Welcome to Spring! Spring is a time of growth and new things, and it just so happens that, SF#2 is welcoming a lot of new babies and grandbabies this year! Casey Blair and I were speaking of just this topic recently and how many or our club members have babies and young children. Casey has a brand new baby as of Saint Patrick’s Day, name to be announced soon! Kevin Waldeck, welcomed Audrey Claire in January and Tara Kramlich will have her own little bundle sometime in August. Tom Brunner’s grandson, James Masau Brunner was born on Feb 26. How fitting that April’s Rotary theme is Child and Maternal Health!
Springing forward, have you had a chance to visit www.rotary.org recently? Rotary International's website has been changed with some dramatic updates this year. Sign on to www.myrotary.org for a customized experience with easier access to tools and information that are relevant to you. Just 34% of SF#2 club members have an account: are you one of them? If not, Laine and I will be signing you up in the next week. All you have to do is click on the link in the email that activates your registration. Very cool stuff here! If you need an extra reason to “click on the link,” I’ll be raffling off a FREE LUNCH ticket on April 5 to those that have an account activated by March 31. Signing up on "MyRotary" also helps our club win the VERY coveted Presidential Citation Award!
We have a lot to look forward to in the next month, Get ready to watch some golf, serve some snacks and raise money for SF#2 at the LPGA Swinging Skirts event. It's "all hands on deck" to fill our slots April 19-April 24 for this EASY club fundraiser. See John Hoch or Laine Hendricks to pick a volunteer slot. April 30- May 1 we will have the annual District Conference right here in SF. The theme is Peace and we will have great speakers, a chance to advertise our club and all the great work we are doing and meet and network with many other District 5150 Rotarians. Go to www.SFPeaceCon.com to learn more and purchase your tickets. Price goes up April 1!
Vocational Speaker: Emily Borland, Emily Borland Specifications, is an architect who works with other architects and contractors as she puts together detailed manuals and specifications. Emily’s professional areas of focus include education, Corporate & Commercial, Housing, and Healthcare. She can incorporate sustainable design as she is a LEED accredited professional.
Recognitions:Dan Joraanstad (Retail Brokerage; Wells Fargo Advisors) celebrated his 60th birthday with $100. Tom Brunner (Healthcare - Non-profit; Glaucoma Research Foundation) recognized the birth of his grandchild, James Masao Brunner. President-Elect-Nominee John Mathers (Management Consulting; eVo Consultancy) donated $100 to recognize his and Peggy's 30th wedding anniversary Cecile Chiquette (Public Accounting; Retired) donated $100 in honor of Anita Stangl (Non-profit Management; Retired) on her recent retirement from Alliance for Smiles as well as $100 to the SF Rotary Foundation. President Stephanie Schmautz (Retirement Living; The Carlisle) “donated” a $100 when her father's cell phone went off during a meeting. Tim Hornbecker (Human Resources; The ARC of Alameda County) donated $100 to promote The ARC's upcoming Golf Tournament on May 9. Casey Blair (Finance; Feis Options) donated to celebrate the birth of Emmy June Blair on March 17: Nicola, big sister Leyna and baby are all doing great.
New Members:Susanna Seltzer joined our club after moving here from Bethesda with her son, Jacob, so he could pursue his talents and dreams at The San Francisco Ballet Company. Susanna is a former Rotaractor and looks forward to helping out with Interact and RYLA. John Bishop (CPA; Bishop Wealth Management), a friend of Peter Logan’s, is originally from Barbados where he took up cricket and soccer; his favorite recent phrase is, "Perspective; use it, or lose it". We are excited that Lisa Stark (Video Production), a Rotarian for more than ten years, has transferred her membership from The Rotary Club of Catalina Tucson. Lisa has been visiting and volunteering with us for several years. Lisa got an early start with Rotary as a GSE participant in India in 1994.
Sunshine Reports: Michael Mustacchi (Photography; Michael Mustacchi & Associates) is battling a flare-up of his leukemia. Bob Linscheid (Business Associations) has resigned from his post as CEO of the Chamber of Commerce due to family health reasons. We wish them both well.
In Memoriam: Past President Allen Feder passed away on March 4. His obituary is available here.
Special Birthdays: We all sang Happy Birthday to Molly and Daryn on their first birthdays.
San Francisco Rotary Foundation Programs: We got some exciting, quick updates from two programs that are beneficiaries of our own San Francisco Rotary Foundation. Rick Harrell (Veteran Outreach; Heroes' Voices) reported on early progress with the research project at Palo Alto Veterans Institute. John Dracup (Civil and Environmental Engineering; University of California) told us about how the Remba Island project is providing more clean water for drinking and sanitation.
Great Programs and Speakers: Thanks to chair Kevin Leong (Institutional Fundraising; University of San Francisco) and his committee for a memorable World Wide Rotary Day. Thanks to the follow-up calls they made, we welcomed more than thirty Consuls and Honorary Consuls as our guests. Dr. Cliff Dochterman, Past Rotary International President (1992-93) had the room belly laughing at jokes all while discussing the serious work that Rotary does around the world. Many members held two visiting dogs while Sherry Franklin told us the story of Muttville, a non-profit she launched that provides rescue, foster, adoption, and hospice for senior dogs, and support and education for the people that love them. Dr. Robert Heller, Past Federal Reserve Governor, took a humorous look at his life and how he made it as a visitor to the White House. He sums up his life as "one disaster after another," beginning with his birth in 1942 in Cologne during the start of World War II, continuing through such events as the protests at UC Berkeley, and one of the largest financial collapses in history. After she heard a homeless woman bemoan that she "would never be clean again", Doniece Sandoval combined her interest in helping those experiencing homelessness and her crazy obsession with the mobile food truck movement to launch what eventually became Lava Mae. Started by private citizens who believe that access to showers and toilets shouldn’t be a luxury, Lava Mae serves those who lack access to what should be basic human rights – showers and sanitation. #Everybodyshowers.
Rotarians of The Month: President Stephanie honored two of our members for their service.Jennifer Ji (Business Consultant) for being so active in many areas of the club in her first year as a member. Thank you, Jennifer, for getting involved with membership, bringing new speakers to the club, helping blue badgers and improving our social media presence! John Mount (Statistical Consulting; Win-Vector) has done a fantastic job as Speaker Chair. He consistently delivers engaging and diverse speakers for our weekly meeting. And he stepped up as club photographer for Emergency Services Day and World Wide Rotary Day, the two biggest meetings of the year.
Christy graduated from Samuel Merritt University with a degree in Nursing. Her calling to be an entrepreneur came shortly after she started working as a nurse. The unforgettable moments that come from taking care of weak and fragile patients enabled her to see that God has created each of us for a purpose that is bigger than our own. She knew that she must pursue that purpose while she is still young and physically capable. To live life to the fullest and fulfill her dreams, Christy left healthcare field and began to search for her true self.
Over the past several years, Christy has invested in multiple real estate and business ventures with the one goal in mind: to fulfill her mission in life and to empower others. She is the founder of Neigho Expo, a digital marketing company and CA Asset Resort, a private investment company that focuses on real estate development and private lending.
Christy enjoys community service and helping others. During high school and college, she volunteered in many places including an NGO that sends medical students to developing countries, the Boys and Girls Club and RotaCare. With increased success in business, she continues to help the poor and children by serving as a sponsor for different charities in South East Asia.
Christy learned of Rotary through her private lenders network and Rotacare. She reached out to President Stephanie and was invited to one of the Rotary Club of San Francisco’s meetings. Christy was happy to join it soon thereafter.
The aspects of the Rotary Club of San Francisco that first attracted her were the humanitarian projects, the business networking opportunities, and the chance to make new friends with like-minded professionals and people of good will. She has stepped forward to become the advisor for the Interact club at Lowell high school. Christy recognizes the importance of education and mentorship. She looks forward to being a mentor to help and empower others.
Club Treasurer Casey Blair says his favorite thing about Rotary is the people. “As someone who works in my laundry room this is my social outlet,” he quips. “I love the weekly meetings – the social aspect, the great speakers, the renewed motivation it gives you every week.”
Casey, who also served a two-year term on the Board as Club Service Chair, says his Rotarian father “nudged” him to join Rotary, which he did in 2009. “I regret not doing it earlier. I wanted to serve the community, meet great people and find a volunteer organization that coincides with my values.”
He cites Thanksgiving at The Arc and the Dictionary Project as favorite volunteer opportunities, and looks forward to growing the Rotary Run, which he calls “a great PR thing and a chance to get Rotaractors and Interactors involved.”
Casey was born in Los Angeles and grew up in Deer Park, WA, population 2,350, where he was quarterback on his high school football team, coached by his father, who was also his calculus teacher and vice principal. His mother had been his third grade teacher. He says it was “quite a change” going from that small-town atmosphere to Columbia, where he majored in economics and played quarterback, as well as wide receiver, on the football team.
After college, he worked on the trading floor at the Chicago Board of Trade before moving to San Francisco in 2000 to work as an options trader and market maker at the Pacific Coast Options Exchange. He then moved to Singapore to trade Asian options. In 2007, he moved back to San Francisco and married his wife, Nicola, a native of Hamburg, whom he met at the Union Street Fair. Nicola owns the Nook, a café and wine bar on Nob Hill, and the couple has two daughters, Leyna, age four-and-a-half, and Emmy June Blair, born March 17, 7 lb. 8 oz. and 20 inches long.
Casey recently started his own Japan-focused options company, which he runs “out of my luxurious office in my laundry room.” He enjoys running, snowboarding and “going to the playground with my daughter,” who is “very excited about being a big sister.” He’s also traveled extensively in Southeast Asia and Australia and spent six months in Europe with his brother before moving to San Francisco. His family travels back to Europe once a year.
A whole bunch of Rotarians enjoyed a special home-made Chinese feast to celebrate the beginning of the Year of the Monkey, including David and Dora Dye, Peter Logan, and John Mathers. Big thanks to the hostess with the mostest, Lilian Tsi-Stielstra.
Most of the incoming board -- and others -- attended the District Assembly, including Peter Lagarias, Dan Joraanstad, Chris Boehner, Turner Kuhn, and Rhonda Poppen.
Sixteen of us, including Anita Stangl and Fred and Cayo Marschner enjoyed a private evening reception at the Museum of Craft and Design, including a fascinating tour of the exhibitions that were on view.
And that's Jim Kennedy, Kevin Waldeck, and Laine Hendricks enjoying themselves at the annual Ski Challenge.
The monthly joint meeting of the boards of the Rotary Club of San Francisco, the governing body responsible for club operations, and Rotary Service, which oversees all of our club’s service projects. Members are welcome to attend, but please contact the Club Secretary to confirm time and location before attending.
Enjoy a buffet of Vietamese food in honor of International Women's Day, UN Landmine Awareness Day, and DG Leah's theme of Peace at the home of Heidi Kuhn in San Rafael. Friends and family welcome!
Katia Gomez founded Educate2Envision while she was a Rotary Scholar in 2009-2011 Today, E2E is the only organization in Honduras making secondary school affordable and accessible in rural areas. Katia will tell us how she transformed bake sales into an internationally-recognized organization at age 23.
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.
Popular San Francisco-based singer Noah Griffin is the founder of the Cole Porter Society. He'll describe and demonstrate the lasting power Cole Porter's contributions to the Great American Song Book.
The board of the San Francisco Rotary Foundation meets monthly to discuss the needs of the foundation and to approve funding for Rotary Service projects. Meetings of the Foundation Board are primarily for Foundation Board Members, but club members are often welcome to attend.
Volunteer your time to serve food and beverage at this nationally-televised event to help raise money for -- and awareness of -- our Rotary Club of San Francisco. A percentage of sales -- and all tips -- will be donated to Rotary Service!
Our own Kristina Ruiz-Healy, a fourth generation Rotarian, will give an overview of human transplant registries, explaining how you can help save lives by registering as an organ donor. She will introduce us to an organ recipient and the donor who saved her life. This is sure to be an informative and moving presentation.
All club members are welcome to attend meetings of the Local Community 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.
Let's volunteer so others can eat. Come help pack food for distribution to the many needy people in San Francisco who depend on the Food Bank. Click below on "more information" for details about what to wear and where to park. Optional informal dinner in a neighborhood restaurant will follow.
Recognitions: Dan Joraanstad (Retail Brokerage; Wells Fargo Advisors) celebrated his 60th birthday with $100. Tom Brunner (Healthcare - Non-profit; Glaucoma Research Foundation) recognized the birth of his grandchild, James Masao Brunner. President-Elect-Nominee John Mathers (Management Consulting; eVo Consultancy) donated $100 to recognize his and Peggy's 30th wedding anniversary Cecile Chiquette (Public Accounting; Retired) donated $100 in honor of Anita Stangl (Non-profit Management; Retired) on her recent retirement from Alliance for Smiles as well as $100 to the SF Rotary Foundation. President Stephanie Schmautz (Retirement Living; The Carlisle) “donated” a $100 when her father's cell phone went off during a meeting. Tim Hornbecker (Human Resources; The ARC of Alameda County) donated $100 to promote The ARC's upcoming Golf Tournament on May 9. Casey Blair (Finance; Feis Options) donated to celebrate the birth of Emmy June Blair on March 17: Nicola, big sister Leyna and baby are all doing great.
Special Birthdays: We all sang Happy Birthday to Molly and Daryn 
Great Programs and Speakers: Thanks to chair Kevin Leong (Institutional Fundraising; University of San Francisco) and his committee for a memorable World Wide Rotary Day. Thanks to the follow-up calls they made, we welcomed more than thirty Consuls and Honorary Consuls as our guests. Dr. Cliff Dochterman, Past Rotary International President (1992-93) had the room belly laughing at jokes all while discussing the serious work that Rotary does around the world. Many members held two visiting dogs while Sherry Franklin told us the story of Muttville, a non-profit she launched that provides rescue, foster, adoption, and hospice for senior dogs, and support and education for the people that love them. Dr. Robert Heller, Past Federal Reserve Governor, took a humorous look at his life and how he made 
it as a visitor to the White House. He sums up his life as "one disaster after another," beginning with his birth in 1942 in Cologne during the start of World War II, continuing through such events as the protests at UC Berkeley, and one of the largest financial collapses in history. After she heard a homeless woman bemoan that she "would never be clean again", Doniece Sandoval combined her interest in helping those experiencing homelessness and her crazy obsession with the mobile food truck movement to launch what eventually became Lava Mae. Started by private citizens who believe that access to showers and toilets shouldn’t be a luxury, Lava Mae serves those who lack access to what should be basic human rights – showers and sanitation. #Everybodyshowers.
A whole bunch of Rotarians enjoyed a special home-made Chinese feast to celebrate the beginning of the Year of the Monkey, including David and Dora Dye, Peter Logan, and John Mathers. Big thanks to the hostess with the mostest, Lilian Tsi-Stielstra. 
Most of the incoming board -- and others -- attended the District Assembly, including Peter Lagarias, Dan Joraanstad, Chris 
Boehner, Turner Kuhn, and Rhonda Poppen.
Sixteen of us, including Anita Stangl and Fred and Cayo Marschner enjoyed a private evening reception at the Museum of Craft and Design, including a fascinating tour of the exhibitions that were on view. 
Enjoy a buffet of Vietamese food in honor of International Women's Day, UN Landmine Awareness Day, and DG Leah's theme of Peace at the home of Heidi Kuhn in San Rafael. Friends and family welcome!
Katia Gomez founded Educate2Envision while she was a Rotary Scholar in 2009-2011 Today, E2E is the only organization in Honduras making secondary school affordable and accessible in rural areas. Katia will tell us how she transformed bake sales into an internationally-recognized organization at age 23.
Popular San Francisco-based singer Noah Griffin is the founder of the Cole Porter Society. He'll describe and demonstrate the lasting power Cole Porter's contributions to the Great American Song Book.
Volunteer your time to serve food and beverage at this nationally-televised event to help raise money for -- and awareness of -- our Rotary Club of San Francisco. A percentage of sales -- and all tips -- will be donated to Rotary Service!
Our own Kristina Ruiz-Healy, a fourth generation Rotarian, will give an overview of human transplant registries, explaining how you can help save lives by registering as an organ donor. She will introduce us to an organ recipient and the donor who saved her life. This is sure to be an informative and moving presentation.
Let's volunteer so others can eat. Come help pack food for distribution to the many needy people in San Francisco who depend on the Food Bank. Click below on "more information" for details about what to wear and where to park. Optional informal dinner in a neighborhood restaurant will follow.