of the three area high schools. This year it will give an additional $1,500 to a student who lives in Simi Valley but attends school elsewhere. Winners will be chosen based on criteria such as academic performance and contributions to the community. The deadline for applying is May 4.

For $100, you could fund a shopping spree at the 99 Cents Only store or host a feast catered by your favorite fast-food eatery's dollar menu. Or you could buy a house -- maybe. The Santa Clarita Valley Rotary Club, a chapter of Rotary International, is hosting an online raffle of a house of the winner's choice valued up to $600,000, with an included reserve of $400,000 for closing costs and taxes on the sale, said Maureen Micklich, a spokeswoman for Samuel Dixon Family Health Centers Inc., which is a beneficiary of the contest.

Rotary International, an independent business and charitable organization, will open its first club in Moscow this week and hopes to start chapters in half a dozen other Soviet cities, the organization's president said today. Twenty-five Muscovites, including two lawyers, a theater manager and a professional translator, will meet officially for the first time after three years of difficult negotiations seeking guaranteed independence for the club.

Immigrants in multicultural Miami had the final word Wednesday in a monthlong battle with Colorado Republican Rep. Tom Tancredo: Adios. A speech by Tancredo to the Rotary Club of Miami scheduled for today was canceled after the Key Biscayne restaurant that hosts the group's weekly lunch meetings announced that the congressman critical of immigration was not welcome there.

Four Ventura County families who have been victims of domestic violence are looking forward to some holiday cheer this season. On Saturday, Rotary Club volunteers will provide each family with the fixings of a traditional Christmas: a tree with lights and decorations, a turkey and gifts for the children. It is a gesture that Randy Strong, a member of the Rotary Club of Westlake Village Sunrise, said benefits those giving and those receiving. "This is the season of giving," he said.

With McDonald's in Moscow, can more bastions of capitalism be far behind? Rotary District 526, which includes 39 clubs between Los Angeles and Mammoth Lakes, evidently hopes not. Representatives of the district's Rotarians, at a recent meeting in a Tarzana church, contributed $1,000 to an international scholarship fund in the name of Raisa Gorbachev. In return for this donation that she did not actually make, Rotary will bestow on Mrs. Gorbachev the honorary title of Paul Harris Fellow.

A change in seasons and location for the third annual Community Street Festival--a Westlake Village Rotary Club fund-raiser--paid off with a slight increase in turnout Sunday, organizers said. "The weather is helping in that it's not pouring rain," said William Notthoff, chairman of the fair. The event, held in May last year, was moved to March despite fears the weather would not cooperate.

The Moorpark Rotary Club has named an eight-year veteran of the Ventura County Sheriff's Department as the city's Officer of the Year for 1995. Senior Deputy Ron Nelson accepted the award at a recent luncheon. Nelson has been working with the Moorpark division since 1990. He works in Moorpark's detective division and with the Gang Suppression Unit. His supervisor, Sgt. Terry Hughes, said Nelson stood out not because of a single thing, but because of his "day-to-day workload."

Thirty years after the classrooms at Anatola Elementary School were last painted, the Van Nuys Rotary Club figured it was time to step in. So the 50-member chapter "adopted" the Van Nuys school, using the skills of each member to benefit Anatola. The roofer plans to fix the school's roof. The accountants and lawyers will attend Career Day. And between 9 a.m. and 1 p.m. Saturday, everyone will paint. "We've done this two or three times before," said Rotarian Rocky Star.

Alarmed at last summer's record number of drowning deaths across Orange County, the city's newly organized Rotary Club swung into action. Club members in September organized an all-day, free training session in cardiopulmonary resuscitation for residents. It was so successful that the club is providing a second CPR training session in February.

Every Tuesday at noon, the Rotary Club of Simi Valley holds its weekly meeting in a hotel ballroom. The 60 or so members--local businessmen and businesswomen, civic leaders and retirees--collect their name tags and backslap their way through the buffet line. Then, against a backdrop of Rotary banners from around the world, the club president rings a bell and the group rises for the pledge of allegiance and a sing-along of "God Bless America."

The Woodland Hills Rotary Club has received $15,000 from an anonymous donor to pay the electric bill for a year at a cash-strapped orphanage in Mexico supported by the club. The gift was among several offers of money, supplies and services for Door of Faith, a residential facility for disabled and able-bodied abandoned children in La Mision, Baja California.

By nearly all measures, John Whitmore and Sheri Polak have led prosperous lives--they've retired from successful careers, raised children, traveled the world and served their communities. Now in their late 60s, Whitmore and Polak have no plans to quietly live out their golden years. Instead, the longtime friends are the driving force behind an outreach project that collects and distributes food, clothing, toiletries, medicine and money to Mexican orphans.

Like any discriminating holiday shopper, 11-year-old Brandon slowly scanned the department store jewelry display Wednesday morning in search of the perfect gift. As part of a shopping spree sponsored by the Rotary Club of Westlake Village with help from Interface Children and Family Services in Camarillo, Brandon was one of 30 disadvantaged Conejo Valley children selected to pick out $125 worth of clothes, socks, jackets and underwear for themselves.

A Civil War battle reenactment--complete with infantry, cavalry and artillery units dressed in full regalia--will be the highlight of a two-day event planned this weekend by the Moorpark Rotary Club. "Gettysburg: A Civil War Battle and Encampment" will run from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday and Sunday at Tierra Rejada Ranch, 3370 Moorpark Road. The replica encampments and twice-daily battles will be open to the public for $7 a person. Children younger than 6 are admitted free.

The Rotary Club will meet from 7 to 8:30 a.m. today in the City Council chamber, 17855 Santiago Blvd. All residents are invited to hear discussions about issues in the city.

Five people, including two firefighters who survived a helicopter crash that killed three colleagues and an 11-year-old girl, were honored for their outstanding contribution to the community at a luncheon hosted by the Van Nuys Rotary Club on Wednesday. Each received a certificate of recognition at the event, held at the Masonic Temple on Sherman Way.

Local and international Rotary Club members have donated $20,000 toward the restoration of E.P. Foster Library. As the fund-raising campaign wound down, one last donation came in--a matching grant from four local rotary chapters and one in Mexico. With the latest award, the library campaign raised $460,000 toward new books, desks and other equipment.

Local and international Rotary Club members have donated $20,000 toward the restoration of E.P. Foster Library. As the fund-raising campaign wound down, one last donation came in--a matching grant from four local rotary chapters and one in Mexico. With the latest award, the library campaign raised $460,000 toward new books, desks and other equipment.

There is nothing in life quite like a child's spontaneous show of affection. How could anything compare to the warmth and sincerity of those small arms around one's neck? Gus blessed me with that delectable sensation the other day. Here's how that came about. Each Thursday morning I go to Portola Elementary School to tutor three energetic second-graders: Gus, Vance and Cody. They all needed a little boost in reading skills and sometimes in math, It's part of a program of the Rotary Club of Ventura East.