Sherry Huss is Co-founder of Maker Faire , and a major advocate of “all things maker” in the global community. A former Vice President of Maker Media, her vision and passion have helped spark the maker movement and she has been instrumental in growing the Make: brand within the maker ecosystem. She has over 25 years of technology marketing, management and event experience and has held senior management positions at MediaLive International, Key3Media, Ziff-Davis and Softbank. Before Maker Faire, Sherry launched and managed successful technology and consumer events such as Sun’s JavaOne, Oracle’s iDevelop, O’Reilly Media’s Web 2.0 Summit and Dwell magazine’s Dwell on Design Conference and Expo.
As a 2017 Forbes Forty over 40 Honoree and a 2018 Hackaday Prize Judge , she is passionate about making and the Maker community, and is an entrepreneur, event strategist, marketing maven, proven leader, community organizer and consultant who serves on advisory boards for:
● Collab ( a Fabrication Lab, Innovation Studio and Do Tank in NYC)
● Future Food Institute (an Italian-based non-profit, opening an office in San Francisco) with global horizons that aims to build a more equitable world through enlightening a world-class breed of innovators, boosting entrepreneurial potential and improving agri-food expertise and tradition)
● Museum of Future Sports (the first of its kind STEM education lab & multi-use sports venue dedicated to the Bay Area’s rich history and leadership in the world of future sports)
● Startup Sonoma County ( a startup incubator and community space fostering the growth on new startups in Sonoma County)
● Occidental Bohemian Farmers Market (West Sonoma County’s innovative farmers market, preserving vital agricultural tradition to the community).
In addition, she helped launch Gerard’s PAELLA Y TAPAS restaurant franchise in Santa Rosa, CA in July 2018 and produced the inaugural Gerard’s Paella Festival and Cook-Off and The Maker Music Festival in October
Our Special Guest Speaker for Thursday, February 28, was the amazing Gaye LeBaron. Gaye needs no introduction; she is part of the Sonoma County landscape and for those of us who love history, she is a “must see” speaker. She did not disappoint! She spoke about the topic of her new book, “The Wonder Seekers of Fountaingrove.” She’s been interested in this topic for years and has written previously on this and related subjects, even telling us that she once wrote an unpublished book about one of the interesting characters in the “Utopian” movement. The Fountaingrove part of the story begins with Thomas Lake Harris (sound familiar?), who brought his utopian congregation (the Brotherhood of New Life) to Sonoma County and started a community in the Fountaingrove hills, above the dearly departed Round Barn. This community lasted for many years and was influential in the Santa Rosa scene. Gaye also described the international ‘utopian’ community and how it fit into the early pastoral Santa Rosa lifestyle. It turns out that Santa Rosa was famous in Utopian circles as far back as 1875! Of great interest to our club was Gaye’s discussion of Kanaye Nagasawa, the Japanese-born associate of Thomas Lake Harris who moved with him to Foutaingrove in the 1870’s. Nagasawa became an important figure in Santa Rosa, and throughout Japan, due in large part to his advocacy of Sonoma County wines. He was called “the Wine King” in Japan and awarded Japan’s prestigious Order of the Rising Sun award. Our student exchange program, Santa Rosa/Kagoshima Student Exchange Program (SRKSEP), is a more-or-less direct descendant of Kanaye Nagasawa and his involvement with Fountaingrove and Santa Rosa. Thank you, Gaye, for the terrific discussion.
John Peterson (above center), Executive Director, Audubon Canyon Ranch, and his staff, thanked Sunrisers for support of a new program to use the effects of the Nun's Fire on the burned out loss of 535 acres, to teach children, and all of us, how nature recovers from a fire.
The preserve at Audubon Ranch lost eight out of ten buildings, including the education center, and as a result had to suspend its outreach programs to schools and community. This fifty thousand dollar grant, intended to support long term, high impact programs, will help rebuild facilities and establish safe access to burned areas as well as workshops on how to remove burned trees safely.
All the above, attentively listen to District 5130 Governor Barbara Spangler lead into remarks before presenting Bouverie Preserve their Rotary Fire Relief grant.
Likewise, our members and guests filling nearly to capacity, waited for the icing on the cake/ink on the check announcement:
And the Envelope Please! Flanking the representative $50,000.00 check on the left is John Petersen, Executive Director of Audobon Canyon Ranch, Bouverie's parent organization. DG Barbara on the right is in front of Sunriser Jim Moir, the grant's author and longtime Bouverie
Docent and Advocate. Known around the Preserve as "Tall Dude", Jims 6'3" trunk is high timber in the forest of stewardship and outdoor education.
This presentation is among my proudest moments in Rotary. The collaboration represented, from thousands of donors who gave so generously to make this grant possible, and the community oriented efforts of Rotary Fire Relief to organize and distribute relief for this jewel of elementary education and hundreds of other fire survivors capstone Service Above Self, Being The Inspiration, and Doing What Matters!
On a regular basis, our resident photo pro Warren Smith, as well as Club Public Relations-Image Director Jack Strange, submit 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!
As a packed audience sang and danced to “Crimson and Clover,” “I Think We’re Alone Now,” and other hits from Tommy James and the Shondells, the Rotary Club of Ridgefield, Connecticut, USA was coming up clover, too.
James headlined the club’s End Polio Now Concert, which raised $220,000 in April.
Tommy James and the Shondells performed at a Rotary Club of Ridgefield, Connecticut, USA concert, which raised $220,000 for polio.
Photo by Mickey Deneher
Club member Robert Herber had contacted Ridgefield resident Brad Joblin, a music producer who had a connection with James through work earlier in his career.
“Robert said he wanted to do something big,” Joblin says. “He didn’t want two guys with acoustic guitars. I suggested Tommy James, and the club agreed.”
With James on board, the club was off and running. It had just four months to prepare for the concert at the Ridgefield Playhouse, where Joblin is a board member.
“We said, ‘Well, it’s a gamble, but let’s go,’” says Sue Manning, who was among four Rotarians who took lead roles in nailing down business sponsorships, publicizing the event, organizing a live auction, and planning logistics. They had 550 tickets to sell at $97 each. They sold every one.
“Everybody came together,” Manning says. “You really need to pump it up to get that kind of money.”
Adds Herber, “The team was small, but the resources were stellar.”
The 2-to-1 match from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation helped persuade 20 businesses and families to kick in $2,500 each for sponsorships. Sponsors were invited to a reception with James and received a signed copy of his book, Me, the Mob, and the Music: A Helluva Ride with Tommy James and the Shondells.
Herber notes that the money raised in one night, including the match, exceeded the club’s total contributions to The Rotary Foundation since the club was founded in 1941.
Just like the Rotarians, James enjoyed being part of all the good vibrations the concert created.
“It was heartwarming to see the beautiful town of Ridgefield come together in support of such a worthy global cause,” James says. “It was a remarkable evening for me, which I will never forget.”
While Joblin played a vital role, he credits the Ridgefield club for making the event such a success. “It exceeded all expectations. That was because of the power of the Rotarians to go to the community for support, and the community responded.”
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