Mark Your Calendars
December 20 – Rotary Foundation Night – Invite a guest to come and hear about the charitable programs of the Rotary Foundation around the world. 5:30 p.m., Grand Street Center
December 20 – Car Show Planning Update, 6:30 p.m., Grand Street Center – All members please attend!
December 21 – Holiday Basket Distribution – Members will shop for six needy families in the morning and pack boxes and baskets for delivery. Shopping is at the Second Harvest Food Bank in Tustin. In the afternoon, teams will deliver the baskets to the selected families. Joe Colombo and Joe Spielgelberg are heading up this project.
December 27 – DARK – HAPPY HOLIDAYS!
January 3 – Fireside Chat – Especially for new and prospective members! Bring a guest for this special presentation about the programs and projects of Orange Sunrise! 5:30 p.m., Grand Street Center
January 3 – Car Show Planning Meeting, 6:30 p.m., Grand Street Center
January 10 – Speaker: Stephen Macklin of Noah’s Ark Foster Family Agency. 5:30 p.m., Grand Street Center
January 17 – “Rotary Shares” High School Speech Contest – High school students will compete in the annual District 5320 contest. The club winner will advance to the area semi-final. 5:30 p.m., Grand Street Center
Fun for the Family at the Holiday Party
Club Service chair Joe Colombo enlisted the help of his entire family to put on a very special holiday celebration for our club in our new home at the Grand Street Center. Members Tracey and Jason Curtis assisted in the planning, bringing in “Behind the Scenes Catering” of Orange. Members, guests and family members dined on beef, chicken florentine, fettucine, vegetables and a variety of dessert choices.
Joe’s daughter Kelli decorated the room, with a Christmas tree, wreath over the fireplace and table centerpieces of pine and silver ornaments.
Joe supervised the gift exchange, where our traditional game of “dirty Santa”, led to many rounds of stealing and negotiating, as well as a lot of laughter.
Thank you to Joe and his family for a wonderful fellowship event!
18 Boxes Headed to Iraq
Members and guests contributed items at our December 13th meeting for the annual “Operation a Bit of Home” supply drive for US troops. Candy, snacks, first aid supplies and hygiene items were packed into priority mail boxes for shipping to “Freedom Rest”, the rest and recreation base in Baghdad, Iraq. In the photo, Kevin Mercer and Bryan Rogers of the Rotary Club of Orange North, and Orange Sunrise members display the results of the drive. District-wide, Rotarians are expected to ship more than 2,000 boxes to our troops this holiday season.
5 Families to Receive Holiday Baskets
Members will gather on Friday, December 21st, to shop for, fill, and deliver holiday food baskets to five families in Orange. The families have been selected by Katie Anderson, principal of Esplanade elementary school, and among the neediest in the school district.
Three teams will work on the project: Shoppers in the a.m. will buy food and supplies at the Second Harvest Food Bank in Tustin and return to the Grand Street center with these items. Other members will be needed at lunchtime to sort and pack the baskets and prepare them for delivery. Finally, delivery teams will leave from the Grand Street Center after 3 p.m. to deliver the goodies to the families.
Co-chairs for this project are Joe Colombo and Joe Spiegelberg. Be sure to let them know what team you will be on!
Car Show Gears Up!
The 14th Annual Orange Plaza Car Show is ready to roll, Sunday, April 20, 2008. Entries forms will be mailed to applicants in early January, with the form also available on our website. All members and volunteers are asked to attend the planning meeting December 20, 2007 at 6:30 p.m. in the Grand Street Center. There is much to do!
Tickets Still Available!
The Rotary International Convention comes to Los Angeles in June of 2008. Don’t miss this opportunity to attend an International Convention without the cost of airfare and hotels! 40,000 Rotarians from around the world are expected to attend. Don’t miss the inspiring and educational programs, presented by top speakers from many nations. Visit the House of Friendship and meet Rotarians from across the country and across the globe. Visit the Rotary International website today!
http://www.rotary.org/en/Members/Events/Convention/Pages/HowtoRegister.aspx
Rotary Foundation Thought
This week’s Rotary Foundation Thought is about the Haiti Safe Water Plus project. Coordinated by District 5950 leaders in Minnesota, it has become a multi-million dollar, centerpiece world community service project that exemplifies the powerful impact that Rotarians can have in the world. Fresh water wells and sanitation facilities are being constructed in the central plateau area of Haiti and the Dominican Republic. This project will provide key sanitation needs to over 141 villages in these areas. A local Dominican woman remarked to a visiting Rotarian who was inspecting one of the newly operational wells, “After Rotary drilled the well,” she said, “the children stopped dying.” Contributions to the Annual Programs Fund help make these projects possible.