Posted by Dora Dye on Oct 22, 2020
President JT Forbus (Accounting | Bogdan & Frasco) called the meeting to order at 12:15 PM and welcomed everyone virtually into the Empire Room of the Sir Francis Drake Hotel. He showed where we would all be seated.
Visitors to our Club
  • Terry Pickering (Financial Services | Retired), Vice President of Membership, introduced Dan Davies. Dan is interested in pedestrian safety in San Francisco.
  • Marti Sullivan (Development | The Arc San Francisco) introduced her colleague, Lance Scott, and Alia Anderson, a client at The ARC SF.
  • Kevin Leong (Development | University of San Francisco) introduced Erma Kurtovic, a student from Bosnia.
Colant Scholarship 
The San Francisco Rotary Foundation (SFRF) offers a Colant Scholarship to students attending the University of San Francisco. This year's winner was Erma Kurtovic from Bosnia. Erma is pursuing a Master's degree. Due to the pandemic, she is studying virtually from her home, but hopes to travel to San Francisco to complete her studies. Erma thanked everyone for the scholarship to help with the expenses associated with studying at USF and discussed her future plans, which did include becoming a Rotarian. Congratulations, Erma!
 
Your Rotary Moment
At a recent meeting of the First Five Rotary Clubs in the world, President JT met someone who shared the following photo of a water project in Myanmar. Professor John Dracup, a former member of our Club, was one of the leads in this project, and the photo shows the appreciation from Myanmar to our Club.
 
The ARC San Francisco
Dan Joraanstad (Financial Services: Advising | Retired), SFRF President, presented a check in the amount of $12,500 to The Arc San Francisco. Marti Sullivan accepted on behalf of The Arc and thanked both our Club and SFRF. She expressed gratitude for the strong partnership and described the services that The Arc can provide with this funding. Marti also mentioned the activities of The Arc before the pandemic and now during the pandemic.
 
Marti invited her colleague, Lance Scott, to say a few words about the Friends Like Me Virtual Dinner Club. Marti acknowledged those Rotarians who had stepped forward to deliver meals for the Dinner Club.
 
Marti also introduced Alia Anderson, a client at The Arc. Alia talked about her experience taking classes at The Arc SF Hub and how these classes have helped her to "focus on her goals while sheltering in place." She expressed her appreciation to Rotarians for supporting The Arc SF.
 
Announcements
Liam Sheridan (Sales: E-Commerce | Salesforce) invited everyone to participate in the Walk to End Alzheimer's on November 7, 2020.
 
Brian Lan (Information Technology: Financial Services | DocuSign), Vice President of Public Relations and Public Information, announced that a Fund the Future event for ALPS is planned for February 2021.
 
$20 for Twenty Seconds
John Mathers (Management Consulting | eVo Associates) donated to celebrate his presentation at the Rotary District 5150 Community Service Show and Tell where he talked about his work in the Rotary Climate Action Team. The donation was also for his upcoming presentation on climate crisis in our Club's Educational Series.
 
John donated again to encourage everyone to help the village in Vietnam that was part of our recent global grant. A severe drought followed by torrential rains have destroyed the village. Anyone who can help the village financially should contact John Mathers.
 
Marti Sullivan donated to announce the upcoming Salon 2020 and to thank Tim Hornbecker (Nonprofit Management | Retired, The Arc CA) for his work in and support of The Arc SF.
 
Lisa Christian (Development | Community Housing Partnership) donated to invite everyone to the 30th birthday bash of the Community Housing Partnership
 
Tim Hornbecker donated to announce that he had tested negative for COVID-19. Hurray!
 
Guest Speaker
Robin Azevedo (Retail: Mattresses | McRoskey Mattress Company), behind the face of Buster Keaton, introduced today's speaker, Rob Byrne. Rob specializes in early cinema and films of the silent era. He talked about the San Francisco Silent Film Festival that was canceled this year due to the pandemic and the effort to present and preserve this art form. President JT thanked Rob and announced that 100 children would be inoculated against polio in his name.