Who Dat President??: Past President Emily Matthews took over for the absent Fritz who could not tear himself away from the poolside lounge chair in Hawaii. It was National Walnut Day, National Pinot Grigio Day, and National Stationary Day—the test: drink 4 glasses of Pinot Grigio, a bag of Walnuts, all while standing Stationary on one leg.
Visitors: for her second visit—our soon to be new Superintendent of the Burlingame School District, Marla Silversmith.
Pledge of Allegiance: Cary Koh did an excellent job at this tough assignment and did not even use his violin.
Thought for the Day: Doug Person reflected on the differences between resentment and gratitude, reading from the writings of Henri Nouwen a theologian and psychologist.
“Moving away from resentment requires moving toward something, and that something is an attitude of gratitude.”
“Resentment makes us cling to negative feelings; gratitude allows us to let go.”
Announcements:
- Mark Johnson (no relation to Howard) reminded us of the “Celebration of Life” for our long-time cherished member Pierre Bouquet to be held Wednesday July 7, 4:30 PM at the Elks Club in San Mateo. All are invited but you need to RSVP—you can email Jeanne at: bird375@gmail.com
- Christine Krolik invites all to attend the Hillsborough Annual Memorial Day parade and celebration starting at 10 AM Memorial Day May 29. You can ride on the truck with other Rotarians, join in the carnival, enjoy the music festival, food trucks and vintage cars. Contact Christine for more info and to let her know you are coming.
- Jennifer Pence announced that our next Wednesday meeting to be held at the Peninsula Humane Society, the Rollins Road Center. We will have lunch, a tour and a talk by the director. Look for the announcements for more information.
Program:
Jennifer Pence introduced our speaker Pam Baker—Founder/CEO of the Women’s Coaching Alliance. Fritz met Pam at the Burlingame Farmer’s Market and learned a bit about Pam’s local Burlingame non-profit.
Pam Baker is a non-profit leader and healthcare specialist who has worked with companies large and small including Johnson + Johnson and Genentech, and has advised at UCSF and Haas Business School.
Women’s Coaching Alliance was founded in June 2022 in Burlingame. It was inspired by her athlete husband Doug Friedman who died in 2020 of pancreatic cancer.
The mission is: To develop female leaders through coaching team sports.
And the vision is: Tomorrows female leaders are the role models for every kid playing sports.
Pam presented slides that summarized the program and how it works. Here are some of the main points:
- The skills that coaches have are the same skills as leaders: Compassion, Perseverance, Conviction, Collaboration, Positive Spirit and Inspiration.
- Some girls hold back on coaching due to dealing with difficult parents—overcoming that is part of the training and benefit.
- The program is for girls that have played a sport and are 15-26 years old.Each is connected to 2 mentors, a coach mentor and a leadership mentor. Signups are for a season, and some stipends are paid.
- It requires one hour of practice a week plus the sport season, and also a leadership academy of 4 hours to start.
- The number one way to get girls involved---“Ask Them!”
- The long term goal is to create a model that can be shared with other communities.
- The program is only local Burlingame now, but with hopes of growing it on the Peninsula, the Bay Area and beyond.
This was a great look at a brand now local Burlingame non-profit that is making the world a better place. It has already had great support from the NFL, Stanford Basketball, and potential partnerships with CSM, Oakland softball, and NorCal Premier Soccer. For more information go to: www/womenscoachingalliance.org
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 