The second official meeting of our new presidential year zoomed into place on Wednesday at 12:15. Well, technology being what it is, a Mulligan was called, and things re-started at 12:18.
Doug Person held up an American Flag at led our Pledge of Allegiance to get things started, as 37 Rotarians and guests showed up. President Emily requested everybody to mute their own computers, which we thought had worked like a charm, until Mike “The Tech Whiz” Horwitz was overheard asking somebody off camera for his password (for everybody trying to get Mike to pay up on his past debts, and for any hackers from China, the passwords is 4321. But don’t tell anyone else.)
Charles Voltz, led the invocation, by lifting our spirits from our country’s “favorite modern sage,” Dr. Seuss, in “Horton Hears A Who.” Horton the lovable elephant heard small people and discovered they were important too, and he was a lot better off listening to and respecting the small people as equals.
Chuck commented that we have heard from many of “the small people” of the world in the recent past news, and we will do well to take heed and listen/respect the people previously thought to merely be small, unnoticed or unworthy.
Wow, Chuck—preach it!
Announcements:
Don’t forget Friday 5pm virtual happy hour (more info at end)
Sunshine—(Jim Shypertt) Everybody seems to be behaving. The Club supports president Emily at the stroke last Wednesday of her father, who is now well enough to be dealing with physical, occupational, speech therapists, hopefully on the road to recovery. She thanks club members for caring about her during some frantic times.
President’s Club—Suzanne Juptner explained the mysteries of The President’s Club, a discretionary expense for Rotarians to invest $150 or more annually to support the sitting president in her ability to help seed outreach and mission projects which present themselves and their need to her. With Covid keeping us from our major fundraisers face to face, the President’s Club is especially timely for Rotary to maintain leadership in community response. Please send $150 to our Rotary Club marked for the President’s Club. We have received $4,000 in the last week alone.
Membership (Doug Person)—We have a new brochure (
https://bit.ly/2Wrxc7P) to encourage potential members to come to our meetings and “try us out.” The brochure was sent to us all electronically. Doug reported we have several applications going to the Board later on Wednesday, and we are looking for several more people you would like to invite into the club.
Community Service (Cheryl Fama)—Many ideas are being explored, especially to help the most vulnerable during the Covid isolation. Adopting a senior is one plan; another is to write to semi-anonymous bed-ridden seniors in Burlingame facilities. Another is to expand our “reading to elementary school children” program. Another is to find ways to provide tech help to non-tech savvy seniors (maybe talking about 90% of the Rotary Club here?!). Cheryl, Bryan, Sheryl, Cheri, Charles and Emily welcome YOU to join this vital committee. Text ‘em!
Rotary Foundation (Bill Tiedeman)—This international outreach is effective help in many countries especially with water treatment system installations. One was installed into a Navajo community in the USA this year also. You will receive a request to donate, please be generous. You will also be invited to a virtual raffle, to which you can bid, and reverse the ugly reality that no Burlingame Rotarian has ever won anything in the raffle yet.
Rotary Means Business—Philip Petra (visiting Rotarian and president elect of Millbrae club) told us of new chances to work with other Rotarians in partnership to enhance our business community. A helpful and interesting gathering is this Saturday, and we are all asked to consider signing up and attending. The event includes panels with community business leaders, and the event is open to high school members of Interact also. More information is available from
http://bit.ly/RMBJULY18.
Newscast—Jennifer Pence interviewed Sarah Haas who came here from North Carolina just a couple of years ago, fully engaged with the club as a way to get to know Burlingame from the inside, and took on a number of really significant tasks as a Rotarian (including serving as editor of this fine publication that is on your screen right now). Now she is heading to the Boston area to pursue graduate education, and we sent her off with gratitude and best wishes.
Program: Fun With Fritz: One Rotary President Interviews Another Rotary President. And neither of them is our current president. Jennifer Pence introduced these two titans of the lunch table by reminding us that Michael Kimball is a graduate of Stanford and SF State who has been a college English professor, the general manager of both TV and radio stations at CSM, an author and an academic/intellectual anchor to our club.
Then it was Mike’s turn, to find that Fritz Brauner is a graduate of Scarsdale High, along with other sons and daughters of nationally prominent figures. His home was full of high level and stimulating conversations with frequent guests, so when he went off to Cornell and then Columbia, he was not aware of the bubble of privilege he had been raised in. He proceeded to, by his own admission, be so enamored of living “the fullness of life” that he drank himself his lifetime quota of booze, thus flunking out after two years. A gap year with IBM (and perhaps some unsubtle encouragement from his dad) focused him to re-apply and complete that education and then an MBA at Columbia.
His return to IBM was highlighted with meeting, dating and marrying Sue, his wife of nearly 44 years. After IBM, he founded The Brauner Company, on the belief that the value of his help to clients seeking investment guidance was to ask about their lives and give life guidance that translated into money decisions. He finds he is something of a “financial psychologist,” since our attitudes toward money emerge from our experiences and viewpoints on life.
Soon Fritz and Sue joined forces to lead and serve their family business. They quickly discovered , operating partially from home, that they had a little “adjustment” to make since she thought of the house as “hers,” and he thought of it as “theirs;” but he thought of the business as “his” and she thought of it as “theirs!” Familiar dynamics to anyone else?!
Fritz wants Rotarians to know that while a good investment advisor can keep us from making big mistakes in the market, the real value is to help us make healthy and positive life choices. And to move from being Type A to at least becoming Type A-.
The meeting was adjourned at 1:30 by Emily who actually has a bell she rings to tell us all that it is time to “go away!”
Burlingame Rotary's Zoomin' Happy Hour
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