Rotary Community Heroes of Hope
Introducing "Rotary Community Heroes of Hope" - a podcast dedicated to showcasing the profound impact of Rotary in District 5330 and beyond. Join us as we explore the remarkable stories of rotary heroes and initiatives that are transforming communities and creating hope around the world.
Rotary Community Heroes of Hope
EPISODE 35 - The Power of Vocational Service Awards
Every community has its quiet champions, and today, we're shining the spotlight on those extraordinary individuals with Rob Haskins, president of the Murrieta Rotary Club. Prepare to be moved by tales of compassion and courage as we discuss the Vocational Service Awards, honoring those whose daily deeds typically go unnoticed. From the heart-rending sacrifices of fire engineer Corey Wheeler to the meticulous care of police officer Riley Cameron, this episode is a tapestry of humanity's finest threads.
The power of recognition can never be overstated, and through our conversation with Rob, we unpack the memorable moments and the ripple effects of celebrating our local heroes. Marguite Rucker's commitment to diversity and nurse Jennifer McMahon's unwavering spirit in the face of her own battle with cancer serve as beacons of hope and resilience. As these stories unfold, we're reminded of the strength found in community and the profound impact of service above self.
Wrapping up, we turn the lens on Rotary's initiatives that extend these accolades beyond the award ceremonies. The music competitions, speech contests, and the embracing of new technologies like the police drone highlight that the Rotary's mission is about fostering hope and inspiring future generations. This episode is not just about applause; it's a call to action to recognize and celebrate the everyday heroes among us. Share in our journey to amplify these voices of hope and perhaps, find inspiration to be a hero in your own community.
Welcome to the Rotary Community Heroes of Hope. I'm your host, Judy Zulfikar, and I'm thrilled to be joined by my amazing co-host, Jamie Zinn, District Governor of Rotary District 5330. Together, we will take you on a journey to discover the incredible impact Rotarians have on our community and around the world. Get ready to be inspired by our Rotary Heroes of Hope. Good morning, Judy.
Speaker 2:How are you doing today.
Speaker 1:I am doing amazing. It's bright and sunny in spring. It's lovely.
Speaker 2:I know, and we're starting to get warm weather down here in Temecula. We are, we are Well. Today I am very excited. We are going to be talking about actually something that's going on here right down here in our community, and it's with the Murrieta Club, and we have Rob Haskins with us today, who's the president of that club, and he is going to share with us their vocational service awards that they do in the Marietta area. So, rob, why don't you go ahead, introduce yourself a little bit and tell us about what the project is?
Speaker 3:Well, thank you. It's a pleasure to be here and I'm excited to talk about the Vocational Service Awards. I'd love to talk about all the different things that our club does, but Vocational Service Awards is one of the funnest events that we do, so we're going to delve into that, the backstory and what it means to the community.
Speaker 1:Yeah, there are definitely a lot of things we do as Rotarians and that's why we have so many wonderful podcast episodes. We get to cover each and every one of them.
Speaker 3:Well, and it's great. I mean last night, judy, you and I were at the State of the City. We were, and of course people come up to. We had a table because we're one of the nonprofits in the community and people come up to us like, oh, rotary, oh, I love you and everybody's you know it's really cool to be connected to the community of Murrieta. It's a great community to be a part of and that was part of the impetus for us launching the Vocational Service Awards.
Speaker 1:So what is a Vocational Service Award?
Speaker 3:So that's a great question. So Rotary, of course that's one of its principles is focusing on vocational service, which is that every vocation matters and that ethics in service and vocations matter, and service above self, which is the whole. What do we call that? The theme of Rotary or the-.
Speaker 1:One of our tenants Tenants.
Speaker 3:Tenants, one of our tenants of Rotary yeah, I was searching for that word. Anyway, so the backstory for vocational service is this we had a member join our club back in 2008. His name was Dennis McCarvery, and Dennis had already seen this program in action in Wilmington and when he came to our club he was like what are you doing with the city? What are you doing to honor police and fire? And they started vocational service awards and he was the first person to chair it. Well, his daughter also joined our club. Her name is Cynthia Nordskog, and early on it was police and fire. Now we didn't have a super strong relationship with the city like we do now. We had a good relationship with the city. We've always had a great relationship with the city. We had only started doing the field of honor a couple years earlier, and so when we started doing the vocational service awards, it really connected us, even on a deeper level, with the community and with the police department and fire department.
Speaker 1:And every Rotary Club, I think, approaches the vocational service a little differently. It sounds like your club really approaches it in honoring our police and fire. Is that kind of the direction?
Speaker 3:So that's where it started. It's evolved a little bit from that. It still has kept police and fire. But Cynthia said look, they first were holding it in conference rooms or at the hospital Right Various hospitals. They'd move around and she said why aren't we honoring the nurses? Because they're frontline workers.
Speaker 3:They're frontline workers, yeah so we added in the nurses and then we do a lot with the school. So we added in the school and honor a school teacher, added in the school and honor a school teacher. And so now we honor police, fire nurses from the hospitals we didn't go into like individual doctors and things like that and a school teacher or school personnel and it brings the whole community together. So it's really a fun event and it's really one of those feel-good events.
Speaker 2:So I actually was at your vocational service award ceremony that you had a couple weeks ago here and tell our audience, because I found it to be so extremely touching you had wonderful recipients this year, found it to be so extremely touching, you had wonderful recipients this year. But there was one of them that I think there wasn't a dry eye in the house as we were hearing about him, and that was the gentleman who had worked with the young 10-year-old whose father unfortunately had passed away. I believe his name Corey was that his first name?
Speaker 3:Yeah, Corey Wheeler.
Speaker 2:Yes.
Speaker 3:And we tried to get Corey on. He was the one that closest that I could get on in the short notice that I had to get this put together. But yeah, let me tell you about him and a little bit of his story. I'll tell you about each of the ones we honored this year Before I dive into his story. This was the first time you got to attend the Vocational Service Awards, right?
Speaker 2:Yes, it was.
Speaker 3:So what was your impression overall of the event?
Speaker 2:Oh, I thought the event was fantastic. You had all the critical players of the city there. Everyone was excited and I think what was so wonderful about it is it wasn't just the recipient coming, it was the recipient's co-workers, their management team, and they were all so enthusiastic and excited for that individual. You know it was like they all won that award because it was a representation of who they are, what their ideals are, so it was great. The food, of course, was wonderful. The fellowship being able to talk with each of the individuals and hear their stories and see the passion that was one thing. You could see the passion in there and how much you know they appreciated being recognized by Rotary.
Speaker 1:That's amazing, because these are people that are just literally putting their lives on the line every day, and even teachers sometimes. They definitely put their mental health on the line every day, and for Rotary to be able to not only recognize them with a bunch of Rotarians in the room, but also their peers, that's amazing. I look forward to coming to this.
Speaker 2:Oh, and they're so humble, All the recipients are so humble. It's like this is who I am. This is just what I do. They don't give it a second thought. It's wonderful. So how do you?
Speaker 1:identify those that you're going to award each year.
Speaker 3:So the way that they're identified is that we reach out to the leaders of those particular organizations the fire chief, bernie Malloy, the police chief, tony Conrad, the superintendent of the school, dr Andrus and they are the ones who identify, as well as we reach out to the people at Southwest Healthcare and Loma Linda University Medical Center. And so I saw Tony at the event last night and I said, hey, would you mind if I asked you just a couple of questions about how you feel about the Vocational Service Awards? He says, oh my gosh, I love that event. And he started to just tell me and I'm like dude, I'm old and I don't have, I'm going to forget.
Speaker 3:Would you mind if I send you a text? And he says, sure, send me a text, so I get out my phone to put his number. He says, no, I'll just give you my card. And he wrote his personal cell phone on the back of his card and so I got home from the event send him a text. At 2.10 this morning he replied. So I want to. I'd like, I want to read the questions I asked him and his response, so we have the actual response. So I said what does it mean to you and your department to select someone to be honored at Vocational Service Awards? And he said look at the Rotary VSA. Now I'm channeling Tony Conrad, so I don't know if I should change my voice or anything.
Speaker 3:He says the Rotary VSA or Vocational Service Awards gives me a chance to select a member of my department and recognize that person for the great things they are doing in the police department as well as the community. Working for the police department to some extent makes you a public servant, but doing great work at the police department and effecting change for the better in the community makes you a VSA candidate.
Speaker 1:Oh, that's a great description.
Speaker 3:Yes, Then I asked him, I says now, recently we only honored frontline workers frontline, you know, like police officers on the street Right and he said, look, he came to us and he said can we honor people in our department that aren't?
Speaker 3:necessarily on the street on the street, frontline workers. So I asked him. I said well, why did you add frontline personnel to be honored? And he says I want to see police dispatchers and my professional staff eligible because they are the support team behind the badge. They are not seen by the public like my officers are, but their work is as important. Officers are probably the hub of the wheel, but every dispatcher and every professional staff member at the PD make up each spoke of the wheel.
Speaker 1:Wow, very, very Rotarian thing to say, and having been a former dispatcher myself, that is heart-wrenching.
Speaker 3:Were you really. Wow, that's so cool.
Speaker 1:It is. They're an important part of the process. I mean, they're the ones that keep the frontline workers safe and going where they need to be and give them the things that they need to get there.
Speaker 3:And we heard at the State of the City last night some of the new technology they're rolling out for those dispatchers to be connected with their frontline workers.
Speaker 3:So we live in an amazing city and we have a great relationship with these people. I asked him one more question and this was about community. I said how do you feel the VSA has helped our community? He says every time this is Tony speaking. Every time I attend Rotary VSA event, I admire the teachers, nurses and firefighters being recognized. It shows me firsthand how, each occupation, although very different, we all have a common goal to support this community. Rotary VSA brings us all together to celebrate Murrieta and reminds us how blessed we are to live here.
Speaker 1:That's awesome.
Speaker 3:So you mentioned the word humble, and so I'm going to come back to a prior recipient of the VSA that I talked to last night as well. But let's talk about the recipients that we got. You asked me about one. The fire department recognized a fire engineer named Corey Wheeler, and so Corey has a very touching story. And so Corey has a very touching story. He basically, you know, he's a firefighter, EMT, and he got on a call. The daughter called and said my dad's unresponsive Dad had passed away. They weren't able to revive him, but here's how it was described from Chief Bernie Malloy. He says Corey and his team were dispatched to the call involving the 10-year-old girl. They did their best to save the dad but unfortunately it was not possible. Corey successfully rallied his fellow firefighters and the administrative staff to support the young girl for the holidays. He raised thousands of dollars to help secure additional funds for future needs.
Speaker 3:His compassion and dedication to supporting those in need highlights his service to the community in the spirit of the department's motto Neighbors Helping Neighbors. His compassionate nature and strong sense of duty have earned him the respect and admiration of his colleagues in the community, and then they brought him up, and what we do is we give them a plaque. We're not handing out money, I don't believe at this point. We give them a nice plaque honoring them. But even that alone is something that's really, really special in the fact that they're brought out there in front of their peers and other leaders in the community. So that was Corey from the fire department, the police department, and that's why I got confused on the names, because we have Corey Wheeler and then Riley Cameron and I like Cameron Corey. So Riley was recognized by Chief Conrad and Riley isn't a frontline police officer, he's a young officer in their department, which he said. Here's what the chief said Riley has participated in numerous community events above and beyond his basic duties, and really that's the key.
Speaker 1:It's the above and beyond right, the service above self, above and beyond.
Speaker 3:Because they all seem to go out of their way. One of the things that I admire from even being in the Rotary and we've got people of various vocations and retired vocations it almost seems like almost everybody that I meet in Rotary isn't just involved in Rotary, they're involved in more than one thing and because they have that spirit within them that wants to do that well, this is what they're recognized for as well. So he participates in the police department, holds an annual trunk or treat Rally, so the relay team, and he helps with the Myriad Police Department Citizens Academy, which they just finished. In fact, our secretary, patsy Orr, just completed the Citizens Academy and she loved it.
Speaker 1:It's an amazing program, I thought it was really cool.
Speaker 3:Anyways, he was an Eagle Scout and what his job is at the police department is to organize all the evidence.
Speaker 1:Oh, wow. Again critically important.
Speaker 3:Yeah, super important, thousands of pieces. We don't even think about it. We just assume that it's all going to be taken care of, that it's all going to be taken care of, but holding people accountable, you know the police department in order to be the safest city. The police department has to do a good job of moving that along. So he was honored for that Really, really nice young man. I'm going to say young man because he's in his 20s.
Speaker 1:Yeah, that's young, so that's good.
Speaker 2:But I think with him too, you saw in his job how he went above and beyond, because he just doesn't handle the evidence. He actually improved the programs and the methodologies that they use within the police department and how that is communicated with the officers and things. Um, he's isn't he the one who revised the manual a couple of times?
Speaker 2:and really he really created a higher standard on how the police in Murrieta handle evidence. Um. So I mean again showing not only above and beyond in the community, but above and beyond in his job and very well respected for that.
Speaker 3:So the next honoree uh was um Marguite Rucker and she's a teacher over at Rail Ranch Elementary School and she was presented by Dr Ward Andrus, who is our superintendent. Dr Andrus actively participates in our Rotary Club and so we're happy to have him there. In fact, he actually presented at our Rotary Club the following week. So Marguerite has been teaching for quite a while, but she is part of an organization called the African American Parent Advisory Council and that's made a profound impact on the community and beyond, because helping people understand and accept diversity, which is some of one of our core tenants as well understanding that diversity, equity and inclusion which is a new that everybody belongs.
Speaker 3:Everybody belongs. That's what I love about Rotary Everybody belongs. So she's done a lot of things with that, with the Riverside County, again extracurricular on top of whatever just-.
Speaker 1:Yeah, above and beyond their own vocation.
Speaker 3:In addition to being a great teacher, anyway. So that was her, and she also does performing arts. Then we got to recognize a couple of nurses one from Loma Linda University Medical Center Her name is Jennifer McMahon and they didn't identify any specific extracurricular thing that she does, other than she said this she hosts cancer support groups, organizing community educational opportunities, helps with cancer prevention and survivorship. And then they revealed that she's also struggling with cancer herself currently, and that was very touching.
Speaker 2:It was extremely touching and I think when you look at her bio, she is a young woman who through her story, has come out from struggles very well-educated, many certifications specializing in cancer. She's got some pediatrics in her background but she's moved from the one-on-one nursing more into the administration and she has brought all these programs as Rob just said, you know, cancer support groups and all of this to really be that social support that people need when they go to the hospital and have you know, family members who have cancer or have terminal illnesses.
Speaker 1:So she's really created a lot of these support programs and brings it to that community and that hospital programs and brings it to that community and that hospital and can really speak from a firsthand experience, unfortunately, but it brings a certain level of understanding and care, I think with that type of experience it does. Right, absolutely yeah.
Speaker 3:I mean. So every one of these are exceptional people. And then in our program we highlight prior award winners and we can go back and we could do all day long on this, but we can't, I know we don't have the time. So we can go back and we could do all day long on this, but we can't, I know we don't have the time. So we had one additional recipient this year. And then I want to highlight one more that I talked to yesterday at the at the Marietta State of the City event. So Rancho Springs Hospital honored Mary Baker and she's also a nurse and she's a labor and delivery nurse, so and she's been there quite a while. So I'm sure one of my grandchildren or a couple of my grandchildren.
Speaker 1:I know I was looking to see your picture, mike.
Speaker 3:I wondered if she helped deliver my grandchild because we were there at Rancho being exceptional at what she does. Beyond her clinical experience, she assists in the training of future generations of nurses, in other words, giving back and paying it forward, which again is one of the tenets of Rotary to really create hope in the world by creating new generations of people willing to serve, and so she was super, super nice, super friendly. They were also excited to receive the awards Again, a simple event, a little complicated to put together because we've got to get this out there and get the responses, but we get such a great response from these community organizations that I absolutely just love it. Now, that's not all we do in vocational service. We participate in the music competition and the four-way speech contest, like many clubs do, but this is unique. I haven't seen this very often from other clubs, and so it's something I'm glad that we got a chance to highlight it.
Speaker 1:Well, and I'm hoping that I can steal that little book from you and give it to our incoming district vocational chairperson. So that's one of the things that we're working on in 2024-2025 to enhance and encourage other clubs to participate at a higher level and create a program within their club that fits their community.
Speaker 3:Well, as you heard from Tony Conrad, the police chief, it really makes an impact on them feeling like they're integrated and part of the community. And so that's good. In fact, last year Marilyn Sanderson came to our vocational service awards and just continually raved about it. So last night we were at the State of the City and there's this display that the police department put on, and it had all these drones. Really cool.
Speaker 1:They're new toys.
Speaker 3:Yeah.
Speaker 1:That are really helping them. I joke about the toys, they're really helpful.
Speaker 3:So I go over and I talk to the officer. His name was he's a corporal, his name's Joshua Rodriguez, and I said, wow, these are so cool, man. It's like, aren't you glad you played video games? And we had a great conversation around that and he says you know I love the Rotary and thank you for honoring me at the Vocational Service Awards.
Speaker 2:Oh, how coincidental.
Speaker 1:That's awesome.
Speaker 3:So, of course, me being me, I'm like hey, would you mind if I asked you a couple questions, can you?
Speaker 1:give me a quote. I have to go on a podcast tomorrow.
Speaker 3:I'm doing a podcast tomorrow and he pulls out his business card and writes his cell phone number on the back of his business card, and so I texted him. He texted back this morning and I asked him only two questions. First question is what does it mean to you to be honored at the Rotary Vocational Service Awards? And the word he said was this he says it's humbling to have been awarded the vocational award.
Speaker 3:I never had intentions of running the Youth Explorer Program and that was his above and beyond right at the police department. Once I took it over, I realized the value of leading a group of teenagers and young adults and helping them become their better selves. Not to become police officers, but leaders in their community. In my opinion, we have a gap when it comes to our youth learning how to take charge and how to lead and not fear adversity. Seeing that gap, I felt it was my duty to try to fill that and help explorers reach their highest potential. For me, seeing the explorers grow up and be successful in life was an award enough for me. So to be honored by this award was humbling.
Speaker 1:Oh, that's awesome.
Speaker 3:I asked him one other question. He says why do you think you were selected? And you know I'm like, so why you? Which is really turning it on its head, like you know, because you don't think about that. But he says it's my belief. I was awarded because of the benefits that were seen from my leadership in the program.
Speaker 3:So he did recognize that he had gone above and beyond, he said. Now I can't take credit for every success, as my team was a huge contributor and so were the actual explorers. So it's hard to talk about myself and the reason why I won an award, but I would say the contributions to growing our youth and benefit the community is always positive.
Speaker 1:Great, great answer. That's awesome and what a wonderful way to wrap up this. I love this part of what we do in Rotary. So many different things in the community. That's why the podcast works so well, because there's so many things to talk about.
Speaker 3:I love the podcast, by the way, just to plug it. So if you haven't bookmarked the podcast, bookmark it, save it, listen to it every week. I've listened to every episode and it's great, and I've shared it with people that are not Rotarians.
Speaker 1:Oh good.
Speaker 3:Trying to say hey, you want to know what Rotary does? Listen to our podcast when you're driving around.
Speaker 2:And where we go to to listen to that podcast is district5330.org.
Speaker 3:Yeah, so I didn't realize it was on the district website, so I found it on Spotify.
Speaker 1:I was just going to say you can also find it on Spotify or any other channel that you listen to podcasts, because it's on all of them. Apple Play and I love all the episodes.
Speaker 3:The Field of Honor episode is a little weird for me because hearing my own voice on the podcast. But the other ones are great. But, yeah, this particular thing that we do is really a fun event. We involve the community, we get our community leaders out, so it has made a difference and we are very tightly connected with our city and the police department, fire department. We've got a great relationship with all of them and I think part of it was because of the Vocational Service Awards.
Speaker 2:Well, you know, Rob, when this gets posted out there, send it. Send it to all your recipients that have the Vocational Service Awards possibility. Let them hear the podcast and keep getting that word out there.
Speaker 3:Thank you.
Speaker 1:And thank you for joining us today. We always like you on as our guest. It's my pleasure. Thank you.
Speaker 3:Rob on as our guest.
Speaker 1:It's my pleasure. Thank you, Rob. So that wraps up this episode of Heroes of Hope. We are so happy that we have an audience out there listening. We want you to subscribe, share and tell your friends about the Rotary Community Heroes of Hope, because that's how we get the word out about the impact we're having in this world.