At the January 21th Meeting members and guests heard a presentation from Ivan Esquivel, recent new Rotary member and employee for Lucy Avalos Catering Company. Ivan's talk addressed the subject of bio-mechanics. As agreed to by Daniel, this presentation was only the first part of a longer presentation that Ivan will present at a later Rotary meeting in March or April.

Ivan is well-known among Rotary members, besides assisting in food preparation for the Rotary luncheons, Ivan became a Lynwood Rotary member during 2015.

Ivan is a graduate of Salesian HS in ELA. He has obtained his AA Degree from CSULB in Aviation Science. He now has a career interest in bio-mechanics, which he states is the infusion of metal and human tissue.

Ivan mentioned the application of bio-mechanics in the development of robotic limbs, citing the example about five years ago at USC-UCLA General Hospital, where a woman lost her whole right arm which was replaced with a robotic arm. Ivan noted the military uses of robotic limbs for wounded soldiers.

Ivan will return with more information in a second presentation.

There were a number of announcements before the presentation. Club President, Martina Rodriguez, announced that the South Gate Rotary Club has invited Lynwood Rotary members to attend its weekly luncheon meeting on Wednesday, January 27 at 12 Noon, at its regular meeting location, which is the Auditorium Building in South Gate Park. The speaker will talk about plans for improvements at the LA – Long Beach Harbor.

JD Whitaker, Parking and Animal Control Services Manager for the City of Lynwood, announced the 5th Annual Ricardo Lara Gospel Brunch on Sat, Feb 6, 11 am – 2 pm. The event is free but tickets must be obtained in advance. One location for the tickets is the Lynwood Senior Center. No stranger to the Rotary Club, Daniel welcomed JD Whitaker to the meeting, noting that when he thinks about an effective and productive city employee, the first name to come to mind, is JD! He also had a heart warming experience that morning relating to Animal Control. He was checking on the Long Beach Green Line Station at 7:30 am before today's meeting ( a volunteer monthly report for MTA), and noticed a beautiful large stray dog in the Green Line parking lot. Ramon Galindo called in the report, and JD noted that the dog had been picked up by Animal Control staff before the meeting. Hopefully the dog will be reunited with his owners through the Services of the Lynwood Animal Control .

Daniel mentioned the importance of the annual homeless count for Lynwood. Volunteers will need to report to Room 1, Bateman Hall, on Thursday, Feb 28, at 8pm. The count will be conducted from 8pm to 11 pm. Daniel said he participated in the count for Lynwood last year, and will also participate this year. Three other Rotary members volunteered: Ramon Rodriguez, Oliver Conner and Ivan Esquievel. After the meeting, Deborah Jackson, Community Relations Manager, registered these three volunteers on line.

Daniel mentioned two other coming city events: Sat, Jan 23, 10 am at the Lynwood Community Center, a meeting to obtain community input on requests for improvements and additions to the Lynwood city parks; also the annual Sunday luncheon for children with special needs in February at Bateman Hall.

Daniel Miller / Omar Franco

Public Relations and Community Outreach for the Lynwood Rotary Club