Woodland Rotary - The Rotary Club of Woodland Website

President Dan Stroski was officially demoted at the Hotel Woodland on June 28, 2022. Immediate Past President Tabb Randolph led the event and presented incoming Club President Shawn Seyk and President-elect Karl Diekman with their new badges.

President Dan Stroski led his last Club meeting today, completing his year as President. Dan welcomed our own Gary Wirth as the speaker today, who gave us a program on the "Natural Wines of Georgia", the former Soviet Union Republic. Mark Ullrich introduced his wife Audre who was his guest today. Other guests today (not pictured) included Pat Armstrong, guest of Gary Wirth and Lorie Haarberg, guest of her husband Kevin Haarberg.

President-elect Shawn Seyk was glad to be home after an eventful trip to the Rotary International Convention in Houston earlier this month. He contracted COVID on a plane, spent days in quarantining in a hotel, and then had to drive back to California in 3.5 days. Ernie Hodges and wife Kay will celebrate 41 years of marriage on June 27 (Springfield VA). Don Huff III was in charge of Recognition today, asking questions about Father's Day.

Since he is not growing rice this year, Blair Voelz had the time to go fishing on Father's Day in Mt. Shasta City this year. Gary Wegener was happy he traveled to Eugene OR to see his granddaughter graduate. Our newest member, Mark Pemberton, spent Father's Day skate boarding in Dixon with his 24 and 27 year-old kids. Mark faceplanted early on and ended up watching his kids. Brian Dwyer spent 13 hours on Father's Day on a baseball field where he witnessed his son hitting his first Grand Slam home run.

We are sad to learn of the passing of Marc Faye on June 15, 2022. Marc, a Paul Harris Fellow, was a member of the Club for over 63 years, maintaining 100% attendance, and served as the Club's President from 1976-77. Our thoughts are with Gerda Faye and the family.

Mark Pemberton, S.E. and Principal Engineer/CEO of Pemberton Engineering Inc. of Woodland was installed as a new member of the Club on June 14, 2022 by President Dan Stroski and sponsor Steve Venables. At our request, Mark provided us the following bio. If you haven't already done so, take a moment to introduce yourself to Mark when you meet and welcome her to the Club.

Mark Pemberton was born in Monterey, California in 1969. Mark graduated high school in Ojai, California in 1987. During his years in high school he enjoyed creating artwork of all types including painting, drawing, and sculpting. Mark has always excelled in mathematics which drew him towards his engineering studies at California State University at Chico, where he graduated with a Bachelor of Science degree in civil engineering. Mark received his Professional Engineering license in 1998 while working at a small engineering firm (Mike Smith Engineering) in Lodi. He subsequently received his Structural Engineering title in 2003 while working at a much larger firm (Lionakus Beaumont) in Sacramento.

Mark started his own engineering firm in Davis as a sole proprietorship in 2003 providing engineering services for commercial and residential projects throughout the Sacramento Valley. His company, Pemberton Engineering, was incorporated in 2020.

Mark enjoys building things at his home in Wild Wings, snowboarding, listening to punk rock music, and watching science related documentaries about the universe. He also enjoys spending time in Kauai each year where he hopes to someday retire. Mark met his wife Jessica shortly before graduating college and fell in love immediately. They were engaged within two weeks and have been happily married now for 28 years. Mark and Jessica have four sons: Tim, Basil, Darrel, and Dan.

Mark and Jessica purchased a building in Woodland that was originally built in 1893 as a pair of small homes, which were joined and repurposed as a commercial building in 1973. This building has since been extensively remodeled and is now the new home of Pemberton Engineering. Mark Pemberton enjoys being close to downtown Woodland and looks forward to helping its people and improving the community.

Short-timer President Dan Stroski got us going today with the installation of a new Club member, Mark Pemberton, P.E., S.E.. Mark is the Owner & CEO of Pemberton Engineering Inc. who have provided local residents and businesses with structural engineering services for more than 20 years. Pemberton Engineering is located at 312 Walnut Street in Woodland (https://www.pembertonengineering.com/). Joining Mark and Dan are sponsor Steve Venables and Assistant District Governor (District 5160) Woody Fridae.

Lisa (Martinez) Dunham 'rang the bell' today after returning from an absense for some surgery. Lisa paid up for her birthday (May 7), her 17th wedding anniversary (June 4) with husband Larry Dunham, and informed us she is now going by her husband's last name, Dunham. Also returning from an absense, Gary Wirth received his Paul Harris +3 pin from President Dan Stroski in recognition for Gary's significant financial contributions to the Rotary Foundation. Today was Tony Delevati's 63rd birthday (Woodland), so he got "Happy Birthday" sung to him by the Club. Kevin Haarberg led today's Recognition with questions related to Flag Day.

Derrek Kaff was happy he had the chance to go to Quantico VA last week to witness Woodland Police Department Sergeant Dallas Hyde graduate from the 282nd session of the FBI National Academy. One of the pictures shows Sergeant Hyde receiving his certification from FBI Director Christopher Wray.

Winters Rotarian, District 5160 ADG, and Winters Historical Society President Woody Fridae was our guest speaker today, giving us a presentation on the history of the town of Monticello which was located in the Berryessa Valley before it was flooded in 1957 with the creation of Lake Berryessa. Joining Woody, Buddy Gardner, who grew up in Monticello, also shared his personal experience in the town.

Gena Bravo, MSN, RN, HACP and Woodland Memorial Hospital CEO was installed as a new member of the Club on March 15, 2022 by President Dan Stroski and sponsor Mike Chandler. At our request, Gena provided us the following bio. If you haven't already done so, take a moment to introduce yourself to Gena when you meet and welcome her to the Club.

Gena Bravo is an innovative healthcare leader with over 20 years of clinical and leadership expertise. Woodland Memorial Hospital CEO, Gena brings a proven record of success in hospital operations. She helps deliver high-quality care – and works to cultivate her passion for patient care among her staff.

Prior to arriving at the Woodland facility, Gena served as a longtime nursing leader at Mercy General Hospital. Throughout her career, she has excelled in advocating excellence, embracing strategic challenges, while developing and implementing innovative quality initiatives.

A Southern California native, Gena earned both her Bachelor and Master of Nursing degrees from the University of San Francisco.

In her spare time, Gena enjoys watching baseball, spending time with her husband and kids, and staying active in local community service. She serves as a volunteer firefighter for the West Plainfield Fire Department in Davis. Gena serves as a trustee on the Woodland Healthcare Foundation Board and as a Board Commissioner for Partnership Healthplan of California. Gena was recognized by the Honorable John Garamendi of California as a 2021 Woman of the Year for her service to the Yolo County community during the pandemic.

Shawn Seyk reports the Woodland Rotary Endowment Scholarships for 2022 have been awarded to co-valedictorians Paulina Garcia and Guadalupe Cordova of Woodland High School who ended with identical grade point averages. The Endowment Board elected to honor each student with a full scholarship. We know Paulina plans to attend UC Berkeley in the Fall.

The scholarship at Pioneer High School went to valedictorian Oscar Cooper Stern. We understand Oscar plans to attend UCLA in the Fall.

President Dan Stroski announced on May 3 two long-term Club members have recently passed away: Major General Jim Taylor (1931-22), USAF Retired; and Clancy Duppong (1936-2022). They will be missed.

Marie Galbo, Brian Dwyer and President Dan Stroski helped the Shredathon event at Umpqua Bank on May 6. The event was sponsored by the Yolo County District Attorney's office to provide residents with a document shredding service free of charge.

The 2022 Rotary Mystery Golf Trip took about 50 members of the Sunrise and Noon Clubs, and some guests to the Cypress Lakes Golf Course just outside Travis AFB in Vacaville on May 4. Many thanks to Chuck Santoni (Sunrise) and Chuck Maltese for arranging this great outing!

Under the leadership of President-elect Shawn Seyk, we enjoyed a very successful 2022 Dinner Auction on Saturday, April 23 at the California Agricultural Museum raising funds for

Woodland Girls Fastpitch Softball. We had 226 paid guests attending and preliminary financial estimates indicate $50,000 was raised.

Edward Jones - Jen Ward, Craig Miyamoto, Mike Russell, Brian Dwyer & Kevin Haarberg

Members of the Woodland High School Interact Club (supported by our Rotary Club) recently came to Woodland Public Libary's Square One facility to make reusable sanitary pads for girls attending school in Karen, Kenya (the same school benefiting from Rotary's Kenya WASH project) to improve their chances of staying in school after their menstral cycle begins. "We take hygiene for granted in this country.", states Jaziri (Interact member). "We want to do something about it and help girls graduate from high school." Woodland Rotarian Jayne Williams provided instructions with support from Club President Dan Stroski.

The Rotary Club of Woodland has been participating in the Kenya WASH project since October ’20 to improve water supply, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) at two schools in Karen, Kenya (Africa). This is a Rotary Global Grant effort sponsored by the Rotary Club of Karen. The project is a coordinated effort to make needed improvements at the Karen C Primary School, serving 1300 students, 50 teachers (established in 1958), and the adjacent Karen C Girls Secondary (high school) school (established in 2011) with enrollment of 600 students. Phase One of the project, which installed two large capacity water tanks and hand washing stations for students, was completed in August ’21 at a cost of $40,000. Our Club contributed $5,000 toward Phase One.

Photos from Phase One of the project can be viewed in our Photo Gallery.

Kenya is located on the east coast of Africa. Karen, Kenya is a suburb of Kenya’s capitol city Nairobi. Photos below show children from both Karen schools.

Sanitation conditions at the Karen C schools today are terrible, and would be considered unacceptable for any similar facilities in the United States. As photos below show, pit latrines are in use.

Phase Two is ready to start and club support is needed to move forward. Club Kenya WASH Chair Blair Voelz indicates Phase Two seeks to build a new, modern facility at the primary school with flush toilets, fix up the existing bathroom at the secondary school, and install a septic system serving both schools. These improvements will be a major step forward in sanitation for the children and staff of both schools.

The budget for Phase Two is $80,000. Funding would again come largely from a Rotary Global Grant and a District 5160 match. Our Club, as international sponsor, will need to raise $15,000. The RC of Karen is expected to raise the same amount.

As of February 24, 2022, Blair reports Club members (Brooker, Chandler, Delevati, Diekman, Engelmann, Faye, Galbo, Haarberg, Hodges, Huff III, LaBrie, Lawrence, Maltese, Martinez, Moore, Nakken, Pettit, Pinto, Randolph, Roy, Schwarzgruber, Sonin, Stroski, Ullrich, Voelz, Wegener, Williams, and Wirth) have donated $10,850 toward the Phase Two project. We also have $500 from Luna Vista Rotary, and verbal commitments of $500 each from the Davis Sunrise and Winters Rotary clubs.

Photos shown below show facilities similar to the ones we wish to build. They were built for another WASH Project in Nairobi.

Club President Dan Stroski reports contributions from the Club and/or the Woodland Endowment for Phase Two have not yet been determined. However, he indicates interested members may now make personal contributions toward Phase Two themselves. Any amount you can donate will go a long way to reaching the Club’s $15K responsibility for the project.

Members wishing to make a donation toward Phase Two of the Kenya WASH project can do so by check made out to ‘Woodland Rotary Endowment’ with a note indicating ‘Kenya WASH Phase Two’. The check should be mailed to P.O. Box 31 Woodland CA 95776 c/o Assistant Club Treasurer Tom Schwarzgruber. Or, contributions can be made via PayPal or your credit card on the Club’s website.