Darius Anderson is the Founder and Chairman of Platinum Advisors, a full-service government affairs firm that ranks in the top five, in terms of revenues, of California government advocacy companies. With offices in Sacramento, Orange County and San Francisco, as well as Washington, DC, Platinum Advisors provides lobbying, strategic advice, government relations, project development, procurement, public affairs and strategic consulting to local and regional governments and agencies, trade associations, corporations, entrepreneurs, and non-profit groups. Mr. Anderson founded the firm in 1998.
He is the Founder and CEO of Kenwood Investments, a California Opportunity Fund seeking new ventures to build upon the unique brand of California. Darius is a talented political strategist who also understands the hard-charging working dynamics of big business and big government. Philanthropy is important to Darius, and he is involved in a variety of charitable activities. He is the Chair of the National Advisory Council at the Institute of Governmental Studies at University of California, Berkeley. He is a passionate art collector and owns world-class collections of both baseball and Jack London memorabilia. Darius Anderson holds a Bachelor’s degree in Communications from George Washington University in Washington, D.C.
Darius is also Founder and Managing Member of Sonoma Media Investments, LLC, the owner and publisher of the Santa Rosa Press Democrat and the Sonoma Index-Tribune. The Press Democrat won the 2018 Pulitzer Prize for Breaking News Reporting for its fire coverage.
He is a passionate art collector and owns world-class collections of both baseball and Jack London memorabilia. Darius Anderson holds a Bachelor’s degree in Communications from George Washington University in Washington, D.C. and currently lives in Sonoma.
Richard Lazovick - Hints for Preparing for a Power Outage
Our speaker for January 30 was Richard Lazovick of iTech Tutor, a Sonoma County technology consulting company. Richard is a member of the Santa Rosa Downtown Rotary Club, a graduate of Cornell University, and received an MBA from UC Berkeley. His talk was entitled “Hints for Preparing for a Power Outage.” He also provided us with a great handout containing the key information he presented.
Richard discussed the various alternative to PG&E when the power goes out and focused on solar v. generator, using a CPAP without a generator, and mobile phone service/internet access issues. The basic problems when PG&E goes down include the refrigerator/freezer, medical devices, charging devices, lighting, and usually home heating. A solar power system is great, but it doesn’t help much when PG&E goes down since most solar power systems are connected to PG&E through net metering (and also don’t produce power when the sun goes down). A great alternative is a battery back-up, but this is a very expensive addition to a solar system. And, battery back-ups have problems too because, as Randy Seeley pointed out, a home heating system will discharge the batteries quickly and, anyway, no one wants to stay in a freezing home. Also, if you are not able to get to your house and the heating system kicks in, the battery back-up turns on and will likely discharge the batteries quickly. Owning a generator might be a much better option if you choose the generator wisely. The most common sizes are 2k to 6k watts. Home heating is a problem with generators too, since they take a lot of energy. Or, you can be like Leroy Golden Hammer and have a built in, automatically connected, super powerful battery powered by your huge propane tank. I’m going to his house the next time PG&E fails!
The medical device problem is even tougher. This is often a life-or-death situation, so a generator is often the only solution, but you need to make sure the generator is running day and night and has plenty of fuel to do so. Power failures also create huge problems with communications, and you should try to find the best provider for your cell phone. Some providers are better than others when it comes to staying on-line when the power dies. And, figure out how to use your phone as a hot-spot for other devices!
Many thanks to Richard for rounding out our three programs on disaster preparedness. The program was well-organized and helpful in pointing out the various ways we can try to live without PG&E on a short-term basis.
On a regular basis, our resident photo pro Warren Smith, submits pictures of what is going on at the weekly meetings. You can always find the most recent pictures at the websites photo journal called "Meeting Sighting" Please note that all the meeting photos for the entire Rotary year are at this location with the most recent on the last page.
Thanks for all the great pictures Warren!Link to Meeting Sightings. The most recent are on the last page!
The 2020 Team Sabalos arrived tired but fulfilled following 3 days remote service in Nicaragua. Above Paul O'Rear tests acuity.
Buena Vista Village paraking lot: Low emission transport brought hundreds by hoof and on foot for much needed vision and dental care.
Led again by John Jones, members Paul O'Rear, Penny Millar, Michael Riel with spouse Rebecca and daughter Mille, Steves' Herron and Zwick, Ezbon Jen and President Nomineee Jennifer Adams, and current President Marty Behr and his daughter Ajae ventured to the isolated village of Buena Vista. Braving treacherous muddy roads, this hearty band provided 961 people improved vision and relieved pain and tooth decay to the tune of 133 extractions and 190 fillings!! That's phenomenal teamwork!
CPA Penny Millar displays here versatility assisting in the dental clinic. John and Team will be providing the program February 13.
Elsie Allen senior Rob Giacomini, Past Interact President and SRKSEP alumnus (Santa Rosa Kaagoshima Student Exchange Program 2019) is continuing his pursuit of excellence as a participant in the 2020 New Gen Peacebuilders class of 2020.
Rob and two of his cohorts, were featured at last January's monthly SCARC , aka Sonoma County Area Rotary Clubs hosted by Santa Rosa Rotary at the Flamingo Hotel.
Rob responded to a question re his interest in collaborative efforts by recounting his experience with fellow Elsie Allen travelers and the Japanese hosts he met while touring Japan last summer. He was inspired by the depth of commitment to international cooperation and away from a narrow isolationist approach to world issues.
Listening to Rob and the other students, a young woman immigrant from Syria and young man from Mexico, were 60+ Rotarians and guests. The student's enthusiasm affirmed the influential role Rotary plays locally in its Youth supporting activities.
Rotarian Jose Guillen, host club member and New Gen Peacebuilder Coordinator provided an orientation to this future leader developing program. New Gen Peacebuilders was brought to Santa Rosa by our District Governor Elect Doug Johnson, also in attendance. Joining Jose's advocacy for New Gen was Sunriser Eloise Tweeten, a current Mentor in Training for the 2020 class. Her 5 member cohort will be focusing on a creative project related to people who are homeless. Eloise has made a large commitment to guide the students, involving nearly 30 hours of training.
Sunrise has pledged support for 7 students at $500 each to participate this year. In total, 38 students locally are engaged, reflecting a $19,000 investment towards positive peace and future leadership. Watch for updates as Eloise's cohorts advance toward their Spring rollout, with their colleagues. You will receive a personal invitation!
Boom town: Franklin, Tennessee, was ranked the eighth-fastest growing community in the United States in 2017, the same year the Nashville suburb of 80,000 people added its fourth Rotary club. A network of old acquaintances — golf buddies and families who knew one another through their children’s sporting events — formed the nucleus of the Rotary Club of Downtown Franklin, devoted to cultivating friendship in a convivial, service-minded, and welcoming atmosphere.
Club innovation: “Happy time” sessions, which run 30 minutes before evening meetings begin, allow for networking and encourage mingling. Appetizers and drinks mixed by club members who have been certified as servers offer a low-cost alternative to a full meal and keep dues to $400 a year.
Club members Kyle Lo Porto (from left), C.J. Monte, Kathy Reynolds, and Lorrie Graves participate in a Habitat for Humanity project.
For decades, the Rotary clubs of Franklin, Franklin At Breakfast, and Cool Springs have been a vital part of the fabric of the city. But many people who wanted to serve their community couldn’t make those clubs’ noon or morning meetings. So Lawrence Sullivan, a longtime noon club member, approached Mike Alday, who had dropped out of that club. “He knew there were people like me,” says Alday. “With my business, I couldn’t commit to the noon club.” The group of people Sullivan contacted already had some connection to one another. “We weren’t good friends, necessarily, but we all knew each other,” says Alday, who became charter president of the club. “We thought we’d have 40 people and move around to bars and restaurants in town.” But membership quickly more than doubled, growing to the point that tavern-hopping wouldn’t be feasible. Although the group now meets at the Williamson County Enrichment Center, a parks department facility, an open bar and hors d’oeuvres remain an integral part of the program.
Tapping existing social networks led to a club with many couples joining together. Candida Cleve-Bannister, a longtime Rotary spouse whose work obligations prevented her from joining one of the daytime clubs, joined with her husband, Jerome Bannister. For Jerome, a past governor of District 6760 who had to leave the breakfast club because of a job change, the forming of the new club was fortuitous.
Kathy Reynolds gets to work.
“We try to keep our dues low, bearing in mind that a lot of our members are couples,” says Cleve-Bannister. “We’re a fun club. There’s no problem with somebody getting up and getting food or drink. We’re casual.” And because some committee work is undertaken during meetings, she notes, “we don’t burden our members with extra time outside of the meeting.”
The club helps out at events including a chili cook-off held in conjunction with Pumpkinfest, a local institution with a nearly four-decade history. The club’s Jockeys & Juleps party netted about $100,000 in its first two years, with part of the proceeds going toward My Friend’s House, a transitional home for at-risk teenage boys. The Rotarians play a role in the boys’ lives through activities including bowling and “chef’s nights,” at which they all share a meal they have prepared together.
A key ingredient in the club’s high level of project participation has been cooperation with other clubs. “All the clubs in town are supportive of each other,” says Alday. “At the end of the day, we’re all part of Rotary. We just meet at different times.”
He adds: “When we do The Four-Way Test, we actually add a fifth element: We yell, ‘Cheers!’ The social aspect can’t be overlooked.”
— BRAD WEBBER
• Are you looking for more ideas on how your club can reinvent itself? Go to rotary.org/flexibility.
Happy 115th birthday, fellow Rotarians and members of the family of Rotary!
Much has changed in the world since 1905. Then, the global population was roughly 1.7 billion. Today, it is 7.7 billion. There were 5 telephones per 100 people in the United States 115 years ago. In 2020, it is estimated that 96 percent of the U.S. population has a cellphone — and both China and India have more than a billion cellphones in use.
In the 115 years since Rotary was founded, seemingly everything has changed except Rotary values. We began, and remain, committed to fellowship, integrity, diversity, service, and leadership. While our Service Above Self motto dates to 1911, the ethos behind those words had already been ingrained by Rotary's founders.
As the pace of change worldwide continues to accelerate, the need for Rotary service is greater than ever. It's one thing to read about service projects, quite another to see them in action and to see the grateful faces of people who have benefited from them. Rotary projects change lives and connect the world. And over the past year, I have seen some amazing Rotary projects in action.
Gay and I visited Japan's Fukushima prefecture last year. Few places in the world have had to deal with the kind of devastation that visited Fukushima in March 2011, when a tsunami touched off by an earthquake led to disaster at a nuclear power plant. But the story of Fukushima today is not one of destruction; it is one of hope and renewal. Rotary grants have helped improve access to medical and mental health care for victims of the disaster and reduced the isolation of these communities by sharing the experiences of people from other parts of the world who have also recovered from disasters. Our grants have also helped to foster self-motivation and encourage sustainable long-term community recovery across the region.
In Shanghai, I learned about the Careers in Care program. This helps migrant workers fill the need for skilled professionals in elder care facilities. After taking a course, trainees receive certification to boost their employment prospects, while the care industry benefits from an expanded talent pool. Rotary projects like this are successful because they address a local need, and they have the potential to attract local government funding to sustain their impact.
And in Guatemala, Gay and I went to Sumpango. Global grants there provide mechanical cows to produce soy milk; an improved water distribution system; water filters; clean compost latrines; family gardens; support for income generation; and training in WASH and literacy programs. The food items sold there not only provide nutrition to women and children, but also create a source of income for local women.
In every area of focus, and in every part of the world, Rotary projects are improving lives and helping communities adapt in a time of rapid change. As we celebrate another great year for Rotary, let us rededicate ourselves to strengthening the connections that make our service so impactful. We will make lives better as Rotary Connects the World.
Since ancient times, people have built communities around water. Having the ability to draw clean, fresh water from a well means that a village has staying power and the ability to endure hard times.
Wells are vital to people worldwide, but as a metaphor, they are just as powerful. What is The Rotary Foundation's "well"? From what source can we draw to replenish ourselves to keep up with all of the amazing global grants saving lives around the world?
The Rotary Foundation well is our Endowment, of course. We are building a very deep, strong well that will ensure funding for major projects for generations to come. A strong endowment will ensure the long-term financial stability of our Foundation and provide essential resources to help deliver even more outstanding humanitarian service into the future.
We are aiming high with the Building TRF Endowment: 2025 by 2025 initiative to build an endowment of $2.025 billion by 2025. By then we expect the Foundation's Endowment to have a minimum of $1 billion in net assets, with the balance in expectancies and bequest-type commitments.
Imagine the good we will be able to do with a $2 billion Endowment! The investment earnings will provide about $100 million annually for Rotarians to do all sorts of life-changing projects around the globe, year after year.
Together, we can make this happen. As much as the world changes around us, the well of The Rotary Foundation will stand the test of time and keep making a positive impact on the world.
Confucius took great pleasure from water. He said: "Great water can continuously move forward without stopping. It is so kind as to irrigate the lands everywhere it goes, yet it does not regard itself as having performed outstanding feats. It's just like virtue."
Speaking of accomplishments, the Rotary Club of Shanghai just celebrated the 100th anniversary of its founding. And the club just reached another great milestone: its first Arch Klumph Society member, Frank Yih. Gōng xǐ to our friends in Shanghai!
Rotary Club of Santa Rosa Sunrise - Founded June 30, 1986
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