We meet 1st and 3rd Thursdays of the Month

12:00 PM

at the San Ramon Community Center Terrace Room
12501 Alcosta Blvd

Zoom on the 4th Thursday of the Month

Join Us!

(No meeting if there is a 5th Thursday in the month)

Our club members are dedicated people who share a passion for community service and friendship. Becoming a Rotarian connects you with a diverse group who share your drive to give back.

Weekly Program
Interact News
 
The Camp Venture Interact Students presented their experience today at our in-person lunch meeting (Every 1st and 3rd Thursday).  See more in the story below. Danielle Lee, VP Communications, shared that Rotarians are invited to assist in a fundraising event at MOD Pizza where the Interact Club will get 20% of the proceeds.  
 
Attached is a flyer to present to MOD Pizza on September 14th.  Please try to help out this club of Cal High Students seeking funds to help benefit our community.
 
Also, you are invited to the Interact Leadership Conference if you want to learn more about Interact on September 26th from 10 am to 12:30 pm.  (virtual)  If you are interested, please refer to www.interact5160.org and go to Leadership Conference under "Events".
 
 
Thank you for your support of young adults committed to serving our community.
 
Danielle announced that the Interact had conducted 2 meetings thus far with great interest and engagement from Cal High students.  There were over 250 students indicating an interest in Interact and 150 who have registered as members thus far.  This is before the club officially invite students to join their club in the next few weeks.
 
 
 
Best regards,
 
Gary Sloan
Interact Rotary Advisor
Meeting Notes September 2, 2021
 
The meeting was called to order by President Showtime at 12:15p at the San Ramon Community Center on Alcosta.  The RI President is Shekhar Mehta with a theme of “Serve to Change Lives”.   With the absence of Julie Fiedler, Ana Dominquez graciously stepped in to be our Greeter.  Her thought for the day was “any day above ground is a good day” was received warmly by all Covid free Rotarian members in attendance.
 
 
Glen introduced Ginny Weber, his lovely wife and former first lady.  Ana introduced her wonderful companion, Jim Burch.
 
 
Ana described herself as an artist with many interests in digital art, portraits, and graphics.  She loves working from home and maintains domiciles in Glen Ellen and San Ramon.  When not hard at work for Rotary, Ana founded the “Jack London Yacht Club” which originated following the fires in Glen Ellen. After Jack London’s love to sail, Ana and her first mate Jim, conceived a club that supported the local non-profit organizations in the community by sponsoring an annual model yacht race down the creek every April and donating funds to needy organizations.
 
Terry led us in the now infamous welcome song:  “Ariba, Abajo, A Centro, A Dentro, Bienvenidos!”  Members are relatively sure that Terry is an illegal immigrant who transits between Cabo and California regularly.
 
 
 
 
September is focused on Education and Activities.
 
Announcements:
 
  1.  The Toby’s Lake Amador cabin is safe with the fire seemingly moving north away from their vacation home.  Glen Weber’s son and daughter’s homes in Tahoe have not been threatened by the fire yet.
  2. Six Clubs will be hosting an Amazing Race Event where teams of ten will be sent on a journey through downtown Danville for 2 hours in honor of World Polio Day followed by cocktails and an Octoberfest dinner at the Growler on October 24th.  Volunteers are being sought.
  3. Dictionary Distribution: Dr. Bill announced that, in honor of Education Month, we will be distributing dictionaries to five elementary schools for 3rd graders in the latter part of September or early October.  This will be our 27th year providing dictionaries.  Colette was volunteered to place identification stickers in the books.  Teams of 2-3 people will be selected to facilitate distribution.
  4. Virtual Happy Hours will begin on the 2nd Thursday of each month.
 
Birthdays:
 
Colette Lay celebrated her “double nickel” birthday.   She celebrated this auspicious occasion with family at a brunch with her kids and dinner with friends.  She contributed $30 to the club.
 
Dr. Bill announced that Hitler invaded Poland one year after he was born 83 years ago.  He celebrated his coming into the world at a new Mexican Restaurant making the world a better place.  He gave the club $40 for the honor.
 
Others not in attendance but had anniversaries included Art and Sandy Kubal and Mike and Peggy Conklin. 
 
 
Interact Update:
 
 
 
Before introducing the Interact liaison, Gary asked the club for a moment of silence to recognize that the San Francisco Giants are no longer in first place and to console Chris Gayler in his hour of despair.
 
Camp Venture:
 
 
Gary Sloan shared with members that San Ramon Rotary Club sponsors 2 campers for Camp Royal, a leadership camp and 2 campers for Camp Venture, a camp for entrepreneurs.  This past year, the Interact Board opted out of Camp Royal since it was being done completely virtual. However, our club was able to secure 3 spots for Camp Venture.  Candidates for this camp must go through an application and interview process.  The three successful candidates who attended the camp this year were Danielle Lee (Senior), Grishmita Puttha (Junior) and Emily Villalpando (Junior).
 
 
Danielle, Grishmita and Emily shared the full scope of their experience including their daily schedule, dorm and dining hall life, guest speakers, business titles and business selection, and the camp’s effect on their leadership skills. 
 
Emily described a very full day beginning at 7:30a followed by two hours of classroom time, a guest speaker and work groups until noon.  After lunch, additional business plan teaching, work time and feedback ensued.  After dinner, guest speakers, work time and mini pitch opportunities.  Back to the dorms by 9:30p and lights out at 11p.  There was one day focused on marketing with 2 speakers per day.  Campers were able to “pitch” their ideas to counselors to improve the business plan.
 
Grishmita shared that because of the pandemic dorm rooms were limited to 1-2 people and a shared bathroom with up to four people.  Dining and dorm life facilitated bonding between students and revealed a wide geographic diversity with students coming from Napa, Dublin, San Ramon and Danville.   The dining provided diversified dietary choices.  “You literally cannot starve at camp because they gave us so many snacks and the meals were always delicious”.
 
One of the highlights of the camp were the guest speakers.  Jim Marggraff is a “serial entrepreneur” currently associated with Canoe which provides an app to better connect family and friends.  PJ Quesada, the COO of Ramar Foods best known for its Philippine ice cream was among the presenters.  Kian Ameli with Momentum Fitness provided yoga meditation techniques and Paula Pollock taught marketing strategies and Candy Pierce revealed public speaking techniques with exercises to improve story-telling and speaker emotion.
 
Most teams consisted of 3-4 people including a CEO, CFO, CMO and CIO with particular assigned duties and roles.  Each team developed a product complete with demographic analysis, marketing strategy, and financial projections.  Each club presented to a group of judges who awarded cash prizes for the top three winners.
 
Danielle’s team presented “Everest”, a VR headset that mimics real world conversation to promote language learning through virtual cultural experiences.  The consumer is be free to choose their interactions and embark on different levels and tasks particularly in accessing conversational practice.  It was thought that this product could enhance World Language Departments to expand beyond language vocabulary and sentence structure to more real-life interactions and conversation.
 
Emily’s team conceived of a product called inSOLEator providing quality footwear accessory that is made to support the body by helping your feet stay cool during intense workouts.  This product was aimed to prevent foot odor and athlete’s foot.
 
Grishmita’s team developed a product called Tranquil which is designed to produce silent and biodegradable packaging. 
 
All three young ladies agreed that they were significantly affected by camp, learning what is involved in teamwork, conflict resolution, and compromise.  They valued their mentors and enjoyed the connections that the camp afforded.  Two key skills that all campers develop were communication and time management skills which can be applied to their future endeavors in school, at Interact and in life.
 
Above all, campers learned how to lead. Finding a common ground without sacrificing one’s principles or the key message/product was among the important leadership elements learned.  Drawing on all available resources, encouraging shared ideas, prioritize to maximize results and have fun was the other key take-away. 
 
Danielle’s team won $50 which she reluctantly shared that she used on Amazon products.   Both Emily and Grishmita enjoyed the experience, the people, the speakers and friendships.  All of the involved Interactors thanked the Rotary Club for sponsoring them for Camp Venture.  It was “truly an unforgettable experience with lessons that they will carry with them for the rest of their lives”.  An added bonus was that Danielle, the Interact District Governor was able to connect with Kathy Suvia, Rotary District 5160 District Governor and was able to learn about the new Youth Services Chair, Don Winter and new interact 5160 Chairwoman/adviser, Tristyn Barker.
 
Many questions ensued with a better appreciation of what these youth camps provide to those San Ramon Rotary Club sponsors.
 
President Showtime Terry presented Goals for the Year conceived with support from President Elect Carolyn and Innovation extraordinaire, Priya.
 
  1. New Meeting Structure:  The club now meets in person every 1st and 3rd Thursday.  Zoom meeting on the 4th Thursday and on the 2nd Thursday we will be dark at which time various social events are planned (Virtual happy hour, Dinner, ballgame)
  2. Open to Change:  “Don’t do what we have always done”.
  3. Grow Membership by 25%
  4. Move from surviving to thriving by building a community within the club and investing in ourselves. 
Quarterly Theme Objectives
 
Q1     Reconnect with members
Q2     Re-invest and re-purpose
Q3     Re-emerge and re-engage our community
Q4     Relax and coast
 
Ideas associated with re-connecting
          -Virtual wine/cheese event
          -Cooking class
          -Chocolate class
          - Corn Hole competition
          -Bowling and billard event
          -Bocce Ball
          -Music in the Park
          -Spouse picnic
          -October Fest @ Growlers
          -Women’s lunch
 
Asked for additional ideas, it was suggested that older members invite younger members for one-on-one coffee or lunch to better acquaint new members with the traditions of the club.
 
A key suggestion was that the club focus on the principle purpose of our club:  Community Service.  Discussion ensued noting our efforts to provide technology and support to the Trinity Center.  We are also planning two fund raising events, the Auction and a Fashion Show.  Stop Hunger Now project is also planned for February.  Assisting survivors of the Dixie and Tahoe fires will also be a focus this year.
 
Terry played a video about change that had so many cliches that even Terry noted that there were many “thoughts for the day” in it.
 
 
“Change before you have to”
“Anticipate change”
“’Used to be’ don’t make honey, ‘gonna be’ does”
“Change is inevitable, growth is optional”
“Life does not get better by chance. Life gets better by change”
You get the idea.
Questions about our fund-raising efforts were asked.  The Auction is on for November 1-9.  In past years, we have raised $65,000 but due to the pandemic and the loss of both large sponsors and auction items we anticipate raising closer to $50,000 this year.
 
Mike Roberts was presented with his Paul Harris Pin
Chris Gayler encouraged members to wear their lapel pin and shared that he can sell you one for $5.00.
 
The raffle for both $20 and the blue marble plus $10 was won by Jim Burch after he contributed $20 for the raffle and $20 of raffle tickets. Go figure.
 
The meeting was adjourned at 1:10p.
 
Respectfully submitted,
 
Gary Sloan
Scribe
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
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