The Rotary Club of San Luis Obispo de Tolosa has named their 2010-2011 Rotarian of the Year. Donna Lewis, principal of Central Coast Mortgage Consultants, is recognized as this year’s outstanding Rotarian.

Rotary de Tolosa 2010-2011 President Jeff Buckingham has selected Lewis for her “inspiring acts of ‘Service Above Self.’ ”

Lewis helped the Rotary Club move forward after suffering the loss of SLO City Fire Chief and Rotarian John Callahan last year.

“Donna stepped in as the community service chair with enthusiasm and the goal of honoring Callahan’s commitment to the club,” Buckingham said.

• A fresh new design created for ease of use
• An easy online reservation form for anyone interested in booking and reserving group tours and tastings
• A way to purchase and reserve tickets to the winery’s exclusive events
• A new Membership section, which gives wine club members the ability to view frequently asked questions, contact the winery directly online, shop using discounts, securely adjust membership level and contact information, and access a personal secure address book complete with the member’s gift-giving history.
• A new section dedicated to Sextant Wines and 10-Knots Cellars wine selection
• A new shipping calculator widget to help users calculate shipping rates

Powersource Chiropractic opened its doors to Cal Poly kinesiology student Ryan Fessel for a 10-week period of hands-on, career-oriented practical experience in the chiropractic profession.

Throughout its history, Cal Poly has emphasized hands-on education where bridges are regularly made between general principles and practical applications. In keeping with this philosophy, Powersource Chiropractic has presented Ryan Fessel with a fieldwork program that began on July 13. The specialized program will provide him with supervised, professional training in a setting that is appropriate for his future interests and career goals.

Fessel has been studying kinesiology for the past two years at Cal Poly and has decided to pursue a doctorate in chiropractic following his graduation from Cal Poly.

The city of San Luis Obispo Public Works Department is currently making improvements to City curb ramps and storm drains -- all made possible by Measure Y funding your -- half-cent sales tax at work.

The following is information on these projects, along with estimated construction schedules and costs:

ADA Access Curb Ramps 2011
Construction to continue improving curb ramps for better accessibility throughout the City began in May and is estimated to be completed in late July. This project will either upgrade or install 41 curb ramps in surrounding downtown areas. As of June 30, 22 have been completed.

Hathway, a San Luis Obispo-based web marketing agency, launched a completely reinvented online presence and social commerce website for Big Poppa Smokers, a smoker and grill retailer.

Serving as Big Poppa Smokers’ lead digital agency, Hathway created bigpopppasmokers.com as a cooking community with an eye-catching design and full e-commerce functionality.

The driving force and personality behind Big Poppa Smokers is President and CEO Sterling Ball of Ernie Ball, Music Man fame.

Over the past few years, Ball has taken his passion for cooking and transformed it into a successful online business. Bigpoppasmokers.com features American-made grills, smokers and BBQ accessories as well as unique social commerce features such as a recipe share and cooking tutorials.

A Cuesta College automotive technology student won a gold medal for collision repair at the annual SkillsUSA conference in Missouri — a showcase for the nation’s best two-year college and high school career technical education students.

Simon Rowe, who is attending Cuesta while taking a break as a fourth-year Cal Poly civil engineering student, was surprised when his name was read June 24 in the Kemper Arena announcing he was the best auto body repairman.

“I went into the competition with no expectations,” he said. “So there was no pressure on me. When they said my name during the awards I thought, ‘This must be a joke.’ ”

Nearly 10,000 people — including teachers, parents and business partners — attended the 47th annual SkillsUSA National Leadership and Skills Conference in Kansas City. The contests also attracted nearly 5,750 outstanding career and technical education students — all state contest winners — who competed hands-on in 94 different trade, technical and leadership fields.

French Hospital Medical Center (FHMC) appointed new board officers to its Community Board and Foundation Board. 

Jim Copeland has been elected the new chairman of the FHMC Community Board. He has served as the Community Board’s secretary from July 2007- June 2009 and vice chair from July 2009 - June 2011. Copeland is a longtime business leader, the founder of Copeland Sports and a founding sponsor of the Copeland, Forbes & Rossi Cardiac Care Center, the Christopher Cohen Performing Arts Center, and the San Luis Obispo Children’s Museum and has supported many community causes.  

Sandy Dunn has been elected the chairwoman of the FHMC Foundation Board. Dunn has served as the Foundation vice chair from 2010-2011 and as a co-chair for the annual FHMC Gala and Fundraiser from 2007-2010. She also serves as a member of the Hearst Cancer Resource Center Advisory Committee. Dunn is a well recognized member of the community and has provided volunteer leadership and support to many area not-for-profit organizations.

Coast BMW donated $1,050 to Big Brothers Big Sisters to support their youth mentoring programs.

The funds were raised through a recent car sales promotion fundraiser in which $50 was donated for each BMW sold. 

“Coast BMW is pleased to support our community through Big Brothers Big Sisters youth mentoring programs," said Gordon Giacomazzi, owner of Coast BMW. 

Impact Learning Systems recently announced the addition of Rachel Miller to the Marketing team.

Miller said she became intrigued by Impact‘s customer service training program because, “We’re all in customer service in some way.” She was also inspired after meeting Impact’s employees who all share a passion for the products and the services they provide.

Impact Learning Systems is a local customer service training company with international clients. Impact helps customers achieve a strong service brand that improves customer loyalty, increases profits, and increases the value of the company.