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SANTA MONICA STAR September 2001
All About Rotary Club of Santa Monica – Lionel G. Ruhman
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Our club is one of thousands through out the world. Rotary International began in 1905 in Chicago and was founded by a business man, Paul Harris, who with several others, met and rotated weekly at each other’s place of business. At these meetings their purpose was to discuss local issues and needs within the neighborhood and community, and to provide guidance and assistance to alleviate these problems. This noble idea, improved by time and experience, expanded internationally with a membership now exceeding one million men and women. Our Santa Monica club was chartered on February 1, 1922 and presently has 153 active members. We meet every Friday for lunch from 12:15 to 1:30 at the Riviera Country Club in the Pacific Palisades. It has been our policy to have very interesting speakers and programs at each meeting. Our service to the community is limitless. We are very active in youth services, scholarships, student exchange programs, literacy programs, etc. Additionally we support various other groups within the community. We also honor and award outstanding city employees for their achievements. International needs, worthy projects, and student exchanges are also supported by our club. One example is the eradication of polio, worldwide. This program began in 1984 in concert with the World Health Organization and is nearly 100% completed. Only a |
few isolated areas remain and polio should be totally eradicated by 2004. Our club is governed by a president, two vice presidents, secretary, treasurer, one paid executive secretary and six directors. These officers are nominated by the past presidents and voted in by the members. The president is selected from a pool of past vice presidents, and then serves as President-elect, attending all board meetings observing and training for two years. This method has proven very successful. Our leaders this year are President-Hal Quigley CPA; Vice President programs, Attorney George Collins; Vice President Committees, Hugh Travis, Boy Scouts of America Administrator; Secretary, James Halijun, D.D.S.; Treasurer, Gee-Shin Lee, YMCA Director; and Executive Secretary, Barbara Hopper, a retired bank executive. Our directors are Nancy Freedman, Attorney; Erik Jorgensborg, President Fisher Lumber Co.; Dr. Rick Kennedy; Attorney Tom Loo; Jim Menzies, Agricultural Enterprises and Michael O’Hara, former Olympian, Sports and TV consultant. Should you desire any more information about our club, you may call 310.434.9992 or go to our web site at www.rotaryclubofsantamonica.org.
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