The meeting was called to order by President Marty Fishman at 12:32.
We had two guests from the LGHS Interact Club. Sophie Sullivan, a sophomore, who spoke a bit about how life during COVID-19 has been for her. She said it was an adjustment but now she finds it a little less stressful. She seems as busy as ever, she had to leave our meeting for an EL Gato meeting. Our other guest was senior Eddy Byun. Eddy will be attending Berkeley in the fall studying Mechanical Engineering. Eddy was involved in Interact all four years of high school. He wanted to thank our club for all the opportunities he had through Rotary. He said many of them, such as RYLA were life changing. He told us the club is still busy, even during quarantine. Right now they are writing letters to residents at the Terraces.
Marty gave a short tribute to Beverly McCleve. New members learned a little more about Beverly. He included two pictures one as a beautiful young nursing graduate and one with Don taken at a Rotary picnic. We are sorry for your loss Don.
Dave Downing has moved to Capitola. We’ll miss you Don and hope you can stay involved with us from time to time.
The polio campaign is underway. According to Dan Snyder we have collected about $8,000 so far. Marty would like to see 100% participation, so please donate, no amount is too small.
Reminder for Red Badges who still need to attend another club’s meeting. Contact Henry Vitkovich or David Karwowski if you need help.
Ensy Afdari did her Red Badge Bio. Ensy was born in Iran and came to the U.S. for graduate school. She has worked in real estate for 28 years. She enjoys a lot of activities such as running and yoga. Ensy’s father taught her to continue learning throughout her life, this remains an important part of who she is. We enjoyed learning more about you Ensy, thank you for sharing.
We were reminded to enjoy our new life for a while. Marty also included a craft idea to make a custom face mask that will show everyone your smile.
Mike Norcia reminded us that we have until midnight May 17 to complete the Great Social Distancing Race.
LG Rotary Buddies is a committee that checks in with friends to help ease the isolation many people experience. They also provide help with getting people food, prescriptions, etc. Contact Carol Abela if you would like to help.
There are lots of opportunities for service right now. St. Lukes drop off on Tuesdays, House of Hope, Food Runners are just a few. Contact Dick Konrad if you have questions.
Blood Drive is coming up May 27 at St. Andrews. Contact Tina Orsi-Hartigan if you’d like to volunteer, we need to help staff this event.
John Pencer shared quotes from Babe Ruth and Michael Jordan. He closed with the quote by Maya Angelou: I’ve learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel. He reminded us to go out and make people feel good.
Next week’s speaker is Rod Diridon Sr.
Today's Speaker: Bill Tobin from ShelterBox.
Bill gave us an overview of the history of ShelterBox which was started by a Rotary club in England as a project in 2000. He thanked our club for our past support of the project. The mission of ShelterBox is to provide emergency shelter to families who have lost their homes to disasters, enabling them to rebuild their lives. Now they find most of the families they are helping are in conflict areas such as Syria and the Rohingya refugees. They have a unique model where they store supplies in strategic locations throughout the world which allows them to reach people quickly. Tom Boyce mentioned they were the first outside group to Haiti after the earthquake. As a project partner with Rotary International they are able to collaborate and combine resources to support more communities in need. They partner with local Rotary clubs, where available, for logistics and distribution.
The cost for 1 shelter box - $100
Los Gatos has supported this mission.
Click here to view slides from todays meeting