Catch the Fish Fry on Friday and Saturday

Gather the family and head to Lions Park at 18th and Park streets in Costa Mesa on Friday and Saturday for the annual Lions Club Fish Fry. There will be carnival rides, food booths, games and prizes, live entertainment and even a baby contest, Fish Fry Chairman Mike McIlroy said. It is a family-fun weekend, with activities for all ages.

Over the years, I found the Fish Fry to be a place where you can meet local elected officials and community leaders who are often found serving up the fish and chips or working a game booth. Proceeds from the event are invested right back into the community’s nonprofit groups and several Lions International sight and hearing projects.

Visit the Fish Fry website at https://www.cmnhlions.com/fishfry/index.html for details on hours of operation, entertainment and baby contest.

ROTARIANS PROVIDE WORKSHOPSThanks to the leadership of Newport Beach Sunrise Rotary’s Tim Brown, 15 members of the Salvation Army’s Work Therapy Program participated in a day-long workshop led by Rotarians. The participants’ ages range between 19 and 49, and many are just out of jail as a result of drug and alcohol abuse.

“Thanks go out to Craig Kennedy and Dickson Schaefer, who [along with Brown] conducted the workshop, which focused on skill identification and skill transfer, Brown said. “These 15 men’s lives will be forever linked to our Rotary club,” he said. Additional Rotarians are serving as mentors to the participants during the weeks between the workshops. The workshops, led by Newport Beach Sunrise Rotarians, will continue for the next eight weeks as part of the Rotary club’s Vocational Service emphasis.

HARBOR MESA LIONS GET AWARDS, HONORSHarbor Mesa Lions won awards and honors at the recent Lions District Convention in San Diego. They included Division B Club of the Year, accepted by President Lion Arlene Schafer; Secretary of the Year, Lion Barbara Hayward; Club Bulletin of the Year, editor and Lion Carol Van Holt; Visitation Club of the Year, chaired by Lion Lynn Seaholm; Golf award to Lion Gloria Kimmel; and Best Costume award to Lion Eileen Jensen. Congratulations!

ROTARIANS OFF TO ISRAELAs you read today’s column, I will be in Jerusalem with a group of 10 Rotarians and Interfaith Council members on the third day of our 11-day tour coordinated by the Jewish National Fund.

Local Rotary clubs have international programs with many countries, including Mexico, Central and South America, Philippines and India. The basic intent of this trip is “World Peace through Understanding.” Yet, we have a dichotomy: Israel and the other Middle Eastern countries are at the center of world friction and the threats to world peace. If there is ever a place where Rotary should emphasize world-understanding efforts, it is here. Unfortunately, most of us have found it necessary to nearly ignore this obvious need.

Miles Sterling, a Rotarian from Laguna Niguel, and I are co-chairs of the tour, which will take us to many of the Holy sites in Israel as well as attendance at the Israeli-based Rotary District 2490 Annual Conference being held in Tiberius on Thursday and Friday of the coming week.

Because the trip is being planned in conjunction with Jewish National Fund (the people who actually bought much of this land at the turn of the last century, planted the trees and conserve the water) we are going to places often unavailable to ordinary tour groups. Scholars and guest speakers will be awaiting our arrival.

We will have a chance to meet with Israelis of all faiths. We will be looking for opportunities for Rotary clubs here to help with service projects in Israel as well as opportunities to promote peace and understanding.

WORTH REPEATING … from the Thought for the Day as provided by Greg Kelley of the Newport-Mesa Irvine Interfaith Council … “Remember that when you leave this earth, you can take with you nothing that you have received — only what you have given: a full heart enriched by honest service, love, sacrifice and courage.”

— St. Francis of Assisi

is published Sundays in the Daily Pilot. Send your service club’s meeting information by fax to (714) 921-8655 or by e-mail to jdeboom@aol.com.