Welcome to this week’s edition of The Beacon, your Wednesday-morning guide to the people, projects, and plans of the Bakersfield Breakfast Rotary Club. A special thank you to our scribe this week, Denise Haynes, for capturing the highlights of our meeting and keeping our story shining bright.
Greeters: Dynamic hubby‑n‑wife duo Jeff & Donna Schwartz
Invocation: Ken Quarnberg, who shared he was surprised the club would entrust their souls to him, provided a very nice invocation.
Flag Salute: Knowing she would be absent, Mayah asked President‑Elect Nominee Erick Bautista to do the honors.
Song: Songstress Carol Smith saw many visitors and chose “Welcome to Our Rotary.”
Guests: President‑Elect Nominee Designee Marti Sanders had no visiting Rotarians to introduce, but there were several guests. David Lari introduced his “practically a member” wife, Marti Lari. Jennifer Henry introduced co‑workers Heather McMann and Elizabeth Huerta. Today’s speaker, member John Sabovich, introduced Bill Robbins and Dennis Alsworth, two men who have benefitted from John’s Epiphany Home.
Program – Epiphany Foundation
Carol Smith introduced member John Sabovich, Arvin High and CSUB graduate, farmer, and contractor, who spoke passionately about his non‑profit Epiphany Foundation, a group home providing “a real world approach to drug & alcohol addiction.” In 2017 John was remodeling a 5‑bedroom home but did not know what to do with it upon completion. A friend suggested he make it a sober living facility: a real home that provides a safe, drug‑free, and structured life. “It was like an epiphany,” John said.
John has never used illicit drugs, but he has experienced the lows of addiction because his daughter was an addict. Through tough love and help, she has been able to overcome her addiction. John shared that he likes helping people and believes traditional sober‑living facilities often do nothing to get addicts back into society.
He commented that our current society has low expectations of addicts, there are few to no consequences for addiction, drugs are more accepted than ever, and government often enables addiction by throwing money and housing at addicts.
The residents of Epiphany are homeless males with no income. Average addiction length is about 10 years, and residents range from ages 22 to 67 from all backgrounds – from zero skills to union workers to corporate executives. The Epiphany home does not “give the addicts a fish; it teaches them to fish.” John employs the men on his construction jobs so they learn relevant, practical, real‑world trade skills that will enable them to become employed when they leave Epiphany.
Recovery Program Model: Intake; begin building self‑esteem; set goals; learn/accept accountability, consequences, and discipline (interestingly and effectively, these are “dished out” by the residents, not professional counselors or John); four nights each week of formal support‑group meetings (AA, NA, Embrace Life, etc.); “We’ve got your six”; constant affirmation. Counselors are former residents because they truly know what each person is going through.
Their current project is a very large home on Bermuda, being remodeled into quite the showpiece. John explained he buys the homes they work on so he does not have to deal with people’s whims, and he is proud to put high‑end amenities into his projects.
Vocational Moment
Vocational Chair Erick Bautista was pleased to announce the recipient of BBRC’s Above and Beyond award: Links for Life employee Elizabeth Huerta. She was surprised, appreciative, and even shed some happy tears. Elizabeth has been at Links for Life for three years and is the Patient Advocate Manager. The ruse to get her to the meeting was that she would be presenting BBRC with a Certificate of Appreciation for our donation to their cancer‑patient goodie baskets – which she did!
Membership Moment
Membership Chair Temo Lopez was proud to present three Rotarians with a Certificate of Appreciation and “cutting edge, high‑tech Vision Enhancement Devices” for bringing in members to BBRC this year. The recipients were: Jacque Alexander, Jennifer Henry, and Donna Schwartz. Temo admonished the recipients to “wear the vision devices responsibly as they are very powerful.” Always original and sure to make us smile, Temo has done a unique and lively job as Membership Director.
Club Business and Announcements
Club Vote: Dave Lari conducted the vote to determine the next in line for President. The club officially voted Marti Sanders in as President‑Elect Nominee Designee. She follows Erick Bautista, who follows Sandra Parnell, who follows Queen Jackie.
June Service Project – Aspiranet: The June service project is to bring all sorts of everything one needs to have in a home to donate to Aspiranet, an organization helping foster youth transition from the system into their own home or apartment. They need everything – check your email for the list, but think: dishes, utensils, cookware, towels, plastic containers, toiletries, and sundries. Think cleaning out grandma’s home or decluttering your home; items just need to be in good condition, not necessarily new.
Mea culpa from your editor (Teresa Waller) – Last week a big moment was omitted from the bulletin somehow, for that we apologize. The club celebrated Denise Haynes last week as she received her Paul Harris Fellow +3 recognition, a milestone that represents years of faithful giving to The Rotary Foundation and a heartfelt dedication to Rotary’s values, projects, and service in our community and beyond.
Demotion: DEMOTION is June 25.
Celebrations
Birthday: Bart the Birthday Monkey sang for Jeff Schwartz, who celebrates June 13.
Anniversaries: No wedding anniversaries this week.
Club Anniversary: Still rehabbing Tom Burke, our Flag Master extraordinaire, has been with the club 9 years.
Happy Spots
Happy Spots were welcomed by a smiling Sloth. Ken Quarnberg was happy about visiting Utah and returned with non‑alcoholic beverages for President Jackie: distilled water, root beer, and grape soda. He was $25 happy for his trip and $25 happy that someone covered his shift at Thousand Flags, asking that the $50 go to the endowment.
Raffle and Fines
The song played this morning was a Jimmy Buffett tune, “What If the Hokey Pokey Really Is What It’s All About.” Jacque Alexander got it right and will be fine‑free for Queen Jackie’s last meeting on June 17.
The winning ticket, 1076046, was held by Sandra Kessler, who insisted everyone at her table verify the number. She won $57.
The meeting was dismissed with the bell and yet another reminder from Queen Jackie: her LAST MEETING is next week, June 17.
