September 3: Tony Rackauckas, Orange County District Attorney

September 17: Public Safety Recognition:

OC Sheriff's Deputy and OCFA Firefighter of the Year Award

October 1: Rotary International Foundation Presentation

October 15: Annual Ethics in Business Breakfast

BI-MONTHLY ROTARY DEL SOL NEWSLETTER

www.cotorsmrotary.org

Thank you to our outgoing president, David Hickey for his leadership as our

Rotary President for the 2014-2015 year.

At July’s Rotary del Sol demotion party, David handed the gavel to incoming

president Dan Graham. While enjoying outstanding company amongst mem-

bers, it was a time of good food and reflection of rotary achievements.

High-Lights 2014-2015:

-Families Left Behind, an annual fundraiser, helped the needs of military fami-

lies at Camp Pendleton.

-You may have seen the video and photos of the new “JD Weir Well” for the

Maphakama school in South Africa on our Facebook page, but it you didn’t,

you must take a look. In 2014, the Rotary Club of White River decided to assess

Maphakama’s water needs. They discovered the school provided only one liter

of water per child per day, a well needed to be dug.

Once the well was dug, tests showed that it was able to produce water at a rate

of more than 12,000 liters per hour, far more than required to keep the existing

storage tanks full.

-$1000 in contributions were made from rotary members to provide a shelter

box for ensuing disasters worldwide.

-On behalf of the club, Barbara Thomas was awarded the annual “Ethics in

Business Award” for 2014.

-Our speech and vocal contest was a huge success! Rotary members and local

community members gathered to listen to high school students from Tesoro

High School deliver speeches based on the theme, "Light Up Rotary.” Max

Espin from Tesoro High School won first place in the contest and earned a

monetary award for $IOO, while students Mitchell Garamandy and Katie Bui

tied for second place and received $50 awards.

-Scholarships were awarded at the Annual Community Service Scholarship

Competition. The three finalists were asked to make a presentation of five to

seven minutes in duration. Winners were Caroline Bastian (awarded $2,500.00),

Allison Wood (awarded $1,500.00), Whitney Kinnison (awarded $500.00).

This year promises to be just as fruitful; take time to share our Facebook posts,

invite a colleague to one of our bi-monthly meetings or attend some of our so-

cial events. Thank you for all you do members as we continue to grow this great

organization!

Rotary del Sol—Coto de Caza/Rancho Santa Margarita

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September 2015 Issue

September/October

2015

Rotary del Sol www.cotorsmrotary.org

At our August 20th rotary meeting, we welcomed guest speaker and Orange County Sheriff’s Department Captain Brian Schmutz who commands 210 personnel in the area with more than 275,000 residents. Captain Schmutz has 25 years of law enforcement experience, starting as a San Clemente police officer in 1990. From there he has been Deputy Sheriff, Sergeant, Lieutenant Chief of Police Services for the City of Rancho Santa Margarita and now Captain. Throughout his career, Captain Schmutz has successfully performed a variety of assignments, including patrol operations, investigations and custody. We appreciate the developmental update Captain gave us on the new Southeast Division Operations center and are thankful to his service in our community.

Guest Speaker Highlight

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October 2015

2015-2016

Club Executives & Directors

President—Dan Graham

President Elect—Blaine Nelson

Secretary—Jack Clement

Treasurer—David Hickey

Membership—Jeff Sawyer

Foundation—John Carpenter

Youth—Nicole Watson

Public Relations—Barbara Thomas

Vocational—John Dvorak

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We welcome Dan Graham as our 2015-2016 Rotary President of Coto de Caza/Rancho Margarita del Sol.

Born in Seattle, Washington, Dan grew up in Pasadena, Texas and was in the first graduating class of Sam Rayburn High School. While partic-ipating for many years in the Boy Scouts, Dan became an Eagle Scout in 1964.

After studying architecture at Texas Tech University, Dan joined the Navy in 1967 where he served on both the Bennington and Oriskany aircraft carriers, touring Vietnam.

Upon exiting the Navy in 1971, Dan stayed in Southern California and continued his education at Cerritos College and Long Beach State Uni-versity. Within in a year, Dan met and married his wife, Sandy, of 43 years. It was Sandy that encouraged Dan to gain his teaching credential, while working part time for the Wilmington-Carson YMCA.

In 1975, Dan was hired to teach elementary school in Irvine, CA. He stayed in Irvine for 22 years, and in addition to teaching during this time period, he was also president of the Irvine Teachers Association and elementary school principal for El Toro Marine Elementary/College Park Elementary.

He obtained his Master’s degree in School Administration from Pep-perdine University in 1978 and in 1996 Dan had the opportunity of a lifetime to become the principal of Rancho Santa Margarita Intermedi-ate School in the Saddleback Valley Unified School District. It was also during this time period that Dan was introduced to Rotary and became a charter member of the Rotary Club of Coto de Caza/Rancho Santa Mar-garita del Sol.

Sandy and Dan have two great children in Garrett (34) and Amy (27). Each has graduated from college, have jobs they love, and married the love of their lives. The Graham’s are extremely grateful for their chil-

dren’s success and happiness.

PLEASE JOIN US AT OUR NEXT MEETING

1st and 3rd Thursdays at 7:00 a.m. Tijeras Creek Golf Club

29082 Tijeras Creek Rancho Santa Margarita, CA

Come to

Our Next

Social

October 8

Did you Know?

Rotary gives out more Scholarships than any other organization in the world.

Rotary del Sol P.O. Box 81072 Rancho Santa Margarita, CA 92688