President Fritz Brauner called the meeting to order well past 12:15. Rotarians were enjoying conversation and camaraderie and therefore not rushing to get the delicious lunch prepared by Sapore. Once the members were seated, Fritz asked for a volunteer to lead us in the Pledge of Allegiance. Col. Alden Cunningham quickly rose and led the group in the pledge.
Fritz then asked Christine Krolik to deliver her invocation. She wanted to weigh in on the culture wars going on in this country. Christine began with a quote from John F. Kennedy.
I believe in an America that is officially neither Catholic, Protestant nor Jewish - where no public official either requests or accepts instructions on public policy from the Pope, the National Council of Churches or any other ecclesiastical source - where no religious body seeks to impose its will directly or indirectly upon the general populace or the public acts of its officials - and where religious liberty is so indivisible that an act against one church is treated as an act against all.
After a few more poignant quotes on the subject and a section from the Constitution, she concluded with a family story. Christine’s father was a Baptist deacon and started each morning by stating, “This is the day that the Lord hath made, let us rejoice…” When her son informed his grandfather that he was gay, he simply asked “Is that the way God made you?” When her son answered yes, Christine’s father said, “Well, God doesn’t make mistakes.”
Visitors: Marilyn Orr introduced a visiting Rotarian. Rachel Ni, former Burlingame Rotarian, is now a member of the Belmont-Redwood Shores Rotary Club.
New Members: Fritz then asked Doug Person, Membership Chair, to come to the podium. Doug invited our newest members to join him. Ana Karina Perez-Vargas is a businesswoman in Burlingame. Raul Pulido has a commercial real estate business. Doug presented them with their Rotary pins and welcomed them to Burlingame Rotary.
Newscast+: Jennifer Pence informed us that it was National Plan for Vacation Day.
As things often go array, Jennifer asked for members to share experiences around a number of possible scenarios. On the “lost luggage” topic, Bob Doerr related the tale of his wife, Ann’s suitcase that was misdirected to Chicago. After fruitless attempts to have the airline locate and return it, she convinced United Airlines to fly her to Chicago where she immediately identified her suitcase. Under the “most disastrous vacation”, Bobba Venkatadri described a fishing trip where his boss requested that he take care of the wives aboard. When they all became seasick and too noisy as a result, his boss dropped Bobba and the bevy of women onto a small island for the next two hours. Under the heading of “the most awkward thing you forgot to bring” Donna Colson had an experience with underwear. On an important business trip she discovered she had packed only black underwear which she had to put on under her very formfitting white dress for her presentation.
Program: Jennifer then introduced our speaker. Our newest member, Ana Karina Vargas, is a young entrepreneur that founded Label Method, a company born in Burlingame that specializes in organizing homes and offices. She talked about the great benefits of living in a decluttered, systematic, and organized home. Karina gave a bit of background on how she discovered and employs the Japanese method called 5S. This involves Sorting, Setting in Order, Shining, Standardizing, and Sustaining. She provided a number of photos of before and after examples of how her team is able to transform clutter and chaos into organized efficiency. Many of our members identified with the “before” images. Karina noted the benefits to one’s well-being of an organized place. There were a number of questions around accomplishing these amazing transformations.
President Fritz then presented Karina with a certificate noting that we were donating five polio vaccinations to honor her appearance.
