💖 Lead with Heart • Align with Purpose • Inspire Hope 💖
November 2025 Newsletter — Kindness, Connection & Community ✨
(Celebrating Rotary Foundation Month)
💛 President’s Message
Dear Rotary Family, Friends & Changemakers,
As we move through November and into the holiday week, I just want to share how grateful I am for each of you. Thank you for showing up with kindness, for the ways you serve your communities, and for helping create spaces that feel grounded, warm, and connected — even from afar.
One of my goals this year is to make service simple and meaningful for everyone,
no matter where you are. With that spirit, we’ll be weaving in a few brief virtual service moments during upcoming meetings — small heartfelt actions that we
can share together and will ripple outward in beautiful ways.
Wishing you a peaceful Thanksgiving week — and if you don’t celebrate, I hope this season brings moments of rest, gratitude, and light in whatever way feels right for you.
With Love & Gratitude 💖
Grace
Grace Leung
Charter Member • President 2025–26
Rotary Club of Mental Health & Wellness | District 5280
📝 Kindness Spotlight: Operation Gratitude
Operation Gratitude sends care packages and handwritten notes to service members, veterans, and first responders.
During our November 25 meeting, we’ll take a couple of minutes to write short appreciation notes together.
💛 You can type your note during the meeting
💛 Or handwrite one anytime this week
💛 Mailing information will be on the slide
A small act of kindness can truly brighten someone’s day — especially as we move into the holidays.
🫶 Service and Connection Across the District
It has been a meaningful time of connection, service and collaboration with fellow Rotarians across District 5280:
✨ Operation Teddy Bear
My mom and I represented our club by volunteering with the Manhattan Beach Rotary Club, assembling educational kits benefiting Richstone Family Center, which supports children affected by trauma, abuse, and family hardship.
✨ Visit to Rotary Club of Pacific Palisades
I attended their club meeting, where they inducted a new member and shared updates on their community service work, including a $1,000 contribution to the Pacific Palisades Task Force on Homelessness. Being in a community that was recently impacted by the wildfires, it was meaningful to hear their stories of resilience and recovery. It was wonderful connecting with fellow Rotarians and witnessing their strength, compassion, and commitment to service.
✨ RISE Against Hunger
Our club helped sponsor this district-wide service project alongside several Rotary clubs. Volunteers across the district came together to prepare packaged meals supporting communities facing food insecurity around the world.
✨ Operation Gobble
I joined District Governor Alex Parajónand many fellow Rotariansin volunteering with the Carson–Gardena–Dominguez Rotary Club for their annual Operation Gobble event. Together we packed 600 Thanksgiving meals for families in need, and it felt meaningful to come together in service and support our community during this time of year.
✨ Thanksgiving Lunch with Rotary Playa Venice Sunrise My mom and I joined Rotary Playa Venice Sunrise for their Thanksgiving Lunch service project at the Westchester Senior Center. More than 100 seniors enjoyed a warm holiday meal, connection, and bingo.
✨ District 5280 & GEM Palisades Fire Recovery Pop-Up
Rotarians also supported families affected by recent wildfires through essential resources and care in partnership with Global Empowerment Mission.
🌱 Youth Corner: Empowering the Next Generation
✨ La Cañada High School Interact Club
We officially launched and sponsored our very first Interact Club! The club was started by Sophia, daughter of our Charter President, Dr. Bella Shaar, making this milestone especially meaningful.
✨ RYLA — Wellness & Art Workshop
I had the opportunity to support RYLA and facilitate an art-based reflection and grounding workshop. Watching students create and share their Touchstones was incredibly moving and a reminder of how powerful these safe, creative spaces
can be.
✨ St. Genevieve Interact Club — Co-Sponsorship with Woodland Hills
We’re thrilled to co-sponsor this new Interact Club with the Rotary Club of Woodland Hills. The students expressed a strong interest in mental health.
💛Welcome New Members!
Welcome Maria Kesti 💛
Maria first joined Rotary in 1993 and has been an active, dedicated Rotarian ever since. She’s sponsored nearly 20 members, served in multiple leadership roles, and is a proud Major Donor to The Rotary Foundation. One of her most meaningful Rotary experiences was traveling to India for a polio immunization trip. We’re so happy to welcome her to our club family. ✨
Welcome Damaris Martinez 💛
Damaris is a nurse practitioner in Las Vegas who joined our Club through her close friendship with Charter President Dr. Maribel Khoury Shaar. Born in Spain, she moved to the U.S. at 19 to pursue nursing and now practices primary care with Optum. She loves traveling, music, and dancing — and brings such warmth and compassion to our club. 🤍
💙 Rotary Foundation Month
November is Rotary Foundation Month — a time to honor the heart of Rotary’s global impact.
✨ District Foundation Gala
Our club was represented at the Gala, celebrating the life-changing work made possible through annual giving, global grants, peace fellowships, polio eradication, and community-based projects.
✨ Every Rotarian, Every Year
Thank you to our President-Elect and Foundation Chair, Sam Alkan, for reminding us of Rotary’s commitment to “Every Rotarian, Every Year,” encouraging members to give what they can to strengthen Rotary’s life-changing work.
✨ Why This Matters
The Rotary Foundation empowers clubs like ours to support mental health, peacebuilding, youth leadership, and community wellness. It’s how we turn compassion into action — and action into lasting change.
🕊️ Peacebuilder Corner
✨ District Peace Concert
A beautiful celebration of unity and hope, bringing our community together through music and collective compassion.
✨ “Bringing Greater Benevolence & Belonging To Our Lives and Club”
Our board member, Joseph Delgado, was one of the presenters at this Peacebuilder session — exploring compassion, belonging, and emotional safety within Rotary and our wider communities.
🌟 Club Highlights Snapshot
✨ Fall Rotary Connections
From Rotary Means Business to the District Breakfast, our club appreciated the opportunity to connect with Rotarians across 5280 — and to welcome our newest member, Maria Kesti, at the District Breakfast.
✨ NAMI Greater LA County Conference
Club members and Rotaractors attended the annual conference, “Together for Mental Health Access, Advocacy, and Action,” joining advocates, clinicians, and community partners for a day focused on expanding mental health resources and support across Los Angeles County.
✨ Ongoing Partnerships & Collaborations
Continuing to build warm relationships with clubs and organizations across District 5280.
📆 Upcoming Events
✨ Santa Stroll – Saturday, December 13
Join our Rotary Santa Squad for a festive, fun community service event supporting Mychal’s Learning Place, an incredible organization empowering youth and adults with developmental disabilities.
Bring your holiday spirit (and pups!), stroll with fellow Rotarians and friends, and stay for optional fellowship afterward. It’s a heart-warming way to spread kindness this season. 🐾
🎅 Registration link: Scan QR code or https://tinyurl.com/RotarySantaSquad2025
🧸✨ Sip & Stuff – Sunday, December 14
Hosted by Rotary Club of DTLA Sip & Stuff is an adult-only, festive Build-A-Bear service event benefiting pediatric cancer patients. Enjoy light bites, wine, fellowship, and a fun hands-on experience at one of Downtown LA’s iconic private clubs.
An onsite Build-A-Bear associate will guide guests through a brief heart ceremony, and each furry friend will include a Rotary t-shirt, birth certificate, and Cub Condo.
To register: Visit the Rotary Club of DTLA or use this link:
https://tinyurl.com/568k8h9r
✨ District Holiday Events
Check the District 5280 website for December mixers & celebrations.
🧡Gratitude Corner
✨ Gratitude doesn’t have to be big — even one small moment can bring a little light.
💛 The holidays can bring many emotions; all of them are valid.
🤍 You’re part of a community that values you exactly as you are.
🌿 Kindness — especially toward yourself — is a powerful form of service.
