MEETING – There were 20 members in attendance at last Thursday’s luncheon meeting, which was held in the card room of the Bahia Corinthian Yacht Club. President Shirley Lashmett opened the meeting, and Secretary Richard Swinney gave the invocation. Richard asked us to give thanks to God for all the blessings in our lives, for our families and friends, and for the comforts that we have. He reminded us that there are many who do not share the blessings that God has given us, and that they some comfort can be ob-tained during this Thanksgiving season. He asked that God as-sist them to get the food, shel-ter, and medical attention they need to thrive. Richard requested that we remember in our thoughts and prayers those members who are experiencing ill health, specifically Bob Kin-ton and Wally Ziglar; and that we remember Dick Hodge, an earlier member of ECNH who passed away at the age of 98 (Ed. Note: Dick’s funeral was held at Pacific View Cemetery on Thursday afternoon). Richard asked for the Almighty’s blessing on the food that we were about to receive, and that we all have a Happy Thanksgiving on Thursday. Seymour Beek then led the group in the Sa-lute to Old Glory.
ANNOUNCEMENTS – Fran Murphy informed the group that we are celebrating Happy Birthdays to Diane Daruty, Al Wachs, Gail Demmer, George Lesley, and Cynthia Strasmann, all of whom were born during the month of November…..Pres Shirley remarked that Thanksgiving dinners take 18 hours to prepare, and are consumed in 12 minutes. Football game half-times take 12 minutes: this is not a coincidence!!…..Football Commissioner Mike Gertner announced the results of the Week 10 Football Pool: there were 19 players, Chuck Seven won the low-ball prize ($3)with 6 of 20 correct answers, and with 14 correct answers, Gail Demmer was the winner ($26)…..This year’s Holiday party, originally scheduled for December 2nd, has been cancelled. A post New Years party has been re-scheduled for Saturday, January 13 at 6 pm at the home of the Strasmanns…..Pres. Shirley is still selling tickets for the Pacific Coast Exchange’s “25 Days of Christmas” fundraiser. Each ticket costs $25. For more information, please contact Shirley.
BUSINESS MEETING – Secretary Richard Swinney distributed copies of the minutes of last week’s Board meeting for member review. He reported that the Field of Honor Committee met just prior to this week’s luncheon meeting at which there were 10 members in attendance. A work session has been scheduled at the Newport Beach Utility Yard at the end of 16th St. on Wednesday, December 6th, beginning at 9am, and lasting most of the day. Richard strongly encouraged all members to participate for at least 2-3 hours. We will be going through all the flags in storage and checking for mildewed and damaged flags, which will need to be disposed of and replaced. We will also be inventorying our supplies of flags, poles, etc. at this time. The bulk of the discus-sion at this meeting had to do with attracting sponsors for the FOH, setting up a signup booth at the entrance of FOH for at-tracting volunteers and prospec-tive new members; creating a potential list of donors and volunteer participants; and setting up a club video showcasing our program in conjunction with having face-to-face conversations with interest-ed parties to join or volunteer. Another element of discussion was setting up FOH presentations by ECNH members at venues such as Oasis Senior Center, AL, and other service organizations. Richard commented that the Sex Trafficking Prevention Program that Diane Daruty has been working on is likely to be pushed to April 2024 to allow more time for her to organize the program. Cynthia Strasmann is in the pro-cess, along with Ken Dufour, of organizing a Bingo Night fundraiser for the Club at the American Legion Post in April 2024. Mike Gertner will be updating the Board at its next meeting in December regarding the legal perspectives of implementing an endowment and bequest program for those members who are interested. Richard advised the Board that Steve Baker, a former member, has submitted a Membership Application requesting that he be reinstated as a full member of the Club. The Board voted unanimously to rein-state Steve, subject to a satisfactory background check. If any member has comments or concerns about Steve, please contact Richard. Cynthia Stras-mann reported that she will meet with Kim Turner of Patrick’s Pur-pose Foundation to decide where four Buddy Benches will be installed in 2024. Cynthia reported that the Salute to Service, which recognizes and honors 5 members of the Newport Beach Police Department, will take place at our next luncheon on November 30; so she encouraged all our mem-bers to attend. The honorees, their families, and city council members will be in attend-ance.
RAFFLE – The winners of this week’s raffle were Marj Davis and Mike Newcomb. Each went home with $25.
