What is your passion? Mark Twain had a passion for observing the world by writing about it. Russell Stover combined his education in chemistry with his experience as a candy salesman to develop a passion for producing high quality chocolate. Harry S. Truman’s passion, rooted in his Midwestern upbringing, was to speak honestly and do what is right. Twain’s passion resulted in books that made him one of the greatest American authors of all time. Truman’s passion propelled him into positions of power as a local politician in Missouri, United States Senator, and President of the United States.
Our passions do not necessarily lead to individual fame or financial success. However, the great thing about Rotary is that individual members can combine their collective passions to accomplish great things. Thirty years ago, when Rotarians decided to focus their passion for service above self on the issue of eradicating polio, it seemed like an impossible task. Yet, today we are on the verge of achieving that goal.
As a club, time after time we have focused our Rotarian passions to achieve great things. In the early years of our club, we helped spur the growth of Rotary by starting clubs in Oakland, Los Angeles, and Seattle.
I am honored to be a part of a Rotary club with members who have the skills, resources and passion to enable the Rotary Club of San Francisco to do wonderful, amazing, and fun things.
Our club developed sustainable programs that have changed lives: Camp Enterprise (which became District 5150’s premier leadership program now known as RYLA), Interact, Rotaplast, Rotavision, Alliance for Smiles, Emergency Services Day, Worldwide Rotary Day . . . .
In the last few years, we have found additional programs to support such as preparing hundreds of meals every year for clients of The ARC San Francisco and the Salvation Army; supporting our veterans through Heroes’ Voices; and providing bicycles to hundreds of children through our Bike Build program.
We have a goal to grow our membership to 220 by the year 2020. This is rooted in our vision to be the best Rotary club we can – strong, vibrant, and growing. Our passion and motivation are guided by the knowledge that we can change lives.
We need all members to channel their passion through Rotary so that we can reach these goals.
Presentations: The meetings in July focused on Rotary’s future. President David talked about the importance of passion in driving our goals, the importance of a vision that all Rotarians can rally behind, and a compelling reason that drives that vision. The Rotary motto “Service above Self” is strengthened by the passion and drive for Rotarians to change lives. To change lives, Rotarians need a strong, vibrant, and growing club – that is our vision. By channeling our personal passions through Rotary’s vision, we will have a stronger club. A stronger club will have a greater impact. This will make Rotary clubs more sustainable with greater visibility.
District Governor Jeri Fujimoto presented her vision. She spoke of how she wants to make Rotary District 5150 more transparent to its members. To do this, there will be a wide variety of learning and development opportunities for members. There will be a more accessible website for members to get answers to questions. Most importantly, DG Jeri wants to make sure we have fun and celebrate our members. This starts on July 30 with a party to celebrate women in Rotary. In the fall, the district will host an event to honor our senior Rotarians. Next spring, the district conference will be brought closer to all Rotarians by hosting a traveling District conference through Marin, San Francisco, and San Mateo counties.
Recognitions and Fines: Stephanie Schmautz (Retirement Living; The Carlisle), Cecile Chiquette (Certified Public Accounting - Regional; Retired), Dan Joraanstad (Retail Brokerage; Wells Fargo Advisors), and Lorna Hill (a friend of President David's) all donated in recognition of David's first meeting as club president. Scott Plakun (IT Consulting; The Plakun Group) made a donation to thank Tim Hornbecker (Human Resources - Employment and Housing; The Arc of Alameda County) for baby-sitting his car while Scott was in Europe for three weeks. Laine Hendricks (Non-Profit - Public Relations; The Salvation Army) donated to celebrate a big change her life as she prepares to begin a new job as Media Manager for the County of Marin in August. President David made a donation to celebrate the recent recognition of a radio station he started 40 years ago as one of the Top Ten community radio stations in the country. Heidi Kuhn (International Media; Roots of Peace) was assessed a fine when her cell phone rang during a meeting.
Visiting Rotarians: As usual, we were blessed with the presence of Rotarians from many countries. In July, we saw traveling Rotarians from the United Kingdom, Brazil, and Germany. In addition, we were honored with the presence of Mexico City Rotarian and Past Rotary International President Frank J. Devlyn.
Local news: In the absence of PDG Eric Schmautz (Banking - Business; Wells Fargo Bank), who, in recent weeks, has instituted the old tradition of news headlines, President David offered local news from his hometown of Kansas City, Missouri. As usual, Kansas City is hot, with temperatures in the upper 90s and the heat index over 100°. In food news, Kansas City again ranks in the top of 2016 surveys for the best barbecue joints in the nation according to thedailymeal.com and Business Insider.
New members:Dan Joraanstad, club VP for Membership, inducted the first two new members for the 2016-2017 year. We are proud to welcome Kathryn McCall (Attorney; Sideman & Bancroft) and Nazee Ranker (Commercial and Residential Real Estate; ReMax) as the newest members of the Rotary Club of San Francisco.
Kathryn is happy to report that her membership in SF Club #2 comes from her uncle in Texas, who served there as a District Governor. Kathryn is a graduate of the University of Southern California and lives in the Haight-Ashbury. She has many interests, among them running and skiing. Kathryn's desire to join Rotary is in large part due to her interest in service to others.
This same motivation of service to others is shared by Nazee Ranker. Nazee makes her home in Danville, where she also maintains her office. Nazee has two adult sons living in the Bay Area and in Arizona. Aside from finding an avenue for service, Nazee also has a fondness for social gatherings.
Good luck to our new members, Kathryn and Nazee, and remember at their induction our spoken agreement to help them launch into successful membership.
A successful event: A huge crowd attended the July 21 "Grape Diversity" event sponsored by several San Francisco Rotary Clubs. Rotary fellowship and many wines were very much enjoyed!
I’m delighted to announce two new opportunities to help out with membership.
Anita Stangl is heading up a Mentor Program for our newest members. Mentors introduce new members to others in the club, help them find activities that match the interests of new members, and serve generally as resources for questions and direction that newcomers might need help with.
In a similar way, Rhonda Poppen is charged with Member Connect. This new effort is designed to be more intentional about care for our existing members, so that we might be aware of – and respond to – issues or needs that members might have. “Connectors” will be the folks who seek to be engaged with our current members, to serve them as resources and as conduits for information about the club, and as personal touch points for any issues that members may be experiencing.
If you want to be involved with the Club as a Mentor or as a Connector please see either Anita or Rhonda respectively — and always feel free to contact Dan Joraanstad on any issue involving Membership, including these exciting new roles.
This summer, Tucker is embarking on adventures in three areas of his life: This month, he began a two-year term as Vice President of International Community Service on the Board of the Rotary Club of San Francisco; on August 6, he will marry Cassandra Miller, whom he met at a mutual friend’s concert; and two weeks later, he will resign as Director of Operations at Roots of Peace to begin an MBA program at the University of San Francisco.
Tucker grew up in San Rafael, except for two years in Alaska from age three to five, when his father, Gary, following the adventure theme, chose Alaska over New York or Chicago when offered a promotion, which Tucker jokes was “a little bit against the grain.”
After graduating from Marin Catholic High School and USF, Tucker “jumped right in to Roots of Peace,” a nonprofit organization founded in 1997 by his mother, Heidi Kuhn, who is also a member of the Club. According to Tucker, the organization “goes into war-torn countries to help facilitate the removal of landmines and redevelop the area through agriculture to firmly establish roots of peace.” Gary Kuhn also has been involved with the organization fulltime since 2003.
Spurred by his family’s love of adventure, Tucker went to Vietnam in 2010 to start Roots of Peace there and eventually became country director. Three years later, he was promoted to Director of Operations and returned to the home office in San Rafael.
Tucker joined the Rotary Club of San Francisco in November 2007, following the footsteps, not only of his mother, but also his great-grandfather, Bill Thomas, a past president of the Club. He says the best aspects of Rotary are service, speakers and camaraderie, and he especially likes “projects that engage with people in need” and working on projects as part of the Club rather than “off on my own,” citing the Dictionary Project and Harbor House as particular favorites.
As Vice President of International Community Service, Tucker hopes to “work with organizations we’re funding to partner to create impact that’s greater than one-off.” He plans to talk to speakers about “cooperating to share resources and create more efficiency.” He hopes to “help Rotary to become a major connector and facilitator to leverage the impact of our grants.”
Tucker says he’s excited about serving on the Board because “it’s such a critical time in Rotary right now. We’re working to mold the Club to fit the needs of the members. Our goal is 220 by 2020. I just love being in an environment where it’s about building something, creating something that’s beneficial to the world, helping to involve the Club in maximizing value to the members and the community we serve.”
The monthly joint meeting of the boards of the Rotary Club of San Francisco, the governing body responsible for club operations, and Rotary Service, which oversees all of our club’s service projects. Members are welcome to attend, but please contact the Club Secretary to confirm time and location before attending.
To start off our fun year, we have planned a casual, fun, cocktail/appetizer event to celebrate women in Rotary....and of course the men who support them! This great event will be held at the Bay Model in Sausalito from 5:30 to 8:00PM $35 admission includes hors d'oeuvres, martini bar, and wine bar. Hats, Heels and Boas Encouraged!
Join The Rotary Club of San Francisco for a friendly round of golf and a chance to win the coveted Rotary Club of San Francisco Golf Series Trophy! Points are based on participation, not necessarily golf score, so all skill levels are welcome! Come out to Harding Park and join us for some golf fun and fellowship. Fellowship follows every outing. July 28, August 11, August 25, September 8, September 22, October 6.
Jeremiah Pauley, spokesperson for the Wounded Warrior Project will talk about his personal experience during the war and after and how the Wounded Warriors Program has helped him recover from a serious injury he sustained from the explosion of an IED in Iraq.
This [practical, hand-on training, intended for the Club Foundation Chair and other interested Rotarians, will address club Foundation goals, creative ideas about how to meet those goals, and the reports and tools TRF provides to measure progress.
Meetings have fallen out of favor in many companies. But Jim Ware believes that meetings can be both productive and popular. His presentation, based on his new book Making Meetings Matter will show you both the skillset and the mindset it takes to make all of your meetings matter.
The board of the San Francisco Rotary Foundation meets monthly to discuss the needs of the foundation and to approve funding for Rotary Service projects. Meetings of the Foundation Board are primarily for Foundation Board Members, but club members are often welcome to attend.
Join The Rotary Club of San Francisco for a friendly round of golf and a chance to win the coveted Rotary Club of San Francisco Golf Series Trophy! Points are based on participation, not necessarily golf score, so all skill levels are welcome! Come out to Harding Park and join us for some golf fun and fellowship. Fellowship follows every outing. August 11, August 25, September 8, September 22, October 6.
Dr. Charlotte Jacobs' talk about Jonas Salk and the effort to eliminate Polio is sure to be riveting. She'll tell us how despite becoming a hero among the general public for discovering a polio vaccine, he was shunned most research scientists, the one group whose adulation he craved. Jonas Salk had all but eradicated a crippling disease, and the scientific community seemingly never forgave him.
Trace Dominguez writes, hosts, and helps produce Discovery’s flagship digital project, DNews, a YouTube-preferred, Top 1000, short-form, science show with more than 1.9 million subscribers. He'll discuss how he went from slinging salad and breadsticks in the Midwest to creating educational science videos in California. He'll discuss some of how YouTube works as a business and how his team creates strategies to thrive in this new media world.
District Governor Jeri Fujimoto presented her vision. She spoke of how she wants to make Rotary District 5150 more transparent to its members. To do this, there will be a wide variety of learning and development opportunities for members. There will be a more accessible website for members to get answers to questions. Most importantly, DG Jeri wants to make sure we have fun and celebrate our members. This starts on July 30 with a party to celebrate women in Rotary. In the fall, the district will host an event to honor our senior Rotarians. Next spring, the district conference will be brought closer to all Rotarians by hosting a traveling District conference through Marin, San Francisco, and San Mateo counties.
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Tucker Kuhn says, “Our family likes adventure!” 
To start off our fun year, we have planned a casual, fun, cocktail/appetizer event to celebrate women in Rotary....and of course the men who support them! This great event will be held at the Bay Model in Sausalito from 5:30 to 8:00PM $35 admission includes hors d'oeuvres, martini bar, and wine bar. Hats, Heels and Boas Encouraged!
Join The Rotary Club of San Francisco for a friendly round of golf and a chance to win the coveted Rotary Club of San Francisco Golf Series Trophy! Points are based on participation, not necessarily golf score, so all skill levels are welcome! Come out to Harding Park and join us for some golf fun and fellowship. Fellowship follows every outing. July 28, August 11, August 25, September 8, September 22, October 6.
Jeremiah Pauley, spokesperson for the Wounded Warrior Project will talk about his personal experience during the war and after and how the Wounded Warriors Program has helped him recover from a serious injury he sustained from the explosion of an IED in Iraq. 
This [practical, hand-on training, intended for the Club Foundation Chair and other interested Rotarians, will address club Foundation goals, creative ideas about how to meet those goals, and the reports and tools TRF provides to measure progress.
Meetings have fallen out of favor in many companies. But Jim Ware believes that meetings can be both productive and popular. His presentation, based on his new book Making Meetings Matter will show you both the skillset and the mindset it takes to make all of your meetings matter.
Trace Dominguez writes, hosts, and helps produce Discovery’s flagship digital project,