Pledge of Allegiance: Colonel Alden Cunningham
Thought for the Day: Christine and Jeff Krolik: Her dad’s brother lived until 94. He one day came to the table and said “I have decided to believe in God. What is the downside of believing in God? If there is a God and I don’t believe, then I will be in trouble. But if I do believe and there is no God, then I’m fine!”
Sunshine Report: A Celebration of Life for our long-term Burlingame Rotarian Rosemary Rayburn was held at Par 3 restaurant last Saturday Feb. 17. Cary Koh and 4 other members of the Club attended. Cary spoke about Rosemary’s contributions to Rotary and how we will miss her.
Also FYI: Bob Hortop an attorney who worked with Mills Peninsula Hospital, a past President and long term member has retired.
New Members:
Doug Person inducted 2 new members to our Club:
Nimisha Melag, co-founder of iSpeed Canada Fintech, recently relocated to the Bay Area from Mumbai, sponsored by Charlene Drummer.
Dr. Marla Silversmith, our new Superintendent of the Burlingame School District, sponsored by Marc Friedman.
Doug presented new member pins and packets to each and welcomed them into our Club. Please get to know them and help them get involved in our service projects.
Announcements:
1) Board meeting next Wednesday on zoom—all are invited to attend.
2) April 21 the Club will host our fundraiser “Burlingame’s Got Talent!” Save the date and let any talented people out there, that you might know, to consider performing.
3) Our Japanese Student exchange program will happen March 21-31. There are four girls and one boy who will be hosted by Rotary families, and some Rotarians from our sister Edogawa Club.
4) Our annual golf tournament at Green Hills Country Club will take place on September 21, so save the date.
Newscast:
We don’t use the word “newscast” very much anymore, but it used to be very popular. In fact my dad who was a life long Rotarian told me decades ago, when I asked him what a newscast was, said: “that’s when old guys stand up and try to be funny.”
So, Fritz Brauner got up and gave us a newscast about Presidents day, or President’s day or Presidents’ day—whatever!
A few tidbits:
- What did you do on President’s day—the sales!Jennifer bought a washer, dryer and vacuum and Chris bought a car—I think Jennifer called Chris to help her bring all that stuff home in his new car.
- Tallest president: Lincoln.
- Shortest: Madison or Cary Koh?
- Heaviest: Taft at 340 lbs.!
- Lightest: Madison at 100 lbs.
- Oldest: you know who.
- How many died in office: 4 from natural causes, 4 from assassinations—(hey, I just noticed there are 2 asses in that word!) Luckily no Rotarian presidents have been assassinated, at least not yet.
- “If we don’t succeed, we run the risk of failure.”Dan Quayle, Mr. Potatoe Head.
Newscast-Extra:
Cary did a follow-up to a segment he had done, which he called one-hit-wonders. Lage Andersen questioned Cary’s characterization as they were really just one note samples of songs. Cary then offered a true one-hit-wonder. He asked if anyone knew of Dan Hill. Silence! He then asked if anyone was familiar with the 1977 song “Sometimes When We Touch”. The response was affirmative. Below are links to Dan Hill singing his song in 1977 and again very recently.
Speakers:
Villages of San Mateo County
Eric Hanson, a founder of the Villages and Emily Fox a staff member presented a wonderful program on the workings of this nonprofit organization. Their mission statement:
“Supporting our members with community connections, resources and services so they can enjoy vibrant, healthy and fulfilling lives in their own homes.”
Some of the main points:
- A Village is a nonprofit membership organization of older adults living in their own homes and in the communities they love.
- There are some 200 Villages all across the USA, 20 in the Bay Area, 6 of which are on the Peninsula.
- 3 of these, Mid-Peninsula, Coastside and Sequoia serve our local area and are affiliated and currently serve about 270 people.
- Members pay a small yearly fee to join and some fees are subsidized as needed;the average age of members is 84
- Volunteers, largely recently retired individuals, do all of the work.
- There are two sides to the services: a social side that runs events and field trips and a service side that helps with home repairs, tech assistance and especially transportation.
- Members trust the volunteers better than hiring strangers, and friendships develop during the services provided.
- Service requests are phoned into a “virtual office” consisting of a small staff working from home.The appropriate volunteers are then contacted to provide the assistance needed.
- The Villages also benefit from grants and donations.
This organization is doing a great service to keep seniors in their homes where they want to be as long as they can, in lieu of moving to expensive care facilities or hiring expensive help. And the volunteers are the key to their success. What a wonderful way for Rotarians to participate in this hands-on service. You can contact them for more information on their website: info@villagesof smc.org
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 