Rota-Monica

DETHRONING Friday June 24th was our Dethroning Celebration at Duke’s Malibu.  Former President-Elect-Elect and now President-Elect Ken Waltzer led the Dethroning Committee in putting together a fantastic party.We were joined by incoming District Governor Olivia Patterson Ryans and outgoing District Governor Guity Javid.  DG Guity announced that our club is receiving the Rotary International Presidential Citation for the work we do both in our local community and internationally.  Congratulations to all of us!The 2021-2022 Board of Directors presented your old has-been president with a wheelbarrow full of USC paraphernalia.    Perfect for celebrating all of the upcoming Trojan victories, especially the ones over the you-know-who’s in Westwood.

It’s been a tremendous honor to serve as president during our club’s 100th year.  It’s been fun and at times it’s been challenging, but we’ve accomplished a lot.  During the year we have logged over 1200 hours of service to our community.  We have donated $178,000 to various charitable causes both locally and internationally.

And while doing good we’ve had a lot of fun.  There have been numerous social events; Rotary Picnic, Halloween Party, Holiday Party, Chili Cookoff, Centennial Gala, Wine Fest, First Tuesday Happy Hours, Dining Club and many other fun times.

The people who were in charge of organizing these accomplishments are your 2021-2022 Board of Directors.  The time and hard work they have dedicated to our club through the year makes us what we are; the Best Club in the District!

Vice President Programs                    Bill Chillingworth
Vice President Committees                Kathy Shepard
Treasurer                                               Tom Loo
Secretary                                               Vicky Curtis
President Elect                                     Joe Metoyer
Immediate Past President                  Lisa Alexander
Director Club Service                          Pam Brady
Director Community & Youth           John Bartlett
Director Vocational Service               Susan Annett
Director Membership Service           Ann Greenspun
Director Meetings                               Timur Berberoglu
Director International Service          Deven Khosla

2021-22 ROTARY CLUB OF SANTA MONICA AWARDSA highlight of the evening was the Award Ceremony recognizing those who’ve stood out this year in what they have given to and accomplished for our club:President’s Awards – These are in special recognition for extraordinary service to the club during the year.Sharon Perlmutter Gavin stepped up to fill many crucial behind-the-scenes roles including serving as executive secretary, webmaster, co-chair of the Fireside/Induction and the Community Volunteer Corps committees.

Ken Waltzer in addition to being our new president-elect served as chair of the New Member Activities committee, co-chair of the Music committee and hosted social events at his home.

John Bartlett always was there when help was needed.  He was not only Director of Community & Youth Service, he co-chaired the Community Volunteer Corps and is our incoming vice-president for committees.  And I think this is the only award he doesn’t already have.

Andrea Gressinger led our very successful Wine Fest committee which raised a near record amount for next year’s charitable giving.  She did this while facing the challenges of losing the assistance of the Fairmont Miramar and overcoming draining health issues.

Martin Baeza-was our life-saver at Hilton this year.  He not only made sure that the meetings went off without a hitch, he provided extraordinary support in assisting our audiovisual team.

Herb Spurgin New Member Award – This award recognizes the outstanding member in the first two years of membership. Lauren Akmaeva, who unfortunately recently resigned from our club due to career and family demands, was a tremendous asset all year, handling our rsvp, service hour and billing spreadsheets, managing our live zoom feeds and helping set up our A/V equipment.

James R. Cayton Award – Is given to a club member who has performed outstanding service for the Club.  Karim Jaude has served as long-time co-chair of the World Community Service committee and this year as co-chair of the Membership committee.

Four Avenues of Service Award – Recognizes the member who excelled in supporting the club in one of Rotary’s four avenues of service.  Susan Annett who served as our Director of Vocational Service did a superb job leading our Vocational Service activities including putting together grant applications which secured a $4000 district vocational grant for Santa Monica College students.

Bill Frtizche Award – Is given to the member who helped provide fun through the year.  Donna Byrd co-chaired the Birthdays & Decorations committee and hosted our first Football Playoff/Chili Cookoff party at her home, while supplying all the food and drinks as well as a Rams victory.

Jim Dyer Award – Is presented for service to Rotary in the club and either District 5280 or Rotary International.  Bret Carter did an incredible amount of work and an awesome job raising funds for The Rotary Foundation primarily through our Paul Harris Fellow program.

Austin Jennings Award – Acknowledges the Rotarian who has provided outstanding and continuing service to our club for 20 or more years. Judy Neveau is a past-president, this year’s co-chair of the Greeters Committee, Quarter Century Committee, Rotary International Committee and in the past has chaired and served on too many club and district committees to name.

Esther Johnson Spirit Award – is given to the member whose service to the Club, either in the past year or over an extended period of membership, typifies the spirit of Rotary in general, and the spirit of our Club, in particular. Tom Larmore, co-chaired the Centennial Gala, Music, Scholarships, Literacy Committees, is a Past-President, and has now taken on the role of Club Historian.

Joe Gilbert Award – This award is for the outstanding club member for the year just concluded.  Pam Brady not only served as Director of Club Service, she was one of the leaders in Member Communications, Social Events, Co-Chair of the Centennial Gala, Co-Chair of Meeting Logistics and is our incoming Vice-President for Committees!

Thank you to all of our award recipients for your dedication and Service Above Self.

Nathaniel “Nat” Trives is a family man, married to his childhood sweetheart Ida and father of the talented linguist, Dr. Toni Trives, professor of Spanish at Santa Monica College. Nat has dedicated his life to helping others and he has come to be known as ‘Mr. Santa Monica’, a Man of Many Hats; because of the high number of roles he fills or has filled in our community.

These roles have included, in his chosen profession, Criminal Justice, a practitioner in Law Enforcement with the City of Santa Monica; and as an emeritus professor of Criminal Justice at California State University, Los Angeles. While at Cal State LA, Nat also served as a Special Master for the Northern District Federal Court overseeing the Consent Decree governing the resolution of race and gender bias issues in the San Francisco Police Department. He also served as a member of the senior staff at the Santa Monica Community College District, as Deputy Superintendent and Chief Government Relations Officer with responsibilities for the College Foundation and all external relations. Nat was promoted to the rank of sergeant in the Santa Monica Police Department, in1965. Nat’s six decades of professional work were also paralleled with an impressive string of volunteer commitments with scores of national, state and local organizations.

Nat is Past President of The Rotary Club of Santa Monica and has been an active member since 1976. Nat is currently serving as a member of the Board and Past President of the Santa Monica Family YMCA. He has served on the Board of the Santa Monica Historical Society Museum. He is Past Chair of the Board for Santa Monica Convention and Visitors Bureau and Past Chair of the Santa Monica Chamber of Commerce for 2004-05. Nat also enjoyed his role as Chair of the Board of the Center for Healthy Aging which has merged into WISE & Healthy Aging. His dedication to education also includes having served as President & Board Chair of Crossroads School. He is the founding Board President & Chair of the Board of New Visions Foundation, as well as being the founding President and Chair of the Board of Trustees of New Roads School. He is a founding Board member and past Chair of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Westside Coalition.

He was a member and past President of the Santa Monica Gems, a local philanthropic scholarship organization which provided thousands of dollars to black students attending Santa Monica area schools and Santa Monica College prior to its dissolution.

He served on the national boards of both the National Urban League and the National Conference on Community and Justice (NCCI): and on national committees of the National Association of Independent Schools, the International Association of Chiefs of Police and the National League of Cities.  He was elected to two terms on the Santa Monica City Council, where he served as Mayor Pro-Tem and then Mayor. He has served as a member and Chair of the Personnel Commission for both the Santa Monica Malibu Unified School District and the Santa Monica Community College District. He served on the California Commission on Judicial Performance.

Editor’s note:  What does Nat do in his spare time?