Press Releases
"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.
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Ed Meese To Speak At Ronald Reagan Sports Park Fundraiser
(Temecula, CA) 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.