Welcome: By President Emily Mathews
Pledge—Mike Horwitz, who is having a big birthday today. Happy Birthday Mike!
Invocation—Marilyn Orr honored this month of February, Black History Month, a federally recognized time to celebrate the contributions of African Americans and their struggles to achieve racial justice. She shared very inspiring quotes from the greats, Maya Angelou, Barrack Obama, Barbara Jordan and Shirley Chisholm. In the words of Maya Angelou: “Won’t it be wonderful when Black, Native American, and Jewish American history and ALL U.S. History is taught in the same book”. Amen. Thank you Marilyn.
Guests of the club—Our Speaker, Lorianna Kastrop, Redwood City Port Commission Chair
Announcements:
- Happy hour will be Friday @ 5 AND we will be having happy hour next Friday.
- Spring Golf Tournament will be Monday, May 3—we’ll have a fund-a-need, but not doing big sponsorships, really just want people to come play, Fiesta Cart will be roving the course with pre-Cinco de Mayo treats. Golfers are welcome.
- Millbrae Rotary’s Chinese new year event will be Friday, February 26—more info
- Mike Heffernan announced a scholarship pilot project to explore student work internships. Actual experience in the right working situations can be an important introduction to the working world. This is especially so for disadvantaged students who have grown up without relevant role models.
The Club will be sponsoring a 2018 Burlingame High School graduate, Ellie Feder, for a 10-week internship with the State of California. Ellie is a Junior at UC Davis and has a clear interest in community service. She has also agreed to research how the club might make internships available to students of disadvantaged communities. This is “one small step” into a new area of youth education—the total cost is $1,200. We are grateful to Rotarian Donna Colson and husband Eric for jointly funding this potentially exciting project. Stay tuned!
Newscast:
Delightful Jennifer Pence interviewed Past President, Burlingame fellow Rotarian Mike Horwitz, as we celebrated his 80th birthday. When she asked what he was doing to do to celebrate this birthday, Mike shared that Rotary already treated him to a champagne brunch of bacon and eggs, and three kinds of birthday cakes, to satisfy his sweet tooth.
We learned that Mike and his wife Melinda enjoy traveling, and their next trip will be to a Florida tennis resort to spend time with their son and his family for ten days. While his favorite travel spot is in the big island of Hawaii, they’ll also enjoy visiting Italy, France, England and New York, when things get closer to normal. During the Pandemic, Mike has continued to be active in the real estate business, enjoyed lots of reading, TV shows and taking walks in his lively neighborhood, one block away from President Emily. One thing he really misses is going to church, any of the three he used to attend. As for future bucket list items, health for himself and others is his top priority. Continuing to be active at his age, with lots of friends, Rotary and other clubs, as well as enjoying his six grandchildren is something he really enjoys and wishes to anyone. He recommends that when actual travel is not possible, why not go for a walk on Burlingame Avenue? Other folks travel here why not us?
Fritz asked Mike what the name of a movie would be, if one was made of his life? Mike pondered and then said “Laughter”, and by the way… Mike has really laughed and enjoyed having 30 flamingos on his front yard, resulting from a Rotary flamingo flocking. Not only has it been great to share the flamingo siting with his family and friends, but also it really helps to promote Burlingame Rotary. Jennifer wished Mike a happy birthday, and thanked him for being a great Rotarian.
Program: Emily to introduced Redwood City Port Commission Chair, Lorianna Kastrop
Redwood City Port Commission Lorianna Kastrop Chair, is proud to be the first woman to hold the position in the port’s 76-year history, and to be an advocate for more involvement by women in this sort of service. She showed photos and uncovered little known facts about this oft overlooked commerce hub, with $8.7 Million in Revenue and 2.1 Million Metric Tons of Cargo—All Out of a ~120 Acre Harbor and Deep-Water Port. The Port of Redwood City, off of Seaport Blvd on Hwy 101, is a deep-water harbor 18 nautical miles south of San Francisco. The Port’s strategic location serves the Silicon Valley region with both long-standing maritime commerce businesses and a robust waterfront recreation community along one mile of scenic waterfront. There is also a learning institute doing research and classes on the ecology of the Bay. She also shared with us about exciting updates that are in the works for the port, including the ongoing plans to increase depth further, once federal funding can be allocated. Also about adding a ferry dock with ferry service to San Francisco and lastly about the port being considered the lead, with the funding for emergency preparedness training for the whole region. We learned about an upcoming festival called “Portfest” which includes boat tours and various other forms of food and entertainment. Lorianna is a recreational boater and along with her husband races their Catalina 30 sailboat named “Goose.” Lorianna is also vice president and controller of The Kastrop Group, Inc. architectural firm, of which her husband Michael is principal architect. A long-time civic leader, Lorianna has served as a member of the Redwood City school board and president of the Peninsula Sunrise Rotary Club and has been active in the Redwood City-San Mateo County Chamber of Commerce. She has a bachelor’s degree in international relations from Stanford University and is a board member of Stanford Professional Women. It was great to have Lorianna, a remarkable volunteer for the port enlighten us about this dynamic Port. Go to www.redwoodcityport.com, an award winning website, and to Youtube to learn more about historic facts.
Happy Birthday Mike!
