NEXT MEETING: March 20, 2020

Now for some serious social un-distancing

Under the new and necessary regime of home isolation, staying connected is more important than ever. Therefore we’ve decided to undertake a dedicated program of “social un-distancing”—we’re changing our meetings from an in-person to an online format, using the video conferencing application, Zoom. (For broader context, please see Jan’s letter below.)

We’ll start our gatherings at the same time as usual, 12:30 PM, but they’ll take place in a new location: your home. Actually, all our homes. (Don’t worry about the mess.)

To join our Zoom meeting, use your computer, tablet or phone to go to https://zoom.us/j/962928643, and when prompted enter meeting ID 962 928 643.

If you haven’t used Zoom before, don’t sweat it. The application is more user-friendly than some of our past sergeants at arms. When you go to the Zoom web address (the “URL”) you’ll see a dialog box asking if you want to download and install the application. Do it. The download and installation will take a couple minutes so please don’t wait until 12:29 to join our meeting. When you enter the meeting ID number, Zoom will automatically open and you can familiarize with the controls as we go.

We’ll routinely post the URL and ID number for each meeting on our calendar. Just click the meeting date (each meeting has a unique URL and ID). Make a habit of visiting the calendar to get the information you need for all our regular and Board meetings.

ANNOUNCEMENTS

• Rotary Lite (third Tuesdays) is on hold until the ‘shelter in place’ public health directives change. Both La Strada and El Agave Azul (our Board and Rotary Lite venues) are offering take out meals! You can support our community restaurants by ordering take out during this tough time. Thanks Alan and the Baer family for having organized Rotary Lite as an alternative meeting option.
• Our Rotary 4-Way Test Student Essay contest is still healthy and strong even in the face of school closures! Pierre Thompson will be interviewing our Student Essay finalists at our virtual club meeting on April 3 at 12:30! Special thanks to Pierre and his essay review team who are working hard to give our young people a voice for finding the truth in challenging times. You don’t want to miss this April 3 program! But if you do . . . our video will be recorded and available online.

A LETTER FROM THE RICHMOND ROTARY PRESIDENT

Dear Richmond Rotarian,

Who could have known that our club would be turning 100 at such a significant time in history? With our Centennial project & celebrations on hold, we face a global health crisis that is propelling us into learning new ways of staying connected. Henry Kaiser would call this an “opportunity in work clothes.” This Friday, if you have access to the internet and a desktop or laptop computer, tablet or mobile phone, we are asking you to join a video conference version of our traditional Richmond Rotary Meeting at 12:30. President Elect Stacey Street will be our host and a tech-savvy Communications Team (Nick, Nakele, Pierre, and Iris) will be ready to help guide us.

And now a word of gratitude for those who worked so hard to prepare for our Centennial Celebrations. Please give a standing ovation to Don Lau, Stacey Street, Josh Genser, David Brown, and Liliane Koziol for their tireless energy as the Centennial Executive Committee, and all those who helped in special ways along the way: Alan Blavins, Erle Brown, Sid and Zelpha Chauvin, Doreen and Hank Covell, Nick Despota, Yoshimi Downer, Melinda McCrary, Henry Moe, Pierre Thompson (and his 4-WayTest review team), Connie Tritt, The Rotary Board, our Miraflores Greenbelt willow-planting volunteers, our Club 100 supporters and every Donor (https://richmondcarotaryclub100/) to the Miraflores Centennial Project. We are also grateful to those who made special plans to be part of our celebrations including our speakers District Governor Tina Akins and UN Representative Joshua Cooper, the UNA-USA East Bay Chapter, and our guests from the Shimada Rotary Club.

The goodwill and friendships that each of you built in the process of preparing for our Centennial will fuel lasting memories of our 100th year – no matter when we celebrate it. The Making A Living interpretive display is in production, and the groundbreaking / dedication has been postponed to summer/early fall.

Stay tuned, shelter-in-place, and zoom in at 12:30 on Friday!

President Jan