July 29 , 2020 - Club Assembly

Ginger Minoletti is spending time with her family in Michigan and zoomed in to join the meeting. 

Ralph Ely noted that he thinks Joe Brennan's new, longer hairstyle is "gorgeous." 

Mitone said her daughter Mia will be leaving on  Aug. 17 for Eastern Illinois University. The college had provided social distancing guidelines for students, and she will not have a roommate as she will be in a single dorm room. The county where the university is located is low in Covid cases.   

Kevin O'Brien said that after having to cancel some planned trips due to the pandemic, he and Debbie will go to Pismo Beach to see their granddaughter who is attending Cal Poly.

Steve Wilson said that he and Kathy are continuing to feel "better and better" after their brush with the coronavirus.  He advised doing what they had learned to: pay attention to your bodies and rest when you need to.

John Evans gave an update on our former exchange student Fie: Fie's host sister, Julia Sulzinger, is heading for graduate school in Scotland, and can't come home during the year due to Covid, so she will spend the Christmas holiday with Fie in Denmark. On the crappy news front, he said that Andrea's grandfather had passed away recently.

Teresa Adam said she is doing okay after recent medical treatment, and that she has to be very careful during this pandemic since her immune system has been compromised and that makes her even more vulnerable.

Ralph Ely said he had recently spoken to Renee Lewis and that she will have her last treatment tomorrow; she says hello to everyone.

Dianne Bobko gave an update on Liz after surgery: Her next step will be physical therapy but that won't be for a while. She is doing better with pain management, and asks Club members to please communicate with her, as while she is doing well, she is bored! 

 

Mitone said she has been working to get other clubs interested in beach and trail cleanups, and wants to partner with the Rotary Club of Pacifica for the same.  She also spoke of  getting in touch with the City of Half Moon Bay around signage on the beaches and trails; including signage emphasizing proper trash disposal.  She also encouraged Club members to get other people involved in these  cleanup efforts.     She said she and John Evans are considering approaching the city to allow Rotarians to park for free when they are doing beach or trail cleanups.  Steve suggested that when we are cleaning beaches or trails near the homes of people we know, we could ask if we could  park in their driveways while doing the work.  Mitone reiterated how monthly cleanups would be effective not only for clean beaches but also promotion of Rotary fellowship and community service -- "It's a great way for us to be out there and visible," she said. She debated when is best for that work -- mornings or afternoons -- and Rose said she could look into county recommendations pertaining to neighborhood cleanups, and send  appropriate links to the club.

 

Discussion then turned to the results of the informal poll conducted on Survey Monkey that Mary had sent out to all Club members for input and which would help us plan future community service. The poll was structured in questions: 

 

Rose Serdy, Community Services Director,  spoke a little about Coastside Hope and its need for personal items, which we already have looked at in terms of our budget. Another topic that came up was Table of Plenty, with which the Club already has volunteers working, and do we want to add that to our volunteer opportunities list? Rose discussed doing our volunteer work in a safe way, at this time.

As discussion continued around moving the club forward at this critical time, and what other options we could be aware of, Kevin brought up the idea of broadcasts on the local  community television station, or publicity in the Half Moon Bay Review, through photos of our volunteer work. Rose mentioned Facebook as another publicity venue, noting that Mitone has already done a lot of work with that, how Ginger and Mitone have done  lot of work on promoting and growing membership, and added that we should be more active with these efforts. Ginger suggested reaching out to people with whom we regularly interact, inviting them to join us in our work.

Ginger also suggested reflecting on what our community looks like -- its demographics -- when considering yet-untapped resources for new members. Mitone reiterated that idea, noting that the Coastside's  Hispanic community does a lot of good and we should seek out representatives from them. Also suggested were local PTOs. The Rotary Club of  Cupertino was mentioned; that club had identified what its community looked like and tapped into those  demographics, with the result of  adding  something like 60 new members.

 

Next, discussion focused on what would make our club attractive to potential new members? How would we show why someone would want to join us? Mary mentioned our  Club's speaker committee and potential speakers, and how that would interest people in who we are and what we have.

Mitone mentioned a happy hour tradition of the Rotary Club of San Francisco (No. 2) and how potential attendees register via Zoom for meetings. John spoke of how our organization is a part of worldwide connections, and how providing a task, or something to do, is a very good way of sparking interest and getting new members active and involved with our club. 

Mary mentioned she has already reached out to the Rotary Club of Half Moon Bay (New Zealand, that is) and has something in the planning phase; maybe we could find some kindred spirits there?

 

Stacy was asked if there was any news on the international front, and she is following up on something in Ecuador that might interest our club; she will call a meeting of the club international committee soon.

 

There will be a Foundation Board meeting follow by the Club Board meeting on Monday,  Aug. 3, starting at 6 p.m. (virtual, of course.)