Community & Clubs:

Members, past members, guests and their spouses turned out in large numbers to celebrate the Rotary Club of Newport-Balboa’s 70th anniversary at a dinner at the Crevier Classic Car Club in Costa Mesa. Organized by Rotarian Lauren Reeves of Prince Events, she was ably assisted by fellow staffer Samantha Belumeur.

After a buffet dinner, club President Victor Currie introduced honored guests including Councilman Keith Curry who read a proclamation from the City Council honoring the club’s 70 years of service to the community. Rotary District 5320 Gov. Roger McGonegal presented the club with the 70th Anniversary Rosette. Rotarian Bob Silver was recognized as the longest-serving member. He joined the club in October 1963.

Currie had a really interesting revolving PowerPoint presentation with photos of movies, newspapers headlines and items from when the club was chartered, June 21, 1939, as the 5,078th Rotary Club in the world. Today, there are more than 32,000 Rotary clubs with 1.2 million members.

Entertainment included dancers from the Orange County Dance Alliance under the direction of Crystal Wosik and singer Dustin White, whose fabulous voice belted out a couple Sinatra tunes. If you get a chance to hear White in concert, do so.

Most of the evening was spent viewing the classic cars, dancing and catching up with past club members in attendance, including Sunny Lee, David Bray, Don Regan, Dan Hoover, John Crowell-Adams and Doug McCrea.

While Newport-Balboa has a great history of 70 years, its future is even brighter with dozen of younger members having joined the club in the past several years. The tradition of “Service Above Self” continues!

LOCAL NEWS AND ITS FUTURE, ACCORDING TO OC EDITORS

Speak up Newport is hosting a meeting focused on the topic of “Local Newport News and its Future” with Daily Pilot Editor Brady Rhoades, Orange County Register Central Editor Paul Danison, and Tom Johnson, president of the Johnson Media Group and former publisher of the Daily Pilot, at 6 tonight at the Newport Beach Yacht Club, 1099 Bayside Drive. This should be a very informative meeting considering the financial challenges most media companies face. The evening begins with a no-host reception at 5 p.m. followed by the panel discussion at 6 p.m. The event is open to the public.

FREEDOM SHRINE DEDICATION

Corona del Mar Exchange Club members dedicated a new Freedom Shrine on June 3 at the McFadden Intermediate School in Santa Ana.

The shrine consists of 33 historical documents beginning with the Mayflower Compact and ending with Martin Luther King Jr.’s “I Have a Dream” speech.

They are all copies of the original documents, mounted on a hallway at the school for students to examine as they wish. You will find copies of the Freedom Shrine at most schools, libraries and even at John Wayne Airport, thanks to the local Exchange Clubs.

IRRELEVANT WEEK LOOKING FOR GIFTS LIKE Shirts, tickets

Irrelevant Week XXXIV is looking for donations to shower on Mr. Irrelevant at his arrival party at 5 p.m. June 22 at the Newport Dunes Waterfront Resort. This year Ryan Succop of the University of South Carolina, a kicker selected last in the NFL draft by the Kansas City Chiefs, will be the honoree.

T-Shirts, gift baskets, company logo items, event tickets and the like are most welcome according to Paul Salata, Irrelevant Week Founder.

To arrange for pickup of the donation, call (949) 263-0727 or e-mail [email protected].

WORTH REPEATING

Thought for the Day as provided by Greg Kelley of the Newport Mesa Irvine Interfaith Council: “Hard work spotlights the character of people: Some turn up their sleeves, some turn up their noses, and some don’t turn up at all.”

— Sam Ewing

SERVICE CLUB MEETINGS

Help your community and the world through a service club! For many, service club membership is an extension of our religious beliefs and congregation affiliation.

TODAY

7:30 a.m.: The 10-member Newport Harbor Kiwanis Club meets at Denny’s Restaurant, 290 Bristol St., Costa Mesa.

Noon: The 20-member Exchange Club of Corona del Mar meets at the Bahia Corinthian Yacht Club for the Student of the Year presentation.

6 p.m.: The 65-member Rotary Club of Newport Balboa hosts the District 5320 Leadership at the Bahia Corinthian Yacht Club for the Governor’s Transition Dinner.

COMMUNITY & CLUBS is published Saturdays. Send your service club’s meeting information by fax to (714) 921-8655 or by e-mail to [email protected] .