Lynwood Rotary Meeting Update 05.11.2017

At the May 11,  meeting, members and guests heard Mark Flores, Director of the Department of Recreation and Community Services, along with Jose Trejo, Deputy Director of the same department, City of Lynwood.

Before the main presentation, President Ramon Rodriguez mentioned several coming events. 

Club President Ramon Rodriguez mentioned the coming District 5280 annual District Assembly which is held at the City of Carson Conference Center.  The event this year is Saturday, June 3, from 7:30am to Noon.  The Assembly has a number of sessions that describe Rotary Avenues of Service, and include information as to skills and activities involved in these programs.  Ramon encouraged all club members to plan to attend this event.

Another event for Lynwood Rotary members is the American Cancer Relay for Life Run to be held in South Gate Park for a 24 hour period, July 15 – 16.  Last year the event was held in the Lynwood Park across the street and Lulu organized club participation, which included half of the Lynwood Club members. Ramon stated he will ask Lulu if she can again organize the Lynwood club's participation. Participating groups bring camping equipment to stay in during the 24 hour run.  The concept is that a minimum of one person from each participating group is on the track during the 24 hour period from Sat am to Sun am.

President Ramon stated that he hoped to get City approval this week about the planned evening meetings on a trial basis, with the first evening meeting set for Thursday, May 25, 6 pm to 7:30 pm in Bateman Hall.  Daniel mentioned that club member Martina Rodriguez urged that there be special decorations in the meeting room.  Also it was suggested that other special activities be planned for this evening meeting.  And Martina and other members urged that everyone bring a guest to this meeting.

Daniel encouraged attendance at a Wednesday May 17 event 2pm at St. Francis Medical Center to participate in a Healthy Lynwood Partnership meeting with staff from LA County Dept. of Public Health.

Also before the main presentation, the club heard again from Cheryl Hunt, Assistant Operations Manager of Teen Challenge International, which has a facility for young women in Lynwood.  Two representatives present were Brittany Hawk, who stated: “After completing Teen Challenge my goal is to go to Bible College and then go home to take care of my two year old daughter.”  Also Cynthia Castro stated:  “After completing 16 months at Teen Challenge I plan on pursuing ministry at Teen Challenge Ministry Institute, and I want to work for Teen Challenge.”

Mark Flores and Jose Trejo described a number of the programs and activities of the City.  Among the many programs and activities described was the recent opening of the Lucy Avalos Center in Ham Park.  Also described were the recent annual start of kids soft ball program and the start of the community gardens in the linear park, also a Celebration of Lynwood Women (Sat, May 13),  also Movies in the park, Thursday evenings, also a Keep Lynwood Clean event, July 29;  also major repairs/ upgrades to the northern end of Ham Park; and a new bike trail that will connect Lynwood with other walkways and paths.

With strong concurrence from Daniel, Mark and Jose will return in Jan or Feb 2018 with an update on plans for park improvements using funds available from the Measure A Parks Funds that were approved by the voters in a LA County election.

 Daniel Miller / Omar Franco / Rowland Becerra