President Mary Liu (Real Estate: Sales | JM Real Estate Group) called the meeting to order at 12:15 PM.
Visiting Rotarians and Special Guests
In today's audience were the following visiting Rotarians: District Governor Danielle Lallement from the Rotary Club of San Francisco Evening who is also today's speaker, Assistant Governor Liz Mark from the Rotary Club of San Francisco Chinatown, and Karen Schmautz from the Rotary Club of Indian Rocks Beach in Florida. Additional guests attending in person included: Greg Grundstrom, Molly Schmautz, and Jackie Herrin.
In today's audience were the following visiting Rotarians: District Governor Danielle Lallement from the Rotary Club of San Francisco Evening who is also today's speaker, Assistant Governor Liz Mark from the Rotary Club of San Francisco Chinatown, and Karen Schmautz from the Rotary Club of Indian Rocks Beach in Florida. Additional guests attending in person included: Greg Grundstrom, Molly Schmautz, and Jackie Herrin.
Roots of Peace and the Takeover of Afghanistan
President Mary shared these video clips and highlighted the efforts of Club member Heidi Kuhn (Peace Building | Roots of Peace) in her role as CEO of Roots of Peace (ROP). Afghanistan is ROP’s flagship country. Heidi and ROP manage more than 360 Afghan employees who have cleared mines and restored farmland over the past 18 years. The urgency now is to get these employees safely out of the country due to the recent takeover by the Taliban. Heidi is particularly worried about her female employees because of the Taliban’s treatment of women. President Mary announced that ROP is collecting donations for tents, food, and supplies for those displaced. For more information, go here.
President Mary shared these video clips and highlighted the efforts of Club member Heidi Kuhn (Peace Building | Roots of Peace) in her role as CEO of Roots of Peace (ROP). Afghanistan is ROP’s flagship country. Heidi and ROP manage more than 360 Afghan employees who have cleared mines and restored farmland over the past 18 years. The urgency now is to get these employees safely out of the country due to the recent takeover by the Taliban. Heidi is particularly worried about her female employees because of the Taliban’s treatment of women. President Mary announced that ROP is collecting donations for tents, food, and supplies for those displaced. For more information, go here.
Upcoming Events
President Mary invited everyone to participate in the upcoming events shown on the Club calendar and to have "fun". In particular, she encouraged everyone to go to the SF Giants game, to attend the next Vocational Event, and to volunteer to distribute personal safety alarms to Asian seniors at 7 a.m. or at 10:30 a.m. on August 21, 2021.
New MembersPresident Mary and our Vice President of Membership Nancy Graydon (Development | Glaucoma Research Foundation) inducted Caryn Crump (Education: University | CPI (Consulting and Professional Instruction) & Norwich University), Nat Crawford (Education: Tutoring | Improve Your English Tutoring), and Esther Landau (Nonprofit Administration | The Arc San Francisco). Esther is one of the members of our newest corporate member - The Arc San Francisco. Caryn's mentor is Melissa Galliani (Communications and Media | Clearwater Living Sonoma Hills); Nat's mentor is David Dye (Management Consulting | Retired); and Esther's mentor is Marti Sullivan (Development | Marti Sullivan & Associates, Non-Profit Consultant). Welcome to Caryn, Nat, and Esther!
Rotarian of the Month
There were four winners of this award that had not been awarded for a while. President Mary announced the winners and called on a member to explain briefly why the winner had earned this recognition.
Maureen O'Shea (Governmental Relations | Retired) was our first winner. Bob Hermann (Information Technology: Administration | Retired UCSF) lauded Maureen for her ongoing leadership with the San Francisco-Marin Food Bank, as well as her work with the ALPS Gala.
The next winner was Margaret Miley (Hospitality: Hotels | Retired). Christopher Wiseman (Event Planning | Glaucoma Research Foundation) highlighted Margaret's dedicated support and mentioned that Margaret on behalf of the Club sends out birthday cards to members.Scott Plakun (Management Consulting | The Plakun Group) also received this award. Stacey Poole (Law: Family | Lerner Poole & Stewart, LLP) commended Scott’s leadership efforts over the past year with the Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Initiative as well as his additional work to lead the Speakers' Committee.
Completing the four winners was Steve Lindstrom (Software Engineering | Chairish.com). Lynn Luckow (Development | LikeMinded.org) told the audience that the success of our recent virtual RYLA was due to the amazing work put forth by Steve.
Guest SpeakerAssistant Governor Liz Mark introduced District Governor Danielle Lallement. DG Danielle talked about her early career as a trauma intensive care unit nurse in Reno, Nevada. She joined the Rotary Club of Sparks in Nevada. When she later relocated to the San Francisco Bay Area, she became a founding member and Charter President of the Rotary Club of San Francisco Evening. DG Danielle mentioned that she had been inspired by Stephanie Schmautz (Elder Care and Senior Services | The Carlisle) of our Club to create a club that fits her (DG Danielle's) needs as morning and lunchtime meetings were not possible with her schedule.
DG Danielle was very emotional when she spoke on the difficulties during the pandemic for everyone, especially health care workers. With so many unknowns about COVID-19, it has been a terrifying time. To accommodate the huge influx of patients, DG Danielle and her team reopened the adult intensive care unit at the UCSF Mount Zion Campus. Next, DG Danielle thanked Rotarians for their continued care of our communities. She brought a new pin for members that was designed by the current Club Presidents of District 5150 to highlight Rotary International's area of focus - Protecting the Environment.
In closing, DG Danielle applauded our efforts to engage our members despite the pandemic and the continuation of a virtual option for those unable to gather in person. She noted the importance of fun and highlighted upcoming District events for the balance of the year and found here. Coming up soon are the Rotary Radio Mystery Hour, the Truffle Shuffle to End Polio Now, and the Rotary Race to End Polio Now.
President Mary thanked District Governor Danielle and announced that 100 children would be inoculated against polio in her name.
$20 for Twenty Seconds
The following donated in honor of District Governor Danielle Lallement: President Mary Liu, Tom Brunner (Nonprofit Management | Glaucoma Research Foundation); Casey Blair (Financial Services: Private Trading | KCB Trading, LLC); Peter Lagarias (Law: Franchise | Lagarias, Napell & Dillon); Jeff Lerner (Retail: Home Improvement | Floorcraft); John Mathers (Management Consulting | eVo Associates); Eric Schmautz (Banking: Management | Wells Fargo); Bob Hermann; Laine Hendricks (Public Relations and Marketing | County of Marin); and Evelyn Abad (Medical Services | Rotaplast International).
The following donated in honor of District Governor Danielle Lallement: President Mary Liu, Tom Brunner (Nonprofit Management | Glaucoma Research Foundation); Casey Blair (Financial Services: Private Trading | KCB Trading, LLC); Peter Lagarias (Law: Franchise | Lagarias, Napell & Dillon); Jeff Lerner (Retail: Home Improvement | Floorcraft); John Mathers (Management Consulting | eVo Associates); Eric Schmautz (Banking: Management | Wells Fargo); Bob Hermann; Laine Hendricks (Public Relations and Marketing | County of Marin); and Evelyn Abad (Medical Services | Rotaplast International).
President Mary and Bob Hermann also donated to thank Assistant Governor Liz Mark.
Stacey Poole donated to show appreciation for a referral she received from past member Kelly Cheng and to remind everyone to buy tickets for upcoming Club socials.
Eric Schmautz also donated to celebrate his daughter Molly's return to school the next day and his first in-person Board of Education meeting.
JT Forbus (Accounting | Bogdan & Frasco) donated to celebrate the new members inducted and Rotarians of the Month honored today. Joining JT were Bob Hermann and Dan Joraanstad (Financial Services: Advising | Retired).
Laine also donated to celebrate her second wedding anniversary.
Evelyn also donated to celebrate nurses active in Rotary.
The meeting was adjourned at 1:29 p.m.
Editor's Note: Thank you to Nancy Graydon for serving as scribe at this meeting, to Peter Logan (Law: Insurance | Peter Logan Law Offices) for serving as photographer, to Marti Sullivan for managing the microphone, to Maureen O'Shea for collecting lunch tickets, to Cecile Chiquette (Accounting | Fiduciary Administration) and Maureen O'Shea who served as greeters, to Greg Grundstrom of the Academy of Art for managing the audio visual equipment during our in-person meetings, to Christopher Wiseman for managing those who were attending via Zoom today, to Bob Hermann for serving as cashier, and to Gary Dales (Accounting | Fly Leasing) for doing check-in today at the Hotel Nikko.