Thought for the Day: Paul Watermulder, wearing his 60’s tie-dye shirt, shared insights from last weekend’s District 5150 conference. He spoke about Rotary's four pillars: 1) making friends and the value of fellowship, 2) high ethical standards in life and our professions, 3) service to others and service above self, and 4) world peace and poverty.
Visitors:Jack Van Etten, former police chief of Burlingame; Shawna Krast, friend of Dan Conway. Also, we were all pleased to see our Rotarians Anne Bouliane, Victor Griffin, and a special welcome back to Charlene Drummer.
Announcements:
Jennifer Pence announced mock interviews for AVID students at Burlingame High School on April 23rd and April 30th, requiring at least 8 volunteers per date. Please sign up for this important help for our students.
She also mentioned a Blue Zones consultation event on April 7th for the community to learn about improving community well-being.
Jennifer Pence reminded that our Club’s major fundraiser, the upcoming "Burlingame's Got Talent," will be held at the Community Center on April 19. This will be our third annual BGT event and it is important to fund our scholarship programs. Please save the date and come enjoy this really fun evening full of music, dance and other local talent including a great dinner buffet from top local restaurants. We hope all Burlingame & Hillsborough Club members will attend, and if not consider sponsoring or at least buying a ticket! If you sponsor at the $250 level, you get 2 tickets at $95 each, so a couple can be a sponsor for an additional donation of $60. Click on the link below for more information and to purchase or sponsor.
Burlingame will dedicate its new Town Square on April 2 from 4-6 PM. This long-awaited landscaped plaza between Park Road and Lorton Ave. will become a focal point for community events and features benches, landscaping, a future restaurant, and the preservation of the original Post Office lobby. We plan to host a table at the April 25th community network event from 11am-2pm with our banner, flyers and information on Rotary to market our Rotary Club. Other community groups will be there, so please plan to help spread the word about our Rotary Club.
Paul Watermulder gave an update on our Rotary Foundation Grant project in India regarding HPV cervical cancer vaccination for 10,000 under privileged girls. The grant was funded and started, however there was a recent declaration by the Indian Government to implement a nation-wide vaccination program. The monies formerly allocated by Rotary, approximately $300,000, are now available to redirect to another need. This fortunate turn of events means that our club, the host club and the original donors are now working with Rotary headquarters to determine how best to reallocate these funds.
Jerry Winges announced that our fifth major global grant for two schools in northern Andhra Pradesh has been fully funded for a total of $450,000 has been formally submitted for final review and approval of Rotary Central in Illinois. This is the fifth successful international grant by our Club, a record for our District. We are expecting approval soon and construction will begin. Over the last 4 years, we have raised a total of over $1,500,000 for our 5 international projects! These grants will change the lives of over 4,000 students from rural and tribal areas. It is a testament to the power of Rotary, and the importance of each of us donating to the Rotary Foundation.
Marilyn Orr needs High Gear writers—we really need volunteers to help produce this valuable communication vital to keeping our Club members informed and engaged. This is so much simpler now that we use AI to transcribe the meeting and is largely a cut and paste exercise with a bit of editing. Please consider volunteering, even if you agree to do only one or two issues. You just need to word document summary, and Marilyn does the rest! Sign up below:
Jennifer Pence interviewed our new member, Dan Conway. Dan has written a book titled “Crypto Millionaire.” He shared his life story using a "Three Chapters" format, describing his early life in San Mateo, a challenging period in his 40s including struggles with addiction, and his current re-engagement with community work through Rotary and other organizations.
Program
Jonnie Dukes introduced Joe Toomey, a retired San Francisco Police Department homicide inspector who served for 41 years, including 30 years as an investigator and 17 years leading homicide cases, where he participated in over 300 cases and started San Francisco's first cold case unit.
Joe discussed his experience in the San Francisco Police Department's homicide detail, describing the process of investigating homicides and handling evidence. He shared specific cases, including the use of DNA technology to solve cold cases, particularly involving sexual assaults and murders from the 1970s.
He explained how new technology and proper storage of evidence have improved the ability to solve cases, even decades later. He also noted that while crime rates in San Francisco have decreased, factors such as the age demographic of offenders continue to impact homicide numbers.
The discussion concluded with questions about how he managed the emotional toll of his work, to which he responded that viewing victims as evidence helped him maintain objectivity.
Laurie Davies Adams, former President and CEO of Pollinator Partnership, the largest organization in the world dealing exclusively with pollinator issues. Ms. Adams spent nearly 30 years bringing to life the website www.pollinator.org, working across borders to grow the North American Pollinator Protection Campaign and Pollinator Week, and building collaborative efforts at the cabinet level with the Bush, Obama, Trump, and Biden administrations. Learn how the world of pollinators vitally supports our food supply and what you can do to protect and promote it.
