NEXT MEETING: August 29, 2014

West County Reads!

West County Reads! (WCR) was founded in 2001 and is a collaboration of volunteers, key educational institutions, libraries and other organizations seeking to improve children’s literacy in Richmond and West Contra Costa.  WCR currently collects and distributes about 10,000 books per year at community events and through innovative “Take One, Leave One” bookshelves at a number of locations where families gather. Richmond Rotary spearheads programs to address literacy needs, and Rotary and WCR collaborated on the Richmond Tales Fest.  Despite these initial successes the needs are still great.  The question is:  Where do we all go from here to achieve greater improvements in children’s literacy in the area?

ANNOUNCEMENTS

There were no announcements at the last meeting so be sure to stay tuned!

MEETING OF August 22, 2014

Welcome

President Stoney Stonework called the meeting to order and asked Fred Collignon to lead the Pledge of Allegiance.  Sid Chauvin’s thought for the day was a quote from the Dalai Lama who said: “There are only two days in the year that nothing can be done.  One is called yesterday and the other is called tomorrow, so today is the right day to love, believe, do and mostly live.” Stoney called for a silent prayer for freedom, peace and  justice on earth.

Visiting Rotarians and Guests

• Doug Millar was attending from the San Pablo Rotary.
• Fred Collignon was attending from Berkeley Rotary.
• Connie Tritt introduced Dave Schoenthal, with LegalShield and the Point Richmond Business Association.
• Don Lau had two guests from the YMCA, Theresa Dade-Boone, Health Services Coordinator for Pinole Valley High School and Reginald Figgs, Student Engagement Coordinator for Kennedy High School.
• Pam Jones introduced almost an entire table of guests! Brenda McCuistion from RPAL, Ed Medina, Deputy Chief of Richmond Police, Steve Andretich, Richmond Police Officer, and Timothy Hamp, Independent Living Skills Program Assistant Coordinator., as well as today’s program speaker.

Recognitions and Happy and Sad Dollars

• Connie Tritt celebrated her birthday in style!  She started with a few glasses of vino at Hotel Mac, continued the party at the Richmond Rotary mixer at the Baltic, and doesn’t remember too much about the dinner at Skates (and yes, she had a designated driver…), but was sure it was fabulous!
• Herb Cole had happy dollars after having fun with his best friend from First Grade (who unfortunately couldn’t attend the lunch). Fifty years ago he was Herb’s Best Man and his late wife served as Matron of Honor.  That’s a long time to stay friends!
• Fred Collingham had happy dollars since his middle daughter just moved into her first house.
• Joe Bagley was able to extract some money from Mark Howe by strongly encouraging him to contribute more happy dollars in honor of his recent engagement.  Mark agreed, since it is now on Facebook and therefore “official.”

PROGRAM

Cops and Robbers

Pam Jones introduced Jinho “Piper” Ferreira, a rapper, actor and screenwriter. Piper is part of the group Flipsyde, an internationally acclaimed trio that toured with the Black Eyed Peyes and Snoop Dogg, and composed anthems for the 2006 and 2008 Olympics.

Piper grew up in Oakland and went to SF State University for Black Studies. In 2010, after touring and performing, he decided to join the Bay Area Law Enforcement Academy. The paradox of being a member of the Black community and a hip-hop artist, while simultaneously working in Law Enforcement, inspired him to write his solo play, Cops and Robbers.

Piper showed a music video called “Believe”, focused on two young children headed on the path to disaster until they were saved by the Reach Youth Center in Alameda County. He noted that cops were portrayed in a positive light – a first for a rap video!

In Cops and Robbers, Piper plays 17 characters and hopes to show a number of different perspectives that are believable. He wants audiences of all ages and backgrounds, including young people and those in prison, to see the people on stage as people, to make it possible to start the conversation about the issues in the play. We can’t begin finding solutions until we can talk about the problems, which include popular culture, economics, the education system and law enforcement. He ultimately hopes the play can be filmed so the message can reach a wider audience.

Piper also gave kudos to Richmond Rotary for ensuring a group of local youth will attend his show at the Marsh Theater in Berkeley on Friday, September 12^th.

President Stoney added some thoughts at the end of the program about his experience living in Chicago several years ago while working for McDonald’s Corporation. He remembered the worthwhile initiative taken by local business leaders to go into school classrooms throughout the area to talk directly with students about alternative, positive pathways to productive and successful lives.

Stacey Street, Rotating Editor