2019-2020 Year in Review - Linda Jonas, President
The Rotary Club of Pacifica just like most organizations was hit with the Covid-19 shutdown in the middle of our year. However despite the shutdown we were still able to help our community and accomplish several of our goals this past year. Below are some of the items we are honored to share with you.
July 2 Frontierland Park July 4th Fundraiser Beverage Booth
Attendees: Linda Jonas, Carl Schwab, Steve & Colleen Wright, Vickie Flores, Yvonne Lorvan, Mike Haase, Steve Talsky, Jerry & Deidre Crow, Rick, Jennifer & Rubi Montenegro, Sue & John Beckmeyer, Ruth Amber, Jack Hug, Bob Jacobsen.
July 9 – 7:15 a.m. meeting at Sharp Park Restaurant
District Governor Sue Rockaw attended and installed our new officers. Linda read the letter from RI President Mark Maloney.
July 13&14- Pacifica Relay for Life at Terra Nova High School
Linda and RCOP co-sponsored this event for $1000. Sue Beckmeyer, Celeste Chernicky and Linda were happy to have Rick and his family and Gary Chow join us for this event. Gary, as a prior chairman for the 1st ever Pacifica Relay for Life event, gave classic stuffed bears for Linda to distribute to club members who’d suffered from cancer and/or who donated a minimum $100.
July 16 – 7:15 a.m. meeting at Sharp Park Restaurant
We donated $100 to newly chartered Rotary Club of San Francisco Sunset. Lisa Blanchard from The Grateful Garment was an excellent speaker
July 19 – 6 p.m. joint meeting with South San Francisco at Nick’s Restaurant
Thirty-three attended, including 1 member from the Daly City Club, San Mateo County Supervisor Don Horsley, our Interact President Becca and her mom, and 13 members from SSF and 17 of our members. Becca was our speaker, telling about RYLA Camp.
July 30 – 7:15 a.m. meeting at Sharp Park Restaurant
Speaker was Pacifica City Council member Mike O’Neill, who gave us time for questions/answers about current status of our City. Several members worked at Rotary Plaza with HOPE Services today.
August 6 - 7:15 a.m. meeting at Sharp Park Restaurant
We’re registered for Fog Fest parade! Who’s helping with Fog Jog? Rick was to be speaker, but he had to work. Bob Jacobsen was honored as Rotarian of the month for July.
August 11 – Colleen & Steve Wright’s 25th Anniversary celebration at Rotary Plaza!
August 13 - 7:15 a.m. meeting at Sharp Park Restaurant
Bowlathon planning underway! Colleen brought speaker Rusty Galliard, who talked about ‘Live Your Best Life Now.’
August 15 – Patrick and Linda and the American Legion Commander delivered our
donation from Vets Walk in May to PDAT in Martinez.
August 20 – 6 p.m. joint meeting with HMB at Sharp Park Restaurant
We had 23 of our own members, 3 from Millbrae and 21 from HMB plus their 2 exchange students – together with DG Sue Rockaw and her husband Alan Test,
AND two Rotarians who were our speakers on Rotaplast: Peter Lagarius and Angelo Cappozzi, as well as a guest/potential new member-total of 54 attended.
August 27 - 7:15 a.m. meeting at Sharp Park Restaurant
Lots of planning in process: Fog Fest, Coastal Cleanup Day, Bowlathon. Today’s speaker was Tygerjas Twyrls Bygstyck, speaking about being on the board for PRC and being on Planning Commission, among other things. Linda also sponsored the PRC fundraiser ‘Palm-a-Palooza’ for second year.
September 10 - 7:15 a.m. meeting at Sharp Park Restaurant
Rotarian Bob Hermann, a Rotacare board member, was our speaker. Lots of upcoming events to support other clubs were announced. Ginny and Linda working with local muralist, Jeffrey Wong, to get plans ready for our mural celebrating the 250th anniversary of Ohlone/Portola sighting of SF Bay.
September 17 - 7:15 a.m. meeting at Sharp Park Restaurant
Patrick sponsored our speaker, Desiree Lions from Namaste, who brought some students from Hillsdale High School to talk about their experiences going to Guatamala. Linda submitted the application for the District Community Service Grant. Mike Haase was honored as our Rotarian of the Month for August.
September 26 - 6 p.m. joint meeting with SSF at Basque Cultural Center
Linda and 2 potential new members (Celeste and Amber) attended, as did Steve and Colleen and Steve Talsky. Speaker was Tamaka Bailey, a Native American teacher/story teller who keeps their culture alive. He also lives IN Pacifica, near Mazzetti’s Bakery.
September 28-29 Fog Fest!
Many Pacifica Rotarians worked at our beverage booth to help raise funds. Steve, Colleen, Yvonne and Linda also helped guide the Fog Jog runners first thing in the morning. Linda gave out the awards, and she also did the Block Captain duty.
October 1 - 7:15 a.m. meeting at Sharp Park Restaurant
Dee Dee O’Gorman and Patrick Sayres of Pacifica School Volunteers were our speakers – excellent, as always.
October 8 – 7 p.m. meeting at Sharp Park Restaurant
Mike Perez, Director of Parks, Beaches & Recreation was our speaker. We honored Vickie Flores as Rotarian of the Month of September.
October 15 - 7:15 a.m. meeting at Sharp Park Restaurant
Our dictionaries have been ordered! Jack gave a brief update on PREF to the club. Club Assembly - Dave Bertini forewarned that new guidelines coming for Youth Protection.
October 22 - 7:15 a.m. meeting at Sharp Park Restaurant
Bowlathon is next Sunday! Shelterbox sent a ‘Thank You’ for the joint donation from us, Millbrae and HMB. HOPE Services also sent a ‘Thank You.’ The Callisto Fund, via Silicon Valley Community Foundation, sent a donation of $3,000 to go toward our mural expenses. Cassie Eng was an excellent speaker about Project Pearls/Cassie’s Bag of Dreams.
October 29 – 6 p.m. at Sharp Park Restaurant with Halloween theme
Power outage problems meant Bowlathon date was cancelled – we’ll need to reschedule. Rick Montenegro, with wife and daughter as guests, gave an exciting talk about how Rotary has come across to him – he was inspirational!
November 2 – Dedication of our mural at the Community Center
Ginny, Linda and Rick were among those who held the ribbon for the Grand Opening ceremony of the mural. Artist Jeffrey Wong told about his personal spiritual feelings brought about by the subject. Many dignitaries were on hand as well: Our mayor & city council members, Don Horsley, Kevin Mullin, members of the Beautification Advisory Committee.
November 5 - 7:15 a.m. meeting at Sharp Park Restaurant
Mural artist Jeffrey Wong was our speaker, and everyone got to hear how very personally he feels about his art.
November 12 - 7:15 a.m. meeting at Sharp Park Restaurant
Randy Houston, from the Purple Heart Anglers, was our speaker. His group takes veterans fishing and/or hunting at no charge to the vets. Ginny Jaquith was honored as our Rotarian of the Month for October.
November 19 - 7:15 a.m. meeting at Sharp Park Restaurant
Steve & Colleen, with some assistance from Bob, gave the entire club a terrific ‘Learning & Development’ training on Global Grants. Dave Bertini was presented with another Paul Harris Fellow.
December 3 - 7:15 a.m. meeting at Sharp Park Restaurant
Bob requested help for painting the Boys & Girls Club on Saturday/Sunday. It was announced that beginning in January the first Tuesday each month would be an evening meeting or event. Jerry Crow brought us the check from Fog Fest, then he also gave an excellent presentation on the Historical Society’s Car 1409 from the Ocean Shore Railroad. Steve Talsky told us that Interact was doing a food drive. We happily installed a new member: Celeste Chernicky!
December 7 – 6 p.m. at Nick’s Restaurant
Our Christmas/Holiday dinner was attended by 25 people, including a potential new member and by DG Sue Rockaw and her husband Alan Test. Mike’s wife, Connie, again won the $200 marble game and donated it back to the club! Rick’s daughter Rubi was a great help in giving out the gifts.
December 10 - 7:15 a.m. meeting at Sharp Park Restaurant
Bob updated everyone on our progress for Boys & Girls Club painting – more to come. Heather Olsen, Superintendent of Pacifica School District, was our speaker. She explained a lot about how things are working at the district.
We honored Colleen Wright as our Rotarian of the Month for November.
December 17 - 7:15 a.m. meeting at Sharp Park Restaurant
Linda announced names for the By-Law Committee: Linda, Carl, Vicki, Celeste, and Jack. Linda applied for the District Community Service Grant – plan was to spruce up the weedy spot where the Art Center sign is affixed to the big rock. Our speaker was Frank Ramirez from the Neptune Society – great information.
January 7 – 6 p.m. at the Coastside Museum (LBC)
We were fortunate, again, to install a new member: Amber Porter, Manager of Tri Counties Bank. Her husband and children also attended this event. Many kudos were given for the baked potato bar dinner idea.
January 14 - 7:15 a.m. meeting at Sharp Park Restaurant
Rick paid a sponsorship for a fundraising event for TN Education Foundation held at Sanchez Art Center, but put it through the club so club would get credit. Linda asked for member input for By-Law Committee to consider. Christopher Sturkin spoke to us about Hip Housing and some changes/updates they’ve made.
Janaury 21 - 7:15 a.m. meeting at Sharp Park Restaurant
Upcoming events mentioned: Millbrae Lunar New Year event, dictionary labeling and deliveries to be scheduled, Community Service Grant project. Dave Bertini was our speaker, and he gave an in-depth explanation about the new live scan rules – basically every member should go and be re-fingerprinted! Dave was honored as our Rotarian of the Month for December.
January 25 – Community Service Grant Project at Sanchez Art Center
Linda, Steve & Colleen, Tom, Bob, Dan, and Mike spent approximately 4 ½ hours installing wire, cloth and mulch to the area of the Sanchez Art Center sign.
January 28 - 7:15 a.m. meeting at Sharp Park Restaurant
In Jerry’s absence, Jack presented Paul Harris Fellow # 8 to Colleen. Steve & Colleen gave an excellent presentation about their trip with H2 Open Doors.
February 4 – 6 p.m. meeting at Sharp Park Restaurant
Dictionaries were delivered to 5 schools yesterday – will do the other two next Monday. This was ‘official’ visit for DG Sue. Six members of the Daly City club were also guests. Sue gave an update on how District works on various things. She also presented Rotarian of the Month for January to Tom, as well as his first Paul Harris Fellow, and Major Donor to Dave Bertini.
February 7 – Rotary Club of Millbrae’s Lunar New Year event
Steve & Colleen and Carl and Linda attended and sat at the same table with DG Sue. The big ‘hurrah’ of the night was that we won the card game – Linda got $925, and Carl and Sue each got $325!
February 11 - 7:15 a.m. meeting at Sharp Park Restaurant
Last two schools’ dictionaries delivered yesterday. Patrick invited Mike Ervin to be our speaker today – he told about new rules for building an ‘in-law’ type unit in Pacifica, or remodeling your home to allow for rental space.
February 13 – 6:30 p.m. Official board meeting with DG Sue Rockaw at Linda’s home.
February 18 - 7:15 a.m. meeting at Sharp Park Restaurant
Time to sign up for District Assembly and for District Conference! Our speaker was Fredrick Sherman, owner of the Pacifica Tribune. Very interesting to hear how he came about being the owner of this and other small papers.
February 25 - 7:15 a.m. meeting at Sharp Park Restaurant
No speaker today – mini club assembly. March 4 was set as beginning our Laguna Salada Regatta. Patrick presented some info on global grants, and discussion about Vets Walk brought decision not to have it this year.
March 3 – 6 p.m. meeting at Sanchez Art Center
This was a joint meeting with the Art Center board members, thanks to Cindy Abbot for working with Linda & Ginny to organize it. Rich Jasso, who grew up here, presented on behalf of Pacifica Veterans Memorial Group, who want to erect a plaque to honor Vietnam veterans from Pacifica – it would be placed on American Legion property. Quirk of the night was when the caterer didn’t call or show – Linda got Pacifica PD to do a welfare check next morning. Captain Clements commented that he hopes if anything ever happened to him, he’d have a friend like that to check up on HIM.
March 10 - 7:15 a.m. meeting at Sharp Park Restaurant
The PANDEMIC has begun! Notifications: District cancelled Rotary Means Business that Rick & Sven were to attend on Saturday. Lions Club cancelled doing joint meeting with us on March 24, which we were to host. Speaker today was Bob Kuchem – talking about Rotary Peace Scholars.
March 17 – NO MEETING due to pandemic shutdown.
March 24 – Originally meant to be our joint meeting with Pacifica Lions Club, but they
cancelled due to COVID.
March 24 – Our first ‘virtual’ meeting, with Vickie organizing us on Conference Call.
Nineteen members were present to hear speaker Chief Dan Steidle talk about what’s going on from the PD perspective in regard to COVID.
April 7 – Our second ‘virtual’ meeting on Conference Call.
Twelve members attended, along with guest Chris Ferrell. We had to forgo continuation of our Laguna Salada Regatta. Linda delivered all that had been donated thus far to the Pacifica Resource Center.
April 14 – Our third ‘virtual’ meeting on Conference Call
Ten members attended. All Earth Day events were cancelled, so we were not able to do any restoration work at Grace McCarthy Overlook, as hoped.
May 5 – Our fourth ‘virtual’ meeting on Conference Call
Eleven members attended. Vickie put together a proposal for an online Mother’s Day contest, where one could write a letter about any mom, grandma, aunt, sister or someone who acted like a mother to you or someone you knew. This went out via Facebook and other social media. Sue Beckmeyer was our speaker, who told us about her experiences in first year on Pacifica City Council. Keith Axtell has begun work toward another Global Grant in Ecuador – PPE equipment needed. Linda and Sue sent personal checks to support that grant.
May 12 – Our fifth ‘virtual’ meeting on Conference Call
Fourteen members and our ADG Rick Chinn attended, along with speaker Patrick Galvin, himself a Rotarian in Portland, Oregon. He played a video of him doing a conference about ‘service’ and it was outstanding.
May 19 – Our sixth ‘virtual’ meeting on Conference Call
Thirteen members were present. Ginny & Patrick to put congrats to our TN Interact graduates into the Tribune. Linda reported that she’d begun weeding on Oceana Blvd. on April 2 a bit at a time – it’s now near completion.
May 26 – Our seventh ‘virtual’ meeting on Conference Call
Eighteen members were present. Steve & Colleen told us about donation of candy from See’s that we could distribute in Pacifica. Vickie was our speaker and gave a brief preview of her upcoming year as President.
May 23 – Flag Planting at Golden Gate National Cemetery cancelled this year.
May 24 – Vets Walk would have been today, but the club supported Patrick’s
recommendation not to have it this year due to Bowlathon being late - March 1.
May 28 – Bagging See’s candy for Pacifica Senior Center.
Steve & Colleen, Linda, Carl, Laurie Jacobsen, Ginny & Robin, Jerry & Deidra and Steve Talsky participated. Laurie, Mike, Linda, Vickie, Patrick/Marilyn, Chris and Steve & Collen also delivered multiple boxes to ‘essential workers’ throughout Pacifica.
June 2 – Our eighth ‘virtual’ meeting, first on Zoom via Ginny at 7 p.m.
Sixteen members joined in to hear our speaker: City Manager Kevin Woodhouse, who gave us an updated account of what the City’s been doing to help all of us get through the pandemic. Key acronym utilized is VUCA, which stands for Volativity, Uncertainty, Complexity, Ambiguity. It seems that our city is keeping up with the changes better than we could have hoped.
June 9 – Our ninth ‘virtual’ meeting - 7:15 a.m.
We received a ‘Thank You’ from Recology workers for the See’s Candy. Bob reminded all to register for the District Awards Regatta coming on June 13.
We need to strengthen support for ‘Wendy’s’ tree at Rotary Plaza. No speaker today. Eleven members were in attendance.
June 13 – District 5150 Awards Regatta!
Chairman Bob Jacobson put together a truly magnificent Zoom meeting for the awards regatta! Our club earned all but Membership, Vocational and Best Club awards. Those in attendance, in addition to Bob and Linda, were Steve & Colleen, Patrick & Marilyn, Vickie, Ginny and Tom. Extra kudos to Bob for his work!!!
June 16 – Our tenth ‘virtual’ meeting – 7:15 a.m.
Chief of Police & fellow-Rotarian Dan Steidle was our speaker. He explained how Lexipol was the guide for how the police department conducted their ‘business.’ It was a very enlightening presentation that helped us understand our PD. Paul Harris Fellow & PH+1 were presented to Mike Haase, PH+6 to Linda. A total of 18 members attended this meeting.
June 23 – Our eleventh ‘virtual’ meeting – 7:15 a.m.
Speaker was Cheryl Trott, from Blood Donors of the Pacific – now Vitalant. She encouraged us to think about sponsoring a blood drive to help with the shortage. Linda & Steve will research that possibility. Fourteen members attended. (Linda did follow up with contact to City to see if a blood drive is feasible for us to do.)
June 30 – Our twelfth and final ‘virtual’ meeting for this Rotary year – 7:15 a.m.
Wrap up ~ say adios! Steve Carlson came back as speaker – Moroccan Aquaduct Global Grant project - and he brought along Scott Swartz from the Redwood City Club who will be continuing work on the aquaduct. Fourteen Pacifica members attended, as did DG Sue Rockaw and ADG Rick Chinn.
Since we didn’t meet in person to elect Rotarian of the Month from March through June – Linda selected those to receive the honor for those months:
March – Steve Talsky, Youth Services – getting TN Interact back active
April - Rick Montenegro, Vocational Services – TN fundraiser credit to our club and donating $500 for our mural.
May - Steve Wright, always giving his all for everything Rotary, but this time it was organizing the See’s Candy distribution.
June – Patrick Hall, International Service – for SO many years of serving in this capacity!
Thank you to all Rotary Club of Pacifica members for standing together through this extraordinary year!
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