Chartered February 9, 2002 as the newest club in District 5240. Following is a listing of the twenty-eight men and women who were the chartered members: Phil Battaglia; Al Bregy; David Brown; Dean Davidge; Bob Dullea; Sabine Eden; Carlyle Eubank; Michel Genetti; BillGrove; Wolfgang Hallauer,M.D.; John Harness; Don Kelleher; Kyle Kinkaid; Penny Knowles; Tom Le Pley; Jim Lohnas; Jack Mochnick; Rex Murphy; Dr. Allan Pacela; Dean Palius; Art Polan; Hal Purdy; Al Remmenga; Sylvia Remmenga; Gabrielle Robbins; Mark Shultz,D.D.S.; Jim Thomas; and Guy Walker.
At our Charter night program Brenda Cressey, District 5240 Governor presented our Charter to incoming Club President Dean Davidge. Dean introduced the Charter Officers and Directors for year 2002 who were Bob Dullea, Vice-President; Dr.Allan Pacela President-Elect; David Brown, Secretary; Hal Purdy, Treasurer; Kyle Kinkaid, Sergeant-at-Arms; Sylvia Remmenga, Club Service Chair; Hal Purdy, Community Service Chair; Wolfgang Hallauer,M.D., International Service Chair; Michael Genetti, Vocational Service Chair; Dr.Allan Pacela, Program Chair.
Our first year was actually only five months in duration when the new Officers and Directors were installed for Rotary Year 2002-2003. That fiscal year started July 1, 2002 and finished June 30, 2003. Those Officers were: President, Allan Pacela; Vice-President, Dean Davidge; Secretary Sylvia Remmenga; Treasurer, Hal Purdy; Club Service, Dean Palius; International Service, Wolfgang Hallauer; Community Service, Guy Walker, Vocational Service, Michael Genetti; Public Relations, Al Remmenga; Membership Chair, Gabi Robbins; Newsletter Sabine Eden; Foundation Chair, Dean Davidge; Fundraising Chair, Bob Dullea; Sergeant-At-Arms, Al Bregy, Webmaster, Kyle Kinkaid, and President Elect Sylvia Remmenga.
Presidents that followed:
Rotary Year 2004-2005, Steve Berg; Year 2005-2006, John Reese; Year 2006-2007, Gabi Robbins; Year 2007-2008, Jim Lohnas; Year 2008-2009, Dave Lawrence;
Year 2009-2010, Toni Coble; Year 2010-2011, Peter Robbins; Year 2011-2012, Rich Nagler; Year 2012-2013,Penny Knowles; Year 2013-2014,Bob Dullea;
Year 2014-2015 Ed Prutzman & Steve Berg; Year 2015-2016, Ron Walsh; Year 2016-2017 John Mathews; Year 2017-2018 Inge-Lise Pedersen and Year 2018-2019 Judith Canby.
We decided in Rotary year 2003-2004 to establish The Los Olivos Rotary Club Foundation as a non-profit 501 C(3) Charitable Foundation. This foundation allows people who donate money to deduct that gift as a charitable donation against income for tax purposes . This corporation is organized for the specific purpose and objective of raising and using funds for the benefit of charitable programs in the greater Santa Ynez Valley area of Santa Barbara County, California, specifically but not limited to educational scholarships, athletic events, parks and recreational facilities, and programs for youth, senior citizens and the mentally, physically or economically disadvantaged.
In Rotary year 2003-2004 the Rotary Club also conceived the idea of” Art for the Park”, a major fundraising event to assist the Los Olivos community and POLO in purchasing the Lavinia Campbell park property on the corner of Grand Ave. and Alamo Pintado Ave. We are proud to have help raise $ 44,000.00 that we donated to Polo to maintain this beautiful park for everyone to use.
In Rotary Year 2004-2005 we conceived of the idea and held our First MAJOR fundraising event to be named; The LOS OLIVOS JAZZ & OLIVE FESTIVAL. The original idea was the brainstorm of Jim Lohnas who worked out the plan to close off one complete block in downtown Los Olivos on the 1st Saturday of June each year. We planned to have a few wineries do wine tasting; a few Chefs prepare snacks with Olive content to go with the wine and place them under canopies on Alamo Pintado Ave. and bring in a Jazz Band to play music in Lavinia Campbell Park on the corner of Grand Ave. and Alamo Pintado Ave. We have just completed our THIRTEENTH festival with thirty wineries, thirty chefs, two olive oil vendors and great Jazz Band made up of professional musicials from the Los Angeles area. We now net over forty thousand dollars each year that is given away to non-profits without any costs for salaries or any other overhead expenses.
In addition our club is a major food vendor in the Annual LOS OLIVOS DAY IN THE COUNTRY event held in October of each year. We also donate cookies and hot-chocolate that we give to those who attend the “Old Fashioned Christmas” celebration held each year in December in Los Olivos.
After sixteen productive years our club still has seven members who were Charter members that helped establish the club in 2002. They are, in alphabetical order: David Brown; Dean Davidge; Bob Dullea; Don Kelleher; Penny Knowles; Jim Lohnas; and Gabrielle Robbins.
Bob Dullea, Scribe
