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 special guests in person: San Francisco Supervisor for District 2, Catherine Stefani, and her legislative aide, Dominica Donovan. Additional guests attending in person included: Larry Booth, Caryn Crump, Greg Grundstrom, and James Wong. Online were these guests: Esther Landau, Bridget Maxim, Charles Meyer, Elizabeth Owens, Cyril Unukevwere who joined us from Nigeria, and today's speaker — Lucy Meyer.
In today's audience were the following special guests in person: San Francisco Supervisor for District 2, Catherine Stefani, and her legislative aide, Dominica Donovan. Additional guests attending in person included: Larry Booth, Caryn Crump, Greg Grundstrom, and James Wong. Online were these guests: Esther Landau, Bridget Maxim, Charles Meyer, Elizabeth Owens, Cyril Unukevwere who joined us from Nigeria, and today's speaker — Lucy Meyer.
Recognitions
President Mary thanked Greg Grundstrom for volunteering to help our Club manage the audio visual equipment during our in-person meetings. She also thanked her husband, James Wong, for operating the camera and Miranti Ojong for managing those who were attending via Zoom today.
President Mary thanked Greg Grundstrom for volunteering to help our Club manage the audio visual equipment during our in-person meetings. She also thanked her husband, James Wong, for operating the camera and Miranti Ojong for managing those who were attending via Zoom today.
The Club welcomed a fairly new member, Matthew Madsen (Nonprofit Management | The Salvation Army), and welcomed back Alisha Marfatia (Information Technology: E-Commerce | University of Chicago) who had been away attending college.
A SongAlex Omoko (Human Services | Bay Area Community Service) led the audience in singing "It's a Small World".
A SurpriseSan Francisco District 2 Supervisor Catherine Stefani presented Bob Hermann (Information Technology: Administration | Retired UCSF), Bill Poppen (Banking: Management | MUFG Union Bank), and our Club each with a Certificate of Honor for their Bike Build efforts. Here is a video clip of the presentation.
President Mary thanked Andrew Mullen (not present) who helped our Club to find students to accept the dictionaries that our Club had donated. Andrew also helped us by closing a City street during our Bike Build so that the children picking up a bike had a place to practice and to get their bike adjusted.
Upcoming EventsPresident Mary invited everyone to participate in the upcoming events shown on the Club calendar and to have "fun". Speaking of fun, about 25 Rotarians, family members, and guests attended the SPARK social on July 28, 2021.
$20 for Twenty Seconds
San Francisco Rotary Foundation President Dan Joraanstad (Financial Services: Advising | Retired) donated to celebrate the City of San Francisco's recognition of Bob Hermann, Bill Poppen, and our Club for their work on the 2021 Bike Build. Dan also donated to celebrate Allan Herzog's attendance at this meeting.
Allan Herzog (Financial Services: Advising | Wells Fargo Advisors) matched Dan's donation for the City's recognition of our Bike Build. He also donated to celebrate his granddaughter's acceptance into a university in St. Louis, MO.
Sally Swanson (Engineering, Architecture, and Construction | Sally Swanson Architects) donated to celebrate her participation in ALPS, her upcoming trip to Tokyo, Japan to serve as a reporter for the Paralympics, and the book that she is currently writing.
The 2021-2022 50/50 Campaign
Miranti Ojong (Financial Services: Advising | Team Armada), Vice President of Development, talked about the 2021-2022 50/50 Campaign. The goal is to fundraise $100,000; half of this amount will be directed to the San Francisco Rotary Foundation and the other half goes to The Rotary Foundation of Rotary International.
The 2021-2022 50/50 Campaign is off to an excellent start with a $20,000 anonymous donation. All members of the Board of the Rotary Club of San Francisco and the Board of the San Francisco Rotary Foundation Board have been challenged as a group to match (or better yet, exceed) the $20,000 anonymous donation. Miranti then challenged the Club's members to match (or better yet, exceed) the above $40,000. When that happens, the Club with $80,000 pledged will be well on its way to reach or exceed the $100,000 goal.
Guest Speaker
President Mary introduced today's speaker — Lucy Meyer. We began with a video found at teamlucymeyer.org. Born with cerebral palsy as a result of oxygen deprivation for five minutes at birth, Lucy has both physical and intellectual disabilities. Since 2015, Lucy has served as the Spokesperson for the Special Olympics – UNICEF USA Partnership for young people with disabilities. She has won five Special Olympic Gold Medals and met former President Obama twice. Lucy has taken her message of “Acceptance plus Inclusion equals Progress” to countries around the world including Jamaica, Brazil, Azerbaijan, Bosnia Herzegovina, Montenegro, and Kosovo with Special Olympics and UNICEF USA. Her message of “Acceptance + Inclusion = Progress” certainly fits in with Rotary International’s commitment to Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion. President Mary thanked Lucy and announced that 100 children would be inoculated against polio in her name. Also online to recognize Lucy was Bridget Maxim of UNICEF.
Editor's Note: Thank you to Robin Azevedo (Retail: Mattresses| McRoskey Mattress Company) for serving as scribe at this meeting, to Christopher Davies (Real Estate: Property Management | Self-employed) for serving as photographer, to Peter Logan (Law: Insurance | Peter Logan Law Offices) for managing the microphone, to Ann Daugherty (Financial Services: Private Trading | IBN Financial Services) for collecting lunch tickets, to Cecile Chiquette (Accounting | Fiduciary Administration) and Ann who served as greeters, and to Bob Hermann and Gary Dales (Accounting | Fly Leasing) for doing check-in today at the Hotel Nikko.