January is Rotary Awareness Month, a time to tell our local and global communities about the vast work we Rotarians do. The more people know what we do, the more we can do! Each of us should always be ready to answer questions like, “What is Rotary?” and “What does Rotary do?”
Since its founding in the 1908 as the second oldest Rotary Club in the world, the Rotary Club of San Francisco has played an important role in the growth of San Francisco and of Rotary itself. Our club sponsored many of the next clubs that formed up and down the west coast, throughout the central US, and the Rotary Club of Dublin, Ireland, the first club outside of the USA. We have hosted four Rotary International Conventions.
One constant thing about Rotary is change: our club’s meeting format varies from year to year, traditions come and go. Some newish members wonder why we started singing this year. One reason is that I happen to like singing. We are fortunate to have a wonderful Meeting Song Leader, Rick Harrell, and volunteers like Dan Joraanstad and Audrey McKeague to play the piano. But singing is not new to Rotary or to our club; it is a tradition that goes back to some of the earliest meetings in Chicago. Our club meetings included singing for many years until quite recently.
Another longstanding club tradition that we’ve changed this year is the publication of Grindings, our club’s newsletter. First launched in 1913 Grindings was printed on paper and mailed to all members every week for decades, becoming an email publication about ten years ago. This year we’ve made Grindings a monthly newsletter with just an events section published weekly. If you would like to contribute to Grindings, we would love your help. Thank you to Scott Plakun, Carrie Condran LaBriola, and David Dye for contributing to Grindings and increasing our club’s “Awareness” of Rotary.
As part of its commitment to change, Rotary International has recently adopted a fresh, new “brand”, including redesigned logos. I hope you all like your new Rotary shirt: it sports our club’s new official logo. Wear your shirt to show your Rotary pride and build awareness in 2016!
Business Success:John Mount (Statistical Consulting; Win-Vector) donated $100 because he is excited about his upcoming two day training with Nina at Genentech.
Sunshine Reports: Welcome back to Jim Bradley (Insurance Agencies -- Property; CAL Insurance Associates) who is doing well after a hip replacement in October. Rhonda Poppen's (Grant Writer; GRANTdog) husband's stepfather passed away over the Thanksgiving holiday. Jean Schore's (Marketing Consultant; Shore Marketing Associates) brother, Chuck, passed away; Chuck lived in San Francisco and many of us have met Chuck at Jean's parties. Jim Murray's (Education; John Gardner Postgraduate Program at Stanford) mother, Shirley, passed away in October; although Shirley lived in Ohio, she had joined us many times for projects when visiting Jim.
Vocational Speakers:Peter Logan (Attorney; Peter Logan Law Offices) told about his practice, which focuses on helping policyholders, both individuals and businesses, interpret and enforce their rights under insurance policies. Frank R Yoke III (Non Profit Management; Boy Scouts SF Bay Area Council) has been working professionally with the Scouts for 35 years and is currently responsible for fiscal stewardship.
More great speakers: Tina Greenbaum told us about the skills she has been teaching for the past 32 years to help business professionals, athletes and performers achieve a sense of inner calm while performing at their peak. Her interest is in the connection of the mind and body and how it affects performance under pressure. Dr. My T. Le told us about her Stanford class called "Engineering For Good," a place where students examine real-world problems, learn the skills needed to solve them and are expected to produce real results. We learned Dr. Le ended up in Sacramento at the age of 15 after coming to America based on her favorite TV show: Bonanza.
A Great Party: Over 100 of us enjoyed a wonderful Holiday Luncheon at the Westin Saint Francis, in the very room where our club held its inaugural meeting in 1908!. Music, joy, fun, and celebration were shared by all. Now we're wishing everyone the happiest of happy new years in 2016!
It will soon be February, the month when we give free dictionaries to third graders in San Francisco to assist them in becoming good writers, active readers, creative thinkers, and resourceful learners. We need your help as we prepare the books and deliver them to schools. And we need your donations to cover the cost of these books.
The son of an Air Force master sergeant, JT Forbus was born at Mathers Air Force Base in Sacramento. As is often the case with military families, JT and his older sister, Shelly, grew up getting used to moving around a lot. His family lived in homes from Okinawa to Illinois. In his teenage years, he attended four different high schools in Colorado and California. This experience taught him to be more outgoing. He learned to make friends quickly.
JT has roots in the South as well as Hawaii. His father, Ronald, grew up in Alabama with his father’s twin brother, Donald, and their two sisters. Ronald retired from the U.S. Air Force as a master sergeant serving as an accountant for the Air Force. His mother, Carol, is from Hawaii. His mother’s Hawaiian heritage taught JT the importance of family and family responsibility. From an early age, his mom expected him to help clean the house and wash and iron the laundry. He still irons clothes every day before work.
JT is named after his grandfather. The letters “JT” do not stand for anything in particular. When his grandfather was born, his great-grandparents could not spell so they gave him the initials JT as his first name.
Following in his father’s footsteps, JT works as an accountant. Although he graduated from Cal State-Hayward (now California State University-East Bay) in 1998 with a business accounting degree, he has worked for tax accounting firms since he was 19 years old. In his senior year of college, he received many job offers from big accounting firms. However, he chose to join smaller firm, Bogdan and Frasco, LLP. He was hired in December 1997 before graduating from college and has spent the last 18 years helping to build that firm.
JT met his wife, Anne Marie, 10 years ago at a Yelp happy hour. They have been married for five years. They have two daughters: Lei who is 3 ½ years old and Mae who is one and a half years old. Anne-Marie works in the human resources department for the city and County of San Francisco.
JT has two main passions. First there is college football, particularly Auburn University (his father’s alma mater). This is not an easy allegiance since many in his family are Alabama Crimson Tide fans.
His second passion is his family. 2014 was a very difficult year for JT and his family. His youngest daughter, Mae, was born prematurely and weighed only 1 pound. She was in neonatal intensive care for six months. An additional complication was the fact that his wife contracted gestational lung cancer and had to undergo chemotherapy. Fortunately, his wife’s cancer is now in remission and his daughter is doing well. This experience has strengthened JT and his family and given him a focus on what is important in life.
JT comes to Rotary thanks to Michael Strohl. JT’s father had encouraged him to join a service organization like the Elks or the Moose. However, JT was not interested in joining organizations mostly composed of “old guys”. Michael and JT had business encounter and Michael invited him to lunch. Upon visiting our club, JT was pleased to see that the Rotary Club of San Francisco has a diverse and interesting membership. JT is interested in helping the club continue to develop a diverse member profile by working on the club’s membership team to recruit more young professionals like him as well as work to develop club activities that are appealing to that demographic.
Enjoy dinner with your fellow Rotarians at this special event featuring Rotary International President Ravi Ravindran as well as Past Rotary International Presidents MAT Caparas, Cliff Dochterman, and Rick King at the DoubleTree Hotel in San Jose. Our own Past President (and PDG) Eric Schmautz has reserved some of the best tables in the house for us. This is a great opportunity to meet some of the most interesting people in the Rotary World.
It's time once again for our annual kick-off to the New Year: Financial Prognostications from club members who work closely with investments. This year's panel includes Allan Herzog, Dan Joraanstad, Kevin Waldeck, and Brent Cunningham.
All club members are welcome to attend meetings of the International Service Committee. Please join the meeting to see what projects are coming up and how you can help, and/or to propose your own ideas for new projects. If you would like to find out how to submit a grant for a project, criteria for grants or completing a final report, this is the meeting for you.
Join the fun as we prepare hundreds of dictionaries to be given to third graders in San Francisco schools. We'll be meeting at Hoogasian Flowers to put Rotary bookplates in each book and organize them into the right inventory for delivery to schools. Casual dinner to follow.
J.T. Warring, a Rotarian for over 40 years, has played an instrumental role in the recent acceptance of Rotary by the government of Myanmar. He was a founder of the first club there in 2013. He has helped to build scores of Rotary-proprietary water management facilities in Myanmar and to produce a video for Rotary to document the effects of the 2004 tsunami in east and south Asia.
Tom is a second generation Rotarian, and third generation member of a family that has been serving senior adults since the 1940s. A member of our own SF#2 (and our Director of Membership) and CEO of the Institute on Aging, Tom will talk to us about some of the many issues facing today's seniors.
Learn about the wide range of services and products offered by your fellow Rotarians from our club and from all the clubs in our district. You'll be a more well educated consumer and a great referral source for your fellow Rotarians.
Enjoy an special evening with room for just 10 people at the table for a delicious dinner at the home of Robin Azevedo in West Portal. Bring a bottle of wine or the beverage of your choice.
Our district offers this series of training classes for potential Rotary leaders. Basic PRLS covers the fundamentals and is a prerequisite for all advanced PRLS training. Our club covers the cost for members to attend.
More great speakers: Tina Greenbaum told us about the skills she has been teaching for the past 32 years to help business professionals, athletes and performers achieve a sense of inner calm while performing at their peak. Her interest is in the connection of the mind and body and how it affects performance under pressure. Dr. My T. Le told us about her 
A Great Party:
Member profile: JT Forbus
Enjoy dinner with your fellow Rotarians at this special event featuring Rotary International President Ravi Ravindran as well as Past Rotary International Presidents MAT Caparas, Cliff Dochterman, and Rick King at the DoubleTree Hotel in San Jose. Our own Past President (and PDG) Eric Schmautz has reserved some of the best tables in the house for us. This is a great opportunity to meet some of the most interesting people in the Rotary World.
It's time once again for our annual kick-off to the New Year: Financial Prognostications from club members who work closely with investments. This year's panel includes Allan Herzog, Dan Joraanstad, Kevin Waldeck, and Brent Cunningham.
J.T. Warring, a Rotarian for over 40 years, has played an instrumental role in the recent acceptance of Rotary by the government of Myanmar. He was a founder of the first club there in 2013. He has helped to build scores of Rotary-proprietary water management facilities in Myanmar and to produce a video for Rotary to document the effects of the 2004 tsunami in east and south Asia. 
Learn about the wide range of services and products offered by your fellow Rotarians from our club and from all the clubs in our district. You'll be a more well educated consumer and a great referral source for your fellow Rotarians.
Our district offers this series of training classes for potential Rotary leaders. Basic PRLS covers the fundamentals and is a prerequisite for all advanced PRLS training. Our club covers the cost for members to attend.