Gerrett Snedaker is Broker|Partner of Better Homes and Gardens Real Estate|Wine Country Group, Better Homes and Gardens Real Estate|Ming Tree and Mason McDuffie Commercial Real Estate. The brokerage has twelve offices and 180 sales agents located throughout Northern California. The Wine Country Group is among the most productive real estate firms serving the North Bay and Redwood Coast regions.
Gerry has held real estate licenses in Florida, Illinois and California since 1966. He earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Real Estate and Urban Land Studies from the University of Florida, and a Masters of Arts degree in Urban Studies from Loyola University. He currently serves as a Director and Treasurer of Bay Area Real Estate Information Services, Inc., the North Bay’s MLS system.
Real Food. Real People: Scott Gross and Sara Cummings Tell the Oliver's Story
Our speakers for April 28, 2022, were Scott Gross and Sara Cummings of Oliver’s Market. Scott is Oliver’s General Manager and Sara is Oliver’s Corporate Public Community and Relations Coordinator. Both were introduced by Steve Amend, who noted that Oliver’s won the District 5130 award last year for Ethical Business! Scott is a graduate of Sonoma State University, started with Oliver’s in Cotati as a student, and has worked continuously for Oliver’s since that time. Sara joined Oliver’s in 2015 working part time in the Graphics and Marketing team. Sara has worked in marketing, public relations, account management, communications, and representing wine and lifestyle brands throughout her career.
Oliver’s was founded by Steve Maass, who owned produce stands in the Bay Area before starting Oliver’s. Steve started Oliver’s in 1988, when his wife developed cancer and he needed to find a way to obtain affordable health insurance for her. The original Oliver’s store was in Cotati. The Montecito store was added in 2000, the Stony Point store in 2007 and the Windsor store in 2016. Oliver’s has nearly 1,000 employees. Its mission is to be the best grocery store it can be by providing excellent food, customer service, and choice. Oliver’s pioneered the “cross-over” style of grocery stores, providing both natural and organic produce on the same aisle. Many other grocery stores have followed Oliver’s lead on this format, but it was very original at the time they started with it. Oliver’s focuses on local Sonoma County food and beverage products. It also often hires from within its ranks; many of the current management team are long-time employees dating back to the pre-expansion days. It strives for quality throughout all the stores and especially in the perimeter areas, such as baking, deli, produce, and meats. Its staff is fully trained and are experts in their areas. Oliver’s is not the low-price leader. Instead, it works hard to provide quality food and quality service. As a result of this philosophy it has a dedicated customer base. Oliver’s doesn’t automatically follow its competition. For example, it does not offer home delivery or curbside shopping, preferring instead to focus on high quality and great service.
Oliver’s also works hard to contribute to this community. It sponsors a variety of Sonoma County social services organizations, such as Santa Rosa Community Health and SAY. It also offers community cards, which donate up to 3% of purchases to charities of the customer’s choice. It also continued to offer the beloved senior discounts every Wednesday! In 2017, Oliver’s became a Social Purpose Corporation when Steve Maass established an Employee Stock Ownership Plan to reward employees with a share of ownership in the company. The company is in the process of transferring 43% of its stock to employees through this ESOP!
Many thanks to Scott and Sara for the great presentation about one of Sonoma County’s great businesses. You make our county better every day!
View the recording of Scott Gross and Sara Cummings' presentation by clicking HERE! Limited time offer.
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!
Posted by Rich Randolph Dicksie Tamanaha on May 01, 2022
Sunshine Updates
We are happy to report these developments within the Sunrise family! Steve Olsen continues to heal from his car accident two weeks ago. He enjoys visitors when not catching up on reading on his Kindle. Masks and proof of vaccination are required. He is in room 274 at the Arbol Residences Nursing Center, 300 Fountain Grove.
Trey Robertson is adjusting well to changes in his sight.
Tom Eakin's new shoulder steadily strengthens.
Marie Treleaven is making great gains in dexterity. Peter in domestic engineering.
When you would like to let your Sunrise family know of a change in availability, the following members are on the Sunshine Committee:
One of my favorite books is The Four Agreements by Don Miguel Ruiz. When I first read his book I felt his agreements were simple and easy to follow, but I was humbled when I tried to put these into practice. These Four Agreements are deep and extremely impactful and when practiced correctly, they are life-changing in the best way possible Today I want to discuss our throat chakra, and how Ruiz's First Agreement, "Be Impeccable with your Word" aligns.
The Throat Chakra rests on the base of our throats, and this energy point is the center of how we communicate. When this Chakra is aligned and open, we can trust that we will speak our truth, we will be heard, and we feel safe to express ourselves vocally. We are proud and in our power. An open Throat Chakra is also related to expression, and we feel inspired to be our true selves.
The Throat Chakra is associated with the color blue. If you feel blocked in this Chakra, it is important to work with blue crystals, meditate on the blue energy center that is in your throat, or connect with Ether, the associated element of the Throat Chakra.
As Ruiz states in his book, our words carry an enormous amount of weight. What we speak manifests into reality. If you speak poorly of yourself and others, then negativity will surround you. If you speak highly of yourself and others, then you can achieve greatness. Our ability to speak is the most powerful form of expression, and it has the ability to create an incredible life or destroy one.
How do you use your voice to express yourself? How do you share your passions with others? How do you feel your voice shows up in the world? Remember, a strong voice isn't always the loudest one in the room.
"Am I mentioned in the will?" the nephew asked anxiously.
"You certainly are" , replied the lawyer.
Right here in the third paragraph your uncle says: To my niece Sarah I bequeath a hundred thousand dollars, to my cousin Janice fifty thousand dollars, and to my nephew Charles, who was always curious to know if he was mentioned in my will, I say "Hi, Charles"
Due to your positive response to the Each One, Bring One initiative, I am so happy to see that the membership trends in Rotary are looking up. Let us not lose this momentum — keep inviting new members, and also work hard to retain every member we attract. I look forward to seeing you next month in Houston at the 2022 Rotary International Convention, which I assure you will be a great event.
Also in Houston this June, we will be hosting my final presidential conference. We have devoted this year to conferences built around Rotary’s areas of focus. They have been a tremendous success, both in terms of attendance and in the ideas that were generated.
Last fall, our conference in the Philippines, which focused on protecting the environment and growing local economies, attracted 2,200 people online. In Brazil, our meeting centered around water, sanitation, and hygiene and how it relates to disease prevention and treatment; more than 600 people attended. That was followed by an event about the environment, economy, and peace in Maputo, Mozambique, which attracted around 400 in-person attendees and another 700 virtually. Our conference about keeping the economy and environment in harmony, held in Venice, Italy, had more than 600 in attendance.
Through these conferences and my world travels, numerous leaders have met with me and agreed to collaborate with Rotary. They include the prime minister of Mauritius, the president of Seychelles, the deputy prime minister of Bahrain, and the presidents of Albania and Kosovo. Clearly, Rotary is making an impact, and the world is eager for our leadership.
In Houston, the final presidential conference, Serve to Bring Peace, will focus on an area in which Rotary has long provided leadership. Everything we do in Rotary helps create the conditions that foster peace in communities, nations, and ourselves.
In March, I was able to see firsthand the tremendous difference Rotary is making in Ukraine, as refugees continue to pour into Poland. Donors have contributed millions of dollars to this effort; our projects are making a tremendous difference, and there is enormous gratitude for your continued generosity and support.
It is heartbreaking to see up close all the lives that have been uprooted, and the Ukrainian people are not alone. A devastating civil war in Yemen continues. The humanitarian crisis in Afghanistan is deepening. Armed conflicts affect nations across Africa, including Libya, South Sudan, the Central African Republic, northern Mozambique, Ethiopia, and Cameroon. And major refugee crises continue in Syria and Venezuela.
Rotary will always be on the side of the peaceful resolution of conflict and providing aid and comfort to people in need. Rotary was there at the end of World War II, promoting the creation of the United Nations and standing up for the cause of peacebuilding worldwide. It is time to renew our mission and perform our role as one of the world’s great promoters of peace.
There is no better way to Serve to Change Lives than to serve the cause of peace.
As an engineer, I have worked my entire life for success that can be measured. I believe in the kind of success you can reach out and touch. And I also know that it doesn’t come overnight, it happens one step at a time.
At The Rotary Foundation, we don’t settle for a vague idea of doing good; we take measurable steps, ones that are concrete and real, toward a defined goal. It’s progress that you can see and tell your family and friends about, each step of the way.
Measurable success is what our new Programs of Scale grants are all about. The first member-led program to receive this annual $2 million grant, Partners for a Malaria-Free Zambia (PMFZ), seeks to reduce malaria by 90 percent in 10 highly affected districts within two provinces of Zambia. It’s an ambitious but achievable goal, based on a community health worker model that has been successful in reducing malaria in other parts of Zambia, as implemented by Rotary members and our partners on the ground.
To help end malaria in Zambia, The Rotary Foundation, World Vision U.S., and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation are each contributing $2 million to PMFZ, whose Rotary-led program already has begun to expand life-saving malaria diagnosis and treatment to hundreds more rural communities. So far this Rotary year, PMFZ has trained, equipped, and deployed more than 1,300 of the 2,500 new community health workers who will help local health centers reach more people who are vulnerable to malaria, such as mothers and children. PMFZ is also collecting and analyzing data to ensure medical supplies get to where they are needed most. This work, along with the close collaboration between implementing partners and Rotary and Rotaract clubs across Zambia, has comprised the first bold steps toward our goal.
PolioPlus is another example of a global project that has been engineered for impact. The fact that we have reduced polio cases by 99.9 percent worldwide is a testament to your generous contributions, our strong partnerships through the Global Polio Eradication Initiative, and a vast network of volunteers who administer drops to children around the world.
And we won’t stop now. Rotary spearheaded the drive to end polio, and Rotary will complete it. Encourage your district leaders to designate leftover District Designated Funds (DDF) for polio eradication, so we can finish the job.
As an engineer, I have been proud to see my blueprints transformed into great structures and facilities. But perhaps I am even prouder of how together in Rotary we have engineered a better world — measurably, step by step, project by project. In Rotary, we can all be engineers of hope, building a better future for the next generation.
General Secretary and CEO of Rotary International and The Rotary Foundation
Photo Credit Monika Lozinska
In this monthly column, we introduce readers to the talented staff members at Rotary International and The Rotary Foundation, many of whom work behind the scenes at RI headquarters in Evanston, Illinois, and in six offices outside the United States. This month, we feature John Hewko, General Secretary and CEO of Rotary International and The Rotary Foundation.
Holds a law degree from Harvard University, a master’s in modern history from the University of Oxford (where he studied as a Marshall Scholar), and a bachelor’s in government and Soviet studies from Hamilton College in New York
Speaks five languages — English, Portuguese, Russian, Spanish, and Ukrainian
Served as the vice president for operations and compact development at the Millennium Challenge Corporation, a U.S. government agency, where he negotiated foreign assistance agreements totaling $6.3 billion for 18 countries in the areas of infrastructure, agriculture, water and sanitation, health, and education
He and his wife, Marga, are Major Donors to The Rotary Foundation
My parents, Lu and Natalie Hewko, fled the advancing Soviet armies across war-torn Europe — from Ukraine to the refugee camps in southern Germany — and then began a new life in the United States. My desire to give back to the country that welcomed my parents with open arms is what motivated my interest in public service.
My father was a Rotarian and served as president of the Rotary Club of Clarkston, Michigan. He also helped start the Rotary club in Kyiv, Ukraine, where I am a charter member.
The TV series Perry Mason partially inspired me to be a lawyer.
My wife, Marga, is from Argentina, and we got married there in December 1989. Two weeks later, we moved to Moscow. After Mikhail Gorbachev came to power and opened up the Soviet Union, the law firm of Baker McKenzie approached me, asking if I would help establish its office there, and I later served as its managing partner in Kyiv and Prague.
I'll never forget an amazing historic experience in Ukraine. I had the opportunity to be involved in Ukraine's independence movement after the failed August 1991 coup in Moscow and the subsequent collapse of the Soviet Union. In March 1992, I spent several days with experts in Prague and hammered out the initial draft of Ukraine's first post-Soviet constitution. To be there, to help a new country get off the ground, was the thrill of a lifetime.
My Andy Warhol 15 minutes of fame came on 24 August 1991, when the Ukraine parliament called for a referendum to support its declaration of independence. The day before, political leaders and advisers from the non-Communist opposition had prepared a series of important decrees that the parliament was to debate and hopefully approve. But they had no copy machine. Fortunately, I had access to a small copier. I took the documents and spent all night making more than 400 copies. At 7 the next morning, I dashed over and handed the copies to the deputy head of the opposition. Parliament then deliberated over the decrees and declared independence six hours later. Without those copies, I wondered ...
My father was an avid reader of the Rotary magazine. He used to read it from cover to cover. In 2010, an advertisement caught his eye: Rotary was looking for a new general secretary. My father ripped the page out of the magazine and wrote a note on it, half in English and half in Ukrainian, that I should apply for the job — and then he mailed the ad to me.
Two lessons I took away from this experience: Always listen to your dad — and great things happen when you read the Rotary magazine.
In this issue, you should read about Rotary's Action Planbecause it represents the future of our organization and serves as our strategic road map. It's exciting, and we have begun to undertake a number of important initiatives to bring it into reality.
One pillar of Rotary's strength is its deep roots in the community. The key is to find that sweet spot — to keep our focus largely local, because that is where members have the greatest satisfaction and sense of accomplishment, yet make sure that these local activities are strategically channeled so that we can have a greater global impact.
• This story originally appeared in the March 2022 issue of Rotary magazine.
Rotary Club of Santa Rosa Sunrise - Founded June 30, 1986
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My parents, Lu and Natalie Hewko, fled the advancing Soviet armies across war-torn Europe — from Ukraine to the refugee camps in southern Germany — and then began a new life in the United States. My desire to give back to the country that welcomed my parents with open arms is what motivated my interest in public service.