Posted by Editor: FDBobko on Aug 31, 2020
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The FOGHORN 
ROTARY CLUB OF HALF MOON BAY
August 27,  2020
 
Visit with 5150 DG Mary Bates
                                     
     
Article by Steve Wilson
Screen Shots by Dianne Bobko
 
Rick Chinn then introduced Mary Bates.  Mary is a member of the Foster City Club.  She has a long background of community service, including a term as President of the Bay Area's Red Cross Chapter and directorship of Hillbarn Theater.  Mary has had a pivotal role in establishment and growth of Foster City's "Village" movement, the same organization as we have here on the Coast. (Editor's Note: Our Club's Service Above Self Award recipient in 2015 was the late Judy Macias who started the Village of the Coastside.) 
 
Mary has a degree in Public Administration from SF State and has held administrative positions in South San Francisco and Millbrae as well as Foster City.  She participated in Rotary's H2Open Doors program last year.  She has four grown daughters.
 
Mary's theme built from a foundational message of self-care (particularly now) based on the triad of sleep, food and exercise and took the analogy over to Rotary, addressing the triad of Rotary's brand, the wheel, commitment to building membership and the importance of the Rotary Foundation. As part of this, she told a moving story about a young man she had met named Victor, who credited Rotary members with providing him love, guidance and inspiration for life success by being foster parents. As years passed, he became a participant in RYE and then the Global Scholar program.  As the result of Mary meeting him, Victor has given inspiring stories about his own life to Rotary leadership training groups in different parts of the country. 
                                                            
 
Mary is deploying her Governor's Budget in some new ways.  During her term, the district dues for new members will be waived (paid from Governor's Budget) for her term.  The first $1,000 of the cost to establish a new club will be paid from her budget. Also, Paul Harris points based on paid-in or earned credit will be matched up to a particular level.
 
  
Club Meeting, August 27, 2020  
 
  
 
 
President Mary Rogren called our August 27 meeting to order.
 
 
Pledge of Alligence: Mitone Griffiths
 
Inspirational Thought:  Steve Wilson
 
Guests: President Mary introduced our District Governor Mary Bates, who was our guest speaker, along with Rick Chinn, our Assistant District Governor.  
 
Community Service - Mary gave a brief presentation (to see entire presentation slide set, go to PHOTO GALLERY below) on the Club's service accomplishments over the past several months:   
 
  • Fire response:   $1,700 to Puente for direct aid (and counting)
  • Dictionaries to all 4th graders in CISD
  • $400 for backpacks
  • $50 gift certificates to teachers for supplies
  • Men's clothing to Abundant Grace 
  • Several beach cleanups
  • Gardening for seniors with limited mobility
  • $11,000 for Coastside Crisis Fund covid response
                   
We have applied for two District Grants for Coastside Hope and Abundant Grace.
 
It was noted that fire victims (evacuated and /or homes lost) need Safeway gift cards.  This and donations to Puente which is coordinating the fire evacuation center at HMB High School are the two big fire related needs.
 
Happy/Crappy News
 
Kevin and Debbie O'Brien celebrated their Golden Anniversary!  Also, Steve Wilson observed his 72nd birthday.
 
John Evans reported that Dana Hammerstrom, whose family hosted our Rotary Exchange Student from France Louise Chielens, is the new HMBHS Student Body President.  A Senior now and active in Interact, she seeks projects that this club and Interact can work together.
 
Our happy-crappy news featured reports on college-bound offspring and long road trips:  Warren and family to Colorado with Grayson and Mitone and family to Illinois with Mia. 
 
Mitone also told us that more vigorous Covid testing capability is now available through Project Baseline here in HMB. 
 
Marble Draw surprise crying 
The marble drawing wheel landed Rose Serdy, but she got a GREEN Mable. 
 
Speaker Next Week
 
Sonia Lulenovic - Next week's speaker (a Russian-born Bosnian author whose first name is Sonia but whose last name proved perplexing to President Mary) will speak on the topic of her popular book, The Siege of Sarajevo, focusing on the plight of women during the Bosnian crisis. This promises to be very interesting.
 
PHOTO GALLERY
 
Starting this week with the slides from Prez. Mary's presentation about our Community Service Activities: