Posted by Robin Azevedo on Sep 15, 2022
President Christopher Wiseman (Nonprofit Management | Glaucoma Research Foundation) called the meeting to order and welcomed everyone attending via Zoom or in person inside the Anzu Restaurant at the Hotel Nikko.
 
Visiting Rotarians and Guests
Today's Visiting Rotarians were President-Elect Leena Pem Sewpaul of the Rotary Club of Montebello, Mauritius and President Malinda Monterrosa of the Rotary Club of Los Angeles. Our guests were Clifford Phillips, Pamela George, Katherine Grillo, Isabella Montgomery, and Erica Nave.
 
Rotary Flag Exchange
President-Elect Leena Pem Sewpaul of the Rotary Club of Montebello, Mauritius (Rotary District 9220) was in California visiting her children enrolled in college. She took the train from the South Bay to attend today's luncheon with us before returning home on Wednesday. President-Elect Leena and our President Christopher exchanged Rotary flags.
 
Flag Exchange:  President-Elect Leena Pem Sewpaul and President Christopher Wiseman
 
Meeting Volunteers
President Christopher thanked today's meeting volunteers (listed at the end of this story).
 
Club Calendar and Events for Rotarians
Check the Club's calendar for upcoming meetings and events for the balance of September 2022 and beyond. 
 
Dalila DynesMember Moment
Dalila Dynes (Nonprofit Administration | Catholic Charities SF) joined our Club in July 2022 as a member of our corporate member - Catholic Charities San Francisco. At Catholic Charities, Dalila is putting to use her skill set of fundraising and outreach. In Rotary, Dalila has already participated in several activities including the recent backpack assembly at Hoogasian Flowers for expectant mothers of the Homeless Prenatal Program.  
 
Luis MoranGrant Presentation 
Luis Moran (Real Estate: Sales | Coldwell Banker), President of the San Francisco Rotary Foundation (SFRF), awarded a $12,000 SFRF grant to Catholic Charities San Francisco. Accepting the grant on behalf of Catholic Charities were Erica Nave and Darlene Wilson (Nonprofit Administration | Catholic Charities SF). Both Erica and Darlene spoke of Catholic Charities' focus on addressing pressing, community challenges and goal to change lives. Both work with children and youth services and invited everyone to the school supply assembly and distribution to benefit youth at the Maureen and Craig Sullivan Youth Center.
 
$20 for Twenty Seconds
  • Jim Kennedy (Interior Design | James Kennedy Design) donated to say how happy he was to be at the luncheon today and looked forward to attending more frequently.
  • Tim Hornbecker (Nonprofit Management | Retired, The Arc CA) donated to celebrate Clifford Phillips.
  • JT Forbus (Accounting | Bogdan & Frasco) donated to celebrate Visiting President Malinda Monterrosa and the Rotary Club of Los Angeles. President Malinda announced that the Rotary Club of Los Angeles (the fifth oldest Rotary Club in the world) was sending a check in the amount of $1,000 to the San Francisco Rotary Foundation to celebrate today's meeting.
  • Luis Moran donated to celebrate his recent election to the San Francisco Association of Realtors' Board of Directors as well as a recently granted charter to found “The City Chapter” of the National Hispanic Organization of Real Estate Association (NHORA).
  • Scott Plakun (Management Consulting | The Plakun Group) donated to celebrate 30 years as a Rotarian.
Guest Speaker
President Malinda MonterrosaToday's guest speaker was President Malinda Monterrosa. She is the current President of the Rotary Club of Los Angeles, founded in 1909 and part of Rotary District 5280. 
 
Presidents Christopher and Malinda chatted with each other and took questions from lunch attendees. Here are a few things that we learned about the Los Angeles Club: 
  • Their club foundation is distributing $700,000 to 30 projects this year, including a City Plants Project working with the Los Angeles Parks and Recreational Department that will not only grow and provide trees for free to residents, but will also create jobs.
  • Build a Court, their legacy project established in 1992, led to the construction of a courthouse for children who are wards of the court. This courthouse for children is physically separated from the downtown criminal courthouse, appropriately furnished, and decorated as a friendly space and care facility.
  • Annually, $250,000 are distributed in scholarships to college students. 
Anita Stangl (Medical Services | Alliance for Smiles) asked about the strategy of the Rotary Club of Los Angeles to recruit and retain members. President Malinda’s response was that her club nurtured existing membership and paid attention to membership interests. In other words, connect with club members. A happy member will bring in a new member.
 
President Christopher thanked President Malinda and announced that 100 children would be inoculated against polio in her name. 

 
President Christopher will be visiting the Rotary Club of Los Angeles in person in October 2022.
 
The meeting was adjourned at 1:30 p.m.
 
Editor's Note: Thank you to Robin Azevedo (Retail: Mattresses | Retired, McRoskey Mattress Company) for serving as scribe; Jim Patrick (Retail: Office Supplies | Patrick & Co.) for serving as photographer; to Ozan Yasavur (Engineering: Mechanical | Bioforcetech Corporation) for managing the microphone; to Jesse Austin of the Academy of Art University for managing the audio-visual equipment during our in-person meeting; to Maureen O'Shea (Governmental Relations | Retired) for serving as greeter; to Scott Plakun for managing those who were attending via Zoom; and to JT Forbus for doing check-in at the Hotel Nikko.