Villa Park Rotary Newsletter January 27, 2011

You may also read it on-line by visiting
http://www.RotaryClubofVillaPark.org/Newsletter.cfm

Rotary Club of Villa Park Newsletter

Songs and Stories

Today's meeting was run by Jeannie Hankins who stood in for President Greg Mills.  This might have been the first time a women has run our meeting; an historic first?  As Jeannie said, she is warming us up for when Jane McDonald takes up the gavel in 2012. John Broussard did our invocation and Jill Kuli led the Pledge of Allegiance.  Bryan Nash led us in reciting our Rotary Four Way Test and threatened to make us do it from memory next week.  Our song was Yankee Doodle Dandy.

Guests:

Mike Chamberlin- today's speaker.

Burgit Nemits-

Birthdays:

Steven Pollack - Jan 22nd

Pete Moriarty- Jan 26- celebrated with a concert and dinner

Tom Grundy's wife- Jan 25th - celebrated with dinner.

Presentation:

Nagy Ibrahim presented Jane McDonald with her 2nd Paul Harris Award and a new Paul

                       Harris Award for husband Bill McDonald

Chairperson's Minutes:

Jill Kuli announced that Community Service is going to acquire books from Scholastic Books for

                        local schools and dictionaries for the Project Hope Schools.

                        More on Project Hope:  Community Service is planning a Fruit Bar Friday

                                      Event for the students.  The current school has no kitchen, but the

                                      school is looking for a new location with a kitchen.

LInda Bartrom- Vocational Services - Just a reminder about our upcoming Speech and Singing

                            Contests.    Song Competition February 3rd

                                               Speech Competition February 10th.

Jane McDonald-  International Services Committee will have a meeting following this meeting to

                        discuss allocation of funds.

Get Well Shout Outs:

Tom Davis- recovering from pulmonary embolism

Jim Leeg-recovering from recent rotator cuff surgery back in Nevada.

Happy Bucks:

Tom Grundy- Read about Dr Joy in the recent Rotarian Magazine.  She is a 70 year old

              physician who sees patients free at Rotocare Clinics.

Ron Accornero announced the birth of  a new 7lb 2oz baby girl to his wife Deborah's daughter.

              He also recommends we try a new restaurant called Super Pho by Zito's Pizzaria

               on Tustin Ave for a good healthy meal.

Jane McDonald was happy to be back and walking after her leg injuries.

Bryan Nash went to a book club meeting last night where they had read and discussed his

          book, A Phoenix Rising.  He had a great time and enjoyed the 2 hours of socializing

          and discussing his book and Camp to Belong.

Bob Meyer announced that he has joined a group of 100 war veterans who are going to high

           schools to discuss their war experiences.  This includes veterans of World War II,

           Korea, Viet Nam, Iraq and Afghanistan.  Ed Howard announced that the program would

           be held at Villa Park High  and joking called it "Scared Straight"

Ed Howard also warned local citizens and businesses that Villa Park HIgh was letting out early at

         12:30 today and tomorrow after final exams.  He also was proud to announce that the Villa

          Park  Spartan Basketball team beat arch rival Canon HIgh in a very close game.

Lisa Stepanski sadly announced the death of her pet dog, Scooby.  Poor Scooby was riddled with

         cancer and had to be put to sleep.  All of you who have beloved pets can relate to the

          sadness that follows their passing; Scooby had been part of the family for 12 years.  Lisa did

         point out that her younger son displayed incredible strenth of character despite his devastation

         and stayed with Scooby until the end.

Mike Chamberlin was happy this was a less somber event than a Kiwanis meeting he attending

          where everyone who donated dollars was suffering from dred diseases.

Drawing:   $279.00  John Broussard drew the Queen of Hearts.

Speaker:  Mike Chamberlin

Mike Chamberlin is a retired TV personality who had a 40 year career in radio and television. 

He graduated from San Clemente High in 1966 and had what looked like a promising career as a

rock and roll singer with a contract from Capital Records at age 17.  One day shortly after contemplating a life with song and surfing he received his draft notice from Uncle Sam.   Six months later he found himself in a Vietnamese rice patty carrying a rifle and looking for "Charlie".

After completing his tour of duty he enrolled in a radio and television school in Hollywood and began his long career that began at a small FM station in Redlands and took him to television as a sports anchor for ESPN.

Today Mike spends his retirement performing and telling stories to small groups in senior centers,

clubs,etc.   He has written a book called, God Has a Sense of Humor For Heaven's Sake that contains funny stories and items he has collected over the years.  He also has a CD called Storyteller.  Mike entertained us with his singing, guitar playing and stories.

Some of the songs he sang were:

Take Me Out to The Ballgame-  ironically written in 1927 by a man who never went to a ballgame,

Somewhere Over the Rainbow, Old Cotton Fields Back Home, When You Wish Upon a Star and a song for Lisa's dog Scooby that he penned himself and modified for the occassion.

To learn more about Mike check out his website:  www.singingtvguy.com