Immediate Past President Bill Powell and his wife, Carol Powell, donated $10,000.00 to the Wine Festival as a matching fund opportunity. The fun began as Mike Kallhoff offered opportunities to the membership and guests to participate in matching by increasing their sponsorships, purchasing ads in the program, and buying tickets to the event. The generosity of our members was impressive as we collected a total of $16,525.00 to exceed the matching offer.

Barry Snell was our Program of the Day. Barry is a certified public accountant and business leader with extensive ties to the Santa Monica community and its educational institutions. Presently Mr. Snell is the Chairman of the Board of Santa Monica Black Lives Association (SMBLA), a non-profit established in September 2020 as a multi-service, community-based agency to address the impact of systemic racism in the area’s health, wellness, education, housing, and business as it relates to the African American community in Santa Monica.

Mr. Snell’s presentation  “Racism and the Economic Toll on Americans” was an eye-opening experience for all in attendance,. His research concluded that over 103 years of Constitutional Amendments and Laws have impacted the economic inequity in America. These amendments included the thirteenth, fourteenth, fifteenth, The Civil Rights Act of 1964, The Voting Rights Act of 1965 and The Voting Rights Act of 1968, respectively. He included information about the “Racial Wealth Gap” in America based on explaining that household wealth is the difference between the value of a household’s assets and the value of its liabilities. His research of these facts came from Noel, N. et al. (2019) The economic impact of closing the racial wealth gap. rep. Available at: https://www.mckinsey.com/industries/public-and-social-sector/our-insights/the-economic-impact-of-closing-the-racial-wealth-gap (Accessed: February 2, 2023).

His research also disclosed that the total Real Estate assets reported in the United States of America in the second quarter of 2020 was $30.8 trillion dollars with White households holding 78% (23.9 trillion) and Black households holding 5% (1.6 trillion). Barry also presented a map of Santa Monica depicting red lining of real estate sales of years past developed by Nina Fresco,

Santa Monica Planning Commissioner, and local historian (2021). Ms. Fresco was Barry’s guest at our meeting. Mr. Snell also presented several paths towards closing the racial wealth gap and possible solutions and remedies towards dismantling racial hierarchy. Thank you all for attending this meeting.

Karin Wallerstein presented a $2,000.00 grant to The Boy Scouts.

Mitchell Kraus presented a $3,500.00 grant to The People’s Concern.

First Tuesday was a successful gathering  on the outside patio oft Osteria del Fornaio, a delightful location on Wilshire Boulevard. The evening was filled with lots of discussion and fun. Food and drinks were the center piece of the excitement. First Tuesday is the place to get caught up on all the vacation stories that members are planning and have recently enjoyed.

PROGRAM :February 10th @ HILTON
A Passion For Community Service:
A personal story of giving service by SMFD Firefighter/ Paramedic Aurora Paaluhi.

Join us as we hear about her dedication to the community and how everyone can make a difference! Aurora Paaluhi is a Firefighter-Paramedic with the Santa Monica Fire Department who began her firefighting career in her mid-thirties after a career in Software Engineering, most notably at Yahoo!. She will discuss what led her to change careers later in life – to a career serving people after an education solely focused on computers. She will cover topics such as being one of the few females in both of her careers, having a job with a higher sense of purpose, recent mental health and homelessness initiatives within the Santa Monica Fire Department, and examining mental health within the fire department.

Presenter: Aurora Paaluhi, Firefighter-Paramedic Santa Monica Fire Department
Host Rotarian Introducer: Lisa Alexander

Greetings President Joe and members of Santa Monica Rotary Club,

Thanks to your club’s generous donation, families around the world have received essential aid and technical assistance needed to rebuild damaged homes and lives. This generosity is celebrated through our HERO program – thank you for being a ShelterBox HERO last Rotary year (2021-22).

ShelterBox HERO Clubs are foundational to our ability to respond when disaster strikes. To show our gratitude for your generous support, we are hosting an exclusive online Rotary Club HERO event on:

Saturday, February 11th, 2023
@ 9am PT/ 11am CT/ 12pm EDT.
Register here https://tinyurl.com/2023heroevent

We hope you can join this event in hopes this informative session will inspire you to renew your HERO club status before the end of our current Rotary year.
ShelterBox is proud to be Rotary International’s official project partner in disaster relief. Together, we are putting the partnership into action.
This exclusive event is open to every club member. ShelterBox USA President Kerri Murray and other executives from ShelterBox will deliver reports on our current response work, the impact we make in the lives of those we reach, and how Rotarians make this work possible. There will also be an opportunity for you to submit questions.

Thank you for being a Shelterbox HERO, I hope to see you on February 11.
Bill Tobin
Rotary Relations Manager

We have printed brochures and made them available for you to give to potential sponsors, and to invite your friends and companies you do business with to purchase tickets. The brochures are available at weekly lunches, and they contain a list of the organizations our Club has supported and offers contact information with email addresses for us to follow up and answer more questions.

LET’S TROIKA