Posted by Daniel Joraanstad on Mar 20, 2024
President Sunny Singh (Financial Services: Advising | PK Wealth Management) began today's meeting by talking about that terrific Warriors' game where our own Tim Hornbecker (Nonprofit Management | Retired, The Arc CA) was seen wearing a fancy Warriors' outfit.
 
Visiting Rotarians and Guests
Today's Visiting Rotarians were Jan Van de Kuinder from the Rotary Club of Nukerle, Netherlands and Emilio Gallego from the Rotary Club of Tokyo West, Japan. Today's speaker was Gregory Yap from the Singapore Tourism Board.
 
Reminders
Grant Deadline: President-Elect Bob Hermann (Information Technology: Administration | Retired UCSF) reminded us that the deadline for 2024-2025 grant requests is this Friday, March 22. See details here
 
Membership Survey: The survey has closed. Results will be shared soon. As promised, if over 50% of the Club completed this survey, there would be a drawing for a gift card. We did get over 50% of the Club to respond, and the winner of the gift card was Margaret Miley (Hospitality: Hotels | Retired).
 
Membership News
New Members Inducted
President Sunny inducted Matthew Ramirez (Information Technology: Consultant | GovGPT) and Zunan "Phil" Ye (Information Technology - Administration | Snowflake) as the newest members of our Club. Welcome, Matthew and Phil!
 
Matt is a senior advisor leader for an AI start-up company called GovGPT. He hopes to help our Club in the areas of food insecurity, Court Appointed Special Advocates, 501(c)(4), coalition management, youth development, eco projects, and international service. His top choices for committees are PR/Media Relations and International Service.
 
Phil is a strategic sourcing leader for the company, Snowflake, which helps to source the right services and goods in support of business growth and development. Phil is looking forward to participating in Club projects and aligning his skills with our Club's diverse needs and goals. He hopes to help our Club in fundraising initiatives and mentoring youth.
 
Phil Ye and Matthew Ramirez
 
Youth Services
Todd St Vrain (Education: Administration | University of Melbourne) issued a call to help conduct mock interviews with students from Thurgood Marshall High School next Monday and Tuesday. For more information, please contact Todd St Vrain
 
Member Moment
Charlie Miles (Software Engineering | Charlie Miles Inc.) shared some moments in his life that include architecture, art, community service, and family. He and his wife are parents to a 5 1/2-year-old daughter and an 8-month old son. The audience enjoyed Charlie's photos of his journey from New York City to California. Get to know Charlie in our Club!
 
End Polio Now!
Our Club TRF Chair Jim Patrick (Retail: Office Supplies | Patrick & Co.) provided welcome news that the polio numbers for March year-to-date continue to be at Zero for the countries of Afghanistan and Pakistan! This is Great News! As Jim put it, we must continue our support of polio vaccinations and the End Polio Campaign by The Rotary Foundation, as just a single case can spread like wildfire. As a side note: after spending 70 years of his life in an iron lung, Paul Alexander died on March 11, 2024.

Bike Build 2024
Join our Club's signature event! You do not need to be a highly trained mechanic to participate as all skill levels are wanted and needed. Sign up here. 
 
Multi-District Conference
Past President Mary Liu (Real Estate: Sales | JM Real Estate Group) invited everyone to attend the Multi-District Conference on May 17-19, 2024 in Reno, Nevada. If you have not already registered, you may register here 
There are also sponsorship opportunities for those wishing to showcase a project or service opportunity.
 
Upcoming Events and Calendar
Check the Club's calendar for upcoming Committee meetings and service projects.
 
On March 26, 2024, join your fellow Rotarians around the Bay for a Bay Area baseball tradition: Battle of the Bay. See here for details and tickets.
 
Grant Presentation
Frank Yoke (Development | Frank Yoke Consulting) and Dan Joraanstad (Financial Services: Advising | Retired) on behalf of the San Francisco Rotary Foundation presented two grants totaling $23,500 to Alliance for Smiles (AFS). Jessica Hansen (Nonprofit Management | Alliance for Smiles) and Paul Vazquez (Nonprofit Administration | Alliance for Smiles) accepted on behalf of AFS. Jessica provided an update to the Club on the recent medical mission in Bangladesh. The video shared included a collage representative of the fine work that AFS has conducted in dozens of surgeries for children impacted by cleft lip and palate maladies.
 
Anita Stangl, Dan Joraanstad, Paul Vazquez, Sunny Singh, Jessica Hansen, and Frank Yoke
 
Share Your Good News ($20 for Twenty Seconds)
Thank you to the following who participated today and shared their good news: Tim Hornbecker, Todd St Vrain, Frank Yoke, and Angelina Preza (Sales: Travel | Aquarium of the Bay).
 
Gregory YapGuest Speaker
PDG Eric Schmautz (Banking: Management | Retired) introduced today’s speaker - Gregory Yap from the Singapore Tourism Board. Gregory is a Certified Meeting Professional (CMP) and shared many interesting facts including the history, economy, and culture of Singapore as the city prepares to host the Rotary International Convention in May 2024. For example, did you know that much of the city was built on reclaimed land and the gardens are plentiful throughout the entire city? Gregory provided a wealth of information on our convention site, recommendations for dining, and names of many places of cultural interest for us to consider when visiting. There were many questions and comments, including why it’s best to not bring 50 packages of chewing gum to Singapore. President Sunny thanked Gregory Yap CMP and announced that 100 children would be inoculated against polio in his name.
 
The meeting concluded at 1:30 PM.
 
Meeting Volunteers
President Sunny thanked today's meeting volunteers: Dan Joraanstad for serving as scribe; Jim Patrick for serving as photographer; Tim Hornbecker for managing the microphone; Kirt Burdick of the Academy of Art University for managing the audio-visual equipment during our in-person meeting; Dan Davies (Information Technology: Consulting | North American Lighting) for handling social media; Dan Joraanstad and Clifford Phillips (The Arc San Francisco) for serving as greeters; and Christopher Wiseman (Nonprofit Management | Glaucoma Research Foundation) for doing check-in at the Hotel Nikko.