Posted by Gurdip (Honorary Member) Hari on Dec 14, 2017

 At the December 14, meeting, members discussed recent and coming events.

Voting for Lynwood Rotary officers was postponed until the first meeting in January. 

There will be opportunity for submission of additional names at the Jan 4 meeting, with final voting to occur at the Jan 4 meeting.

As reported in last week’s minutes, concerning nominations for Rotary Club officers, it was noted with much pleasure that Rotary member Gudiel Crosthwaite, Superintendent for the Lynwood Unified School District, is willing to serve as the Rotary President Elect, which means that after Barbara Battle serves as Club President starting in July 2018, that the following year, starting in July 2019, Mr. Crosthwaite will be the Club president.

With respect to operation of the Fireworks Stand in July 2018, it was agreed that Joe Wang will talk to representatives of the fireworks company, Phantom Fireworks, to confirm what charges in 2017 the Lynwood Club had to pay for use of the property in the parking lot of the Food For Less Market (which property is part of Plaza Mexico).  Then President Joe Wang, and President- Elect Barbara Battle, and Ramon Rodriguez, and if requested, Daniel Miller, will meet with the head of Plaza Mexico, Mario Cardenas, with the objective that for July 2018, the Lynwood Club would not have to pay any charges for use of the property where the fireworks stand is located every year.  If the discussions are successful with Plaza Mexico, it was noted that the Rotary Club could advertise that Plaza Mexico is making a significant contribution to the Rotary Club by allowing the location of the fireworks stand at no charge to Rotary.

Daniel again mentioned the possibility of creating a flyer that would be distributed by Rotary and Youth act and their parents to homes that are close to the location of the fireworks stand.  The flyer would urge the community to patronize the Rotary fireworks stand, and would offer a discount to persons presenting the flyer.

There was mention of the Lynwood Union Gallery Event on Friday 5pm, Dec 15, which is titled:  Cinema at the Depot, “Nightmare before Christmas.”  Ramon Rodriguez is contributing a Christmas tree to the gallery, and plans to attend the Friday evening event, as a representative of Lynwood Rotary.

 There was also mention of a Youth act event at Roosevelt ES on Thursday, 6pm.  Dec 14.  Daniel stated he would attend this event. 

There was mention of Rotary’s participation in two recent events to provide food and toys for needy families.  On Tue, Dec 12, LUSD held an event at 4:30pm at Lynwood MS that was attended by Raj, Ramon Rodriguez, Joe Wang, Barbara Battle and Tila and Fernando.  Rotary contributed $200, along with a contribution from Waste Resources Inc. of $1,000, which Rotary coordinated.  Also, the City of Lynwood had a Santa Clause event on Wed, Dec 13, at which Rotary contributed $300 for toys and food for needy families.  Ramon Rodriguez noted that these recipients were truly needy, and noted:  “We do a lot for a small Rotary Club.”

There was also discussion of the Lynwood Rotary Club’s participation in the Vision To Learn charitable organization, which is in the process of providing eye exams and glasses, where needed to students at LUSD schools.  For example, Joe Wang and Daniel Miller participated in distribution of glasses (after previous eye exams) at Caesar Chavez MS on Thursday, morning, December 14.

For the record, at the Dec 7 meeting, Rotary member Gudiel Crosthwaite, and LUSD Superintendent, talked about LUSD’s participation in the BRIDGE program.  One example of which is Lynwood MS students performing in a play written in Rwanda.  As noted “ from the BRIDGE Theatre Project, Lynwood students in grades four through eight are learning to write short plays, perform them and study other cultures.”  “The program provides 19 workshops for 500 students over eight weeks to teach students the basics of improvisation, character creation, writing conflict and dialogue, and how to collaborate with other student writers.”    

Daniel Miller / Omar Franco / Rowland Becerra

Public Relations and Community Outreach for the Lynwood Rotary Club