President Sunny Singh (Financial Services: Advising | PK Wealth Management) called today's meeting to order at 12:17 PM and welcomed those online and those attending in person at the Anzu Restaurant in the Hotel Nikko.
Celebrating an Anniversary
President Sunny congratulated David Dye (Management Consulting | Retired) and Dora Dye (Education: Elementary and Community College | San Francisco and San Mateo Counties) on their 26th wedding anniversary today!
Visiting Rotarian and Guests
We welcomed Paul Vazquez visiting from the Rotary Club of San Francisco Evening. Mary Liu (Real Estate: Sales | JM Real Estate Group) introduced our guests from the Academy of Art University: Greg Grundstrom and Paul Yep, who replaced Michael Petricca (Education Management | Retired) at the Academy when Michael retired. Mary also introduced one of our Club's Honorary Members - Dr. Elisa Stephens (Education Management | Academy of Art University). Larry Booth (Engineering: Mechanical | Frank M. Booth, Inc.) introduced his daughter-in-law, Christina, and his granddaughters - Collette, Vivienne, and Gabrielle. Robin Azevedo (Retail: Mattresses | Retired, McRoskey Mattress Company) introduced her granddaughter - Marley. Other in-person guests included Robert Hunter and Hian Jin (aka Stellie Kim). Jennifer Schwartz attended via Zoom. Our speaker today was JoEllen Arntz.
New Members Inducted
President Sunny and Vice President of Membership Margaret Miley (Hospitality: Hotels | Retired) welcomed and inducted three new members: Margarita Baxter-Lazaro (Consular Affairs | Retired), Thomas Bowen (Development | Catholic Charities SF), and Sue Robbins (Development | Catholic Charities SF). Each shared a little about their background and their interest and plans in Rotary. A warm welcome to Margarita, Thomas, and Sue! When you see any of them at one of our meetings or events, please introduce yourself to them.
Margarita Baxter-Lazaro, Thomas Bowen, and Sue Robbins
Grant Presentation
President-Elect Bob Hermann (Information Technology: Administration | Retired UCSF), on behalf of the San Francisco Rotary Foundation, awarded a grant in the amount of $6,333 to SMUIN Contemporary Ballet to fund free ballet lessons for students ages 6-9 in our community. Accepting the check was JoEllen Arntz.
Vivienne Booth, Gabrielle Booth, Bob Hermann, JoEllen Arntz, Marley Azevedo, and President Sunny Singh
RYLA
President Sunny shared his experience visiting the RYLA Camp on August 3, 2023. RYLA Director Lynn Luckow (Development | LikeMinded.org) gave an overview of the five-day Camp and thanked all of the Club members involved for helping to make this year's Camp successful and memorable. Lynn mentioned that three muralists were retained to help the campers create outstanding murals. In addition, a videographer was present from start to finish to create a documentary of the experiences at the Camp. The audience enjoyed the three-minute video clip showing all of the fun that was had by all at camp and causing some in today's audience to shed tears of joy.
Social Event at Pier 23
President Sunny shared a few photos of the social event held at Pier 23 on July 21, 2023. He thanked Social Chair Alisha Marfatia (Information Technology: E-Commerce | EvolveWare) for organizing this fun evening.
Share Your Good News ($20 for Twenty Seconds)
Here are today's donors:
- Mary Liu donated to celebrate her experience at RYLA, to thank Lynn Luckow for leading the Camp, and to thank the Rotarians who supported her at RYLA when she learned that a family member had died.
- Todd St Vrain (Education: Administration | University of Melbourne) donated to celebrate his second RYLA experience (he also served as a facilitator last year). He thanked the Club for lifting up those kids with low self-esteem.
- Dan Joraanstad (Financial Services: Advising | Retired) donated to share his own experience visiting the RYLA Camp on August 3, 2023 and to tell us that Bob Hermann was happy all week at Camp. Dan thanked Lynn Luckow, Todd St Vrain, and Bob Hermann for their leadership at RYLA.
- Jim Patrick (Retail: Office Supplies | Patrick & Co.) donated to talk about Camp Enterprise that has become today's RYLA. Said Jim, "Rotary keeps improving RYLA," and he donated $20 because RYLA has become 20 times better.
- Bob Hermann donated to thank all the Club presidents in our Club for making the many projects such as RYLA possible.
- Lisa Christian (Development) donated to thank Lynn Luckow for leading the Camp.
Club Events for Rotarians
Club Events: Check the Club's calendar for upcoming Committee meetings and service projects. PDG Eric Schmautz (Banking: Management | Retired) announced that the Rotary International Visiting Committee will be in San Francisco from September 6-8, 2023 in response to San Francisco's bid to host a Rotary International Convention. Dan Joraanstad invited everyone to the Welcome to the Club event on August 24, 2023.
Guest Speaker
Maureen O’Shea (Governmental Relations | Retired) and the children in today's audience - Marley, Collette, Vivienne, and Gabrielle - introduced today's speaker - JoEllen Arntz, Company Manager and Wardrobe Supervisor of the SMUIN Contemporary Ballet. JoEllen discussed her career and how she arrived at where she is today. Despite her titles, she is the jack-of-all-trades, doing whatever is needed at SMUIN. JoEllen also brought costumes and ballet shoes for show-and-tell and a tiara for each of the children present today. She concluded by previewing the upcoming ballet season. President Sunny thanked JoEllen Arntz and announced that 100 children would be inoculated against polio in her name. The meeting concluded at 1:31 PM.
Meeting Volunteers
President Sunny thanked today's meeting volunteers: Dora Dye for serving as scribe; Jim Patrick for serving as photographer; Frank Yoke (Development Consulting) and JT Forbus (Accounting | Bogdan & Frasco) for managing the microphone; Kirt Burdick of the Academy of Art University for managing the audio-visual equipment during our in-person meeting; Scott Plakun (Management Consulting | The Plakun Group) for serving as Zoom host; Mary Liu, Todd St Vrain, Margarita Baxter-Lazaro, Emily Borland (Engineering, Architecture, and Construction | Emily Borland Specifications), Anita Stangl (Medical Services | Alliance for Smiles), and Jessica Hansen (Nonprofit Management | Alliance for Smiles) for serving as greeters; and Ozan Yasavur (Engineering: Mechanical | Bioforcetech Corporation) and Carlos Valdes (Real Estate: Sales | Aeternum Holdings, Inc.) for doing check-in at the Hotel Nikko.