Monthly Archives: January 2020

NEXT MEETING: January 31, 2020

Defensive Breathing: How To Keep Your Heart and Lungs Safe in Polluted and Smoky Air

Air pollution is a growing threat to our health, especially in metro areas like the San Francisco Bay Area. Transportation, industry, and now, wildfires are key contributors to air pollution. This presentation will guide us on breathing safely, using the equipment we always have with us: our nose and mouth! It’s not always possible to wear a mask outdoors or run an air purifier indoors.

Speaker Lisa Bowen is a local breathing coach who beat her own asthma with a process called breathing retraining, whose skills can also be applied to breathing optimally in a polluted environment.

Announcements

The monthly BARSHEEP gathering (that’s Rotary clubs of Berkeley, Albany, Richmond, San Pablo, Hercules, El Cerrito, El Sobrante, Pinole), known  as  (ready for another acronym?) TGIFF, will take place this Friday, January 31. The Hercules Rotary Club will host the event at Craws and Claws Restaurant and Bar, 848 Willow Ave, Hercules (across from the Starbucks). Cost: $10 per person. Hercules Rotary will spring for the hors d’oeuvres.

A Round of Thanks

A big thank you to Richmond Rotary’s family of supporters who attended the Annual Crab Feed last Saturday! Special thanks go to Henry Moe, our Crab Feed Super-Organizer.
Thanks also to Salesian Interact students for serving and cleaning up.
We’re especially grateful to Erle Brown for being the master of ticket sales, He deserves credit for a sold-out event that kept everybody happy.
Alan and Santa Baer get kudos for organizing the raffle, Lisa and Erle Brown’s family for making the salad, Josh Surowitz for cooking the pasta, and Carolyn Moe for making the sauce to coat it.

Finally we must acknowledge an amazing army of helpers who came early to set up, tend bar, and clean up: Norm Lundberg, Don Lau, Brian Fay, Gerald Fay, Patrick Moe, Jim Findley, Sid Chauvin, the Herb Cole team.

It takes a village to have fun, fellowship and a Crab Feed!

MEETING OF

Welcome

Announcements

Recognitions

Happy and Sad Dollars

Norm’s Nonsense

PROGRAM

NEXT MEETING: January 24, 2020

What does our District Attorney do?

Contra Costa District Attorney Diana Becton will describe the work of the DA’s office. Its mission is to seek justice and enhance public safety by fairly, ethically, aggressively and efficiently prosecuting those who violate the law, and by working to prevent crime.

MEETING OF January 24, 2020

Welcome

Welcoming a packed house, President Jan Brown call the meeting to order. Pledge, invocation, and thoughts-for-the day were offered in the usual manner. Jan then asked our guests and visiting Rotarians to stand and introduce themselves. Among them were two visitors, we learned, who may soon be nominated as new members. No, we won’t tell you their names. Stay tuned.

Announcements

  • A membership orientation will be held from 5 to 6 PM at El Agave Azul this coming Tuesday, January 22.
  • Rotary Lite will meet from 6 to 7 PM, also at El Agave Azul on the same Tuesday.
  • Richmond Rotary’s Crabfeed takes place on Saturday, January 25 at Salesian High School from 6 to 8:30.
  • Nick Despota announced that, after 14 years of producing the Flywheel, he will step down. However, he will continue to maintain the website. Nick described what he proposed as the next phase in the Flywheel’s long evolution: a weekly, formatted email that informs members about the upcoming program and that week’s announcement (essentially, what you are reading on this web page right now). He invites any members interested in learning how to use formatted-email applications, like Mail Chimp or Constant Contact, to contact him. The transition to this new communications tool will take place over the next couple of months.
  • Speaking of the website, we want to call your attention to a new page about the Creek Restoration Tree Planting along the Miraflores Greenbelt. The event brought out many members, who were suitably equipped with waterproof boots, gloves shovels. Check it out.

Recognitions

Happy and Sad Dollars

Norm’s Nonsense

PROGRAM

Beth Miller of Community Education Partners told us about an innovative program that brings together volunteer tutors and homeless and highly-mobile students. For these children, regular elementary school education is often insufficient since their regular attendance may difficult, owing to the family’s irregular living conditions. Beth invited any members who are interested in volunteering as tutors to contact here beth@cep.ngo, or 732 742-4506. Learn more at www.cep.ngo


-Nick Despota, Scribe for the Day

NEXT MEETING: January 17, 2020

The Community Education Partnership

The Community Education Partners (CEP) has been providing academic support and mentoring to homeless and highly-mobile students in Richmond and beyond. CEP’s unique model brings trained volunteer tutors to where students live and learn, providing time and location flexibility. Volunteering for as little as an hour each week can have a tremendous impact on the academic progress and well-being of the Bay Area’s most vulnerable students. Learn more.

ANNOUNCEMENTS

  • The Rotary World Peace Conference will take place this Friday and Saturday, January 17 & 18, in Ontario, California. To learn more about the conference or to register, please see this flyer.
  • January 25, 2020 we will hold our 13th Annual Richmond Rotary Crab Feed on the Salesian Campus. You can pay online for a table of 10 ($500) and then contact Erle Brown about seating. Download this flyer for details. Phone:510-233-6291 or Email:ehbgobears@aol.com.
  • Crabfeed Help Wanted! Contact Henry Moe (moeser70@gmail.com) if you’d like to take on one of these jobs: make garlic bread, bartender (45 minutes, 2 positions open), dish washer during the event, check-in and table coordinator, tables set-up and decorations.
  • Special Thanks to Groundwork Richmond for leading the restorative creek planting at Miraflores Greenway last Saturday as a part of Richmond Rotary’s Centennial Project. Interact and student representatives from Salesian and Hercules High Schools, Kaiser Permanente Health employees and other community volunteers along with the Groundwork Richmond staff all pitched in to plant over 400 leafless willow shafts which will all take root in the months to come.

 

MEETING OF

Welcome

Announcements

  • The Rotary World Peace Conference will take place this Friday and Saturday, January 17 & 18, in Ontario, California. To learn more about the conference or to register, please see this flyer.
  • January 25, 2020 we will hold our 13th Annual Richmond Rotary Crab Feed on the Salesian Campus. You can pay online for a table of 10 ($500) and then contact Erle Brown about seating. Download this flyer for details. Phone:510-233-6291 or Email:ehbgobears@aol.com.
  • Crabfeed Help Wanted! Contact Henry Moe (moeser70@gmail.com) if you’d like to take on one of these jobs: make garlic bread, bartender (45 minutes, 2 positions open), dish washer during the event, check-in and table coordinator, tables set-up and decorations.
  • Special Thanks to Groundwork Richmond for leading the restorative creek planting at Miraflores Greenway last Saturday as a part of Richmond Rotary’s Centennial Project. Interact and student representatives from Salesian and Hercules High Schools, Kaiser Permanente Health employees and other community volunteers along with the Groundwork Richmond staff all pitched in to plant over 400 leafless willow shafts which will all take root in the months to come.

Recognitions

Happy and Sad Dollars

Norm’s Nonsense

PROGRAM

NEXT MEETING: January 10, 2020

Business is Growing

Richard Treiber will update us on PowerPlant .an eighteen-acre cannabis production on Richmond’s North Shoreline. The facility will house forty-four greenhouses for cultivation by craft growers plus a manufacturing building. The complex will employ around 400 workers beginning in 2020.

MEETING OF January 3, 2020

Welcome

President Jan opened the meeting, Simon Ellis led the pledge, Herb Cole asked for a moment of silence for peace, justice and freedom on Earth. Alan Blavins’ thought for the day was “to make mistakes is human, to blame someone for the mistakes is even more human.

Visiting Rotarians and Guests

Don Lau’s guest was Dr John Tysell.

Special Events

Brian Fay and Gerald Fay were both honored for their first Paul Harris and were pinned by past District Governor Brad Howard. Jon Lawlis stated that the two of them may be the 2nd fastest to getting a Paul Harris since he achieved his on the first day he became a Rotarian since Erle suggested that was the natural thing to do.

Erle Brown gave his updated who am I. He joined Rotary as a Contractor and now is rated as retired. His favorite Rotary memory were the trips to Mexico to work on the wheelchair foundation. The looks on the faces of those getting a wheelchair left a lasting impression on him.

Announcements

  • On January 17 and 18th, a Rotary Peace Conference will take place in Ontario, California (not Canada). Pierre Thompson assured us that it would be a great experience and this one would be easy to get to. Here’s more information.
  • On January 25, 2020, we will hold our 13th Annual Richmond Rotary Crab Feed on the Salesian Campus. You can pay online for a table of 10 ($500) and then contact Erle Brown about seating Phone:510-233-6291 or Email:ehbgobears@aol.com
  • Prez Jan informed us that Maryann Stonework wife of Horace “Stoney” Stonework passed away and her funeral was January 2nd. We were also told that Bob Nichol passed away.
  • January 11, 2020 Josh Genser invited us to participate in the Rotary work project. This work is part of Miraflores Project, commemorating our 100 year anniversary. We will plant over 900 small trees in the area where the historical plaques will go on. This is the first of 2 or 3 workdays. We will need as many Rotarians, Interactors and friends to get this project done and prepare for the possibility of muddy work.

Recognitions

Happy and Sad Dollars

Norm’s Nonsense

PROGRAM


- Henry Moe, Rotating Scribe