Rotary Goes to the Dogs (and Cats)
Burlingame Rotarians went on a field trip to the Peninsula Humane Society & SPCA’s Compassion Center location. We were still treated to our delicious Sapore lunch. And President Fritz Brauner again presided.
Even though there was no US flag to be found, we recited the Pledge of Allegiance.
Mark Lucchesi then provided the invocation.
God of peace, we invite you to preside over this meeting. Even if we have different opinions, give us unity of spirit. Help us to listen politely as others share their points of view. Help us to work as a unified team in combining ideas for a great outcome. Help us to work as a whole, rather than individuals trying to promote their own agendas. May we have a spirit of camaraderie in this room and work together on our shared mission. Amen
We had a great turnout, assisted by a number of guests. Chris Ramirez introduced his SVB colleague, Kim Mueller. Emily Matthews brought her son Ben, who just graduated from college. Christine Krolik’s sister, Beth LaBeff, tagged along to enjoy the meeting.
President Fritz announced the monthly Board of Director’s Meeting at 4:30 this afternoon. Marilyn Orr informed all that attending one is part of the new member activity list and offered to send out the Zoom link to those individuals.
Mark Johnson reminded us that nominations for Rotarian of the Year in memory of Wade Macomber are due now!
With announcements concluded, President Fritz asked Jennifer Pence to introduce our program speaker. Anthony Tansimore has been the president of the Peninsula Humane Society since 2021. Jennifer did a bit of sleuthing and informed us that Anthony grew up in rural Virginia and spent much of his childhood around abandoned cats and dogs his father nurtured back to health. In junior high and high school, he was a member of 4-H. As an adult, Anthony would later serve for two years as the board chair of the National 4-H Council.
Anthony believes the Peninsula Humane Society & SPCA has a solid foundation thanks to the leadership of the organization’s former president Ken White. He shared many highlights of the organization’s successes. PHS/SPCA is a local, private, non-profit charitable organization dedicated to animal welfare. Among their major programs, PHS/SPCA adopts fully 100% of the healthy dogs and cats in their care. They not only accept many pet animals who might be refused at other shelters, but also take care of injured and orphaned native wildlife from San Francisco through San Mateo and the northern half of Santa Clara County. Their work means more than 5,500 lives are saved each year.
Anthony announced, through generous donations, the purchase of 216 acres in La Honda, that will serve as a sanctuary for dogs, cats and other pet animals who can live a quality life but are not likely to find a home through traditional adoption programs.
After some very good questions from the assembled Rotarians, we had an opportunity to tour the Tom & Annette Lantos Center for Compassion. The first stop was the second floor Kitten Nursery. These animals have undeveloped immune systems and cannot eat on their own. Volunteers hand-feed them using syringes.
The tour took us through areas with a variety of animals, from reptiles to rabbits. We viewed the adoptable cats and the many dogs. This all made for a most enjoyable, if not unique, Rotary meeting.
Our very own Burlingame Rotarian,
Mark Lucchesi has started a podcast for the
Burlingame Historical Society called "
Burlingame is a Small Town." He has interviewed a number of Burlingame Rotarians as well as other prominent folks in our community. You can check out his YouTube podcasts
here.
