Rotary Meeting notes 1/5/2022
Intro by PP Judy Wilson, welcoming us to the new year and the returning sun. Check out the video here.
Citizenship Corner: led by PP Liz Gallegos, who played a video of a new poem, New Day’s Lyric, written and recited by Amanda Gorman. (watch it here) Ms. Gorman is the nation’s first National youth Poet Laureate, and was introduced to the country last year at the inauguration of President Biden. She speaks very eloquently and hopefully about the issues confronting our nation.Inspiration: Bob Pruitt, offered memories of his grandfather, Guy Hinchsliff, who suffered many setbacks and losses, but nevertheless lead a rich life of service and success. One of his grandfather’s endeavors was to build care facilities for seniors, the “forgotten ones”, where Bob would visit as a child at Christmas to distribute presents. Christmas always reminds him now of his grandfather and his grandfather’s life of service.
Service Corner:
Workforce Development Cross-Cultural Partners Program: If you have 5 hours available to help a DeAnza student enhance their English language skills, please contact PE Steve Onishi. You will be paired with a student to have a series of conversations (virtually) so the student can practice using English with a friendly mentor.
Senior Valentine’s Day Lunch Alysa—March 9th. Follow in the footsteps of Bob Pruitt’s grandfather and sponsor a senior to attend a “Celebration of the Heart” Rotary lunch. Make them feel special! Sign up (on the website) by March 2nd, please.
Bike Donation: President Rod shared a video of bike donations to Uplift Family Services, organized by Shyamoli Banerjee. Thanks to Shyamoli for the organizing the event, and to Sunil for the video of it! View the video here.
Affinity Events:
Golf: PP Wendell Stephens has arranged for us to go to TopGolf on January 11 at 5pm. This is a great way for people of all golfing abilities to enjoy time to socializing, practicing some golf swings, and refining your technique. Cost will be very modest (~$11 per head, depending on final head count and food consumption).
Trailblazer hike in Mountain View –Sunday Jan 16, Claude Nahum will lead the 5.6 mile hike in Shoreline Park,, starting at ~7:30 am. Meet at the kayak rental kiosk.
Other upcoming Trailblazer outings: Feb 20 (Manisha Puranik); March 19 (Monterey, led by Dana Stern); April 21 (led by Mauri Okamoto-Kearny); May 20 (led by Maria Segal for a Half Moon Bay cliff walk)
Book Club: January 24 at 7pm (on zoom! ) to discuss Carl Hiaasen’s book , “Squeeze Me” –a satire about Mar-a-Lago (we all know what that is, right? ) . This will be an entertaining romp—a good way to start off the year!
Rotary Rose Bowl float: President Rod shared a video of the Rotary Owl float that participated in the Rose Bowl parade, complete with blueberries! Check it out here.
Fun committee: Name that Rotarian. Did you know we have a titled Lady in our midst? It is Lady Leslie Hay of Blairadam
Paul Harris Awards: Paul Harris fellows are recognized for having made $1000 or more in contributions to either TRF or specific TRF projects. “Paul Harris +” levels recognize cumulative additional $1000 contributions up to Paul Harris +8, after which individuals are recognized as major donors.
John Gatto: President Rod announced with sadness that former Rotarian and Cupertino mayor, John Gatto, passed in December. We will devote time to remembering him at a future meeting.
Program: Affordable Housing Options. Pam Dorr serves as Director of Affordable Housing for SOUP, non-profit that is dedicated to using design to solve big problems.
A former Victoria’s Secret executive, she moved to Greensboro, Alabama, where she opened a non-profit organization that launched 11 small businesses, including a bamboo bicycle manufacturing business, a pie shop, and various others. The businesses offer living-wage jobs and also fund affordable housing development in what had otherwise been an economically blighted area. Check out this video about her.
In 2018, she returned to her native Bay Area, to join the non-profit SOUP (www.soup.is) and tackle the challenge of building more affordable housing here.
Pam reviewed briefly the various mechanisms created by new state regulations to encourage affordable housing development. These include lifting restrictions on ADUs construction, lot splits, new “starter home” regulations and the Community Land Trust acquisition model. She acknowledged that even with these relaxed regulations, it can be a daunting process for an individual homeowner to undertake housing construction, so SOUP is pioneering a method of “standardizing” the process. SOUP has created a portfolio of home designs and a cadre of tradespeople who can help streamline the process of permitting and construction.
She is a compelling advocate for using the new flexibility that state regs have created for homeowners to take their own initiative to help add affordable housing alternatives in our community. She recommends the website Build.Symbium.org as a place to start in exploring what you might be able to do with your property.
