News About Friends of
Ronald Reagan
Sports Park
Can-Do Day Award Winners 2010
In an event that celebrates winners, the Fifth Annual Can-Do Day Celebration
was, in the words of emcee Perry Peters, a variety show, music, dancing, speeches, prizes and presentations.
The focus was on individual initiative, from Boy Scout Troupe 337, which nearly three decades ago contributed some of the volunteers who built Temecula's first sports park, to the featured speaker, Jonathan S. Ray, who was part of an elite unit of Marine One helicopter pilots and personally ferried President Reagan to his appointments.
Among the Can-Do winners were essay contest entrants: Gianeen Almaria, first place; Tyler Michaud, second, and Taylor Roe, third. Each won U.S. Savings Bonds, certificates of appreciation and publication of their essays in the next issue of Community Little Book.
Gianeen and Taylor are fourth graders from Temecula Luiseno Elementary, last year's Mayor's Trophy winner, and Tyler is a third grader from St. Jeanne de Lestonnac, this year's Trophy winner. About 150 entries were submitted.
Janese Reyes of Community Little Book made preliminary presentations (the Little Book will be published in the summer). She also was a sponsor of the Mayor's Trophy.
Presenting the Mayor's Trophy to the elementary school submitting the greatest number of qualified entries was Temecula Mayor Jeff Comerchero. Principal Kristen Mora received the huge trophy on behalf of her students.
The Mayor also proclaimed March 3, 2010 as Can-Do Day. It was the 27th anniversary of the date President Reagan recognized the typical American spirit of the community's volunteers who built Ronald Reagan Sports Park.
Paige Lewis, Chaparral High School senior read the winning essay she submitted and received a Medallion of Initiative and a $500 scholarship check.
Dan Stephenson, who provided seed money for Friends of Ronald Reagan Sports Park, received a statuette of Reagan as he is to appear on a monument to be built in the park. Supervisor Jeff Stone made the presentation.
Michael M. McCracken explained the special relationship that has developed between the City of Temecula, the U.S.S. Ronald Reagan and Friends of Ronald Reagan Sports Park. McCracken, founder of Veterans Temecula Valley, is a retired Chief Petty Officer who was assigned to the aircraft carrier whose home base is in Coronado.
The entertainment that was promised included music provided by the Linfield Honor Choir, directed by Doug Knechtel and dancing by the local Claddagh Irish Dance Group.
NEW $500 SCHOLARSHIP OFFERED TO SENIORS
In an open letter to seniors on this website, and with letters to principals of nine high schools in Temecula and Murrieta, the Friends of Ronald Reagan Sports Park have announced a new $500 scholarship to be awarded in March.
This competiton is open only to high school seniors who are residents of Temecula or Murrieta. To qualify, the senior must speak well and have a powerful, personal Can-Do story to tell. The winner also will receive a Medallion of Initiative. All entries must be e-mailed to perrypeters2_verizon.net by February 6, 2010.
Each candidate must submit an electronic version of the speech via Microsoft Word or PDF, including the name of the entrant, contact phone number and school name at the top of the first page. From these entries, finalists will be selected for interviews. Final selection will be determined by an in-person trial presentation of the 3 to 5 minute speech.
The first senior who spoke on Can-Do Day in March, 2007, was Joseph Lambert. He shared his experience of being unable to read until the age of 10, and then described the effort of trying to catch up. He excelled in academics and spoke of his dream of becoming a West Point cadet, and the path he was taking to get there. He has since gotten that West Point appointment.
The following March, Nikolas Nunez told the Can-Do Day audience how he had been inspired by his grandfather's determination to flee Castros Cuba, after having his business confiscated and having to live in a prison camp for three years. Nikolas also performed Malaguena on the keyboard, and noted that the composer also fled from Communist Cuba.
High school senior, Justin Markowitz earned his chance to appear last March, after winning awards as a talented young composer. He played two of his own musical creations for the audience and explained the challenges even gifted people face.
After a successful fund raiser, the Friends of Ronald Reagan Sports Park were able to add a $500 scholarship to the medal for March 6, the date of the Fifth Annual Can-Do Day Celebration.
FRRSP VOLUNTEERS STAPLE INFO
TO JELLY BELLIES
Third Jelly Belly Week to feature live Jelly Belly
On Saturday, January 23rd, the Old Town Temecula Gunfighters staged their shoot-out and, as usual, the good guys, led by Sheriff Mike Loring, won. But this time, the audience was treated to free packets of jelly beans.
This was a sneak preview of what has become an annual phenomenon: the free distribution of 6,500 packets of jelly beans through 21 outlets in Temecula, Murrieta and Menifee, during Jelly Belly Week, February 1 - 6.
A project of Friends of Ronald Reagan Sports Park, Jelly Belly Week is made possible by the Jelly Belly Company of Fairfield, California, which, for the third consecutive year, has donated the candy.
This year, the Old Town Sweet Shop caught the give-away spirit, offering a 10% discount to jelly bean purchasers at the store, during the whole month of February. Ten percent of those proceeds will be donated to FRRSP for their scholarship program. A Jelly Belly character will be at the store on February 6 to pose for pictures.
Jelly beans were former President Ronald Reagans favorite candy and February 6th is the anniversary of his birthday. He was personally supplied by the Fairfield firm. He praised the Can-Do spirit of the people in the Temecula Valley in a speech to the U.S. Olympic Committee in Los Angeles on March 3, 1983.
In the late Seventies, area residents agreed a sports park was a number one priority and they set about to create it themselves, using only volunteers. They struggled for years and ultimately succeeded, without tax money. Southwest Riverside County at the time was a rural area with no municipal government.
During his visit to Temecula to help raise funds for FRRSP, Edwin Meese III, former U.S. Attorney General under Reagan, mentioned the jelly beans in a humorous aside, noting that at discussions with national or world leaders, Reagan would pass his jelly beans around. Meese suggested a reason for his success: Have you ever tried to have a real argument while eating jelly beans?
Standing: Sue Weaver, FRRSP Board member & Secretary,
hostess of jelly belly stapling party.
Clockwise from Sue:
Michael Baird, 14, Fr., Murrieta Valley High School
Preston Miller, 14, Fr., Calvary Chapel Murrieta
Kayla Thomas, 16, Jr., Biola Star High School
Nicholas Aquilino, 13, So., Temecula Preparatory School
Cameron Young, 17, Sr., Calvary Chapel Murrieta
Ryann Healey, 18, Sr., Sierra Springs High School, Murrieta
Updated March 17, 2008 Can-Do Day Celebrates Community's Great Spirit
"The Can-Do spirit of our community is contagious, multi-faceted and worthy of emulation and celebration - so let's celebrate!"
With these words, the Friends of Ronald Reagan SP have extended an open invitation to anyone and everyone to join them for the Third Annual Can-Do Day Celebration to be held at Ronald Reagan Sports Park this Saturday, March 22nd, starting 2 p.m. in the Community Recreation Room. There is no admission charge.
One of the highlights of the event will be the words of Nikolas Nunez, a home-schooled high school senior whose family escaped Fidel Castro's Cuba many years ago. Nunez, an award-winning pianist, also will end the event by performing a very special selection.
Also, Evan Bonnand, Delaina Castillo and Mitchell Davis, finalists in the essay contest on the history of the park will be presented an opportunity to read their short essays and receive U.S. Savings Bonds and a surprise added "perk" from Janese M. Reyes of Community Little Book. Castillo and Davis are third graders, and Bonnand is in the fourth grade.
The honorary chairman of the event, Mayor Mike Naggar, will proclaim "Can-Do Day" and shed some light on why the park was renamed after the late President, but before that, members of Boy Scout Troop 148 will present the colors, Eric Landry, pastor of Christ Presbyterian Church of Temecula will give the invocation and Temecula council member Maryann Edwards will sing the National Anthem.
"Give a high five," urges FRRSP president Perry Peters, "to members of the group by the same name who will put the audience in the right mood with their musical performance. The High Fives are directed by Monica Iverson who operates the Act One Theater Arts studio in Temecula.
"Melody Brunsting will add a new wrinkle to the Can-Do story as she discloses how the Can-Do spirit built the Community Recreation Center, too," noted Peters. Brunsting is owner of Melody's Ad Works and past president of the former Community Recreation Center Foundation.
Before issuing Can-Do pins to members of the Can-Do Club, an FRRSP adjunct, Chief Petty Officer Michael R. McCracken, U.S. Navy (Retired), will talk about the unique relationship among the crew of his last ship before retirement, the U.S.S. Ronald Reagan, the City of Temecula and FRRSP.
Ed Meese To Speak At Ronald Reagan Sports Park Fundraiser
Edwin Meese III, who served under President Ronald Reagan as the seventy-fifth Attorney General of the United States, will be the distinguished guest speaker on Thursday, March 27th, at a Champagne Reception hosted by Friends of Ronald Reagan SP (FRRSP).
The reception will be held at The Humphreys Estate in Temecula, starting 5:30 p.m. RRSP president Perry Peters noted the number of guests is limited by the size of the facility and urges interested parties to send in their reservations well in advance of the arch 20 deadline to assure their attendance.
Tickets to the reception are $80 per person, or $700 for a group of ten. Monument donors of $1,000 or more will have their names permanently displayed on the monument and, if they make the donation at the reception, Meese has agreed to ave a picture taken with them and autographed by him at the reception.
A top Reagan adviser, Meese was part of a "troika" that included Mike Deaver and James A. Baker III that, in effect, managed the presidency for the world leader. He was a member of the President's Cabinet and the National Security Council.
Meese also served on the Council for National Policy Executive Committee in 1994 and as CNP president in 1996. He was a "distinguished fellow" and holder of the Ronald Reagan Chair in Public Policy of the Heritage Foundation, Counselor to the President 1981-85, former Chief of Staff and Senior Issues Advisor for the Reagan-Bush Committee, and former vice president for administration for Rohr Industries.
Earlier, he served as Governor Reagan's Executive Assistant and Chief of Staff from 1969 to 1974 and as Legal Affairs Secretary from 1967 to 1968. As a professor of law at the University of San Diego from 1977 to 1981, he was Director of the Center for Criminal Justice Policy and Management.
"In March," Peters noted, "we will be celebrating the 25th anniversary of the speech Reagan gave to the U.S. Olympic Committee in Los Angeles, commending the people in the small town of Temecula who built a sports park without government funds, using "typical Americanism," another example of what can happen when the right spirit of "Can do" and "I will" replaces "Let's wait" and "I won't."
Shortly after Reagan died in 2004, the City of Temecula renamed their first sports park after him and FRRSP, a 501(c)(3) all-volunteer non-profit organization, vowed, in the same Can-Do spirit, to raise funds privately for a monument to mark that event.
"This reception," Peters said, "is an appropriate way to help raise funds to build a commemorative monument to President Reagan, the local volunteers who built the park without government funding, and the concept of individual initiative.
"The Temecula Valley community has been committed to preserving local pride," Peters pointed out, "and now Ed Meese is donating his services to show his commitment, as well."
Ronald Reagan Sports Park has become a well-known gathering place for families.
A Little League board member last September complained there was no American flag on the flag pole by the ball fields, so FRRSP arranged to get a flag from the USS Ronald Reagan donated for that purpose and got local electrical contractors to donate parts and labor for permanent lighting to allow the flag to fly day and night.
Last year, a lesson plan for Temecula Valley third graders on the history of Ronald Reagan Sports Park was created by FRRSP and winners of an essay contest received U.S. Savings Bonds at the annual Can-Do Day Celebration presented by the organization each March. The City of Temecula issues a proclamation of Can-Do Day that is read at the Celebration.
"We expect Mr. Meese will help motivate major donors to help us raise $300,000 to pay for the monument," Peters noted. "In little more than two years, we have raised $75,000."
Telephone inquiries will be answered at (951) 676-1984. Additional information is available on the website, www.RonaldReaganSportsPark.com.
Friends of Ronald Reagan SP
42968 Agena Street
Temecula, California 92592
perrypeters2_verizon.net
Ronald Reagan Sports Park
Rancho Vista Road
Temecula, CA
92592
Copyright 2009 Friends of Ronald Reagan SP - All rights reserved.
