The Ice Cream Social at Lari’s home was a smash! Well over 30 people attended, including partners, friends, and Rotarians. First lady Marti Lari was superb at ice cream scooping, the topping layout was magnificent. Photos will be coming next week courtesy of Carol Smith (thank you!)
Today’s speaker, Rachel Middleton, the Executive Director of the Kern County Farm Bureau was interesting.
Fast facts:
- California grows more than 400 commodities
- Kern County is the top ranked agricultural county in California and consistently in the top three in the US.
- The Kern County Farm Bureau was formed in 1914 to advocate, educate and engage. They are the “Voice for the ag community.”
- Rachel is the only staff person. She has a 33-person board of directors.
Their major community outreach project is “Farm Day in the City” . The Farm Bureau started sponsoring it in 1984. It has grown to 4,100 2nd to 4th grade students. Over two-days students from public and private schools in Kern County are invited to the event at no cost to the schools. “The goal of the event is to acquaint children with agriculture and its importance in our community and state.”
Family of Rotary
We wish Bill Black a very happy birthday on August 16. Bill has even more reason to celebrate, son Jonathan, a member of the 82nd Airborne is visiting for a couple of weeks. Bill’s wife, Jan confided that they didn’t tell their other two sons that their brother was coming. Such a happy surprise for them!
Keep healing thoughts for Robert Provencio. He is on the mend; we are looking forward to seeing him soon and hearing his voice.
Missing Our Missing Members
If you see them, please let them know we miss them!
- Duncan Harris (Sponsor Jeff Haynes is checking up on his recruit.)
- Myrna Arias (her sponsor, Michele McClure has moved away for a love)
- Shane Bryan (sponsor Willie Gordon – have you seen Shane?)
- Darin Blunt (his sponsor was Joe Nuñez is teaching in Taft plus everything else.)
Recognitions And Confessions
Scooter/Scott Tangeman was so excited about the Ice Cream Social he visited the Lari home a few days early to make sure he knew where it was or some story like that. He received a $20 fine for his eagerness.
Mindy and Don Wilmot celebrated their 25th wedding anniversary last week. Mindy admitted that she didn’t have a chance to share that she was $25 happy for the event last week; she offered it up this week. Way to go Mindy!
Mindy also elicited sympathy with her “kitchen renovation from hell” that started on January 28, 2024 and is not yet complete. They are looking forward to a visit to Avila to get away from it all. David Spalinger made sure that we all knew he was NOT doing the cabinets.
Sally Selby has returned from two weeks in Hawaii. She was looking very relaxed and presented Pres David with a selection of Kaloa Town Rums from Hawaii to help him relax.
The presentation from Rachel about Kern County ag. took Jacque Alexander back to her initial job in Kern at Tenneco West then Dole. She then decided to work with the other big dog industry in town, petroleum production (I believe Bechtel Petroleum Operations Inc was her first oil company. We had a good time working together on a few projects while we were both there.)
Upcoming
The six Rotary clubs in Bakersfield are recognizing Community Service Organization month in September by having a Basic Needs Drive for the homeless. In partnership with the Mission at Kern County the clubs will procure food, hygiene and clothing needed by the people serviced by that organization. More information to come from Pres David!
Introducing the one and only David Lari, our fearless leader and President of the Bakersfield Breakfast Rotary Club! David's Rotary journey began way back on December 1, 1995, when he was sponsored by Joe Audelo. Since then, he's worn just about every hat in the club—Director of Youth Services, Director of International Service, Treasurer, and even President of the Bakersfield Breakfast Rotary Foundation. Now, with a Paul Harris plus 1 to his name, he's leading us into another great year.
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