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Where in the world is Al Watson? Our newer members may not know who Al Watson is. Al was an early member of RB Sunrise Rotary and has been president twice - 1995-96 and 2010-2011. During his presidency in 2010-2011, Al pushed to establish a holiday event for children. As a result Sue Herndon was able to suggest the Holiday event at Valley Elementary School that our club supports in partnership with the PTA there. This event also is supported by participation by our sister club, Club Tijuana Rotario Millennio Minarete. This event is held on the first weekend in December. Al is now an honorary member because he and his wife, Carolyn (Scooter) have been doing a lot of traveling. Currently Al and Scooter are in Europe on an extended automobile trip. At this writing they are in Romania. After visiting Germany, they traveled to Poland where Al was horrified by the bad driving habits he encountered there. He found Slovakia and the Czech Republic to be much better. After initially thinking that they would bypass Budapest, the ended up going there and having a great time. Al has found that going to Romania was not a good idea. The gypsies in Romania are intent on ripping every one off. Because they are researching places to see themselves, they are seeing some great out of the way places. A downside of this trip has been the effect of different beds and bumpy roads on Al's back. I have to admire his tenacity about this trip. At one point a few weeks ago he realized he had worn out one pair of walking shoes. When he replaced them it helped his back a lot. Al reports that he and Scooter will be back in RB in September. Al is planning to help with our festival event. He is very impressed with the planning and the other news I have been sending him. Al has been writing a daily commentary on their travels. Anyone interested in seeing his photos and reading his commentaries can let me know at: jdunny1@me.com Rancho BEERnardo Last Tueday, instead of a speaker, Tracey van Putten and Mark Berdan presented the information about how we are going to get to our fundraising goal of $100,000. The fundraising teams were set up and we all gathered with our team. We found out that this year there are going to be around 50 breweries involved. The Marriott Residence Inn will be offering a special so that visitors from out of town will be able to stay overnight after our event. Interestingly, the first tickets sold from our festival website are from Canoga Park and location in Riverside County !. This week volunteers from the club will man a phone bank on Tuesday and Wednesday to call the businesses that have already recieved the fundraising letters we prepared a few weeks ago. Selling sponsorship is an essential part of reaching our fundraising goal. Now is also the time that we need to be contacting our friends and associates to buy tickets, donate to our event and/or help us by volunteering. We will need help from outside the club in order to have our event be successful Organizations that benefit from the fund we will be raising will also be contacted to provide volunteers. Why is Rotary Still Raising Money for Polio Eradication? Over 30 years ago, Rotary began its effort to eradicate polio. The progress in stopping this infectious disease has been remarkable. But the fight isn't over. Until the vaccination effort is complete, polio can make a resurgence and reverse the progess not only in other parts of the world, but here in the US. For the complete update on the current state of Polio Eradication go to: Why Zero Matters |
