District 5240 has no shortage of outstanding Rotarians whose service to humanity can serve as an inspiration to all of us. This Rotary year, we plan on recognizing and sharing their inspirational journey. Each of the 12 Groups in the District has been assigned one month in the Rotary 2019-20 year for the Assistant Governor and Presidents to select one Rotarian of Action in their Group. For the month of March the Rotary Clubs selected as their Rotarian of Action to be Mike McGuigan, Rotary Club of Simi Valley. In recognition of “doing good in the world”, Mike will be presented with a Paul Harris Fellow Recognition.
Mike McGuigan is the Rotarian's Rotarian ... his demeanor is grouchy, but peel back the layers and you'll find a kind and most generous human being. Mike is the go to guy for just about anything and has consistently supported the club's presidents year after year taking on tasks that no other members would volunteer for - from coordinating planting oak trees at Corriganville, and helping to maintain the Welcome to Simi sign,years of volunteering to barbecue for the hundreds of volunteers for the July 4th Fireworks and Share the Road charitable events.
When the club decided to cancel its major fundraiser  - the 4th of July Fireworks (which became a huge liability for the club), it was Mike who came up with suggestions for replacement fundraisers - Hot August Nights and a Softball Tournament. His goal was to come up with fundraisers that required minimal manpower to run and that would net a respectable amount of money - both fundraisers have been successful and continue to grow.
Mike recently took over as chair of the club's Rotary Charitable Foundation - under his leadership - new board members have been installed, the board meets on a regular basis and Mike was instrumental in getting the board to vote to grant the Free Clinic of Simi Valley a $100,000 donation to be used to fund the Clinic's capital campaign for a new center.