Pledge: Henry Buffalow
Inspiration: Geoffrey Paulsen shared how his parents instilled in him an understanding of the importance of not being boastful.  He concluded with a quote from Mark Twain, “The whistle don’t pull the train.”
Visiting Rotarians:
Charlie Wasser from San Jose East
Rotarians with Guests:
Doug Carothers (inductee) guest of Joe Hamilton
Mary Ann Carothers guest of Joe Hamilton
Robert Yamashita guest of Annie Yamashita
Katie Perez (inductee) guest of Frances Seward
Marlene Garcia guest of Frances Seward
Janki Choski guest of Anjali Kausar
Monir Zandbergs guest of Mary Ellen Chell
Sanjana Chopra guest of Reena Rao
Daphne Lawrence guest of Orrin Mahoney
Shawn Marshall (speaker) guest of Rod Sinks
Erin Cooke guest of Rod Sinks
Bruce Wu guest of Chris Zhang
Byant Roe guest of Leslie Davis
Irshad Fardan guest of Leslie Davis
Ragini Sangam guest of Helene Davis
Himarsh Vaishnav guest of Aruna Goradia
 
Announcements of upcoming events:
President Wendell Stephens reminded members of the opportunity to volunteer to deliver Thanksgiving dinners on Thanksgiving morning from 8:30-10:00.
Tina Ferguson announced the annual Kid’s Shopping and Children’s Holiday Party on December 14 from 8:45 to 1:00.  Volunteers will take the kids on a shopping spree at JC Penney.
Leslie Davis announced the annual Operation Snowflake. Volunteers are needed for December 5 and December 12.
Leslie Hay encouraged members to sign up for the annual holiday part, which will be held December 12.
Orrin Mahoney announced an opportunity for members to interact with 2015 -2016 Rotary International President K.R. “Ravi” Ravindran at a reception and dinner in San Jose on January 3, 2016.
Orrin Mahoney also announced that Annie Yamashita was the winner of the raffle for those who participated in the recent member survey.
Melanie Brophy announced the Musical Instruments for Kids program underway in coordination with the Rotary Club of East Palo Alto.  Members are encouraged to donate instruments that can be used by kids in East Palo Alto.  The donated instruments will be officially delivered at an event with the mayors of Cupertino and East Palo Alto.  If you have an instrument you can donate, pleas contact Orrin Mahoney, Melanie Brophy, or Don Sun.  
 
Inductions:
Judy Wilson presided over the induction of two new members.  New member Doug Carothers was sponsored by Joe Hamilton. New member Katie Perez was sponsored by Frances Seward.  Welcome aboard, Doug and Katie!
 
Diwali Celebration:
Anjali Kausar gave an overview of the background of Diwali.  An enthusiastic group of Rotarians then gave an energetic dance performance in celebration of the holiday.  All in a good day of Rotary fun!
 
 
 
Program:
Rod Sinks introduced the speaker, Shawn Marshall, and presented her with a proclamation from the City of Cupertino recognizing the role she has had in helping Cupertino and surrounding communities move toward providing residents a choice of sustainably produced electricity at a competitive price.
Shawn Marshall then showed a video summarizing the idea of Community Choice Energy.  The concept is to create a community controlled entity that provides electricity from a higher percentage of renewable sources at competitive rates.  The electricity is delivered over the existing PG&E infrastructure so there is little change to the customer experience when someone signs up for community choice electricity.  She outlined the experience of doing this in Marin and Sonoma counties and in the Lancaster area.  In each case residents have an option of electricity with a higher percentage of renewable sources at prices that are below standard PG&E rates in addition to an option to have 100% renewable power at slightly higher prices.  Shawn said that Cupertino, Sunnyvale, Mountain View, and Santa Clara County are working together to bring this to Silicon Valley through the Silicon Valley CCE Partnership.
Erin Cooke, Environmental Affairs Coordinator for the City of Cupertino, then presented information on next steps to bring this option to Cupertino.  She noted that Cupertino adopted its Climate Action Plan last year, and moving to renewable energy through a community choice program is a very large component of meeting the greenhouse gas emission reduction goals of the plan.  The next steps will be for the city councils to adopt resolutions to join a Joint Powers Authority (JPA) to administer the program.  Community meeting will be set up over the next couple of months to give residents information on the program.  More information is available at http://www.svcleanenergy.org.
 
 
 
 
A video of the program is here:  https://vimeo.com/146207786
 

Community Choice Energy Nov 18, 2015 from Cupertino Rotary Club on Vimeo.

 
 
 
 
 
 
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