Posted by Nancy Graydon on Apr 08, 2022
President Mary Liu (Real Estate: Sales | JM Real Estate Group) kicked off the Zoom-only meeting at 12:15 PM.
 
Visiting Rotarians and Special Guests
Today's visiting Rotarian was Christian Amsberry from the Rotary Club of San Francisco Evening. Also online were today's speaker Michael Sera, ALPS Program Manager Harmony Ma, Ashley and Jason Boney, and three students from Abraham Lincoln High School in San Francisco:  Chrissy Collins, Amanda Tam, and Zoe Yee.
 
Birthdays
The audience celebrated our members who have a birthday in April 2022.
 
Gravity Water and Abraham Lincoln High School
Chrissy Collins, Amanda Tam, and Zoe Yee, students from San Francisco's Abraham Lincoln High School, shared their school's project with Gravity Water to help spread awareness about the Global Water Crisis and fundraise to build a clean water system at Cốc Lầu Primary School in Vietnam. The project involves turning rainwater into safe drinking water at schools around the world. For more information and to make a donation, see here
 
Upcoming Events
Please check the Club Calendar for upcoming events and registration. President Mary also encouraged everyone to participate in the District Conference on May 14, 2022. Sunny Singh (Financial Services: Advising | PK Wealth Management) announced the upcoming San Francisco Small Business Week 2022 hosted by the San Francisco Chamber of Commerce.
 
ALPS Gala
Harmony Ma, ALPS Program Manager, reported on the recent Action Leadership Program with Students (ALPS) Gala on April 1. 2022. ALPS provides opportunities for youth to develop leadership skills in both school and non-school settings. See photos of the gala here.
 
 
Service Project with Catholic Charities
Once again, this time on April 2, 2022, Rotarians gathered to assemble essential needs, emergency hygiene, and nutrition kits at Catholic Charities. Darlene Wilson (Nonprofit Administration | Catholic Charities SF) led this service project. 
 
 
$20 for Twenty Seconds
The following donated to Lincoln High's project with Gravity Water: Jianying Chen (Healthcare: Acupuncture | American Institute of Zhizhen Therapy and New Qigong), Dan Joraanstad (Financial Services: Advising | Retired), and Lisa Christian (Development).
 
John Hoch (Financial Services: Advising | Retired) donated to share how happy he was to be above ground and to celebrate ALPS.
 
Anita Stangl (Medical Services | Alliance for Smiles) donated to invite everyone to the Alliance for Smiles Gala
 
Nat Crawford (Education: Tutoring | Improve Your English Tutoring) donated to celebrate college counseling and the joy of helping students get into college. 
 
Ann Daugherty (Financial Services: Private Trading | IBN Financial Services) donated to share how wonderful it was to see Anita Stangl, John Hoch, and Jim Kennedy (Interior Design | James Kennedy Design) at Club meetings again.
 
Member Moment
Dan Davies (Information Technology: Consulting | North American Lighting) talked about growing up in Japan where he lived until he was an adult. He introduced Hanami to the audience. Hanami is a long-standing Japanese tradition of welcoming spring and appreciating the beauty of cherry and plum blossoms. Dan highlighted places in the Bay Area where one can do Hanami. His member moment was a perfect lead to today's speaker.
 
 
Michael SeraGuest Speaker
Christopher Wiseman (Event Planning | Glaucoma Research Foundation) introduced Michael Sera, Board President of the Japanese American Museum of San Jose (JAMsj). Michael discussed the history of Japanese immigrants in Northern California and the importance of maintaining the remaining Japantowns. There are only three Japantowns (San Francisco, San Jose, and Los Angeles) left; at one point, there were more than 60 around the country. Three reasons why Japantowns are important are:  (1) History: Japantowns are filled with history. (2) Culture:  Japantowns allow the sharing of culture. (3) Future: Japantowns engage the next generation to appreciate and preserve the Japanese culture in the United States.
 
Michael also talked about the programs at JAMsj and the Museum's mission to collect, preserve, and share Japanese culture. He noted that like Rotary, the Museum has many programs to engage youth and promote youth leadership. Michael invited Rotarians to visit the Museum and ended his presentation with the following: “I am Michael Sera. I love my community. What about you?” President Mary thanked Michael and announced that 100 children would be inoculated against polio in his name.
 
A Moment of Silence
President Mary led a moment silence to remember Sam Yates. Read about Sam here.
 
The meeting was adjourned at 1:30 p.m.
 
Editor's Note: Thank you to Nancy Graydon (Development | Glaucoma Research Foundation) for serving as scribe, Christopher Wiseman for managing our meeting on Zoom, and Jeff Lerner (Retail: Home Improvement | Floorcraft) for managing Club service.