Events

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22 Nov 2019 Fall Foundation Fireside Nov 22, 2019 6:00 PM – 10:00 PM Begin the holiday fun with an elegant evening of incredible music, food, drinks and fellowship. We celebrate Foundation month with all of this, and more, at 7:00 pm on Friday, the 22nd of November. Janice and Chris Prior are opening their beautiful home for this exquisite evening, and jazz great Jacqui Naylor will be performing with her husband Art Khu. Jacqui and Art have kindly donated their time to travel to LA from San Francisco to perform as a Foundation fundraiser, exclusively for WRC. Register and pay on line before November 19th for dinner, wine, beer and soft drinks and the music for the great price of $45.00. Price goes up to $50.00 after the 17th. Bring an extra $10.00 to the event for a Foundation upgrade with an Autumn cocktail, specialty glass and more. Festive Autumn Cocktail Attire. What an affordable way to continue our already generous support of the RI Foundation! Yours in Rotary, Amy Director of Club Service
23 Nov 2019 Homeless Crisis, How Does It Impact Our Community Nov 23, 2019 1:00 PM – 4:00 PM
27 Nov 2019 8th Annual Thanksgiving Stuffing Event Nov 27, 2019 9:00 AM – 12:00 PM Big Sunday wants to make sure everyone gets to celebrate Thanksgiving. So, each year, nice people, of all ages, from all over town join us as we host a huge celebration to fill bags with delicious holiday food for thousands of hungry and grateful people. Even better, some of the people helping out are folks who are getting bags because they want to give as well as receive. And we’re not just packing bags: we’re enjoying arts & crafts, great bluegrass music, and, as always, a fun and friendly community breakfast for everyone! We need people to donate food, as well as to pack everything up. And, yes, everyone is invited to join together for a community breakfast.
27 Nov 2019 No Club Meeting Nov 27, 2019 12:00 PM
04 Dec 2019 Nat Read The surprising story of Santa Claus Dec 04, 2019 12:00 PM The surprising story of Santa Claus Nat Read is a world authority on Santa Claus. He’s been a department store Santa, has been to the North Pole and was dean of U.S.C. – the University of Santa Claus while an executive with Sears. Nat has been published in dozens of local and national publications, including The Wall Street Journal, Los Angeles Times, Los Angeles Magazine, Good Housekeeping, Boy’s Life, Leatherneck, and many, many others. Nat draws on a checkered career in his writing. He made his living as a cab driver in Chicago, made change for slot machines in a casino in Nevada, was a cartoonist, advertising copywriter and a public relations executive. He retired as a Captain in the Navy (ours), was a reserve street cop with LAPD working vice in Hollywood and gang suppression in South Los Angeles, and has appeared as a stand-up comic in the Ice House, Improv and Comedy Store. Speaker Introduction Nat Read spoke to us a few months ago about his book about early Los Angeles history. As a Scholar at the Huntington Library, Nat pursues a number of other research interests. He is a world authority on Santa Claus. He was once Dean of U. S. C., the University of Santa Claus, where he prepared the men hired by Sears to play the role. He has published dozens of newspaper and magazine articles about Old Saint Nick and has sat on the throne at a retail store playing the role of Santa. In his search for Santa he become one of fewer than a hundred people to stand at both poles of the earth. Today Nat will tell the Wilshire Rotary Club why everything we think we know about Santa Claus history is wrong. Join Wilshire Rotary on Wednesday, December 4th, as Nat discusses the Real Story of Santa Claus. Cost is $35 at the door - Parking is included.
10 Dec 2019 Give a Gift to Santa Dec 10, 2019 5:30 PM – 7:30 PM Once again, it's the holiday season and time for our annual Give a Gift to Santa toy drive for the benefit of the Red Shield Club. Give a Gift to Santa started quite a few years ago as a holiday gathering for our club that would also serve as a community service project that could include our children. The idea then, as now, was to have a holiday celebration that would remind our kids - and us - of our goal of Service Above Self for children less fortunate than ours in this season of plenty. The Red Shield Club is affiliated with the Salvation Army and our club has supported it for many years. Their facility is located in the Pico-Union District and is an after-school tutoring and enrichment center that has been in place for over 40 years. It is a refuge for the extremely disadvantaged children it serves and its director, Irene Lewis, is a long-time friend of our club and a most successful product of the Red Shield herself. At our event, our children (and members, if Santa agrees) have the opportunity to sit on Santa's lap and tell him their holiday wishes - but instead of receiving a gift, they give gifts to Santa for delivery to the annual Christmas party at the Red Shield Club. For many of the children at that party, the gifts we give are the only ones that they may receive. With that in mind, please bring unwrapped gifts for ages 5 through 12 to the meeting on November 30, or directly to the event itself. (Please do not wrap the gifts, as the Red Shield Club can age grade the gifts) Please note that the gifts should be non-sex-specific and that classic board games are a big favorite. Give a Gift will be held at our home, located at 220 South Arden Boulevard, Los Angeles 90004 on Tuesday, December 10th, from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. We will serve refreshments and light fare, and please feel free to bring your children, grandchildren and other young friends. Santa will be there in full regalia and Irene will receive the gifts and tell us about current events at the Red Shield Club. Kathleen and I look forward to seeing you, and if you could drop me a line if you plan to attend, I'd be most grateful. Best holiday wishes, Rob Barnes
11 Dec 2019 No Club Meeting Dec 11, 2019 12:00 PM
14 Dec 2019 Battle of the Bells Host Lions vs Wilshire Rotary Dec 14, 2019 11:00 AM – 3:00 PM
18 Dec 2019 No Club Meeting Dec 18, 2019 12:00 PM
25 Dec 2019 No Club Meeting Dec 25, 2019 12:00 PM
01 Jan 2020 No Club Meeting Jan 01, 2020 12:00 PM
26 Feb 2020 Oaxaca Humanitarian Trip Feb 26, 2020 - Mar 01, 2020 Vamos a Oaxaca! District 5280 is at it again and this year's humanitarian trip is filling quickly. Wilshire Rotary is helping fund a solar project in Oaxaca, Mexico, which means, come February of next year, it will be time to pack your bags, your favorite Rotary gear, and anything else you need to journey with your fellow Rotarians from WRC and the district to this beautiful region. Details are still being finalized at the district level, but we need to get our numbers in now. For planning purposes, estimate costs similar to last year's trip to Peru of $2000.00 (double occupancy) without airfare, and $2500.00 with airfare. An extended post trip to nearby Huatulco is also being planned which runs from March 1st to March 5th. Several Wilshire Rotarians are already planning to go. If you are interested in joining, register here and we will be sure to keep you in the loop as plans develop. For those who have attended a district humanitarian trip in the past, you know what wonderful Rotary moments are in store. For those who have not yet attended one, these trips are an exciting way to see our Rotary dollars at work, to bond with other local Rotarians and to meet new Rotary friends from other parts of the world. These trips offer an insider's view into the areas we visit. Oaxaca is also known for its incredible food, namely mole (as in the sauce, not the animal!) , and President Ron's favorite beverage, mezcal.

Event Types

The surprising story of Santa Claus