The only thing better than fresh scrambled eggs with biscuits and gravy in the morning is to be at a Bakersfield Breakfast Rotary meeting, HEY, if you were at our May 12th meeting you were in luck because we got both! President David Spalinger was energized to get the meeting underway with an Invocation from Jeff Bell and America’s Flag Salute lead by Stephanie Baker. Now that her kids are back in school, Chelsea Ashcraft is back in our morning meetings. As our duly designated Songstress, she for some inexplicable reason chose the Hokey Pokey song to inspire us. I was late to the meeting but would have loved to see this song performed! I am personally glad each Rotary club does not have to have their own theme song, because if they were, the Hokey Pokey would certainly be ours.**Featured Program**
Meet Shonna Shearson who was our “speaker” for the morning’s meeting. “Speaker” because she is indeed a speaker in the sense of being not only the speaker for the program, she is an accomplished speaker representing one of our local Toastmasters clubs. Additionally, Shonna is our first in-person speaker at a Breakfast Rotary meeting in quite some time. Shonna, herself a Twilight Rotarian shared with us what it means to be a Toastmasters member.
With 20-years as a member of Toastmasters International, needless to say Shonna knows a thing or two about the club. As a member of the local club, Speak Up! Toastmasters, Shonna has received the esteemed title of Distinguished Toastmaster and Area Governor among her many accomplishments.
Why Toastmasters, one may ask? I mean why would anyone become a member of a club that’s main focus is to stress the living daylights out of people by making them prepare speeches they are required to get up in front of a bunch of people to share. Most of us are trying to find ways to get out of doing just those things. Well, not in Toastmasters.
According to Shonna, a lot of what Toastmasters do is to Give. Wow, that sounds a lot like being a Rotary member! Let’s learn more. As a Senior Vice-President of Operations at Valley Strong Credit Union, Shonna should know a lot about leadership and mentoring. Yet, in Toastmasters, she only gets to hone those skills more through her membership. The opportunity of Giving is exactly what a Toastmaster’s membership presents for those interested in becoming members. Other benefits consist of increasing public relations skills and developing effective communication projects.
Let’s face it we are not all gifted with outstanding public speaking skills. And for those that think that they are, these are probably the ones that could benefit most from a Toastmaster’s membership.
Shonna says, if you decide to attend one of several Toastmasters meetings that are held throughout Bakersfield at any one of their nearly 10 separate clubs, you will observe prepared speeches of various lengths many of which were formulated from Toastmaster’s very own online curriculum. Some of the subtitles of their curriculum can be found by going to their website and prompting @LearningCenter. How to develop speech, preparing a speech, and leading a team, are just a few of the subject titles.
Shonna admits that a favorite part of her experience as a member is The Evaluation. This is where a panel of selected Toastmaster’s members are selected to judge the speech of a presenter. But not to fear, Shonna seems pretty harmless and I am certain her affection to evaluating mostly comes from wanting to help others to get the most out of their membership. In my opinion, Toastmasters is not a club where you can hide. One must continue to seek and conquer challenge, which must keep the activity level pretty high.
At this point in the presentation Shonna allowed time for questions, then enter Past President Cheryl Scott. Oh, as Cheryl worked her way to the podium all the way from the peanut gallery seats, Cheryl praised the good works of Toastmasters. Cheryl revealed that during a time of personal loss after her mother passing, she was in need of one thing that would aid in regaining her spirit. Cheryl told us she re-harnessed that spirit by joining a local Toastmasters club. She said through Toastmasters she was able to groove sharper skills which transcended her into a greater appreciation for public speaking, with by-products of self-confidence and leadership. Well, you folks know the rest of the story. Cheryl later became President of Breakfast Rotary and look at her fly today! How’s that for a testimonial, which did not even cost her a dime.
We want to thank Shonna for sharing the good news about what it is to be a Toastmaster, as well as what the club can do to mold even the meekest, or the most boastful into a person that communicates, leads, and inspires others effectively in a proper and professional demeanor. Tell a friend about Toastmasters or reach out to one of several local clubs to learn more. To find a club, here is the website to start your journey, https://www.toastmasters.org/Find-a-Club/00008487-00008487
**Announcements Announcements**
The Prez was on the lookout for recently retired Past President Jerry Starr who apparently has time now for photo ops with The Bakersfield Californian to appear on the front page of the paper last week saluting the American flag. Did you guys see that picture? I did, and I have one question for Jerry. Jerry, have you been doing exercises like pushups lately? Your lookin’ kind of athletic buddy!
Temo Lopez who was recognized for celebrating a work anniversary last week is now celebrating a birthday! The Prez too, has a birthday too. The BIG 6-0. To both of these fellas, Chelsea led us in singing Happy Birthday!
Our very own Sandra Parnell notched a very fast 5-year anniversary with Breakfast Rotary. Thank You Sandra for all that you have done for the community through Rotary over those 5 years. You are a DYNA-MO! By the way, The Prez still wants to see you…
Which brings us to the next highlight, The Beacon Clue. I think the Prez felt a little guilty after last week’s annihilation of the membership last week with fines for those that did not read The Beacon. So, he eased up a bit by calling on Cheryl Scott to answer this week’s clue. Cheryl approaching the podium with confidence told us The Clue was that Temo Lopez’s business was named B
akersfield Bytes. Rest assured, President Dave was not letting Cheryl off that easy. He told Cheryl she had only answered part of The Clue. Being stumped, Cheryl could not state the other half of The Clue. For that effort, President Dave exercised leniency and only billed her a $5 fine. To the rescue Past President Jackie “Queen” Maxwell delivered the full answer to The Clue which was the type of business Temo operates, and that would be computer repair. And a darn good repairman at that ladies and gentleman!
akersfield Bytes. Rest assured, President Dave was not letting Cheryl off that easy. He told Cheryl she had only answered part of The Clue. Being stumped, Cheryl could not state the other half of The Clue. For that effort, President Dave exercised leniency and only billed her a $5 fine. To the rescue Past President Jackie “Queen” Maxwell delivered the full answer to The Clue which was the type of business Temo operates, and that would be computer repair. And a darn good repairman at that ladies and gentleman!Past President Denise Haynes is behind the efforts in bringing the Thousand Flags Memorial Day event at the Park at River Walk to reality and she is in need of volunteers. From Saturday through Monday Denise will need set-up and take-down helpers as well as folks who will commit to 3-hour stints at the Information Booth, which is actually fun to do. This will be a modified version of Thousand Flags due to COVID, but at least this year we are getting permission to hold the event. It is an honor to do the event and Denise urges all Breakfast Rotarians to come out and join in the fun and celebration. See Denise ASAP to sign-up!
Our official event coordinator Michele McClure reminds us of May 20th from 6 – 8pm club social at Bottleshock 1002 19th Street #C, so RSVP with her through the email she sent out to club members.
**Happy Spots**
The Greg Desme family is quickly rivaling The Osmonds, or maybe The Haynes families in size as his children are adding more grand babies to the family tree. I see a little competition here between Greg and The Haynes’. Congrats Greg and family! $50 bucks Greg!
Speaki
ng of The Haynes, Dr. Jeff Haynes D.C. was named a Bakersfield’s Favorite chiropractor in The Bakersfield Californian’s annual readers’ poll. Mindy Wilmot pointed that out, but Dr. Jeff will pay the $50 fine! Our Beacon Clue is, how many times during last week’s meeting did Cheryl Scott get up from her table in the peanut gallery to approach and address the meeting?
ng of The Haynes, Dr. Jeff Haynes D.C. was named a Bakersfield’s Favorite chiropractor in The Bakersfield Californian’s annual readers’ poll. Mindy Wilmot pointed that out, but Dr. Jeff will pay the $50 fine! Our Beacon Clue is, how many times during last week’s meeting did Cheryl Scott get up from her table in the peanut gallery to approach and address the meeting?We had a drawing or two Wednesday morning. For the cold hard cash, Jackie Maxwell brought home the bacon and Ken Quarnberg won the consolation prize, which in my opinion was the Grand Prize, a bottle of Bella Glos wine.
In Rotary,
Frank Wooldridge
Beacon Writer