Happy New Year and welcome back!
President STAN SCARDINO called the first Rotary meeting of 2023 to order, welcoming all.
President SCARDINO thanked our greeters: MIKE ABRAMS, BETTE HOUTCHINS, SANDY GAUDIE, and TARA RAZAMOVA.
He thanked the Rotator photographer, STEVE POMEROY,
writer ADIN MILLER, and the Sgt. at Arms: AARON NEUFELD and MIKE ABRAMS. Last, he thanked HANK DREW, MIKE KERR, STEVE POMEROY, and PETER THURSTON, for their technical wizardry.
President SCARDINO asked RON STEFANI to lead the Club in the Song of the Day, “Auld Lang Syne.” The song is sung to honor members who passed away during the year.
STAN honored ROY JONES, who passed away in April 2022.
THOUGHTS OF THE DAY
President SCARDINO invited SUZANNE SMALL to give the Thought of the Day.
She presented a quote from Albert Einstein:
“Live for today, hope for tomorrow. The important thing is to not stop questioning.”
She added a second quote:
“Life is not waiting for the storm to pass, it’s to dance in the rain”
GUESTS
President SCARDINO asked President-Elect CHUCK LINDAUER to highlight visiting Rotarians and guests. Peter Landsberger, a
member of Cupertino Rotary Club, identified as a visiting Rotarian. No guests were in attendance.
CHUCK concluded by promoting next week’s program focused on the making of “Anatomy of a Champion,” presented by Dick Gould, the Men's Tennis Coach at Stanford University for 38 years (1966–2004).
President SCARDINO recognized the nine members celebrating birthdays in January. PP MONA ARMISTEAD won a birthday book.
TEN-MINUTE TALK- TOM JOHNSON
Stan then invited TOM JOHNSON to present his 10-minute talk to the Club.
TOM grew up in a typical suburban nuclear family in Cupertino. His parents came from the Midwest and moved to California after getting married.
Tom shared a few pictures
of his youth. He played in the jazz band and was on the high school baseball, making All-League one year.
He received his BA from UC Davis and Master's from Santa Clara University. His career took him from HP to SAP with stops at other prominent Silicon Valley companies. Two stops included startup companies. Products he developed at both companies are still in use now.
Tom has two children: Amy went to MVHS and then Wellesley and PhD from Stanford; will be taking a job at Lehigh University. Mark graduated from Pace University and now works for the Shubert Organization in NYC.
ANNE KEARNS and Tom married in 2019; she introduced him to the Club. Tom got into endurance sports in the 2000s and qualified for Boston Marathon (running it once); he also ran the Triathlon in Idaho. In 2019, Tom learned to play guitar as well as building the instrument. He plays live once a month in Santa Cruz. Tom loves to travel and traveled to Peru and Galapagos with Rotary.
ROTARY RELATED ANNOUNCEMENTS
President SCARDINO invited SHERRY AUERBACH to speak about
Climate Action Committee, which focuses on educating Club members and our community about environmental issues and how our actions as individuals can reduce our carbon footprint to improve the environment. It meets on the first Wednesday of every month via video and will have an in-person brainstorming meeting on January 14 from 2:00 – 4:00PM at SHERRY’s house.
The committee has worked on electronic waste and lithium-ion battery recycling, which were highlighted in the January edition of Rotary Magazine and included a quote from CLARI NOLET.
CINDY MURPHY gave an overview of the redwoods reforestation project at Bear Creek. The project is collecting seeds from trees for replanting. The project will also help clear out major tree undergrowth that presents fire dangers. A group of Rotarians collected seeds in October, which will ultimately get planted.
SHERRY announced an upcoming habitat restoration event with Grassroots Ecology at Byrne Preserve on January 22 from 9:00A – 12:00PM. The committee will also focus on environmental projects related to Fine Art in the Park and continue the electronic waste recycling project.
President SCARDINO announced this year’s Chinese New Year’s Banquet at Chef Chu’s. The event, celebrating the Year of the Rabbit, will take place on February 1 at 5:30PM. Members can register on the LARC website; space is limited.
RECOGNITION
President SCARDINO introduced PP MARY PROCHNOW for RECOGNITION. MARY welcomed volunteers:
- PP DENNIS YOUNG asked for clarification and committed $20.
- PP BONNIE BURDETT WALKER announced her mother’s memorial service (January 14 at LAUMC, 1:30PM).
- JEANINE VALADEZ announced her son’s 30th birthday and committed $20 in his honor.
- PP MARLENE COWAN announced a RICH CASEY as a new Rotator writer and committed $25.
- SALLY CHAVES announced the need for new mentors and tutors for Mentor Tutor Connection and committed $20.
- CINDY MURPHY joined the President’s Club.
MARY then called on a few more Club members:
MARGIE EDWARDS committed $20.
- BRUCE FITZGERALD committed $20.
- BETTE HOUTCHENS volunteered $20.
- ANNE ARJANI volunteered $30.
- J BAI joined the President’s Club.
- JANET HARDING confirmed that she had previously joined the President’s Club
- SALLY MEADOWS wished everyone a healthy and successful 2023 joined the President’s Club.
- PP MEL KAHN joined the President’s Club.
- RICH CASEY volunteered $60.
KEYNOTE SPEAKER
President SCARDINO asked SALLY CHAVES to introduce our afternoon speaker, Mina Fedor, founder of AAPI Youth Rising. AAPI stands for Asian American Pacific Islander. The organization was founded by middle school students in response to AAPI hate violence and aims to take small actions to make positive community change.
Mina provided an overview on AAPI youth in the Bay Area and their efforts to apply their voice on important issues in the world. The organization started and evolved into a national organization. Celebrate AAPI pride.
Mina began as a youth advocate at the beginning of the pandemic. Civil unrest – both locally and nationally – led Mina to give voice against AAPI hate. The January 6 insurrection and growing hate violence convinced her to do more. In 2021, she organized a public rally to support the AAPI community – the rally brought together 1200 people, vastly exceeding the number of people they expected. It provided further proof that youth are not too young to become involved and lead change.
From one rally, the organization has grown to promote more understanding of xenophobia affecting AANHPI youth (e.g., eight out of 10 AAPI youth have experienced bullying). The nonprofit recently launched the One/180 pledge (one day / one lesson of Asian American history within the 180 days of a school year). The link to the pledge is available at: https://actionnetwork.org/petitions/wwwaapiyouthrisingorg?clear_id=true. It also identified the need to push for Legislative action, which led to the passage of AB101, an ethnic studies mandate.
Since AB101 won’t go into effect until 2029, the organization is
still focused on advancing other AAPI history mandates and advancing local school board actions. A growing movement across a few states has emerged to promote AAPI history. The nonprofit continues to maintain an active social media presence that helps raise awareness and has added art activism as an approach to giving a voice to local youth.
The nonprofit is also promoting the adoption of a one day of AAPI history curriculum hosted by Teach for America. The curriculum includes discussions about the myth of a model minority. For instance, Asians in America have the largest income gap out of any racial minority group. These myths are also harmful and pit ethnic groups against each.
The curriculum also promotes prominent leaders such as Grace Lee Boggs, Yuri Kochiyama, and Larry Itliong, who fought for social justice and equal rights. The nonprofit has received recognition from American Girl and Good Morning America. A few months ago, Mina attended United We Stand Summit and identified as a United fighting hate-fueled violence.
Its newest project (Diginity.US) focuses on and includes representation from other groups and communities advancing rights. Mina concluded by restating that youth should and can be at the table to help raise visibility and advance social justice.
Mina introduced her colleague Athena, who serves as the social media coordinator for the organization, and then took questions from the Club.
SALLY CHAVES asked if the organization received any pushback. Mina stated that many people have been supportive, but some pushback has emerged.
Question: how does the organization promote its activities? Mina responded that social media largely drive attention.
PP HARRY PRICE asked if any particular books should be read by members. Mina recommended several ethnic study websites such as Asian American Advancing Justice for their curriculums.
SALLY MEADOWS asked how could people become allies? Mina suggested learning about community perspectives and helping.
JEANINE VALADEZ asked if the organization ever presents to other schools. Mina answered that members of the organization will happily visit and present.
Mina concluded by thanking the Club for listening to her presentation and encouraging people to connect and extend the organization’s messages.
Contact: info@aapiyouthrising.org
Website: www.aapiyouthrising.org
Instagram: @AAPIYouthRising
Pledge: tinyurl.com/one180pledge
SALLY CHAVES presented a book on behalf of the Club to Mina and President SCARDINO then brought the meeting to a close.
