Rotary Club of Marina del Rey · District 5280 September 18, 2026
PRESIDENT'S MESSAGE
Dear Fellow Rotarians and Friends,
What an evening. Last night we sailed out of the harbor aboard FantaSea One for Dusk & Diamonds, our third annual Sunset Sail, and it was a wonderful success — a full ship, a warm room, and an evening that did exactly what we hoped it would do for our youth sailing and service programs. Final numbers and a proper recap are still being tallied, and I will have all of it for you in the next edition.
My thanks to Mary February, our event chair, and to the committee who carried months of work so quietly that the night looked effortless. And my deepest thanks to our sponsors, listed below. Their support is what turns a beautiful evening into real service in this community. Please thank them when you see them, and take your business to them all year.
Now we trade the cocktail attire for work gloves. Tomorrow morning we are on the sand at Mother’s Beach for California Coastal Cleanup Day. Glamour on Thursday, grit on Saturday — that is Rotary in one week.
Yours in Rotary service,
Nancy Voss
President, Rotary Club of Marina del Rey
THANK YOU TO OUR SPONSORS
Our deepest thanks to the sponsors of the Third Annual Sunset Sail, and to FantaSea Yachts.
Captain's Deck
Marina del Rey Lessees Association ·
Los Angeles County Supervisor Holly J. Mitchell
Upper Deck
Marina del Rey Tourism Board ·
John and Nancy Edwards Family Foundation ·
Debbie Feinerman & Bill Stump
Main Deck
Pacific Ocean Management ·
The Plotkin Family · Drollinger Properties ·
Voss, Silverman & Braybrooke, LLC Attorneys at Law
September Morn
Albert Hernandez, PDG · Caffe Pinguini · Del Rey Yacht Club · Estate Properties · Gayle Taylor · JR Dzubak, Past President, Beverly Hills Rotary · LAX Coastal Chamber of Commerce · Mercy Housing · The Neighbors of Playa Vista & Westchester Living
OUR LAST SPEAKER — SARA SCHULTING-KRANZ
On September 10 we welcomed keynote speaker and author Sara Schulting-Kranz, whose book “Walk Through This” grew out of her work guiding others through hard passages toward recovery and growth. It was a room that listened closely.
WELCOME, NEW MEMBERS
At our last meeting we inducted two new members, Richard and Ilene Florin, sponsored by Dave Voss, Deb Berman, and Geo Rocha. Please join me in welcoming them.
LAST WEEK — MARINES COLLECTION DRIVE
Our September 12 collection drive, led by Community Service Director Benedicta Ogbonnaya, sent much-needed items to service members and their families at Fort MacArthur and Camp Pendleton. Thank you to everyone who gave and turned out. Stay tuned — Benedicta is planning another drive for early next year.
California Coastal Cleanup Day is the largest volunteer event in the state, and our stretch of it is right here at home. For three hours we walk our own shoreline and take off it whatever should not be there — before the winter rains carry it into the water we sailed on last night.
Co-leads Nico Ruderman and Lennart Heyner will have us organized and assigned when you arrive. This one is genuinely family friendly — bring the family, and bring a guest who has never been to a meeting. Wear your Rotary blue so we are easy to find.
What to bring: reusable gloves and a bucket if you have them, a refillable water bottle, hat, sunscreen, and closed-toe shoes. Everything else is provided.
MONDAY — PAUSE FOR PEACE
Monday, September 21 · International Day of Peace
Pause for Peace is our club’s observance, and it asks nothing but attention. For one day, let someone go ahead of you — in line, in traffic, in the middle of a sentence — and invite them to pass it on.
Keep track of what happens — we will collect your stories at the September 24 social.
OCTOBER 3 — PALISADES BEAUTIFUL PLANTING
Saturday, October 3 · Pacific Palisades
Palisades Beautiful is replanting neighborhoods stripped by the fire, and we are joining the effort alongside Pacific Palisades Rotary, coordinated with Councilwoman Traci Park’s office and Bryant Brownlee at Rotary International. Meeting place and time to follow — if you would like to be counted, let me know now.
FAL LI NTER-CLUBFELLOWSHIP
LOOKING AHEAD
Thursday, September 24 — Joint social with Pacific Palisades Rotary, aboard the Voss boat in the marina.
Thursday, October 1 — Speaker Jeffrey Prang, LA County Assessor, with a short talk from Carl and Tara Eaton of OC–Not Just Tourists.
Saturday, October 3 — Palisades Beautiful restoration planting.
Saturday, October 10 — Westside Food Bank, hosted by El Segundo Rotary.
October 11 — Catalina Island retreat.
Thursday, October 15 — Club Assembly at the Del Rey Yacht Club — where the club stands, where we are headed, and what each of us is being asked to carry. You will not want to miss this one.
October 16–18 — RYLA 2026. Our club is sponsoring two students.
October 24–25 — Pumpkin Patch at Fisherman’s Village, with our End Polio Now activation.
Rotary Club of Marina del Rey · District 5280 · nvossrotary@gmail.com
JOIN US IN BARCELONA
Rotary International Convention · 26–30 June 2027 · Fira de Barcelona
Registration opened this month. Barcelona expects some 20,000 Rotarians from more than 140 countries — four days of sessions, ideas, and the kind of connections you cannot make any other way, in a Mediterranean harbor city that will feel a little like home.Geo, Deb Fixen Deb Berman Dave Voss and I intend to be there, and we would love a Marina del Rey contingent alongside me. Register early for the best rate, and tell me if you are going so we can travel together.
