While attending Sonoma State University, Scott joined Oliver's Market Cotati as a Produce Department Clerk in 2000, as he was earning his Bachelor’s Degree in Sociology. Proving himself as a dedicated team player, Scott continued to grow with Oliver’s and joined the Management Team in 2005 as Second Assistant Store Director. Scott joined the Management Team in 2005, working as Second Assistant Store Director, First Assistant Store Director, and then taking the reins as Project Manager for the entire Windsor store construction project, where he was the opening Store Director. He was named General Manager of Oliver’s Market in 2016.
Lawrence M. Jacobs - Financial Analyst and ESOP Trustee, Oliver’s Market
Since joining the company in 1998 while attending Sonoma State University, Lawrence has worked in positions ranging from Utility Clerk and Checker to Natural Foods Merchandiser, Dairy Clerk, Front End Lead, Front End Manager, Assistant Store Director and since 2012, Conventional/Specialty Grocery Buyer. As a result, Lawrence brings great insight to the position, consistently beating budget performance on sales and gross profit and making effective contributions to group planning. Throughout his career, Lawrence has witnessed Oliver’s ownership make tough decisions that put people above profit, and invest not only in the facilities, but also in their employees and community. As Oliver’s Market became an ESOP (Employee Stock Ownership Plan) and Social Purpose Corporation in 2017, Lawrence brought his insight and passion to the transition and served as a member of the ESOP Board of Trustees before being named ESOP Trustee in 2021.
Marlene Soiland and Daniel Sohn from the Sonoma County Alliance
Our speakers for April 21, 2022, were Marlene Soiland and Daniel Sohn on behalf of the Sonoma County Alliance. Marlene is the President and owner of Soiland Management Co., Inc. and is on the board of Soiland Co., Inc. She is also a two-time President of the SCA, most recently from June 2020 through December 2021. Daniel has been the CEO of the SCA since March 2022. He has a long history of public service and public-facing positions, including Chief Executive Office for the Imperial Valley Regional Chamber of Commerce, City Council member for the Haverhill, Florida Town Council, and Chief of Staff for several prominent Florida legislators. He was appointed by President Biden to serve as a Local Board Member representing the State of California on the national Selective Service System.
The SCA is a coalition of individuals, businesses, trade, agriculture, and labor organizations who share a mutual desire to pool their talents together to make a tangible investment in the present and future welfare of Sonoma County. Its mission is to help influence a strong business economy as the foundation of a healthy Sonoma County. Despite its long history as a leader in Sonoma County, the SCA ran into trouble in June 2020, at the start of the Black Lives Matter protests, when its then-President wrote a letter urging people not to come to Sonoma County to break windows and arguing that “all lives matter.” This statement generated a public backlash against the SCA and the subsequent resignation of many influential public and private members and of the SCA’s president and board. The SCA asked Marlene to return as president and address any systemic problems.
The SCA has now established a Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Committee (DEI) and a taskforce to look at the organization’s structure. The challenge for the SCA is how to attract a more diverse leadership group. The DEI Committee’s mandate is to promote an atmosphere open to all Sonoma County businesses, community members, and non-profits in an effort to reinforce its effectiveness and meaningfulness as an organization that supports Sonoma County’s economy, environment, and community. SCA is also in the midst of other important initiatives, including a grants program for small businesses and an environmental committee that seeks to look at climate change in a new way. The committee’s goal is to understand the science of climate change and educate its members, including the exploration of linkages to current issues such as wildfire and drought, the atmospheric river phenomena, and coastal flooding.
Daniel Cohn noted that the SCA is not a Chamber of Commerce, since it is not primarily an effort to drive members’ profits; instead, it seeks to promote a strong business economy. The SCA also works for the enactment of pro-business local ordinances. SCA also works closely with the Farm Bureau and the Fire Prevention Taskforce to help understand and alleviate problems caused by the increasing threat of wildfires.
Many thanks to Marlene and Daniel for helping us understand the SCA! We hope the SCA can continue its efforts to diversify its own membership and its support for the Sonoma County economy.
Click HERE to view Marlene and Daniel's presentation.
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!
It's time to say goodbye to fast-paced Aries and hello to sure and steady Taurus. For the past month, we have been one busy, action-oriented group, and we've accomplished a lot! We raised almost $75,000 at our annual fundraiser, and the energy of Aries helped us with that momentum. Now it is time to pause, ground, and marinate in all the fruits of our labor. Taurus season is all about patience. This is a period of incremental change, focus, and grounding. Expect to recommit to those who you love the most (including yourself) and focus on your finances.
Taurus the bull is all about stability and comfort. This is a fixed earth sign, and it rules the second house of values and finances. So the energy of this month is going to help hold you back on impulsive purchases. You may step back and reflect on what brings you a tremendous amount of value to your life, and after that reflection, you will be in a prime position to take action and illustrate that value to those you love.
This is an ideal time to connect with the earth too. Flowers are blooming and our days are longer. Meander through the Redwoods or explore Sugarloaf, and no need to rush. This is a time to be intentional in your movements and your thoughts.
Sunrise Rotary Super Raffle- “Stranger than Fiction”
A record 1,317 tickets sold across the country and possibly around the globe. And yet, not one but two of the four fabulous prizes- including the grandest prize of all, the 10-day trip to Tuscany or $10,000 in cash- went to the same household, the Banks household of Santa Rosa. Yes! Mary Banks was the big winner Saturday night at the Super Raffle drawing winning the grand tour of Tuscany or $10,000 in cash while son Mark walked away with the five-day fishing trip to Yakutat Lodge in Alaska. The crowd who gathered at the Cambria Hotel Saturday night was stunned at first- “How could this be?” was heard at a few tables, then a roar went up amongst the celebrants. Mary, Mark – grab Peter and do directly to Graton Casino before the luck runs out! Doug Shureen won the Noyo Harbor Inn vacation while Peter Hoberg’s friend Brian Hemmerlin will be hosting many friends 1,800 feet above the valley floor at the Kunde Vineyards’ mountain-top wine tasting and food pairing.
A crowd of 50 Rotarians and families had a wonderful Grand Drawing party and dinner Saturday accompanied by ticket “drawers” Diane Madrigal from Women’s Recovery Services, Rebecca Rogoway from The Living Room, Carol and Nate Rathmann from Forget-Me-Not Farm and our own Del Raby who drew Mary’s Grand Prize ticket. The Super Raffle results this year were spectacular, surpassing 2021’s debut of the fundraiser format with a total of $74,250 in ticket sales and sponsorship donations flowing into the work of Sunrise Rotary.
Special thanks to the sponsors of the event- Linkenheimer CPA’s, Exchange Bank, Johnston Thomas Attorneys, Tweeten Eldercare Associates, RSI Investors LLC, the law firm of Abbey Weitzenberg Warren & Emery, Shureen Law, Cambria Hotel and Mary’s Pizza Shack.
Ten truly early rising Sunrisers saw the sun rise Saturday at Levi's Gran Fondo cycling classic in Windsor.
Coordinated by Sunrise biking legend himself Peter Hoberg, our cohort of volunteers checked and labeled riders extra gear. Betsy Randolph and Kristine Burns legibly numbered hundreds of satchels while runners Matt Crook, Rich Randolph, Roy Johnston, Olin Leasher, Paul O Rear kept the lines moving. Penny Millar and Peter Hoberg did what they wanted, supervising. Our man with the camera Warren Smith captured images. Everyone shivered a bit in he high 40's to mid 50F. No complaints ~ the cyclists enthusiasm facing 25-120 miles of pedaling tempered any temptation to whine.
The bags piled up quickly. This crew was happy to leave check out to another cohort!
It was dark when the crew checked in. The neon yellow shirts helped conserve precious body heat!
Minmahaw is a boarding school based in Mae Sot, Thailand, on the Thai/Burma border and begins its sixteenth year on June 1, 2022. The school offers a comprehensive English immersion program, including math, social studies, art, science, and elective classes such as small business, cooking, music and bike repair. The 10-month school serves disadvantaged young people between 17 and 23 years old from Burma, who may have completed up to the 10th grade. Unlike the compulsory rote education they receive in Burma, Minmahaw focuses on critical thinking, research, and open dialogue.
Minmahaw has had a rough couple of years since Covid began, just like everyone in the world. The school has been opened and shut down so many times, we’ve all lost count. Students have weathered community Covid break-outs and yet continue to function with the help of many foreign, Burmese and Thai teachers bringing classes to them remotely. Principal Marc Rangel (Spain) has made vital connections with Hong Kong University students who run an online program to enhance students’ writing, speaking, listening and reading skills. A South Africa organization is pairing their teachers with Minmahaw students to improve English skills.
A new academic year begins in June 2022, with a full house of 40 students. We’re all hopeful that this will be the year the pandemic settles down and classes can be held in person at Minmahaw. Volunteer teachers from many parts of the world are anticipating being able to return to Thailand and once again teach at the school.
Minmahaw’s needs remain relatively modest and run about $1,000 per student each year. Fundraising is done on all levels: volunteer teachers raise funds amongst their friends and family; small international grants have been awarded through GloCal action (Taiwan). Brackett Foundation (USA), and Stepping Stones (Switzerland). Additionally, students maintain a crafts cabinet, selling simple items they have made and occasionally put on an event which features food they sell to raise funds.
Minmahaw School is grateful for Santa Rosa Sunrise Rotary’s support for these past five years! Thank you for being a part of what has become an international community supporting this small, crucial school on the Thai/Burma border.
As most of you know, Steve Olsen was seriously injured in a car crash about a week ago. He broke multiple bones in his shoulder, wrists, leg, and ribs. Fortunately his head, spine and internal organs are in good shape. Now begins the work of healing and recovery which will take time.
Steve is currently at Arbol Residences, 300 Fountaingrove Parkway. There he will have physical therapy and care as his bones heal and his mobility returns. He would love visitors! No need to call in advance. He has a private room. Please take a moment out of your day or evening to stop by and say hello.
Right now Lynn Olsen has Steve's phone since he can't yet hold it or push buttons. Best to say hello in person which is more enjoyable anyway.
Hoping for a complete and speedy recovery, Steve!!
Rotary clubs unite across continents to collect and deliver medical aid to Ukraine
Two cargo planes packed with tons of medical equipment have already been flown from Chicago, USA, to Ukraine where members helped to unload the supplies.
by Arnold R. Grahl
Rotary members in North America, Argentina, and Europe are collaborating with a U.S.-based association of Ukrainian health care workers and using their connections to collect and ship more than 100 tons of critical medical supplies to Ukraine.
Two cargo planes packed with tourniquets, blood-clotting gauze, blood pressure equipment, and other items have already been flown from the city of Chicago in the United States to Europe, where members help unload the supplies and get them to Ukraine.
Rotary members in Ukraine, where Russia's military action has caused a humanitarian crisis, are in daily contact with hospitals to determine what supplies are needed most.
"It is Rotary doing what Rotary does best," says Pat Merryweather-Arges, a Rotary International director-elect and member of the Rotary Club of Naperville, Illinois, USA. "It networks, pulls people together, and gets the job done."
North American and Argentine Rotary clubs are combining their resources to purchase items from the list of needed supplies. They're also working with contacts at pharmaceutical companies and medical equipment manufacturers to arrange donations. A hospital in Peoria, Illinois, sent an ambulance, and members in Maine, USA, secured a C-arm, a mobile imaging device that can be used to X-ray people for shrapnel.
Supplies are streaming into a warehouse operated by the Ukrainian Medical Association of North America (UMANA) near O'Hare International Airport in Chicago. And more are on the way. Rotary clubs in the U.S. states of Nebraska and Iowa are collecting supplies to fill several large cargo trucks that will drive hundreds of miles to the warehouse in Chicago.
Inside the warehouse, UMANA and Rotary volunteers organize, sort, and bundle the items before they are shipped. Several donors have made contributions that offset the cost of shipping.
"It's amazing what one Rotarian talking to another Rotarian can accomplish," says Marga Hewko, president of the Rotary Club of Chicago.
Hewko is the spouse of Rotary International General Secretary and CEO John Hewko, who is of Ukrainian descent and is a charter member of the Rotary Club of Kyiv. The Hewkos lived in Ukraine for five years during the 1990s.
Earlier this year, Marga Hewko and the Rotary Club of Chicago had been working with doctors in Chicago and Ukraine to establish a stem cell storage facility for cancer patients in the Ukrainian city of Lviv that would allow the cells to be stored longer and enable more complex research.
That initiative shifted to a new focus when the war began.
"We were reaching out to the Ukrainian community in Chicago to learn how we could help, and at the same time, we already knew these doctors," says Marga Hewko. "That is how I found out about UMANA."
It was an ideal match. UMANA, founded in 1950, promotes education through conferences and exchanges of doctors between the U.S. or Canada and Ukraine. After the war started, UMANA volunteers began sending medical aid to Ukraine and using their network of doctors and pharmaceutical companies to get supplies and equipment. Rotary clubs soon joined the project.
Marga Hewko, who is from Argentina, used her contacts there to bring Argentine clubs into the effort, and those members are also using their connections to obtain funds and equipment.
During a tour of the UMANA warehouse, Marga Hewko, Merryweather-Arges, and Jane Hopkins, the governor of District 6450 in Illinois, praised the efficiency and scale of the operation.
"UMANA is simply amazing," Merryweather-Arges says. "We opted to work with them because they are well connected to the Ukrainian community in Chicago and have worked to sort and pack nearly 400 pallets of supplies."
Members in Ukraine continue to develop the list of needed supplies. Olha Paliychuk, who is a surgeon, a member of the Rotary Club of Cherkasy, and a member of the Turkey-Ukraine intercountry committee, calls hospitals each night.
The delivery of the items to hospitals is coordinated by Paliychuk in Cherkasy; by Borys Bodnar, of the Rotary Club of Ukraine Unity Passport, in Lviv; and by Mykola Stebljanko, of the Rotary E-Club of Ukraine, in Odesa.
Marga Hewko says the actions of members in and outside of Ukraine demonstrate the power of Rotary's network.
"In the middle of the war, when some of the targets of the Russian army are hospitals, the fact that we have volunteers in Ukraine driving supplies across their country — if that is not Service Above Self, I don't know what is," she says.
15-Apr-2022
Rotary Club of Santa Rosa Sunrise - Founded June 30, 1986
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