President Mary Liu (Real Estate: Sales | JM Real Estate Group) called the meeting to order at 12:15 PM and welcomed everyone.
Visiting Rotarians and Special Guests
Attending in person were the following guests: Saswati Mukherjee, a visiting Rotarian from India; Devon Kessler; and Angelina Preza. Online as guests were Beatrice Steele and Zelda Okia.
Attending in person were the following guests: Saswati Mukherjee, a visiting Rotarian from India; Devon Kessler; and Angelina Preza. Online as guests were Beatrice Steele and Zelda Okia.
New TRF ChairAt the October 2021 Board Meeting, the Board appointed Jim Patrick (Retail: Office Supplies | Patrick & Co.) as our Club's TRF (The Rotary Foundation) Chair. Jim served as our Club's president in 1984-1985. Thank you, Jim!
Report from the Nominating Committee
Christopher Wiseman (Event Planning | Glaucoma Research Foundation) gave an update on the actions of this Committee to fill board and committee chair positions beginning July 1, 2022.
Christopher Wiseman (Event Planning | Glaucoma Research Foundation) gave an update on the actions of this Committee to fill board and committee chair positions beginning July 1, 2022.
Upcoming Events
President Mary shared the line-up of speakers, service projects, and events for the rest of November 2021. See the Club's calendar to register and more details.
President Mary also promoted our Club's Holiday Party and Annual Meeting in person on Tuesday, December 14, 2021 from 11 AM to 1:30 PM. There will also be a Zoom option. She thanked Caryn Crump (Education: University | CPI (Consulting and Professional Instruction) & Norwich University) for producing the short video accompanying today's announcement of the party.
Michael Petricca (Education: Management | Academy of Art University), our Vice President of Club Service, invited everyone to participate in the Academy of Art University's golf tournament to benefit their athletic program.
Reports
Scott Plakun (Management Consulting | The Plakun Group) reminded everyone of our increased interest in Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion, which has led us to understand that it would be fun and interesting to learn more about the many ways that we celebrate different holidays. For example, we’re planning a Passover Seder at our luncheon on April 19, 2022. It would be wonderful if some of our members who practice Islam could invite us to share Iftar, the breaking of the fast, during Ramadan. President Mary will be sharing about Chinese New Year traditions. There are many more celebrations to share. If you’d like to help bring any of these celebrations to our Club, either at a Tuesday lunch or at a special social event, please contact Scott.
Emily Borland (Engineering, Architecture, and Construction | Emily Borland Specifications) recapped last week's service project. Nine volunteers bagged housewares for the Homeless Prenatal Program. Future opportunities to help will appear in our Club's calendar and in Grindings.Stacey Poole (Law: Family | Lerner Poole & Stewart, LLP), Club Secretary, talked about last week's Club Social that included a costume contest and virtual bingo. See story here.
David Dye (Management Consulting | Retired) gave an update on the District 5150 Rotary Race to End Polio held on October 30, 2021 after the Race was delayed by the atmospheric river storm on October 24, 2021. The event included a scavenger hunt in the Fisherman's Wharf area of San Francisco, a costume contest, and of course, raised lots of money to help end polio. From our Club were President Mary, Jenny Campbell, JT Forbus (Accounting | Bogdan & Frasco), and Liz Mark (Past President of the Rotary Club of San Francisco Chinatown and currently an Assistant Governor) who formed the Team Witches of Rotary. Team Witches came in 7th place in the Race. Also from our Club were Margaret Miley and Caryn Crump who formed their own team and won third place under the Wanderer category. Serving as organizers and making the Race happen were David Dye (Rotary Race Coordinator), Dora Dye (Education: Elementary and Community College), District Governor-Elect Nominee Laine Hendricks (Public Relations and Marketing | County of Marin), and Ann Daugherty (Financial Services: Private Trading | IBN Financial Services), all from our Club. PDG Eric Schmautz (Banking: Management | Wells Fargo) along with other Rotarians and crew prepared the delicious meals served at the Race.
$20 for Twenty Seconds
The Club and President Mary celebrated the return of Anita Stangl (Medical Services | Alliance for Smiles) from back surgery. Anita donated to thank everyone for the warm wishes, get-well cards, and support during her recovery.
Evelyn Abad (Medical Services | Rotaplast International) donated to thank Anita Stangl for introducing her (Evelyn) to our Club. Also celebrating Anita's return were President Mary Liu, John Mathers (Management Consulting | eVo Associates) and Tom Brunner (Nonprofit Management | Glaucoma Research Foundation). Tom donated to say that he had prepared a get-well card for Anita, but never sent it to her.
Christopher Wiseman donated to thank the Nominating Committee and our Club's leadership for all of the good and hard work.
Tom Brunner donated to celebrate the contributions to our Club from Nancy Graydon (Development | Glaucoma Research Foundation) in her role as our Vice President of Membership. Andrés Vera (Entertainment | Self-Employed) joined in celebrating Nancy Graydon and thanked her for her kindness.
Tom Brunner donated a third time to show appreciation to Jim Patrick for stepping up as The TRF Chair.
Jianying (James) Chen (Healthcare: Acupuncture | American Institute of Zhizhen Therapy and New Qigong) donated to celebrate the work of The Arc San Francisco.
Jenny Campbell (Educational Services | JennyKCampbell.com) donated to thank President Mary for introducing her to our Club.
Guest SpeakerPresident Mary introduced today's speaker - Jenny Campbell. Jenny and President Mary are sisters. Jenny is a Precision Sales Coach and Trainer licensed and certified to teach the B.A.N.K.™ system. She had the audience take a quick 90-second personality assessment and from there discussed how each of us can improve our communication skills with family, friends, and prospective clients to bring out the best in one another. This, combined with a means of understanding the source of other perspectives, can be the key to a more humane society.
President Mary thanked Jenny and announced that 100 children would be inoculated against polio in her name.
The meeting was adjourned at 1:30 p.m.
Editor's Note: Thank you to Margaret Miley (Hospitality: Hotels | Retired) for serving as scribe at this meeting, to Dan Davies (Information Technology: Consulting | North American Lighting) for serving as photographer, to Jim Patrick for managing the microphone, to Maureen O'Shea (Governmental Relations | Retired) for collecting lunch tickets, to Margaret Miley, Maureen O'Shea, Alisha Marfatia (Information Technology: E-Commerce | EvolveWare), Barbara Streett (Nonprofit Administration | The Arc San Francisco) and Cecile Chiquette (Accounting | Fiduciary Administration), who served as greeters, to Jessie Austin of the Academy of Art University for managing the audio visual equipment during our in-person meeting, to Anita Stangl and Andrés Vera for managing those who were attending via Zoom, to Ann Daugherty for doing check-in at the Hotel Nikko, and to Gary Dales (Accounting | Fly Leasing) for serving as cashier.