May 31 was quite the day for Burlingame Rotary Club. Maybe the festive red, white, and blue table decorations, napkins, and tablecloths, courtesy of Christine Krolik, in honor of Memorial Day, set the pace. Much appreciated as they were, it probably wasn’t the extra mushrooms our chef sautéed for the occasion. Nor probably our president Fritz revealing that it to be National Macaroon Day (tantalizing as the thought may be). In fact, I am not even talking about our attendance closing in on 35 (moving us further beyond “remember the good old days” into “look at these good new days”).
This was a day of Rotary members catching the spirit of being the community “service club” which seeks to put “Service above Self.” Recently retired Congresswoman Jackie Speier probably set the tone just by walking in the room. It was noted that many Rotarians quickly queued up to greet Jackie, who most everyone recognizes as a friend and a leader who shares common cause with Rotary itself in its mission to "provide service to others, promote integrity, and advance world understanding, goodwill, and peace through [the] fellowship of business, professional, and community leaders".
First, let’s replay some basics: Our Rotary Club convened in our lower-level dining room at the Burlingame’s still-looking-good Community Center. At 12:30 sharp (aka 12:15 ish) our president Fritz Brauner called us into order with warm words of welcome. He then chose our popular long time member Jerry Kuehn to lead us in the Pledge of Allegiance to the flag; he did great.
Father Michael Mahoney led our invocation for the day with thoughts he had prepared, like the good shepherd he is, on building our character.
Two Rotarians tuned in for our meeting via zoom: Past-President Stan Moore and Past-President John Delaney. In-house and in person we had visiting Rotarians Jonathan King (San Mateo club) and Rachel Ni (Belmont-Redwood Shores club and previously one of “our own” here at Burlingame Rotary). President Fritz introduced visiting Rotarian Tracey Avalar (from the Foster City club, as she is Chief of Police in that city).
Sunshine report from Jim Shypertt was for Mike Horwitz, as Melinda has been hospitalized for a long while and he has been nurse, chauffeur, cook, custodian for an extended length of time, and he reports he is definitely looking forward to returning to the fold of Rotary.
Happily, we got a first introduction to two “guests of the club” Alan and Charlene Drummer. We look forward to meeting them even more in these coming weeks of June. Also, checking in folks for our meeting was new member Jeff Krolik, often seen helping prep our room before meetings and then afterward part of the team putting away things until the following week.
Christine Krolik reported on the Rotary participation in Hillsborough’s Annual Memorial Day Parade for which the Grand Marshal was Jackie Speier, and in which several of our Rotarians rode in a vintage truck supplied by Recology. Riders this year included Bob Doerr, Fritz Brauner, Emily Matthews and club secretary Marilyn Orr (all past presidents!). Joe La Mariana invited more club members to join and ride the trash truck (?) next year in the parade! Ah, that Joe, so friendly and good-- but watch out if you get out of line on his truck and you see his hand inch over to “the red button;” you know what happens when those trucks “do their thing!”
Time arrived for our program, and Christine Krolik gave a superlative introduction to Jackie Speier as one of the very few people who don’t really go by two names but are known instantly by one name. No, it is not Enya or Oprah, nor the biblical Mary or Elizabeth. Our Congresswoman from 2008 – 2023 has the uncommon one-named status, as she is recognized as a compassionate and effective leader across our county, state and nation. Our speaker was introduced to a standing ovation, and she dug right in by suggesting that we are in a propitious moment and quoting Rose Kennedy: “Life should not be measured in milestones but in moments.”
Jackie has begun “The Jackie Speier Foundation” focusing on poverty among women and children in San Mateo County. Leading public hearings on this subject both as a county Supervisor and as a Congresswoman, Jackie found four areas at the core of our problem: a) lack of childcare, b) pay inequality, c) lack of resources for victims of domestic violence and d) elderly women struggling to live on fixed incomes. Poverty for women and children are linked.
Our county is the 4th richest in the nation, complete with 5000 people with annual income over $1,000,000 and with 22 Billionaires. But at the same time SM County has 123,000 children who live below the poverty line, which is a whole lot. Every month over 107,000 residents are fed through Second Harvest—wow. In fact, the poverty line is defined as $30,000 annal income, which means there are a ton of people too poor to live here, even when making more than that and with working steady jobs. It turns out that of those affluent people who give generously (and there certainly are a significant number of these good folk), 90% (as in: NINETY) of their giving goes to national and international charities, not local.
Hmmm, clearly serious work is waiting to be done. Jackie gave an example of a single mom who works two jobs every week, one full time and one is a hefty part time commitment. She was driving her kids down the highway from one commitment to another when her 9-year-old son said from the back seat, “Mommy, I love you.” By the time she had finished saying, from the driver’s seat that she loves him too, he had wrapped his seatbelt around his neck and tried to strangle himself. Children are major victims of this reality of disparity of affluent people not doing their fair part to help the needy. The top 1% of wealth in our county make more than 55 times the “bottom” 99%!
Jackie gave personal stories from the night she spent “undercover” in the women’s shelter in Redwood City. She told of women whose husbands had refused to pay the court ordered subsidies for them to raise the children of their divided families, and how the women and children spiraled down into poverty and homelessness even while trying their very best not to have that fate befall them. She told of taking the “Food Stamp Challenge” of living on $5 a day and how she avoided the stores she was accustomed to and became a regular at the Dollar Store. She spoke in particular of the women and children she met in our county, and she spoke of actions to take against evictions, which often begin the downward spiral of troubles. She noted that the parent who ends up a divorce with custody of the children often is the one who is automatically in for a very rough ride with lots of suffering.
On and on the stories came. And the light of a resolution and hope formed as she founded this new and highly local, highly focused foundation for our county. When she finished, we had to all pause to catch our breath, from the equivalent of having just worked a shift in the Emergency Room or having ridden a police car on a Friday night in the ghetto for a full shift, or having just revisited Dante’s Inferno, alive and kicking in our own county in our own time. Thank you, Jackie Speier for caring enough about we who are Rotarians to help us see some of the often-hidden pain and sorrow and trouble and evil that beset too many of our neighbors, friends, classmates and co-workers. And for giving us a worthy way forward.
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 