Four for PRYDE, Fifty-Five Years of Thanksgiving

On the weekend of November 21–22, four students go to PRYDE, the Personal Rotary Youth Development Experience: District 5330’s leadership camp for seventh graders. The club is sending them, and a month ago that was not a sure thing.

At the September 24 meeting, Bruce Murrill walked the club through Rotary’s youth programs, from Earlyact and Interact to Rotaract, RYLA and Youth Exchange, and Sabrina Sepulveda, the club’s Youth Services Chair, made the case for PRYDE. Members talked it through honestly. PRYDE asks a lot of a sponsoring club: the camp fees, adults to drive and stay involved, and students ready to make the commitment. Passing on it for a year was a real option.

Within days the answer was yes. The next day Interact students and other young people were interviewed, the fees were paid, and four students were selected. Sabrina and Bruce are seeing the commitment through to camp, and next month’s issue reports on how the weekend went.

The club’s 55th Annual Senior Thanksgiving Luncheon is Saturday, November 14, at the Albert A. Chatigny Sr. Community Recreation Center, 1310 Oak Valley Parkway, Beaumont. The opening ceremony and entertainment begin at 11:15 AM, and lunch is served at noon. It is a free holiday meal for Beaumont and Cherry Valley seniors, a club tradition since 1971. Invited guests RSVP by November 7, and questions go to Yami Goldberg (909-841-3753) or Joanna Evans (909-553-0539).

This year the club is ordering 18 turkeys to feed more than 200 seniors. Every year Rotarian volunteers cook the turkeys and make the stuffing and trimmings themselves, and every year the club has bought its turkeys and trimmings at the Beaumont Stater Bros. This year Stater Bros. Markets has offered its support with the turkeys, and the club is grateful.

The placemats on every table carry local business ads, and more than a dozen businesses have bought one so far. There is still room: a business-card ad is $25 and a double-size ad $50, reserved through Yami Goldberg (909-841-3753, simplygold35@gmail.com) by November 7. Checks are payable to Rotary Club of Beaumont-Cherry Valley, or pay by card through Zeffy; the sponsor form has the details to hand to a business.

Members: the November 12 meeting is the club’s business meeting for the luncheon, with the board meeting and luncheon preparation that day.

The club board approved Harris Vertlieb’s membership at its October 8 meeting, and he was inducted at the October 29 club meeting, where President Doug Emery pinned him and presented his certificate of membership. Harris lives in Cherry Valley. He is with Khyra Beaucrest Ranch and is a director of the Beaumont Chamber of Commerce, and members first met him as a guest at the September 24 meeting. His sponsor is Robin Knight.

Harris has also opened the ranch to the club: he hosts the Club Holiday Party at Khyra Beaucrest Ranch on Tuesday, December 8, 5:00–8:00 PM. Members have the invitation from Doug in their calendars.

Say hello at a Thursday lunch. A fuller introduction to Harris, and the road that brought him to Cherry Valley, comes in a coming issue.

October opened with District Governor Richard Lemire’s official visit on the 1st, covered in last month’s issue. On October 8 the board met at noon, and among its business approved Harris Vertlieb’s application. The October 15 meeting had no guest speaker. Over a lunch catered by our own Lisa Hendrix, members talked through the club’s goals for the year and reviewed the preparations for the Thanksgiving Luncheon, with the placemats high on the list.

On October 22 the club welcomed back Laurie McLaughlin, secretary of the San Gorgonio Pass Historical Society, who first spoke to the club on September 3 about the history of Beaumont and the Pass.

The month closed with a full meeting on October 29: Harris Vertlieb’s induction, then member Sabrina Sepulveda as the day’s speaker, with 3D printers on hand to show the science, art and fun of printing in three dimensions. Lunch came from Johnny Russo’s.

The Record-Gazette covered the September 18 dedication of the club’s second Peace Pole at the Beaumont Library, in a story written and photographed by our own David Heiss. It records parts of the morning last month’s issue did not: the invocation by Rev. Scott Mason of Beaumont Presbyterian Church, the Pledge of Allegiance led by Marine Corps veteran Jim Lillibridge of VFW Post 233, the national anthem sung a cappella by Navy veteran and past club president Marty Mangan, and the Four-Way Test from Bruce Murrill. Bruce and Matthew Pistilli unveiled the pole.

The story also quotes Doug’s opening words: “It is a reminder that peace begins with each of us in our homes, our workplaces, our schools, our neighborhoods, our clubs, and the way we treat one another every day.” Next with the library district comes a custom READ bike rack, set to be installed before the building’s full completion in early 2027.

October 26 marked twenty years since the Esperanza Fire, set by an arsonist near Cabazon in 2006. Five U.S. Forest Service firefighters of Engine 57 died defending a home in its path: Captain Mark Loutzenhiser, Fire Engine Operator Jess “Gus” McLean, and Firefighters Jason McKay, Pablo Cerda and Daniel Hoover-Najera. The club keeps their families in its thoughts.

The evening of the club’s Thanksgiving Luncheon, District 5330 holds its Foundation Gala at Sun Lakes Country Club in Banning, from 6:00 PM. Tickets are $100, and the featured speaker is Ina Pinkney, “The Breakfast Queen of Chicago” and a polio survivor, a fitting guest in the month of World Polio Day (October 24). As of October 29 fewer than 100 seats remained, first come, first served, through the district’s DACdb registration. To sit with the club, contact Cal Boothby (poolspa97@aol.com).

The gala is also where District 5330 draws its Rose Parade float walker. As a charter contributing district to the Rotary Rose Parade Float Committee, the district has one walker position beside the Where Communities Bloom float on January 1, and Governor Richard Lemire is offering it to the district’s Rotarians: each $50 contribution through the district is one chance, and you do not have to be at the gala to win. Contact Joe Ramos (DGJoe1314@gmail.com, 951-218-1349) to take part.

The club’s Casino Night fundraiser moves to a new home: Wednesday, March 17, 2027, 5:00–9:00 PM, at the Sun Lakes Country Club Main Club House, 850 Country Club Drive, Banning. Admission is $65 and includes play money, appetizers and non-alcoholic drinks, with a cash bar and basket raffles, and guests are invited to come in their best Irish outfit. Sponsorships run from $250 to $5,000. The evening is presented by the Rotary Club of Beaumont Foundation, and proceeds go toward youth scholarships and other community programs. Flyers are on the way; for tickets or sponsorships, ask any Rotarian.

RYLA 2027. The district’s RYLA team holds its kickoff for the 2027 Rotary Youth Leadership Awards on Tuesday, November 17, at 7:00 PM on Zoom, with the year’s registration steps, key dates and deadlines. Every club planning to send students is asked to have someone there; the Zoom details come through DACdb, and questions go to ryla5330@gmail.com.

The 2028 District Conference sails. “Sailing for Service” is a multi-district conference aboard Royal Caribbean’s Navigator of the Seas, April 10–14, 2028, round trip from San Pedro to Ensenada, with Rotary programs on board and service projects in Ensenada. Fares start at $439 a person plus taxes and fees, and a $100 deposit holds a cabin, refundable until August 2027. Send the Cruise Intake Form from district5330.org to conference chair Maryalice Alberg by November 8 to be entered in a drawing for a $439 fare credit; the form commits you to nothing.