Community & Clubs -- Jim de Boom

MATTERS OF THE HEART: Soroptimist International of Newport Harbor

knows how to honor people. They start with a dinner committee with Sue

Haddock as the chair and Jacquin Anastasio, Diane Ashe, Dalia Badajos

Lugo, Sally Brockett, Alexa Caldwell, Adriana DiGiolia, Kathy Flores,

Victoria Gray, Dawn Marie Lemonds, Marilynn Linnell, Rosalinda Lopez,

Mary Regan, Lois Rodriguez, Magna Schley, Farel Walker and Joan Weeks as

committee members. Add the ingredients of holding the event at the

Pacific Club, your friends joining some 140 people in attendance, add a

60-item silent auction during the reception time sponsored by Northern

Trust, serve a fabulous dinner and have Victoria Gray as master of

ceremonies.

Honored were Mary Leigh Blek of the Million Mom March and the Brady

Campaign and yours truly, the Daily Pilot Community and Clubs columnist.

Mary Leigh and her husband, Charles, were honored for their work in

gun-violence prevention, which they began after their 21-year-old son was

killed by young teens wielding a Saturday Night Special. The work they

have done locally as well as nationally is most impressive.

A number of our family and Rotary friends attended the event,

including Hank and Margaret Weber, Gordon and Carol Bowley, Roger and Ann

Marie Alford, Tom and Debbie Newmeyer, Roger and Jocelyn Gilbert, Tom and

Steph Walley, Bob and Lynda Wood, Bill and Helen Hamilton, Bill

Habermehl, Paul Salata, the Rev. Dennis Short, Lane Calvert and Tamara

Nale, to name a few.

Got to say, I looked pretty good in my new suit, shirt and tie,

although my wife, Barbara, daughter, Stacy, and my brother, LeRoy, wanted

to know if I gave the Soroptimists my college graduation photo to use in

the printed program. Wow! Victoria Gray makes one feel very special when

she introduces the honorees. The honor included a donation by the

Soroptimist Club of $500 to the Daily Pilot-Rotary International Reading

by 9 program for Pomona, Wilson and Whittier elementary schools.

Soroptimist International was founded in 1921 in Oakland and has grown

to more than 3,500 clubs in over 100 counties with 100,000 professional

and executive members, united to provide service projects to advance

human rights and the status of women. The Newport Harbor Chapter was

begun in 1955, says club president Jacquin Anastasio. Soroptimists

continue to make a difference in our community and around the world!

Thanks for the great evening!

WORTH REPEATING: From Thought for the Day by Greg Kelley of the

Newport Mesa Irvine Interfaith Council: “What we have done for ourselves

alone dies with us. What we have done for others and the world remains

and is immortal.” -- Albert Pine

SERVICE CLUB MEETINGS THIS COMING WEEK: Looking for a way to answer

President Bush’s call to donate 4,000 hours in service to your neighbors

and country as we try to make America a better place to live? Try helping

your community through a service club. You are invited to attend a club

meeting this coming week to learn more about service clubs. Most clubs

will buy your first meal for you as you get acquainted with them.

Here is this week’s meeting schedule:

TUESDAY

7:30 a.m.: The 40-member Newport Beach Sunrise Rotary Club will meet

at Five Crowns Restaurant for a Craft Talk by Dick White.

WEDNESDAY

7:15 a.m.: The 20-member South Coast Metro Rotary Club will meet at

the Center Club (o7 www.southcoastmetrorotary.orgf7 ) and the Newport

Harbor Kiwanis Club will meet at the University Athletic Club.

Noon: The 35-member Exchange Club of the Orange Coast will meet at the

Bahia Corinthian Yacht Club for a program by John Kirk on the FBI.

6 p.m.: The 60-member Rotary Club of Newport-Balboa will meet at the

Bahia Corinthian Yacht Club to hear from former Ambassadorial Scholar Rob

Williams about his recent experiences in Israel (o7

www.newportbalboa.orgf7 ).

THURSDAY

7 p.m.: The 20-plus member Costa Mesa-Orange Costa Breakfast Lions

Club will meet at Mimi’s Cafe.

Noon: The 50-member Costa Mesa Kiwanis Club will meet at the Holiday

Inn (o7 www.kiwanis.org/club/costamesaf7 ); the Newport Beach-Corona

del Mar Kiwanis Club will meet at the Bahia Corinthian Yacht Club to hear

Beate Litz of the Friends of the Sea Lions discuss “Care of Sea Lion

Habitats;” the 80-member Exchange Club of Newport Harbor will meet at the

Newport Harbor Nautical Museum to hear Jack Keating discuss “New

Interpretive Center at Upper Newport Bay” (o7 www.nhexchangeclub.comf7

); the 100-member Newport-Irvine Rotary Club will meet at the Irvine

Marriott for the annual Youth Speech and Singing Contests (o7

www.nirotary.orgf7 ).

* COMMUNITY & CLUBS is published Saturdays in the Daily Pilot. Send

your service club’s meeting information by Fax to (949) 660-8667; e-mail

to o7 [email protected] or by mail to 2082 S.E. Bristol, Suite 201,

Newport Beach, CA 92660-1740.