The meeting was called to order at 12:04 p.m. by our illustrious leader Chris “Top Gun” Gallagher. He reminded members that the RI President is Holger Knaack and the theme of Rotary is Rotary Opens Opportunities. Priya Jhingan did a fabulous job as Greeter making everyone feel welcomed. Here thought for the day comes from a 1995 Japanese animated film called Whisper of the Heart. The Seven Rules of Life.
1. Make peace with your past (so it won’t screw up your present).
2. What others think of you is none of your business. Their opinion really doesn’t matter in the larger scheme of things.
3. Time heals almost everything. Give it time.
4. Don’t compare your life to others. Don’t judge them. You have no idea what their journey is all about.
5. Stop thinking too much. It’s all right not to know the answers. They will come to you when you least expect it.
6. No one is in charge of your happiness, except you.
7. Smile. You don’t own all the problems in the world.
Following the Salute to the flag Priya gave a brief bio of herself.
Priya is a Bay Area native. She spent six years in San Ramon before spending a bulk of her time in New Orleans with the man of her life, Evan Smith. She has a multi-faceted life focusing on product development and design thinking. She was in a hip-hop dance group and she is also a media producer. Most recently she has been delving into film making and recently made her first super short film.
Guests: David Bernal, Speaker from One Bread Foundation
Brian Endo
Mark Hornstra, the prodigal son of the club
Mark Berman, Priya’s friend and Davis Rotarian
Amy Zhou Yan, close friend to Priya, 14 -year colleague and pod cast co-host
The Club managed a zoom induced unenthusiastic: ALOHA!
Chris announced that it was LITERACY MONTH.
Chris presented “Missed in the News” segment, a favorite among most Rotarians:
Martha Stewart launched a CBD business. Martha shared that popping twenty of her CBD products gives her a warm and fuzzy feeling.
Florida man impersonates officer after pulling over someone for speeding.
A porta-potty was spotted rolling down Route 66. It was not believed to have any occupants inside.
Child with a beer within reach: “So, then I said, No”. This little piggy going to the bar.
Norbert on Auction, hopes everyone is getting serious about obtaining items by the middle of October deadline. While it is expected that we will obtain less items this year there is a thought that we will get higher quality items. An informal survey revealed that restaurants are not be contributing as much this year. Expect to be contacted by Norbert to fully participate. Ana shared that we will be conducting a virtual live event November 5th 7-8p. Terry Koehne and Chris Gallagher will host with live auction items. They will be conducting a dry run soon. The objective is to get the word out on the auction and market Rotary and SRVEF with Priya directing and producing. San Ramon Rotarians should not miss this event if only to harass Terry and Chris.
Colette indicated that Rotoract information will be going out. San Ramon Rotary and Danville/Sycamore Club are the sponsors for this over 18 years old but under 30 year old group associated with our community. They are working on a charter and growing membership while focusing on social justice in the area.
Gary Sloan announced an Interact Dos Coyotes fund raiser between September 15-20th. 25% of the purchase will be donated to Interact when you present an Interact Coupon which will be sent out to Rotarians today or tomorrow. Please support this group.
Mike Conklin announced that on Monday Oct 5th Giannis will be supporting Sentinels with outdoor seating. Normally, a sponsoring club would serve the meal but the pandemic prevents it this time. Tips will go to the Dougherty Valley Rotary Club sponsor supporting Sentinels for Freedom.
Ana reminded any Rotarians that donate $1000 or more, their names and logos will be promoted at the live auction
Julie McKinney surprised everyone with the announcement that the Raffle will be coming back in next couple of weeks with a progressive pot.
Before handing out Recognitions Chris explained to the uninitiated that every Rotarian committed to $125 per year and that “recognitions” was a fun way to distribute their contribution. At this point Norbert interrupted to share that he celebrated his wife’s birthday at a Blackhawk dinner. Chris used this opportunity to demonstrate the power of the President by recognizing Norbert $75 for his celebration.
New member Alan Love celebrated his 46th birthday. He plans to retreat to a Sonora cabin to get away from the bay area. His first recognition was appropriately $46.
Chris celebrated his 27 years of marital bliss with Renee by going to the Sonoma Mission Inn where a great deal of wine was consumed. His fine was $27 and Renee will decide if she wants to renew for another year.
Glenn Weber celebrated his lovely wife, Ginny’s birthday, by going out to dinner with his son in law and daughter. He was delightedly surprised by a Tuesday birthday drive-by featuring Top Gun singing with his Gun-nettes and presenting a bouquet to Ginny.
Patti has an Anniversary coming up. Just sayin.
Program:
David Bernal is from One Bread Foundation primarily focused on raising funds online for the rehabilitation of children rescued from sex trafficking nationwide. In his day job, he is the managing partner for KLR Associates, a nationwide real estate investment firm involved with investment, property management and land development. He spent 11 years as the technical director at Pacific Bell. David received a Bachelor of Arts degree from Pepperdine University and pursued graduate studies at Long Beach State University. He went to law school at Western State University College of Law in Fullerton.
David began by confessing the he was involved with the first Rotary Club in San Ramon in the early days. His claim to fame was in opposing Dougherty Valley Growth and the City Center initiatives but despite this track record he is proud of the work he has done with the One Bread Foundation through which he has been affiliated for 6 years. This organization is focused on advocating, educating and ameliorating the effects of sex trafficking.
He admitted that this was a difficult subject to talk about until he realized how widespread sex trafficking has become. David initially did not believe the extent of the problem but research revealed how much of a problem this has become.
The focus of his non-profit group is in developing a corporate funding aggregation organization similar to the United Way campaigns. They are governed by an independent board and engaged in 31 States and 9 countries with a goal of being a resource to all fifty states. The average pimp makes $650,000 per year. Sex trafficking is easy to market with limited police resources and a high level of public denial. This is also a local tragedy with 8 children recently rescued from a Danville home.
David distinguished between human trafficking, and the $150 billion business of sex trafficking. The money raised by his organization is given to entities that “try to give children back their childhood”. The youngest boys involved in sex trafficking is 8 years old and youngest girls are 10 years old. There is a high mortality rate and all kids suffer from PTSD. The One Bread Foundation funds therapy, education and basic life safety skills.
There is a high rate of recidivism and contrary to popular opinion there is no single pervasive demographic, ethnicity or education level involved. Elizabeth Smart who shared bedroom with sister at home with parents, was abducted and held captive for almost 2 years. Over 300,000 children are held captive in US today for commercial sexual exploitation purposes.
David’s organization supports three local service providers: Claire’s house in Oakland with 16 girls requiring a staff of 65 people who provide security, health, food, education, and housekeeping services. Based in Alamo, New Day for Children has been receiving funds for the last 5 years. This Safe house is located in Napa and Santa Rosa at undisclosed locations. Walnut Creek Alma Care provides therapeutic Arts to the kids.
One Bread Foundation focuses on three elements:
Advocacy for tougher, uniform laws across counties. For example, the Attorney General in Alameda county promoted felony charges if a perpetrator had sex with child. She has an 80% conviction rate. There is a strong lobbying effort for enforcement of these types of new laws.
Educational work with facilities who will listen to the message at the high school level. There is an attempt to share how and why this is so pervasive. Gangs are getting involved since sex trafficking have become more lucrative than drug sales with less enforcement.
Collaboration with Service Clubs, law officials, church, rehabilitation centers and others.
For those who wish to know more, you can go to the Web site www.One-bread.org. David suggests that you not shop at Amazon, Good-shop, Groupon, or E-bay and designate them as a charity because they will only get ½ of 1% of the purchase. Rather, if you go to the One-bread web site and select Shop Now as it will yield a substantially larger portion of the purchase. Shop at One Bread SHOP NOW.
Chris gave a guilt free permission to depart if members had to leave as the meeting ran over 1 pm but continued the meeting for questions:
The group was not aware of “Operation Underground railroad” that promotes similar goals.
Kids are typically drugged, coerced or kidnapped into this business. The Internet is largely used to trap children into sex trafficking. Some are threatened with the harm of themselves or their family.
Warning signs: Unusual activity at someone’s house or massage parlors. Some kids are going to school and live at home but participating in trafficking. They show signs of isolating from friends and family.
Next week greeter is Don Jones Sept 24.
Next week’s Program: Robert Brown Director of Bay Area Region of Western Petroleum Association on Petroleum’s Role in Economy.
Mike Conklin was called out by Chris for getting MD advice from Glenn, a veterinarian on a rash.
The meeting was adjourned 1:07 pm.
Respectfully submitted,
Gary Sloan
Rotary Scribe
