Meeting was called to order by President Jim Ripley, who started off with a funny joke, “so last night, my wife says to me, ‘hey, are you even listening to what I said?’ And I thought for a minute, ‘that’s a weird way to start a conversation.’”

For our Commencement Ceremonies, Gerardo led is in our Patriotic Moment with the Pledge of Allegiance. Raco gave us our Invocation with a prayer, “we are thankful for your blessings and opportunities. For your strength in guidance as it come each day. Amen.”

Today’s guests include, President of the Fullerton Sunrise Club, Steve Elgredge. Guest of Leslie McCarthy, Marsha Multz. And guest of Farrell Hirsch, Shereen Yoassef, who specifically came to today’s rotary meeting to meet Mallory Lewis because she can’t make it to Thursday’s show.

For today’s Song Master segment, President James Ripley took over duties. “I got to see one of my idols, Ringo Starr. It was a wonderful show. I thought, ‘you know what? I am going to be Song Master today, and I am going to sing one of my favorite songs.’ I guarantee you know the song and you all know the lyrics.” President Ripley led us with “Yellow Submarine”, made popular by a small British band called The Beatles. Great Job President Ripley!

Announcements: Dan Ouweleen announced next week’s program with Amy Scruggs, TV host/Recording Artist/Media Coach/Best Selling Author, “who is a self-professed social digital media expert and she’s all about helping rotary market itself and plan itself.” Amy will be here on Sept. 27, to talk about digital marketing for our Rotary Club. “She is an incredible presence and a quite fantastic speaker.” Dan announced that she will be putting on a digital workshop that same evening at five o’clock and that whoever is interested, he will send out a link. Dan also announced that due to personal reasons, the current District Governor has stepped down, and that they have elected the next district governor nominee for our district. “So, we had to scramble, and I am proud to say we got Craig Livingston.”

Leslie McCarthy announced our Halloween Party on Monday, October 16th from 5 to 7:30 pm at Twisted Vine on 127 W. Commonwealth Avenue. Price of admission will be $25 per person, and costumes are encouraged with prizes being awarded to the best of show, scariest, best team or couple’s categories. Food, iced tea, water is included with the price of admission, and Beer and Wine will be available for purchase. RSVP with Leslie McCarthy at lesliemccarthy23@gmail.com or call her at 714-384-5437.

Marty Burbank announced Coffee and Camaraderie at the park with veterans every Monday at 9am. “Two weeks ago, we had some guys come by and play the bag pipes. Also, we got World War 2 veterans joining us.”

Bill Edman has fulfilled his Newest Nine obligations and had his ribbon ripped off by President Ripley. “As you know, Bill is one of our newest nine and I believe he has done all the duties of the newest nine. So, he is officially a full-fledged member of our club now.” Congratulations Bill Edman.

Our Fine Master for today was Raco. He called himself a funraiser instead of a fine raiser, “this time, you are going to dish up $5.” He fined a member $5 for telling him to speak into the microphone. Terri Grasso and Beverly Berryman were not present but were recognized for their birthdays. Howard Minkley was recognized and fined for his wife Jane’s birthday on Sept. 24 and because Howard was Fine Master last week and got Raco, Raco paid it forward and made sure to get Howard today. He then played a game of Rotary Club questions worth a dollar fine. His last question to George Lowe was very funny and received a lot of laughs, “Who was born in Hawaii besides me?” After many tries and wrong answers from the crowd, the correct answer was Tom Knoll, whose father was stationed there during Pearl Harbor. Lastly, he played a call and response game of clap and whoever did not respond to his call would get fined $5. Raco did an awesome job generating funds for the club and he made it fun as well.

Today’s program at hand was introduced by Farrell Hirsch, “Shari Lewis first rocketed to fame in the mid 1950s with her career spanning almost five decades. Lamb Chops Play Along came in the 90s, for which Shari and Mallory won the first ever Mother/Daughter Emmy Award. Shari passed in 1998 and Mallory took over her legacy. Lamb Chop and Mallory have been touring for the last two decades. They have a very exciting career, but their true passion is using the power of the ‘lamb’ to promote worthy causes such as founding the Women’s Skydiving World Record Breast Cancer Charity Jump which has raised over $2 million for research among other charities. It is with extreme gratitude that she is here, Mallory Lewis and Lamb Chop keeping Shari’s legacy alive.” Mallory Lewis performed at the Muckenthaler Center in Fullerton on Thursday, Sept. 21. During her visit to the Fullerton Rotary Club, Mallory made a connection with her mother and Rotary International. She said her mom was a fan of Rotary and the lasting changes made in the communities through rotary. “I don’t know if I bring quite as much integrity, understanding and goodwill, but I do now that she stays relevant because she touched people’s hearts,” Mallory said of her mom. Mallory shared intimate memories and stories from Shari and Lamb Chops’ past, like how Shari used to have blonde hair during the days of Black and White television and that before she was a comedian on television with Lamb Chop, she was a dancer. Mallory introduced Lamb Chop to the club, “welcome to the opening night of Lamb Chop’s World Tour! I am going to introduce myself. My name is Lamb Chop, the world’s most greatest entertainer. To my left, is my newest supporting act.” Mallory and Lamb Chop have the same chemistry as Shari did. Comedic lines like calling Lamb Chop a puppet while Lamb Chop retorts, saying that Mallory is the puppet because Lamb Chop controls her not the other way around still gets a laugh in 2023. Mallory and Lamb Chop bring nostalgia to those who remember watching their show and excite newcomers as well. “She was a businesswoman and to show the depth of who my mom was, because people love her even without knowing her, that they would have loved her even more when they got to.” According to Mallory, Shari did not want to be a children’s entertainer, she wanted to be an adult performer, a Broadway dance star. To end her presentation, Mallory shared a trailer to the Shari and Lamb Chop documentary, which releases on Nov. 11, 2023, in theaters. President Ripley presented her with a certificate in her name to Working Dogs 4 Warriors, a non-profit organization dedicated to helping our Nation’s Warriors by training and donating service dogs to veterans and first responders. “My mom’s goal was to empower children. We must educate this next generation of kids.”

Last thing on the agenda was the 50/50 drawing with the help from Lamb Chop. Lucky ticket holder 8374113 wins today’s drawing. “Thank you very much for coming. Next week’s program is Amy Scruggs, who had hit song, ‘What If It All Goes Right?’ and will come and talk to the club. So, invite a friend, please hit that like button and subscribe. With that, we’ll call this meeting adjourned.”