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HOMETOWN
NEWS
Westchester • Playa del Rey • Marina del Rey • Playa Vista
June
your community newspaper • your community • WESTCHESTER • PLAYA DEL REY • MARINA DEL REY • PLAYA VISTA • your community newspaper • your community
Westchester Rotary seeks family for home makeover project The Westchester Rotary Club is once again on the lookout for a family to help for its Home Makeover Project. This will be the fourth time the club has undertaken a home makeover project, which enlists the help of Rotarians and the community to help transform the lives of one needy family. Rotarian Geoff Maleman came up with the idea after being inspired by ABC’s “Extreme Home Makeover” and wanted to do a similar project, on a much smaller scale, to help a local family. Once a family was chosen for the first Home Makeover project in 2006 and the family’s story was told to neighbors,
community members and through publications like the HomeTown News, however, the project became much larger than the original concept of light landscaping, painting and updating some home fixtures. Everyone who heard about the project wanted to help whether it was volunteering at the site, donating money or offering their skills, and by the time the project was complete, the home had all new furniture, floors, kitchen appliances and completely relandscaped front and back yards. The same infectious spirit of giving and goodwill has been at the core of every project since.
Said Home Makeover event chair Geoff Maleman, “We are looking for families from Westchester or Playa del Rey who deserve a home makeover. Think of your neighbors who might have fallen on hard times, veterans returning home from active duty, or families facing extreme financial or health difficulties. We look forward to making a difference in one family’s life through this project.” If you know a deserving family who should be considered for this year’s Home Makeover, please send their name, address and phone number to Rotary Home Makeover,
8939 S. Sepulveda Boulevard, #518, Westchester, CA 90045. Please include up to 250 words about why the family deserves a home makeover, whether the family owns or rents and ages of children in the family. Include your contact information as well. The deadline for nominations for this project is Saturday, June 30. After all of the submissions have been received, a panel of Rotarians will select the family. For more information about contributing goods or services to this project, please contact Geoff Maleman at (310) 645-5151.
Principal says “goodbye” after twenty-seven years In the twenty-seven years that principal Rosemary Connolly has been at Saint Anastasia School in Westchester, she has seen and been at the forefront of many changes. When she first started at the school as a middle school teacher, books were outdated and the school was in need of a new direction; now every student at the Kindergarten through eighth grade school has access to an iPad and students and the school are flourishing. With the school now on solid ground due to Connolly and the guidance of the schools’ board of directors’ and its strategic plan, she is retiring at the end of June. Said Connolly, “It’s time that we pass on the reigns to someone else, but I will miss the staff and I will miss the kids especially. I just love being with the kids. That’s my passion—you know to teach and be with them. It’s kind of a mixed thing.” Connolly has been considering retiring for a few years now, especially after her husband, John, retired a year and a half ago after some thirty years of working in the theology department at LMU. A few important projects being
finalized, however, helped Connolly make the decision to finally step down from the school that she loves. The school recently went through the strenuous WSEA/WASC accreditation process they must go through every six years. With all of the paperwork and the reviews completed this year, Connolly felt closure and that she was “leaving the school where [it] needs to be at this point:”poised and ready for new leadership. Connolly didn’t always know she’d be a principal, but after teaching fifth graders religion as a high school student, she got the teaching bug. After graduating college, she taught in public school in Milwaukee and her hometown New Orleans, before she and her husband, John, settled in Los Angeles. After having her daughter, Rachel, Connolly took a job at a small Catholic school in Inglewood. With a meager salary and the school downsizing, she left her position to try her luck with LAUSD. With her teaching experience, she easily landed a job and went (continued on page 8)
At left: Principal Rosemary Connolly discusses “Romeo and Juliet” with seventh grade students who use their iPads for certain lessons.
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