Posted by Dora Dye on Sep 07, 2020
Living during a pandemic for the past six months has been challenging and at times uncertain. However, this moment has also propelled us to adopt methods that had existed but were not as widely used until now to stay engaged, complete work, and move forward such as working remotely, taking online classes, dining outdoors, and meeting online.
 
NOT THE FIRST PANDEMIC
While the present pandemic is the first for some of us, it is not the first pandemic during the existence of Rotary. The world experienced the Spanish Flu pandemic from 1918-1920. The cause was the H1N1 influenza A virus that infected 500 million people in several successive waves. Here is a brief story from Rotary International on how Rotarians responded. Our own Club, the Rotary Club of San Francisco, took actions as shown as this Grindings page from October 29, 1918.
 
COVID-19
After a few other pandemics in between, we are now in the heart of the current COVID-19 pandemic. Rotary once again responds. Our Club, like all organizations and business, had to cancel its meetings as shown in the March 8, 2020 issue of Grindings, but we were one of the first clubs to pivot and begin to meet online. Today, it is business as usual (well, almost) with weekly Zoom meetings. 
 
To continue to engage our members and attract new members, we offer opportunities in community service (some of which can be done in person within small groups) and hold committee meetings. See our Club Calendar for all events and meetings. For anyone experiencing hardship at this time, we invite you to speak privately with our Vice President of Membership Terry Pickering to work out a solution. If you are considering a career change, consider contacting our Vice President of Vocational Service Sunny Singh for networking opportunities. To keep everyone engaged, we have our Sunday social every Sunday.
 
Together, we will get through this challenging time.
 
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