Over 90 members, guests, and visiting Rotarians logged into the first virtual Holiday Party and Annual Meeting of the Rotary Club of San Francisco in its 112 years of history held at Nakatomi Plaza on December 15, 2020. We were at this Plaza virtually, because it is the site of a favorite movie of President JT Forbus (Accounting | Bogdan & Frasco), who welcomed everyone and then introduced Stephanie Schmautz (Elder Care and Senior Services | The Carlisle), Chair of the Holiday Party Committee. Stephanie went over the program for the day and was joined by Rhonda Poppen (Grant Writing | GRANTdog) who managed the raffle and Mary Liu (Real Estate: Sales | JM Real Estate Group | Vanguard Properties) who managed the technology for today's party.
The party started with a raffle of $50 gift cards generously donated by the following:
Annual Meeting
President JT called the Annual Meeting to order at 12:20 p.m. Dora Dye (Education: Community College | City College of San Francisco), Club Secretary, posted on the chat that a quorum was present. President JT celebrated the current members of the Board and thanked each for their service. Said President JT, "This Board has put in time and effort to carry on in a pandemic. Because of their hard work, we are going to come out like a rocketship."
Next, the audience was introduced to the candidates to fill upcoming officer vacancies for the term beginning on July 1, 2021. President JT called for voting members to approve by acclamation the following candidates selected by the Nominating Committee. The vote to approve was unanimous.
The Annual Meeting concluded, and it was back to the party.
Performances
There was another raffle of $50 gift cards followed by individual musical performances. Rick Harrell (Arts Therapy | Heroes' Voices) sang White Christmas. Scott Plakun (Management Consulting | The Plakun Group) played the second movement of Beethoven's Sonata Pathetique on the piano. Heidi Kuhn (Peace Building | Roots of Peace) played White Christmas on the cello. Dan Joraanstad (Financial Services: Advising | Retired) played Ave Maria on the piano accompanied by Andres Vera on the cello. Tim Hornbecker (Nonprofit Management | Retired, The Arc CA) played Hallelujah (by Leonard Cohen) on the harmonica. Both Scott and Heidi said that this was their first public performance since high school, but the talent of every single performer today was professional and top notch and definitely the highlight of the party. During Scott's performance, technical difficulties prevented the video from displaying, and so Scott's performance is here for you to watch.
There was another raffle of $50 gift cards followed by individual musical performances. Rick Harrell (Arts Therapy | Heroes' Voices) sang White Christmas. Scott Plakun (Management Consulting | The Plakun Group) played the second movement of Beethoven's Sonata Pathetique on the piano. Heidi Kuhn (Peace Building | Roots of Peace) played White Christmas on the cello. Dan Joraanstad (Financial Services: Advising | Retired) played Ave Maria on the piano accompanied by Andres Vera on the cello. Tim Hornbecker (Nonprofit Management | Retired, The Arc CA) played Hallelujah (by Leonard Cohen) on the harmonica. Both Scott and Heidi said that this was their first public performance since high school, but the talent of every single performer today was professional and top notch and definitely the highlight of the party. During Scott's performance, technical difficulties prevented the video from displaying, and so Scott's performance is here for you to watch.Game, Contest, and Prizes
In between musical performances, there was a game of Jeopardy. The team led by President JT won the game.
Stephanie announced the winners of the Holiday Costume Contest:Honorable Mentions: John Mathers (Management Consulting | eVo Associates) and Tim Hornbecker
Third Place: Bob Hermann (Information Technology: Administration| Retired UCSF) and Dan Joraanstad
Second Place: David Dye (Management Consulting | Retired) and Dora Dye
First Place: Rhonda Poppen.
Reports and Announcements
Marti Sullivan (Development | The Arc San Francisco) joined to talk about how The Arc San Francisco had to pivot in 2020 and thanked the San Francisco Rotary Foundation and our Club for making dinner clubs and Thanksgiving meals possible despite the pandemic.
Christopher Wiseman (Event Planning | Glaucoma Research Foundation) gave a report on the 50/50 Campaign and the projects we were able to accomplish this past year. He thanked the members of his team.
Lynn Luckow (Development | LikeMinded.org) invited everyone to attend the ALPS gala on February 4, 2021.
This party could not have happened without the work and effort of the following Committee:
