Our club welcomed Jennifer Contreras, Community Engagement Specialist at Ontario International Airport, this past Wednesday. She gave us an update on the airport’s continued growth, including its 10th anniversary of local control this November, several new nonstop routes launching this year (Honolulu and Chicago O’Hare among them), and record passenger numbers expected this summer. Thanks, Jennifer, for the great update on our hometown airport!

Today Riverside East Rotary was lucky to be joined by local writer, educator, and community booster Larry Burns, who shared his frontline experience navigating generative AI in the classroom at Riverside City College. Rather than banning AI or blindly embracing it, he’s helped students to better understand it and to start thinking critically about it as a tool.

We were also happy to welcome back our new Club President, Nick Lopez, from his travels abroad!

Today at Riverside East Rotary, we were honored to hear from Ken MacKillop, an Outreach Worker with the City of Riverside’s Public Safety and Engagement Team (PSET) — the people on the front lines of our community’s response to homelessness.

Ken gave us an up-close look at his journey to the role and to of the human side of this work: meeting people where they are, connecting them to resources, and building the trust that’s often the first step toward a path off the streets. It’s not easy, but it’s some of the most important work happening in our city right now.

As we head into a new Rotary year, we have much to celebrate and much to look forward to.

A heartfelt thank you goes out to outgoing President Gary Christmas for an outstanding year of leadership. Gary brought dedication, energy, and heart to everything he did for our club, and we are deeply grateful for his service.

Congratulations to Nick Lopez, now officially our Club President! Nick has already been out representing Riverside East Rotary on the world stage, and we can’t wait to see the impact he’ll make this year.

Riverside East Rotary is also proud to be well-represented at the District 5330 level. Richard Lemire serves as District Governor, Julia Bennet as District Public Image chair, Francis Reyes in International Service, and Matt Goatcher as Assistant Governor.

Rotary International’s theme for the coming year is “Create Lasting Impact,” set by incoming RI President Olayinka Hakeem Babalola. It’s a charge that speaks directly to who we are and what we do every week here in Riverside.

Here’s to a great year ahead!

This week at Riverside East Rotary, we welcomed Jim Selth, a retired bankruptcy attorney and fellow Rotarian from the Murrieta Rotary Club. Jim shared his insights from a distinguished legal career navigating one of the most challenging areas of law — helping individuals and businesses find a financial fresh start during some of the hardest moments of their lives.

It’s always a pleasure to connect with Rotarians from across our region!