Posted by Brian Lan on Oct 15, 2018
President Rhonda Poppen welcomed us all to a special luncheon with State Senator Scott Wiener as our guest speaker. Rhonda began the meeting by introducing visiting Rotarians from Concord, California; Reno, Nevada; and China. Other visitors included Mary Qian from Shen Zhou Event, Jeff Lee and pianist Ryan Ahern from Productions 17, and Yulla Nicolas and Yasmin Khalili from Alliance For Smiles.
Rhonda then shared several upcoming events including:
Rhonda invited Tyler Sterk (Financial Planning; Merrill Lynch) to tell us about his recent experience with the Dinner Club at The Arc, where he had a wonderful time befriending people with developmental disabilities over games and food.
 
In other volunteering news, Bob Hermann (Project Management; Retired) announced that Rotacare is looking for volunteers to help with both non-medical and medical activities. RotaCare Bay Area clinics provide surgeries and specialty care to patients without insurance.
 
Finally Rhonda noted that Project Homeless Connect is looking for volunteers for a variety of morning and afternoon shifts on October 24 at the Bill Graham Auditorium in Civic Center. San Francisco Mayor London Breed will help kick off the morning training.

Rhonda and VP of Membership Dan Joraanstad (Financial Management; Retired) introduced and inducted three new members: Lisa Christian (Development: Community Housing Partnership), Mark Enis (Asset Management; The OpenKey Group), and Angela Warren (Attorney-Real Estate Investor; Warren Law Firm). See Dan's Membership Corner for more information on each of our newest members. Each new member was given an official Rotary Club of San Francisco name tag, a Rotary pin, a copy of A Tradition of Fellowship and Service: The Rotary Club of San Francisco at 100, and a contribution of $26.50 to The Rotary Foundation of Rotary International. The new Rotarians were encouraged to serve and be the inspiration for the community.

As part of Time Capsule Tuesday, honoring the Club's 110 years of history, Melissa Galliani (Media Sales; Cumulus Media) shared the story of the Club's 75th anniversary celebration, which included a proclamation from then-Mayor Dianne Feinstein (Public Service; Office of US Senator Dianne Feinstein), who continues to be a member of our Club.
 
Rhonda announced that the Board is seeking members for the nominating committee as well as nominations to serve on the next board. Please see Casey Blair (Foreign Equity Trading, FEIS Options) for more details.
 
Tim Hornbecker (Human Services; The Arc of Alameda County), President of the San Francisco Rotary Foundation, presented a $25,000 check to our Club's Vice President of Youth Leadership, Lynn Luckow (Development; LikeMinded.org) for the development of a Youth Leadership Curriculum that will roll out across public schools in San Francisco, providing leadership training consistent with the focus of our successful Rotary Youth Leadership Awards (RYLA) program.
 
Those giving $20 or more included:
  • Peter Logan (Law - General Practice; Peter Logan Law Offices), who shared about his recent cosmetic eye surgeries.
  • Alison Healy (Alliance for Smiles), who is delighted that her 16-year-old son is volunteering with Rotacare.
  • Heidi Kuhn (Peace Building; Roots of Peace), who told us about a recent mission with Roots of Peace, helping with new trade contracts between Afghanistan and India.
  • Tim Hornbecker, who thanked Senator Wiener for his support of The Arc and of people with developmental disabilities.
  • Guest and piano artist Ryan Ahern announced his upcoming concert on 10/12 at the Herbst Theatre. He offered complimentary tickets to Club members.
  • Guest Mary Qian shared information about the Shen Zhou Event's Holiday Gala on 1/4/19 at The Green Room in the War Memorial Building.
  • Guest Yulla Nicolas from Alliance For Smiles shared the organization's free screening of the movie about Mark Felt on 11/1 at the Variety Theater.
President Rhonda showed pictures and told us stories from this past week's Italian Heritage Parade. Over 100 Rotarians and Interact members participated in the parade.
 
David Dye (Management Consulting; Retired) introduced today's guest speaker, California State Senator Scott Wiener, who was elected in November 2016 to represent District 11. State Senator Wiener praised the Rotary Club for our good works and advised members to continue to stay involved in our communities, particularly in the current period of political uncertainty. State Senator Wiener shared some of the priorities the State of California is trying to address, including the housing deficit, infrastructure improvements, criminal justice reforms, climate change, and public school improvements. Finally, he answered questions from members regarding current issues.
 
To thank State Senator Wiener, a donation to The Rotary Foundation was made in his name to help fight Polio. President Rhonda also presented State Senator Wiener the Club's commemorative 110th anniversary pin and journal.

Today's door prize winner, Kathryn McCall (Attorney; Sideman & Bancroft) received a Fitbit Surge watch.
 
 
Photos by Scott Plakun (IT Consulting; The Plakun Group).
Edited by Scott Plakun.