Ces Butner, President of Rotary Club of Oakland
Call to Order – Ces Butner
President Ces Butner called our 5,325th "Civic Thursday" meeting of the Rotary Club of Oakland to order at 12:30 p.m. and welcomed all of our Zoom guests.
Stephen Murphy
Thought for the Day – Stephen Murphy
In reflecting on President Joe Biden’s recent environmental administrative actions, Stephen Murphy shared quotes from Van Jones, author of “Green Economy,” about how building such an economy will lift all boats in a green wave benefiting us all, and the polar bears too.
Oakland Rotary Vision
President Ces invited us all to recite our vision where Service Above Self connects us all
Visiting Rotarians and Guests
Past President Ed Jellen introduced guest Donna Salonga, a Skyline High School instructor in attendance with students from the school’s Interact Club for a presentation later on the agenda. Three Rotarians introduced guests, including one who had just completed her membership application and another who is contemplating doing so. Pres. Ces encouraged us to continue to introduce our club to prospective new members; he wants to meet his goal for our mutual benefit!
Sandeepa Nayak
Meeting Sponsor – Sandeepa Nayak, Kha Creation
Sandeepa Nayak was pleased to share highlights of her successful website business known as Kha Creation. She and her team help companies across many industries, and also nonprofits to ensure they have the best website presence to meet their organizational goals. She is particularly interested in receiving referrals to marketing executives, graphic designers and digital marketers who may require services such as those she offers. Before closing, with her few minutes of self-promotion left as a meeting sponsor, Sandeepa surprised us all by ringing the bell for fellow Rotarians, listed under Bellringers, who had been helpful to her business. Wow, what a great and generous heart Sandeepa!
Greg Annis
Skyline Interact Club Presentation
Interact Committee Chair Greg Annis shared the good news that the Skyline Interact Club, once under our sponsorship decades ago, had returned to us again this year. He introduced club representatives Yene Chan, Sabrina Woodsum and Instructor/Sponsor Donna Salonga who each gave us highlights of their recent community service project. After they connected with an Interact Club in Nepal recently, Skyline Interact members decided to raise funds in support of that club’s Gravity Water Project. Skyline Interact members launched a fundraising project to help bring the project to life, raising $1,500 of their $2,500 goal so far. They had a successful “Walk for Water” walkathon to create awareness about the 3-mile trek currently undertaken by Nepal school children, a burden which took time away from school attendance and studies. Greg noted that Skyline’s project work was very much in keeping with both Rotary International’s focus on clean water and that of our club’s Karl Stucki World Community Service Committee. A number of our members wholeheartedly agreed, using the meeting’s chat room to spontaneously pledge funds toward Skyline’s goal. Bravo to this next generation of Rotarians doing good deeds already!
Robert Kidd
Saroni-Lena Scholarships
Robert Kidd let us know that the Saroni-Lena Scholarship Committee is looking for additional members to help review applications, interview students and decide awardees in the coming months. If you can help, contact committee co-chairs Steve Blair at blair5200@gmail.com or Fred Morse at FredAMorse@gmail.com. The committee in particular is focused on equity and hopes to attract worthy students from the Latinx, African-American, Asian and LBGTQ communities.
Phil Bennett and Renia Webb
Karl Stucki World Community Service
Co-chairs Phil Bennett and Renia Webb reported that several projects have been supported by our club’s WCS. Approved projects include donating $1,000 to provide 1,000 solar-charging units to a community in Beirut, Lebanon as well as $1,000 to a Food Program serving Honduran families. Additionally, the committee has partnered with a club on the Peninsula to support children in Cambodia with a joint gift of $4,000, working with former District Governor James Brickley.
Before concluding their report, Renia congratulated the Skyline Interact Club for their fantastic work on a world community service project.
Phil also thanked all club members who contributed to the Rotary International Campaign this year and its chairs, Leeann Alameda and Joe Goralka who worked so hard toward Pres. Ces’s challenge, itself a most generous amount. We have raised a record amount and are at 95% of club participation.
Selvi Stanislaus
Speaker for the Day – Selvi Stanislaus
Marie Saverimuthu introduced our speaker of the day, Selvi Stanislaus, Executive Director of the California State Franchise Tax Board (FTB). Selvi is the first woman appointed to oversee the FTB and its 6,000+ employees charged with collecting $66 billion annually to fund state projects, programs and state infrastructure. Born and raised in Sri Lanka, Selvi comes from a long line of public servants in her family. She was educated here in the United States as an attorney and specialist in tax law and has overseen the agency for the past 15 years. The California FTB is the largest agency of its kind in the nation. Selvi spoke of the progress made in upgrading a multi-phase IT system to re-engineer how our state tax returns are processed in order to maximize collections and efficiencies (an interesting factoid considering all the media reports of the state’s challenges in sending money the other way, to unemployment claimants, blamed on antiquated IT systems at the EDD).
Selvi’s talk focused on what she termed “hot topics” that concern the public and its engagement with the FTB. She walked through several of them including how to:
-take steps to resolve a state tax issue working with FTB
-reach out to FTB officials in the pandemic when face-to-face meetings can’t occur
-treat your expenses on your tax return related to working from home
-address residency issues for state tax purposes
It was a great presentation overall. Unfortunately, there were more questions than allotted time left, but Selvi directed us to the FTB website where much of this information is found: at http://ftb.ca.gov/help/find-your-answer.
Click here to watch her segment from the meeting.
Bellringers
Executive Administrator Jesse Bowdle announced the following bellringers:
Sandeepa Nayak who rang the bell five times for Mark Rosen, Leann Alameda, Jackie Forrester, Danny Mai and the Rotary Club of Oakland.
Marie Saverimuthu rang the bell five times in honor of Selvi Stanislaus.
Joycie Mack and Ces Butner rang the bell for the Skyline Interact Club’s water campaign.
Adjournment
President Ces Butner adjourned the meeting at 1:30 p.m. with his signature comment “that’s the way it went” and the reminder that Rotary Opens Opportunity for Service Above Self, as he rang the bell.
Proposed For Membership
The following individuals have submitted applications. If no objection is received within five days, the application will be submitted to the Board of Directors for action:
Nancy Williams
BUSINESS MARKETING
Money Pages of Oakland
4400 Keller Ave.
Oakland, CA 94605
Sponsor: David Kersten
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Steve Hart
IT SERVICES
Advantage Microsystems
2625 Alcatraz Ave, # 371
Berkeley, CA 94705
Sponsor: David Stein
Michael Morgan
Next Meeting, February 4 – Michael Morgan, Oakland Symphony Orchestra
Steve Nicholls announced next week’s speaker is Oakland Symphony Orchestra Conductor Michael Morgan who will share news of some of the latest creative work being undertaken by the symphony in these challenging times. Please consider inviting a guest who loves music!
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