President Bob Hermann, Jr. (Information Technology: Administration | Retired) called the meeting to order at 12:15 PM and welcomed everyone attending in person or on Zoom.
Visiting Rotarian and Guests
Today's Visiting Rotarian was Patti van der Burg from the Rotary Club of Los Gatos. Joining Patti was her partner, Jay Shukert. Other guests were Maria Barrera and Rae Sansa. Our speaker was Eric Plakun. Welcome to all!
Thoughts of the Day
Carrie Schucker (Counseling | Retired) read today's Thoughts of the Day addressing humanity and injustice. The quote on humanity came from Bishop Desmond Tutu, and the quote on injustice came from Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
Potential Rotary Leaders Seminars (PRLS)
President Bob recognized Dr. Stellie Kim (Counseling | City and County of San Francisco) for completing Introductory PRLS in July 2024. He also recognized Anil Bhargava (Economist | Banyan Consulting) and Wendy Shew (Nonprofit Administration | Building Education) for completing Introductory PRLS in January 2025. If you would like to learn more about PRLS, contact Dora Dye (Education | San Francisco and San Mateo Counties) who is a PRLS Co-Director.
Leadership Training
President Bob thanked the following for stepping up to new leadership roles and attending training:
- Past President JT Forbus (Accounting | Bogdan & Frasco) will be Chief of Staff to incoming District 5150 Governor Mitone Griffiths. JT was spotted at the recent Pre President-Elect Training Seminar (Pre-PETS).
- Joining JT at Pre-PETS was President-Elect Frank Yoke III (Development | Serra Residential Center, Inc.).
- PE Frank and President-Elect Nominee Ozan Yasavur (Engineering: Mechanical | Bioforcetech Corporation) were at the recent District 5150 Grants Management Training. Joining them was Dora Dye who will be the District 5150 Grants Stewardship Chair.
Rotary Peace Conference
Heidi Kuhn (Peace Building | Roots of Peace) was a speaker at the recent Multi-District Peace Conference in Rohnert Park. President Bob drew our attention to the Rotary Peace poles that bear the message “May Peace Prevail on Earth” in different languages on each of its four sides. He suggested that such a peace pole be erected in San Francisco. (This would also make a good design for a holiday card!)
Rotarians of the Month
Congratulations to Mary Fermi (Education | Retired) for being selected as the January 2025 Rotarian of the Month and Ann Daugherty (Financial Services: Private Trading | IBN Financial Services) for being selected as the February 2025 Rotarian of the Month.
President Bob Hermann, Mary Fermi, and Ann Daugherty
Tribute Dinner for Past Rotary International President Rick King
A number of Rotarians from our Club attended the Tribute Dinner for PRIP Rick King who passed away in October 2023. $6 million have been raised to fund the Richard D. King Endowed Fund for Rotary Peace Centers.
Lunar New Year Celebration
President Bob recognized both Hana Xu Wang (Financial Services: Advising | Wang Wealth Advisors, LLC) and Stellie Kim for organizing and leading the Lunar New Year Celebration at the Chinatown Restaurant on January 30, 2025. He also recognized Dora Dye for her technical support for this event. Both Hana and Stellie gave a brief report. See full story here.
How are we doing?
President Bob recapped his Rotary year to date. Accomplishments included the creation of a new vision, a review of the bylaws, the addition of a monthly evening meeting, funding and participation in 15+ projects, new members, and the growth of RYLA. We are doing well in our mission to support Rotary locally and around the world.
Upcoming Events
- Check the Club's calendar for upcoming meetings and events.
- Save the date of April 26, 2025 for our Bike Build.
Guest Speaker
Scott Plakun (Management Consulting | The Plakun Group) introduced today's speaker — Dr. Eric Plakun, who is Scott's brother. Dr. Plakun talked about the Good, the Bad, and the Ugly of the stigma associated with mental illness and leading to a bias against those who are different and make us uncomfortable.
Jumping to the Ugly part, we learned that the health insurance industry treats only crisis stabilization when it should include recovery to enable a patient to lead a self-directed life. The failure to implement and enforce the 2008 Mental Parity and Addiction Equity Act and provide parity in access to care have resulted in the continued stigma attached to mental illness. Dr. Plakun suggested that we learn face-to-face our own stigma against mental illness and insist that non-profit professional societies make the decisions for the healthcare industry.
President Bob thanked Dr. Eric Plakun and announced that 100 children would be inoculated against polio in his name.
The meeting was adjourned at 1:30 PM.
Meeting Volunteers
President Bob thanked today's meeting volunteers: Cecile Chiquette (Accounting | Retired) for serving as volunteer coordinator; Robin Azevedo (Retail: Mattresses | Retired, McRoskey Mattress Company) for serving as scribe; Jim Patrick (Retail: Office Supplies | Patrick & Co.) for serving as photographer; Stacey Poole (Law: Family | Lerner Poole & Stewart, LLP) for managing the microphone; Kirt Burdick of the Academy of Art University for managing the audio-visual equipment during our in-person meeting; PE Frank Yoke for serving as greeter; and David Dye (Management Consulting | Retired) and Larry Booth (Engineering: Mechanical | Frank M. Booth, Inc.) for doing check-in at the Hotel Nikko.