Old Mission Rotary Club

09/28/2026

Join us for a Day of Service this October 24th

09/28/2026

You are invited to Project Mercy Build 2026

Oct. 17, 2026 7:00 a.m. - 2:00 p.m. Pacific Daylight Time (UTC-07:00)

Tijuana, Mexico

Come swing a hammer or paint a wall to help build a home in Tijuana with Project Mercy during its Baja Challenge. NO SKILLS ARE REQUIRED. Project Mercy volunteers meet at the Otay Mesa Border McDonald’s at 7:00am on the day of construction, unless otherwise stated. Take the 805 south to the 905 east, take the 905 east and then south Immediately after the 905 swings south there is a sign on the right for Siempre Viva Road exit Exit to the right and take the left lane: the Siempre Viva Road East fork in the road This will take you under the bridge and around back over it to McDonald’s. PARKING: Note that you cannot leave your car at McDonalds! Either carpool from your destination, drive your car into Mexico or arrive early to find parking elsewhere. There is parking through the convenience store at the gas station next to McDonalds for about $10.

09/28/2026

Old Mission Rotary donated $100,000 to start the matching of the Padres $1.25 million donation to the & Clubs of Greater San Diego & Girls Club of Greater San Diego. The Clairemont Branch will soon be the San Diego Padre Branch. Club members Cesar Cervantes, Susan Josephson , Steven M. Nuñez and, of course, Boys & Girls Club CEO Michelle Malin attended the VIP reception and Gala. An announcement was made that the Padres are donating 1.25 million to the Boys and Girls Club provided they raise matching gifts of $750,000. Art Pratt of Old Mission Rotary matched the first $100,000 which was announced last night with the Padres announcement.

09/05/2026

09/05/2026

Hi everyone,

A reminder that we will not have a club meeting this Tuesday, September 8, due to the Labor Day weekend.

We will resume our regular meetings on Tuesday, September 15, from 12–1:30 pm, when we will welcome District Governor Jeb Bakke.

Wylde Horses has also generously offered complimentary admission and reserved VIP seating for Rotary and Art Pratt Foundation members at their 3rd Annual Silent Auction and Barn Party on Saturday, September 26. The event will take place at their ranch and include live music, food, drinks, and a silent auction to support their programs and horses.

It would be great to have members attend and continue building our relationship with them. If you are interested, please reply to this email with your name so I can have you added to their guest list. I have attached the event flyer with more information.

Enjoy the long weekend, and I look forward to seeing everyone on September 15!

Cesar Cervantes
President, Old Mission Rotary
619-844-9233

09/05/2026

San Diego personal trainer and health coach Rico Caveglia is 84 years old and brings 44 years of experience helping people live healthier and more active lives.

Rico shared his practical lifestyle habits that can help us maintain strength, energy, mental sharpness, and independence as we age.

His interactive presentation to Old Mission rotary on September 1st offered simple strategies that members can begin applying immediately to improve their health and overall quality of life.

08/28/2026

Our very own Rick Wilson spotted on K**I News

Long time Old Mission Rotarian Rick Wilson was spotted on K**I TV News promoting the 24th Annual Women in Leadership Luncheon scheduled for October. Rick is the President and CEO of the San Diego East County Chamber of Commerce.

In addition to being fined for “shameless self promotion” Rick should also be fined for not wearing his Rotary pin!

08/27/2026

Workshops for Warriors- Old Mission Rotary site visit

Workshops for Warriors is a San Diego nonprofit school that prepares veterans and transitioning service members for careers in advanced manufacturing. On Tuesday, August 25th members of Old Mission Rotary toured the three buildings that make up the facility and learned about their accelerated training programs in welding and CNC machining. CNC machining is an automated manufacturing process where pre-programmed computer software directs factory tools to remove material from a solid block.

We enjoyed presentations by Development Coordinator Yolanda Lopez-Rettew and by Javier Aguirre who is a recent graduate and Welding Teaching Assistant

In 2013, our late and great Old Mission Rotary Rotarian Bob James was doing a commercial real estate appraisal on a building on Main Street by the Naval Station and discovered that it housed a unique technical training school for veterans called Workshops for Warriors (WFW). Bob was so impressed that he urged the founder and CEO, Hernán Luis y Prado, to apply for an Art Pratt Foundation grant. The request for $20,000 was approved in record time and Old Mission Rotary has been a proud supporter of the organization ever since.

Workshops for Warriors, was founded in 2008 and is a State-licensed, board governed, fully audited 501(c)(3) nonprofit school. Over the years WFW has graduated 1776 veterans having received 720,057 hours of hands on training and earned a total of 22,947 manufacturing credentials. 1459 graduates have been placed in full time jobs.

The most recent grant from the Art Pratt Foundation of $10,000 supported the build of a new welding training workstation. By December 2026, WFW will have 50 new welding workstations allowing future cohorts the tools they need to turn hands on practice into industry certification during their 16 week semesters.

The mission of Workshops for Warriors is to provide accredited STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics) educational programs and opportunities to earn third party nationally recognized credentials to enable veterans, transitioning service members and other students to be successfully trained and placed in their chosen advanced manufacturing career field.

WFW is different from typical vocation schools in that students are certified with invaluable industry credentials as part of the program. These credentials are so much in demand that employers frequently hire WFW students even before they graduate. Many manufacturing corporations hire from job fairs at the school. Examples include BAE Systems, Lockheed Martin, Raytheon, Caterpillar, Tesla and even SPACEX.

Workshops for Warriors understands that most veterans are struggling after transitioning out of the military and need assistance if they are to participate in their demanding training programs. What is truly extraordinary is that WFW provides direct assistance to vets with scholarships, housing, food pantry, clothing closet, financial literacy instruction, resume building, mental health counseling and mentorship.

Workshops for Warriors can proudly boast that they are rebuilding American manufacturing one warrior at a time!

Photo: (L-R) Brian Dempsey, Stan Vogelsang, Bob Chalfa, Steven Nuñez, WFW Founder and CEO Hernán Luis y Prado who is also a member of Rotary Club 33, Old Mission Rotary President Cesar Cervantes, Aryanna Edwards, Don Krupp who coordinated our excellent lunch, Gary John Collins, Art Pratt Foundation President Eric Benink and Matt Risi.

08/25/2026

Allison Tartari, LM, CPM is a California Licensed Midwife, maternal health advocate, educator and founder of Thrive Maternal Health Fund. With more than a decade of experience supporting women and families and attending over 250 births, Allison has dedicated her career to improving the way women are cared for throughout pregnancy, birth, postpartum, and pregnancy loss.

Her path to midwifery began with her own experiences as a mother of four. After the birth of her youngest child with the support of midwives and a doula, Allison returned to school at 39 to pursue midwifery—a decision that ultimately reshaped her life and career.

Today, Allison’s work focuses on helping close the gaps that too often exist in traditional maternity care. Through her private midwifery practice, she provides individualized co-care for families planning hospital births, postpartum midwifery and home visits, breastfeeding and newborn support, education, and mentorship.

As founder and Executive Director of Thrive Maternal Health Fund, Allison works to make compassionate maternal healthcare accessible to families who may otherwise go without it. Thrive supports programs including postpartum midwifery home visits, maternal mental health care, pregnancy loss support, breastfeeding education, and community-based maternal health resources.

Allison is a strong advocate for collaboration between midwives, physicians, hospitals, mental health professionals, birth workers, and community organizations. Her goal is not to replace existing healthcare systems, but to help fill the spaces where women too often fall through the cracks—and to build a model of maternal care where support reaches families earlier, closer to home, and before a crisis occurs.

Her guiding belief is simple: When mothers are cared for, families thrive.

08/25/2026

Art Pratt Foundation of Old Mission Rotary Grant to the Athenaeum Music & Arts Library

The Athenaeum Music & Arts Library is a non-profit membership library in La Jolla. In 1884, a group of La Jolla women established the La Jolla Reading Room and by 1898, a reading room was constructed on the corner of Girard Avenue and Wall Street.

The library, devoted exclusively to music and art, is one of only 16 membership libraries remaining in the United States. It hosts over 100,000 visitors a year and presents year-round concerts, lectures, and public programs, in addition to fine art classes in various media. It houses a unique collection of art and music books, CDs, DVDs, and special collections, and is recognized especially for its collection of artists’ books.

The library is housed in three historic buildings, which were joined and remodeled in 2006 following an ambitious capital campaign. In 2016, the Athenaeum Art Center opened in the Logan Heights neighborhood, featuring a print studio and an event space. The library is open to the public five days a week: Tuesday through Saturday, from 10:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m.

At our meeting on August 18th, the Art Pratt Foundation of Old Mission Rotary presented a grant of $8,462 to the Athenaeum Music & Arts Library. The funds will be used to repair their HVAC system at the La Jolla location. The Athenaeum's Executive Director Christie Mitchell accepted the grant.