President Rhonda Poppen opened the meeting by welcoming visiting Rotarians from the Downtown Rotary Club of Visalia (California), as well as numerous guests.
Rhonda noted that Spring is always a busy time for Rotary, with many great events coming up, including:
- Today: Rotary 101 after today’s meeting, led by President-Elect Casey Blair (Financial Services: Private Trading | Feis Options).
- May 15: New Member Social at Lynn Luckow’s (Development | LikeMinded.org) studio.
- May 17-19: District 5150 Conference and Rotary Four-Way Fest, Reno.
- May 20: Dinner Club at The ARC.
- May 30: Club Social at the SFSU Planetarium: $20 includes “bits & bites” and a donation to the planetarium; 6:30 pm.
- June 11: Homeless Prenatal Program: Stuffing backpacks with baby goodies at Hoogasian Flowers, 6:00 pm.
- June 13: Homeless Prenatal Program: Baby Showers, one in the morning and one in the afternoon. Volunteers needed to hand out backpacks and serve lunch.
- June 22: President Rhonda’s Celebration Picnic: Sunnyside Park.
- June 23: Heroes’ Voices Annual Poetry & Music Performance, Calvary Presbyterian Church, Fillmore at Jackson: 3:00 PM.
The Rotary International Convention is June 1-5 in Hamburg, Germany.
President Rhonda was joined by VP of Membership Dan Joraanstad (Financial Services: Advising | Retired) as they presented four new members:
- Janet Krahling (Real Estate: Sales | Compass).
- Mary Liu (Real Estate: Sales | Vanguard Properties / JM Real Estate Group).
- Maureen O’Shea (Governmental Relations | Retired).
- Migena Schroeder (Law: International | Albanian Eagle Security System (AESS)).
Each new member was presented with a copy of A History of Fellowship and Service, the story of our Club’s first 100 years; their name badges; and certificates evidencing an initial contribution in their honor to the Rotary Foundation. Congratulations to our newest members!
Dan pointed out that four other members recently completed their Red Badge requirements
- Madison Pauly (Management Consulting | Deloitte Consulting); Chris Wiseman (Event Planning | Glaucoma Research Foundation).
- Erik Walter (Information Technology: Software | Apple).
- Leah Masuda (Real Estate: Sales | McGuire Real Estate). He noted that several of these new members had completed their requirements in “record time”.
President Rhonda took a moment to recognize Anita Stangl (Medical Services | Alliance for Smiles) for forging the way for women in our Club. Rhonda noted that not only does our Club have a female President, but our four newest members are women.
Rhonda noted that our own JT Forbus (Accounting | Bogdan & Frasco) was quoted in Sunday’s New York Times. The Times article concerned the spate of recent initial public offerings by California start-up companies, and steps investors and employees participating in the offering could take to minimize their tax liability (including moving out of California to states with lower or no state income tax). Congratulations, JT!
Deborah Wakefield (Elder Care and Senior Services | Concierge Senior Care and Family Support) was named Rotarian of the Month. Deborah moved to the Bay Area recently and transferred from a Rotary Club in Kirkland, WA. President Rhonda noted that Deborah has jumped into our Club, participating in a range of service projects, hosting a New Member social event at her home, assisting with the check-in desk at meetings, and a spate of other activities.Twenty-for-Twenty: A number of members made donations, including:
- JT Forbus, in honor of the recent New York Times article citing his tax expertise.
- Tom Brunner (Nonprofit Management | Glaucoma Research Foundation) in gratitude for recognition by The Lancet, a respected medical journal in the United Kingdom, which cited his glaucoma treatment research.
- Dan Joraanstad noted that he and Bob Hermann (Information Technology: Administration | Retired) have been “kitchenless” while their kitchen has been extensively remodeled. He thanked all Club members who have invited them for meals over the past several months, with a special thanks to Jim Patrick (Retail: Office Supplies | Patrick & Co.) and his wife for dinner last weekend.
- John Mathers (Management Consulting | eVo Associates) stated he recently heard from former Club member Mark Enis, who moved to Houston. Luckily, Mark was not impacted by the recent flooding in the Houston area, but his in-laws’ farm is under water. Mark sends his best to his friends at the Club.
- Mary Liu offered a donation in honor of her induction and that of her fellow newly-inducted members.
- Casey Blair made a donation in honor of the public recognition of both JT and Tom.
Today’s speaker, Carlos Muela, operates StrEat Food Park. Carlos, born and raised in San Francisco, grew up in the food business, as his parents operated several restaurants in the City. After graduating from the University of San Francisco, Carlos took over his parents’ restaurants.He became interested in food trucks around ten years ago, largely after seeing them on television food shows. Carlos found a large vacant lot where multiple trucks could park, with tables, lights, planter boxes and a “beer garden” vibe on 11th Street, across from Costco. It took nearly two years to secure the necessary permits. Eventually he was able to open for lunch and dinner, with a rotating cast of food trucks. The concept was an immediate hit, with extensive press coverage (including some television food shows).
From that initial success, he was then contacted by the San Francisco Redevelopment Agency concerning a second location: SPARK in Mission Bay. This new location averages over 1,000 customers daily, and also hosts corporate gatherings.
In addition to the food truck parks, Carlos is a food truck broker. He provides food trucks for special corporate events, conventions, private parties, large construction sites, and corporate clients from 250-300 individually-owned food trucks, covering every imaginable cuisine from tacos to salads and cupcakes.
Today’s door prize – an elaborate set of great spices donated by Lilian Tsi-Stielstra (Insurance: Services | Retired) – was won by Gary Keener (Insurance: Underwriting | Swiss Re Corporate Solutions).
Photos by Rick Harrell (Arts Therapy | Heroes' Voices)
Edited by Scott Plakun (Management Consulting | The Plakun Group)