UPCOMING PROGRAMS

September 6: Frank E Baxter,

Chairman Emeritus of Jefferies

September 13: Ned Colletti,

General Manager LA Dodgers

Sept 20: Harvey Englander,

Partner Englander Knabe Allen

Sept 27: Father Greg Boyle,

Founder Homeboy Industries

October 4: Dr. Lois Lee,

President Children of the Night

CALENDAR IT NOW

Sept 4: LA5 First Wednesday

Mixer at LA Athletic Club 5pm

Sept 21: Griffith Park Hike

8apm to 11am

VISIT WWW.ROTARYLA5.ORG FOR MORE

INFORMATION ON SPEAKERS & EVENTS

Rotary Club of Los Angeles

established 1909

September 6, 2013

rotaryLA5.org

Richard Simmons readies

Prez Ken for Stair Climb

Motivational fitness guru Richard Simmons was named Prez

Ken’s personal trainer after the club leader fell dangerously behind preparations for the downtown September 27 stair

climb. Brainy Ken has embraced LA5 budgets, schedules

and goals but exercise is not one of his favorite pastimes.

Ken’s climbing team — Adam Deragisch, Patrick Mahoney,

Paul Ekstrand and Zein Obagi — engaged the eccentric tele-vision star after the Prez collapsed only 7 floors into a prac-tice run. The U.S. Bank Tower has 72 floors. Although the

climbing team hopes Simmons will get Ken in shape, the

backup plan is just to carry Ken to the top.

Close friends have confidentially revealed Prez Ken is not ex-cited about slipping on a leotard and swinging his hips to high-energy songs from the 60s. “I married a great husband

and a loving father,” Ken’s wife Heidi sighed, but he’s never going be a Schwarzenegger or guy who can dance the twist

to Heat Wave.”

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El Rodeo 3

Delaney Dragon, Tuan Do, Paul Ek-strand and Joseph Auday represent the

New LA5 for its second century.

Past President Ed Matveld enjoys track-ing attendance with Joseph Grant.

Peter Weinberger and Carole Donahue.

Anthony Bourg, Laine Wagenseller and guest.

Prez Ken’s Favorite Moment of the meeting

Presenting Scholarships

When Prez Ken informs the program speaker they are the sponsor of a scholarship, he knows the club’s thoughtful gift

will be remembered for a long time.

“A lot of clubs give away mugs and pencil sets, but our thank you for speaking at LA5 is something that will touch their

hearts. I explain a little bit about the tradition of LA5 scholar-ships and the breathtaking scope of our commitment, then I give them a portfolio with a photo of a real recipient and a

brief story. I know they will take the portfolio back to their of-fice or home and tell their friends and family about what a re-

markable day they had at LA5.”

Prez Ken also invites the speaker to return to LA5 in June when the next awards are announced and they can meet the

actual person who will receive their scholarship.

Paul Jacques and Anthony Calloway are the Board Directors for Youth Service. Please contact them if you wish to learn

more about the program and also find out how you can par-

ticipate in the selection process.

If you missed the meeting last week

Carmen Estrada-Schaye, Adam Bar and guest at the mixer before lunch.

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Prez Ken to Skipper USS LA5

C iting his club by-law authority,

Prez Ken War invoked the War Pow-ers Act to christen the USS LA5, a

cardboard boat that will sail at the District Picnic to be held on Sunday, October 6, at the Seaside Lagoon in Redondo Beach.

The event is free for Rotarians and families;

validated parking is a paltry $4.50.

Last year more than 1,000 people attended

and the affair has grown larger every year. Be-sides the Cardboard Boat Race, all 64 clubs in

the district have been invited to participate in a Chili Cook-off. The winning club goes home

with a really cheap Chili Pot award.

This year the festivities will include honoring

military veterans in District 5280 with special recognition. The picnic will have a patriotic

theme and everyone is encouraged to wear a

red, white and blue bathing suit.

The New Generations Rotaractors will sponsor

games for the entire family, with special ac-

tivities designed specifically for children.

The annual District Picnic has an established

reputation as the best family affair of the Ro-tary year. Redondo Beach is not far on a Sun-

day morning; traffic is always light and park-

ing is easy. Don’t miss it.

T he UCLA-USC Rally, an annual

event that originated in 1950, will be held this year on Tuesday,

November 26, at LA Live. Whether you have attended twenty times or if this year will be your first, there is plenty to knock

your socks off.

Former USC head coach John Robinson and former UCLA head coach Terry Donahue

headline the notable sports attendees. You will also enjoy seeing the USC Song Girls and

Trojan Band, the UCLA Dance Team and Joe

and Josephine Bruin.

The whole show will be a blow out and it sells

out every year. It’s a Tuesday so your boss won’t be any wiser when you call in sick that

morning. And you should! How many other

tailgate parties will be this much fun?

Annual USC-UCLA Rally Date Set

Ben’s Lunch Forecast

Past President and world-class

Gastronome Ben Tunnell plans his week around Friday’s lunch

selection. Here are your choices

this Friday.

ENTREE: Tender boneless Chicken Breast filled with roasted pepper and capers, rosemary, and shallot reduction sauce.

VEGETARIAN: Roasted Farmers Market vegetable Fritatta, asiago cheese, tomato and basil relish, herb salsa.

Chartered June 25, 1909

Club Leadership 2013-14

Ken Chong, President Alan Bernstein, President-Elect Jose Vera, Vice-President Elizabeth Wheeler, Secretary Don Robinson, Treasurer Jay Richardson, Past President

Club Service Arthur Kassel Paul Richey

Community Service Margaret Karren Jim Hoyt

Funding Todd Johnson Al Shonk

International Service Laine Wagenseller Rick Sarmiento

Membership and Retention Charisse Older Erick Weiss

Vocational Service John Miller John Jaacks

Youth Service Anthony Calloway Paul Jacques

Sergeant-at-Arms Paul Ekstrand Barry Hytowitz Steve Sommers

Executive Director Jon Gibby JON@ROTARYLA5.ORG

Rotary Club of Los Angeles 523 West Sixth Street, Suite 718 Los Angeles, CA 90014 Telephone 213.624.8601 Facsimile 213.624.2694 WWW.ROTARYLA5.ORG

District 5280 Governor Doug Baker

El Rodeo Marc Leeka, Editor Felix Keats, Photographer

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Rotarians You Want to Know:

Laine Wagenseller

S erving as a Board Director for In-

ternational Service is a perfect match for Laine Wagenseller. He

loves to travel and has visited 23 countries, enjoying hiking in Chile, sailing in Australia, kayaking in Thailand and bicy-

cling through Southern China. He would like to explore India and more of southeast Asia next. His mother once asked him,

“Why don’t you go to France like normal people!”

Laine’s idea of what is normal was greatly shaped by his visit

four years ago to an orphanage in Kaihura, Uganda, run by Bringing Hope to the Family and funded by Global Support Mission in Nashville. Laine worked with boys at the orphan-

age’s farm teaching them how to be men. Hoping to build a long term legacy, Laine has been back four times, most re-

cently in June when he took the boys on a field trip to a nearby city to see a large commercial farm and to tour a tech-

nical school.

On one trip Laine met Adolf, an orphan who had been badly burned on both legs when his aunt threw scalding banana leaves on him. The damage

was so severe that Adolf crawled on all fours. When

Laine returned home, he worked with the Children’s Burn Foundation and the

Grossman Burn Center to bring Adolf to Los Angeles for six months of surgeries.

Adolf stayed with Laine’s brother (and Santa Monica

Rotarian) Scott and his fam-ily while he attended school

and learned to walk again.

“I joined Rotary because of the great people and camara-

derie. It also gave me the chance to share my passion

with others.”

If you haven’t met Laine yet, then please introduce your-

self at the next meeting.

Laine’s Favorites

I am a huge reader; a perfect

afternoon is sitting in the sun in my yard with my two golden re-

trievers, reading a good book.

Two recent favorites:

“The Gift of Rain” by Tan Twan Eng, a novel set in Malaya in

the run up to and during the

Japanese invasion of WWII.

Sasha Issenberg’s “The Victory Lab” is a look at the social sci-

ence and logistics of elections: how to get people to vote and

how campaigns find the voters they are looking for. “I am very

interested in politics and the incredible logistical feat of run-

ning nationwide campaigns.”

1,203,466 number of Rotarians worldwide on September 1.

34,426 number of Rotary Clubs worldwide.

219 number of countries and territories with Rotary Clubs.

336,591 Rotarians in 7805 clubs make the United States the #1 country for

Rotary membership.

122,251 Rotarians in 3159 clubs make India the #2 country for Rotary mem-

bership.

50% of membership worldwide is comprised by clubs in four countries:

United States, India, Japan and South Korea.

2,500 number of Rotarians in the 64 clubs (Greater Los Angeles and San

Fernando Valley) that comprise District 5280.

30% of Rotarians in District 5280 are women.

18% of Rotarians worldwide are women.

46% of members in the 47 clubs of Rotary District 3420 (Indonesia) are

women, the greatest percentage of women in any district.

2% Rotary District 2980 in southeastern India with 150 clubs has the

smallest percentage of women members.

T HE COUNTRY WITH THE FEWEST Rotarians is Nauru, a tiny 8.1 square mile phosphate rock island in Micronesia. Nauru is the world's smallest repub-

lic with 9,378 residents. The 11 members of the Rotary Club of Nauru meet Wednesdays at the Nauru Campus patio, University of South Pacific.

Literacy on Nauru is 96 percent and there are no personal taxes. The unemploy-

ment rate is estimated to be 90 percent and, of those who have jobs, the govern-

ment employs 95 percent.

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Be Ready when

Alex announces your

category is Rotary