Zaven Kazazian Jorge Vasquez Nancy Young

Transcription

1 My Rotary Moment

2 Zaven Kazazian My Rotary moment was when I went to the Orphanage for the shoe buying trip. Walking with a 7 year old boy who spoke no English and my not speaking Spanish showed that we can communicate when our heart is in the right place. Jorge Vasquez I have had so many times when the meaning of being a Rotarian has touched me personally. It has been a learning curve. However my first one was as a counselor at my first Rotary Youth Awards Camp (RYLA). I was asked, by then President John Mount, to support something called RYLA. He explained the purpose of the camp as teaching youth about leadership. My initial thought was, "great that is the last thing I want to do is spend my weekend with 100 high school students". But I couldn't say no to the president. At the camp I was assigned a group of about 8 students. I was terrified. President John camp up to me and said, "go talk to them they don't bite". Well as they say, the rest is history. After three days my life changed. I realized my passion in Rotary would be working with youth. Upon my return home several days later, I received an from on of the students in my group. She wrote a poem about her feelings on the school shooting in Colorado. She told me how much the camp had meant to her. I realized then what "service above self" meant. It was about going beyond our own comfort zone to serve others. But it doesn't end there. As a result your life could be changed forever. After that camp I became the chair of District 5260 RYLA. I had come a long way from being terrified to spend a weekend with 100 students. Nancy Young I I was a fairly new Rotarian and excited to see what this organization was all about. As a result of my enthusiansm I wanted to participate in as many activities as I could to become familiar with its workings. My first signifcant experience was going with other Rotarians from my club on a road trip to an orphanage in Mexico that we have supported now for 13 years. That was seven years ago. It was a fun filled trip with lots of laughter and full of anticipation. I had never been to an orphange so I had no idea what to expect. We arrived before lunch and were greeted with an excited group of children who lived there and were familiar with some of my travelling companions who made visits at least twice a year. Those of us who were new to making this trip were given a tour. Our objective for this visit was to assemble bunk beds. As I wasn't any help with that task, I volunteered to help with setting things set up for lunch. To my amazement, setting up for lunch for 100 children is rather daunting. And, necessary three times a day. The children pitched in, were so well behaved, clean, well dressed, courteous, happy, and full of energy that everything became a group effort and fun. On the tour, I saw many things our Rotary Club had contributed in the past which was impressive. And, has continued to this date. The childrens dorms were neat, clean, well organized, and cheerful. It was nothing even close to what I expected from an orphanage in an area where poverty is rampant.

3 I was proud to be a part of such devoted caring, over the longterm, and in a location where I could participate as opposed to allocation of funds to projects in which I would never even be a first hand witness. I became a Rotarian on that trip. My arrival at the orphange was my Rotary moment from the moment of arrival. Stephen Ropfogel I LOVE, LOVE. LOVE doing make ups. Both local and international. I have picked up many ideas for our club at another Rotary Club meeting. Still remember the first make up I did right after joining The Rotary Club of Glendale Sunrise, it was the Rotary Club of Las Vegas, NV. However, it is the international makeups that have had the greatest impact on my Rotary experience. Here are two examples. The first international make up that I did was at the Rotary Club of Amadale, WA. As it turns out my Sister lives in Amadale and just before I joined Rotary our club had a visitor from that club, by the name of Greg Walkington. So when I told club members that I was going to visit my sister for Christmas they gave me Greg s name and contact information. I was welcomed into the club as a long lost friend returning home. Visited the club every other year for about 10 years. To this day Greg and I are still friends. Last month I was in Venice, Italy and visited the club there. The club does not meet in July or August (everyone travels.) However, there was an executive committee meeting going on. They were so welcoming I can t wait to go back. And, when I do I will not only visit, but one of the members invited me to take a tour of Venice using his party boat. Make ups have shown me that we are truly in the Rotary World. Ray Rangwala My Rotary Moment: going to our orphanage near Ensenada Mx for the past 14 + years, I realize that on these visits, I get waaayyy more than I give. The kids pay us by giving us hugs & smiles. This energizes me & reminds me why I'm in Rotary David Viar I realized what it meant to be a Rotarian engaged in Service Above Self when I first walked into a room of 30 third graders at an elementary school that served an ethnically diverse and economically disadvantaged population and saw the excitement on the faces of the students to whom we presented a brand new dictionary. For most of these students it was the first book they had ever received. My fellow Rotarians and I passed out the dictionaries while one Rotarian asked the students questions that allowed them to look up a word, see colorful pictures, find a flag of a country or state. We had them print their names in the front of the dictionary and explained that it

4 was now their own. Finally we told them about the Rotary four way test that was on a sticker in the front of the dictionary and the importance of service above self. Knowing that my Rotary Club gave out over 1,000 dictionaries that day in North Sacramento was a moment of pride and my first glimpse of what it meant to be a Rotarian. Jory Potts There comes a time in a person s life when they know they are doing something right. My Rotary moment happened when I gathered up my children, along with the Rotaract kids of Glendale College and we prepared dinner for the homeless at Ascencia. The families living at Ascencia were very appreciative, my kids played with the children and we all sat down and had fellowship with the residence. Richard Diradourian My Rotary moment did NOT involve a service project or helping someone who was down in their journey during life but the following story is true and tells us about how small or large our Rotary world is. I just sat down with a plate full of carbohydrates for our weekly Rotary morning breakfast. A nice gentleman who apparently was doing a makeup at our club just happened to sit next to me. NO big deal, happens at every Rotary meeting. He introduced himself as Bob. I m being cordial to this visiting Rotarian, but in the meantime there was something inside of me that was saying this was not just an ordinary visiting Bob Rotarian. I said to myself, I have seen this Bob before.. He looked familiar. (And it wasn t his photo image next to mine in the post office either). It must have seemed strange to this fellow, because I am sure that he caught me just staring at him while gulping down my crispy bacon morsel. To be polite, we started saying the usual introductions, what club are you from, how big is your club, what brings you to Glendale, of all places. Then may brain having gotten its influx of bad for you, but tastes great food began to wake up. So I asked this gentleman where he was originally from (You know, no one 18 years ago was from LA). He said, back east. So what city? Oh Philadelphia. Really I am from Philly too. And then the proverbial brick hit me in the head. By the way. Bob, what is your last name? Gomberg.

5 Gomberg, really I went to high school and college with a Jack Gomberg in Havertown, Pennsylvania. a nice suburb of Philly. Jack Gomberg, he s my nephew. Ao the kicker to all of this and my Rotary moment, was that my school buddy s uncle sat down next to me at a totally random Rotary Breakfast. Ain t Rotary great!!