Posted by Frank Yoke on Oct 14, 2021
President Mary Liu (Real Estate: Sales | JM Real Estate Group) called the meeting to order at 12:15 PM and welcomed everyone. 
 
Recent Events
Hispanic Heritage Month: The audience watched a video on Hispanic Heritage Month. This observation from September 15 to October 15 started in 1968 as Hispanic Heritage Week under President Lyndon Johnson and was expanded by President Ronald Reagan in 1988.
 
Blue Angels' Viewing PartyBrian Lan (Information Technology: Financial Services | DocuSign), Vice President of PR and Communications, shared a video of the Blue Angels' Viewing Party held on October 9, 2021 as an exclusive Rotary Club of San Francisco event for all to enjoy. President Mary thanked President-Elect Christopher Wiseman (Event Planning | Glaucoma Research Foundation) and the entire Blue Angels Committee for an outstanding event. She also gave Michael Petricca (Education Management | Academy of Art) a shout out for making this event fabulous! The entire audience gave Michael a standing ovation. For a complete story on this event, see here.
 
Upcoming Events
  • John Mathers (Management Consulting | eVo Associates) announced that the Club would be taking on more climate change-related projects. Members were invited to attend the next Climate Action Team Meeting on Wednesday, October 13, 2021 at 6:00 PM.
  • David Dye (Management Consulting | Retired) reminded everyone to register for the Rotary Race to END POLIO NOW on October 24, 2021.
  • President Mary shared the line-up of speakers, service projects, and events in October 2021. See the Club's calendar to register and more details.
Scott Plakun - August 2021 Rotarian of the Month
At the August 17, 2021 Club Luncheon, our Club honored four members who had earned Rotarian of the Month for August 2021. One of the four - Scott Plakun (Management Consulting | The Plakun Group) - was not present then, but he was present today. The Club recognized Scott for the many unsung tasks that he has taken on, including the Speakers' Committee and the DEI Project.
 
New Members Inducted
President Mary and our Vice President of Membership Nancy Graydon (Development | Glaucoma Research Foundation) inducted Barbara Streett (Nonprofit Administration | The Arc San Francisco) as one of the members of our newest corporate member - The Arc San Francisco, and Anna Klink (Information Technology: Administration | Autodesk). Barbara attended via Zoom while Anna was at our meeting. Welcome to Barbara and Anna!
 

Grant Presentation
Dan Joraanstad (Financial Services: Advising | Retired), President of the San Francisco Rotary Foundation, awarded a $5,000 grant to President Mary to purchase Personal Safety Alarms for Asian Seniors. Presidents Dan and Mary spoke about the urgent need to protect Asian seniors due to the hate attacks on our most vulnerable citizens in our City.
 
$20 for Twenty Seconds
Donating today were the following:
  • Peter Logan (Law: Insurance | Peter Logan Law Offices) to celebrate his daughter’s 30th birthday.
  • Rhonda Poppen (Grant Writing | GRANTdog) to celebrate the Giants' homer in the last game and Brandon Crawford’s outstanding catch.
  • Nancy Graydon to honor Andrés Vera (Entertainment | Self-Employed) and to celebrate today’s new members, Anna Klink and Barbara Streett.
  • Michael Petricca to celebrate his daughter’s pregnancy.
  • Bob Hermann (Information Technology: Administration | Retired UCSF) to recognize the Emergency Services Day Committee, Major Matt Madsen (Nonprofit Management | The Salvation Army) for his work with Emergency Services Day, Scott Plakun, and John Mathers for the great work he is doing with climate change. 
Marc PomerleauGuest Speaker
Andrés Vera introduced today's Guest Speaker - Marc Pomerleau. Marc spoke on the topic of “The Roots of Asian Hate”. He shared the historical timeline of hate towards the Asian community in San Francisco dating back to 1854 and discussed how Executive Order 9066 scapegoated Asian Americans for the Pearl Harbor attacks. Marc concluded by reading his poem Priceless and left plenty of time for questions from the audience.
 
President Mary thanked Marc and announced that 100 children would be inoculated against polio in his name. 
 
The meeting was adjourned at 1:30 p.m.
 
 
 
Editor's Note: Thank you to Frank Yoke (Development | Golden Gate Area Council, Boy Scouts of America) for serving as scribe at this meeting, to Larry Booth (Engineering: Mechanical | Frank M. Booth, Inc.) for serving as photographer, to Andrés Vera for managing the microphone, to Caryn Crump (Education: University | CPI (Consulting and Professional Instruction) & Norwich University) for collecting lunch tickets, to Maureen O'Shea (Governmental Relations | Retired) and Margaret Miley (Hospitality: Hotels | Retired), both of whom served as greeters, to Greg Grundstrom of the Academy of Art for managing the audio visual equipment during our in-person meetings, to Brian Lan for managing the Zoom technology, to Christopher Wiseman for managing those who were attending via Zoom today, to Michael Petricca for doing check-in today at the Hotel Nikko, and to Gary Dales (Accounting | Fly Leasing) for serving as cashier.