This year’s Foundation Celebration was an out of this world experience. Hosted at the California Science Center, over 600 Rotarians sat under the wings and the belly of the Space Shuttle Endeavor. As attendees supported The Rotary Foundation, they also enjoyed a keynote speech by Space Shuttle Endeavor pilot General Kevin Chilton, entertainment from emcee Fritz Coleman, and of course, the breath-taking views of the space shuttle itself, floating just a few feet above their heads.
 
Foundation Celebration chair Cozette Vergari opened the evening by introducing this year’s Master of Ceremonies, Fritz Coleman, NBC meteorologist and LA5 Rotarian. As the night’s resident comedian, he had the crowd chuckling in no time. District Governor Doug Baker and District Rotary Foundation Chair David Moyers each gave moving speeches on the work the Rotary Foundation has accomplished and the role that our District Rotarians have played.
 
The night’s keynote speaker was General Kevin P. Chilton, pilot of the Space Shuttle Endeavor’s maiden voyage in 1992. He gave a riveting and fascinating account of the Endeavor’s mission to retrieve, repair and deploy the International Telecommunications Satellite. It was an once-in-a-lifetime experience for attendees sitting underneath the very space shuttle that General Chilton piloted as he recounted the Endeavor’s first mission.
 
This year’s Foundation Celebration raised a generous amount of money for The Rotary Foundation. Governor Doug Baker acted as auctioneer for the Live Auction, an energetic event that started vigorous bidding wars for auction items like a Staples Center extravaganza, a visit to the set of the NCIS television show, and 8 nights at the exclusive Ritz-Carlton up and down the California coast. The “Pick Your Own Prize” drawing was a new auction event this year, where attendees bought as many drawing tickets as they liked and placed them in the prize box of their choice. Many attendees left very contented with their prizes from this new auction activity. The auction portion of the night was rounded out by the cash raffle ticket drawing. Thanks to the dedicated efforts of Rotarians across the District selling books of raffle tickets, our District was able to raise a significant amount of money for The Rotary Foundation. The $3,000 Grand Prize winner of the cash raffle drawing was Wilshire Rotarian Janice Prior. LA5 Rotarian Kathy Turner won the $1,500 second prize and Beverly Hills Rotarian Kenneth Baines won the $500 third prize.
 
Click here to view photos from this year's Foundation Celebration