Stories

Rotarian Denis Fama presented his Hopi Kachina Doll collection today and discussed the poverty and water shortages that the Hopi people suffer each day. The first picture is a “tableta” worn by Kachina dancers during ceremonies.

Rotarians’ Holiday fun included games and secret Santa gifts opened on screen, all with our favorite libation at hand.

Rotarians also donated toys to the Central County Fire Department Toys for Tots drive as they have for many years. 

Kristine Baltasar and the Interact Club of Mills High School worked with City Recreation staff to assemble and sell Pumpkin Carving Kits to Millbrae families. Kristine negotiated with Trader Joe’s to acquire 48 free pumpkins and 96 low-cost pumpkins for the project. They sold 144 Pumpkin Carving Kits (pumpkins, carving kits, and decorating crafts) online in just two days! Kristine, Debbie Van Wart, and Interact Club volunteers distributed the 144 Pumpkin Carving Kits to Millbrae families over two days. Kristine Baltasar and the Interact Club of Mills High School worked with City Recreation staff to create a Pumpkin Carving Contest for Millbrae youth. Kristine and Karen Bettucchi coordinated the purchase of gift cards as prizes and the Interactors created sample pumpkin decorating designs.

Tom Dawdy worked with Boswick the Clown to create a special Halloween video for Millbrae families. Tom assembled a bunch of photos from past Rotary Kids’ Carnivals for the video. The video was broadcast on MCTV and at the City of Millbrae’s Halloween Drive-In Movie.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, we have all been looking for ways to help our friends, family, and community. Some of us have used our creative skills, combined with perseverance, to make a difference. One of our members, Candy Tsang, has a special talent with needle and thread. Rotarian Candy Tsang has spent countless hours over the past several months sewing for the benefit of others. She collected a variety of colorful fabrics and turned them into over 300 protective face masks. She also made a colorful collection of hats and Hawaiian dresses. After giving away many masks to friends, she started selling them to raise money for PolioPlus.

San Mateo County Supervisor Dave Pine spoke to a joint meeting of the Rotary Clubs of Millbrae and San Bruno about the work the County has done to bring relief to people and small businesses that have been adversely affected by the Covid-19 Pandemic. Supervisor Pine, who chairs the Caltrain Joint Powers Board, also explained the regional efforts to fund Caltrain with a 1/8th cent sales tax on the November ballot, in order to support this regional transportation system now and to build toward a future ridership of up to 180,000 once the line is fully electrified, thereby taking all those cars off Highway 101. President Joe Teresi also thanked Supervisor Pine for the County’s support for Millbrae’s efforts to rebuild the Millbrae Community Center with a loan to bridge the funding gap. 

Millbrae Education Foundation President Joy Henry addressed the Millbrae Rotary Club about the challenges faced by the students and Millbrae School District during the pandemic, and some of the specific issues as they are coping with distance learning.

Donations can be made at https://www.millbraekids.org/ Funds raised this year go towards the 2021-2022 school year. MEF dollars will continue funding programs they have sustained for the last few years: Social Emotional Learning, Technology, our Elementary Music Program, and Legarza (or its equivalent to get kids moving and working together).

Speaker John Wilms, longtime owner of the El Rancho Hotel, spoke to a joint meeting of the Rotary Club of Millbrae and The Rotary Club of San Bruno, with guests from the Millbrae Historical Society. It was fun to see the video and photos from the old days! There's lots of history, including scenes from movies and commercials that were filmed there, including "The Right Stuff". Notable guests included William Randolph Hearst, the Bing Crosby family, Robert Young, then VP Richard Nixon and others.

El Rancho Video/Wilms family home movies:

https://youtu.be/W4fIRTDholE

Commercial filmed at the El Rancho:

https://youtu.be/J6VwTBHvlrM

Photo Slideshow:

https://youtu.be/Misnfv0sMLU

@sanbrunorotary

Millbrae Rotarians commemorated World Polio Day together, with a reminder that we are "this close" to eradicating this horrible disease forever.

October 24, World Polio Day, is an opportunity for the global polio eradication community to renew its promise to every child at-risk from this preventable, paralyzing disease and to realize a polio-free world for future generations.

Rotary clubs world-wide have been instrumental, with the Gates Foundation, in eradicating polio. In 2007, the Gates Foundation gave The Rotary Foundation a challenge grant for polio eradication. Rotarians have raised $228.7 million toward the challenge.

Since 1946, Rotarians in Georgia, USA, have promoted world peace through understanding by offering scholarships to international students for one year of study in Georgia colleges and universities. The students become adopted members of a Georgia “host family,” living on-campus at the school they attend. Each year, about 60 students from all over the world make friends in the United States and other nations and learn about differing cultures and life styles. The GRSP program promotes international goodwill through friendship and understanding.

Two participants in the program, Victoria Lindewart and Alice Harting (both from Sweden), visited with Millbrae Rotarians to share about themselves and what they'd learned in the GRSP program. 
                                                                       

Known simply as "The International Man of Memory", Chester Santos has left an impression on all corners of the earth. Through his ability to demonstrate extraordinary feats of the mind, as well as educate others to do the same, this U.S. Memory Champion is widely regarded to be one of the greatest memory experts in the world. His memory talents have been featured in numerous media outlets including the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Washington Post, CNN, NBC, ABC and PBS. Chester has memorized a random 100-plus digit sequence in five minutes and can name every U.S. congress person’s state and district number. While Chester understands his exceptional skill, he also believes that every person has the ability to demonstrate amazing abilities with their memory given the proper technique and guidance. Millbrae Rotarians were able to learn a few simple techniques. 

Since joining the Rotary Club of Millbrae in 2008, Carrie Chinn has truly embrace the motto of “Service Above Self”. She brought a refreshing and charming way of looking at and handling Rotary business. She was our Foundation Chair for seven years and encouraged all members not only to give annually but to consider being a part of the Paul Harris Society, Benefactors or Bequest Society. Several achieved the highest per capita in the district several times. Since handing over the responsibilities to other members for raising money for the Foundation, she has continued to work with, encourage and support the Foundation Chairs. Earlier in this Rotary year, she collaborated with a member in our club to have a Polio Plus event. It was very well received and we hope to continue to hold this event in future Rotary years.

Carrie is a big supporter of whomever is the current President. She is a great resource and has been instrumental in making sure each Director of the Avenue of Service is staying on track with the District awards. She has met with them to review and figure out what items can and will be a part of this year’s submission. Carrie and her husband Rick have chaired our main fundraiser. Millbrae Rotary’s Lunar New Year Banquet since its inception 11 years ago. Carrie coordinates the raffle prizes, works on encouraging attendance of all factions of our community and helps assign seats. Because of her work on the Lunar New Year Banquet and the attendance of several Rotary clubs, Carrie encourages our members to attend the other club’s events in reciprocation. In some cases, this has led to joint projects. Carrie served as our Club President with great enthusiasm.