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Community & Clubs: Celebrating three decades of exchange

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<i>This post has been corrected, as noted below</i>

For three decades, with the support of the Rotary Club of Newport-Balboa, the Newport Beach Sister City Assn. has organized an annual exchange with Newport Beach’s sister city, Okazaki, Japan.

Each July, Newport Beach students and teachers travel to Okazaki to attend school and live with local families. In the fall, the students and teachers host Okazaki counterparts in Newport Beach, where the visitors attend Newport Harbor High or Corona del Mar High.

This year’s exchange students included Julianne Bartz, Isaac Clark, Jordan Golden, Claire Nakamura, Connor Pittman, Salen Stuart and Maddie Tumbarello, and the teachers were Ashley Curtis and Gretchen Koppe.

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The Okazaki exchange students will arrive Sept. 25. Connie Skibba, Sister City’s Okazaki chairwoman, has planned a variety of activities to introduce them to the Newport Beach culture, including a beach barbecue, a day at a theme park and a Halloween party with pumpkin-carving and burgers served by volunteers from the Newport Beach Fire Department.

The Okazaki students will perform traditional songs and dances for Newport Balboa Rotary members and guests at a club dinner and with middle school students at an assembly. The Sister City Assn. is looking forward to later in October, when it will host the mayor of Okazaki, Yasuhiro Uchida, and his delegation of 30 council members and business owners to celebrate Sister City’s 30th birthday.

Okazaki, 200 miles southwest of Tokyo, is best known for its production of stonework, miso and fireworks, and for its automobile, chemical and textile industries. Each year, the student exchange is open to Newport Beach eighth-grade students, who are selected based on their application, a teacher recommendation and an interview.

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A new president and bay cleanup

In July, the Rotary Club of Newport-Balboa elected Lauren L. Pittman as president, one of only three female presidents in the club’s 75-year history.

Pittman kicked off a new community-wide recognition program in August to acknowledge outstanding local non-Rotarian residents who exemplify service above self with their good works. Connie Skibba, the first honoree, was recognized for her dedication to the Okazaki student and teacher exchange.

For the 10th consecutive year, on Sept. 20, Newport-Balboa Rotary members will join more than 1,000 volunteers in cleaning up the Back Bay. This effort is part of the broader California Coastal Cleanup Day, one of the largest volunteer events in the country solely focused on the marine environment. The club is stronger in supporting this effort with the recent induction of Rebecca Armato, Wajih Malki and JoAnne Holman.

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Sharing with less fortunate students

On Aug. 23, with the guidance of the Kiwanis Club of Costa Mesa, the fifth annual Kelly’s Closet was presented by the Key Clubs of Estancia and Costa Mesa high schools, Circle K Club of Orange Coast College and the Builders Club at the Boys & Girls Club.

This event provided low-income Costa Mesa children with school supplies and equipment. Student mentors from the Key Clubs and Circle K also escorted the children to Sears to select new school clothes and shoes. The day ended with an all-American picnic and games.

This year’s Kelly’s Closet committee included Montana Martin, Vince Nguyen and Amila Tamar (Costa Mesa High School Key Club), Mariam Elmalh, Louis Garcia and Mai Le (Estancia High School Key Club), Alan Duncan, Tam Le Nguyen and Joanne Tran (Orange Coast College Circle K Club), Ailea Tvedt (Builders-Torch Club of the Boys & Girls Club) and Jeff Dimsdale (Kiwanis Club of Costa Mesa).

Financial support for Kelly’s Closet is provided by the Boys & Girls Club, Hoag Hospital, C.J. Segerstrom and Sons, the Costa Mesa Community Foundation and others.

For more than a decade, the Harbor Mesa Lions Club has supported local students with its School Box Project. Each September, the club fills shoe boxes with school supplies to give to lower-income elementary students. This year, Chairwoman Joan Parks will lead the Harbor Mesa Lions Club in assembling and delivering boxes to 162 students at Rea and Whittier elementary schools.

The club raises funds for this and other service projects throughout the year. You can support its efforts by purchasing ice cream at its booth this weekend at the Orange County fairgrounds or by attending its Casino Night on Oct. 17.

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Find treasures while supporting local seniors

Find a rare book, paintings, jewelry, antiques, collectibles and more at the Friends of Oasis’ annual Boutique and Rummage Sale from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. Oct. 3 and 4 at the Oasis Senior Center, 801 Narcissus Ave., Newport Beach.

Admission is $3 on Oct. 3 and free Oct. 4. Proceeds benefit Friends of Oasis, a nonprofit dedicated to assisting local seniors in leading healthy, active and productive lives.

Seniors can join Oasis’ Sing and Pick Hootenanny Group for traditional folk, bluegrass and country music from 1 to 3 p.m. Fridays in Room 5 at the center. Admission is free.

The group welcomes beginning and advanced singers and players of acoustic guitar, ukulele, banjo, mandolin, fiddle, harmonica, bass and washtub bass (gut bucket).

For more information, contact Millard “Mac” MacAdam at mnmacadam@sbcglobal.net or (949) 644-6180 or visit https://www.friendsofoasis.org.

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Annual Corona del Mar Home Tour

For the past 41 years, the Corona del Mar Middle and High School Parent Teacher Assn. has hosted a tour of some of Newport Beach’s finest homes. This year’s tour will take place from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. Oct. 14.

Roger’s Gardens is serving as premier sponsor, and the Cameo Shores home of the garden store’s owners, Kerry and Gavin Herbert, is among the seven homes on the tour.

Ad opportunities and tickets are available at https://www.cdmhometour.com. Tour proceeds benefit the students and staff of CdM middle and high schools. The PTA also donates a portion of its funds each year to benefit lower-income Newport-Mesa students.

[For the record, 5:20 p.m. Sept. 4: An earlier version of this post incorrectly stated that admission to the Oct. 3 and 4 sessions of the Friends of Oasis rummage sale is free. There is a $3 admission charge to the Oct. 3 session.]

The Daily Pilot wants to hear about your club’s or organization’s events so we can inform our readers. Contact DIANE DARUTY at dianedaruty@sbcglobal.net or (949) 322-7949 or DUNCAN FORGEY at Forgey5000@yahoo.com or (949) 548-4800.

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