Rotarian of the Month: Dora Dye (Education; City College of San Francisco). When you’re looking to organize a project or activity, ask for help from Dora! Over the past 18 months, Dora has made tremendous contributions to many aspects of our Club. At the front desk on a typical Tuesday, Dora has helped structure the check-in process, even to the point where she is the first line of contact with the hotel on expected attendance. Behind the scenes, Dora is instrumental in putting out our weekly calendar and our monthly newsletter, Grindings. Every event the Club undertakes has some aspect that is coordinated or reviewed by Dora. For her tireless dedication to our Club, we honor Dora as January 2018’s Rotarian of the Month!Great Luncheon Programs:
- Paul Tasner, PulpWorks. It was a treat to have Paul share his experience of becoming an entrepreneur in his seventies, and the trials he went through to create a powerful company that is helping address one of the most difficult problems in our environment: plastic waste.
- Lilian Tsi-Stielstra (Insurance Services; Wells Fargo Advisors) shared the experiences she and her husband Scott Stielstra (also in attendance) had walking the Camino de Santiago in Spain. This was an especially inspiring feat, since Lilian had suffered a stroke just a few years before undertaking this challenging journey. Way to go, Lilian!
- Emergency Services Day. What a great event! The honorees were genuine, their stories moving, and the services’ brass complimentary of every aspect of the luncheon. The logistics, thanks to good planning and excellent execution, were spotless. Past President Laine Hendricks (Public Relations; County of Marin) served as our Emcee for the day - her orchestration and personal touch had a deep impact on the honorees, their bosses, and the audience.
In addition to the honorees and their families and friends, we were joined by many senior officers from all of the First Responder organizations we recognized. With about 150 attendees, this was one of the most well-attended Rotary events in recent history.
The committee that put this event on, led by President-Elect Rhonda Poppen (Grant Writing; GRANTdog), can rightfully say that they have taken this annual event to a whole new level of excellence. One of the senior service members told us, “I have been to a lot of these events, and this is the best organized and most enjoyable.” Thank you all for a wonderful experience!
Events:
- Super Bowl Party at the home of Lilian Tsi-Stielstra and Scott Stielstra. It was a fabulous affair. Scott and Lillian are consummate hosts and the extent of drinks and edibles, especially homemade delicacies, made the game even more fun. Thank you for hosting.
- New and Prospective Member Cocktails. Membership VP Dan Joraanstad (Financial Management; Retired) organized a special evening at Youth Services VP Lynn Luckow’s (Development; LikeMinded.org) office on Post Street. The place was filled to bursting with potential members chatting with members and asking the questions to better understand Rotary and our Club. It was a fun and informative evening. Thank you, Lynn, for hosting and Dan for organizing the event!
Service Above Self: Thank you to the many Club members and friends who have delivered dictionaries to third graders in San Francisco elementary schools in recent months:- Warren Grawemeyer (Soft Drink Manufacturing; Retired): 44 dictionaries at Marshall
- Mark Calender (Insurance Broker; Calender-Robinson): 63 dictionaries at Leonard Flynn
- Scott Plakun (Management Consulting; The Plakun Group), Lilian Tsi-Stielstra, and Scott Stielstra: 61 dictionaries at Daniel Webster
- Peter Logan (Law - General Practice; Peter Logan Law Offices) and Kevin Leong (Development - Colleges and Universities; University of San Francisco): 62 dictionaries at Tenderloin
- Casey Blair (Foreign Equity Trading; Feis Options) and Luis Moran (Real Estate Sales; Coldwell Banker): 65 dictionaries at Fairmount
That adds up to 295 dictionaries delivered to third graders in five local schools so far this Rotary year, with more in process.