Ces Butner, President of Rotary Club of Oakland
Call to Order – Ces Butner
President Ces Butner called the 5,334th Civic Thursday meeting of the Oakland Rotary Club to order at 12:30 p.m. Established in 1909, our Club is the 3rd oldest club of over 35,000 clubs worldwide. Reminding us that Rotary provides opportunity for “Service Above Self”, President Ces recited our shared vision of “Together, we see a world where people unite and take action to create lasting change, across the globe, in our communities and ourselves.” He announced that today’s meeting will feature the Rotaract Club.
Diana Garcia
Thought for the Day – Diana Garcia
Diana Garcia, former H.O.P.E. (Helping Oakland Pupils Excel) mentee and current Rotaract Vice-President, shared this thought for the day from Selena Quintanilla-Perez, the singer whose death anniversary was 26 years ago yesterday. “I want to be remembered not only as an entertainer but as a person who cared a lot, and I gave the best that I could, and I tried to be the best role model that I possibly could.”
Visiting Rotarians and Guests
Past President & Past District Governor Ed Jellen welcomed Rotaractors Ivy Chen, DeVante Brooks and Diana Garcia.
Greg Knight
Self Introduction – Greg Knight
Greg Knight joined Oakland Rotary in June, 2019 along with his husband, Randy. Greg and Randy have been involved in Rotary for several years; they have friends and family who are Rotarians and they have contributed to Rotary fundraisers. Greg is Co-chair of the Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Committee and has helped Karen Friedman and her committee at Laney College. When we were meeting live in the ballroom, Greg was frequently seen pouring Barefoot wines at the bar. He started his career in fast food restaurants, working the Taco Bell night shift and later at a pizza parlor. He was also a lifeguard at a pool for a special needs facility. He spent ten years in Japan as a teacher and later working as a paralegal for a global law firm. He moved to the Bay Area in 2001 as a paralegal in the San Francisco office of the same law firm. During that time, he became interested in personal financial matters. He sat for and passed his CFP financial planning designation test. He works as a financial planning advisor with his own company, Engage Advising and noted that April is National Financial Literacy month. When the Club returns to in-person meetings Greg will receive his blue badge.
KinderPrep Uses ORE Donations
Chairman John Holmgren reminded us that the KinderPrep Program provides materials, supplies, fieldtrips, classroom volunteers, enriching experiences, and other program support to the transitional kindergarten program of the Oakland Unified School District. Rotarian volunteers have taken T-K students to the Oakland Zoo, Children’s Fairyland and the Chabot Science Center. Rotarians volunteer in packing books for summer reading, have recently provided some Oakland Schools with virtual libraries and have partnered with BANANAS for virtual playgroups. John gave a shout out to Scott Bowhay, Mike Mowery, Bill Hogan and David Stein and all Rotarians who help make KinderPrep a success.
Oakland Rotary Endowment Campaign Kick-off
Jim Caponigro launched the 2021 Oakland Rotary Endowment Campaign. The Oakland Rotary Endowment (ORE) provides funding to improve the quality of life of people in Oakland and beyond. In the past five years, Oakland Rotary Endowment has given $1.07 million+ including 50 grants to local nonprofits through the Community Services Committee. Donations from Oakland Rotary Endowment also fund these important Rotary Community Programs: Enterprise Institute, Interact, Speech Contest, KinderPrep, Rotaract, Housing Insecurity Task Force, Rotary Youth Leadership Academy, Karl Stucki World Community Service and Saroni-Lena Scholarships.
In the last year, the Oakland Rotary Endowment has provided: 3,500 new books to school children for a summer reading program; $12,000 to local teachers to purchase school supplies; $80,000 in Saroni-Lena scholarships to first-generation college students and $40,000 on emergency COVID relief and homelessness funding. Rotarians can pledge at https://www.oakland-rotary.org/donations. President Ces Butner has generously pledged to match contributions up to $50,000.
Annual Gala – Save The Date
Gala Chair Kathleen Sims announced our Gala Fundraiser will be virtual this year and will take place on Saturday, May 22 at 6:30 p.m. We will enjoy a Casino Night with Blackjack, Roulette and Craps featured. The committee is looking for auction items, including vacation home stays, golf lessons for kids, airplane miles, etc. Please contact her at kathleen@kathleensims.agency if you can provide an auction item. Kathleen said more details will follow, so hold those cards for the next deal at next week’s meeting.
Rotaract Activities
We were joined by Oakland Community Rotaract officers, President DeVante Brooks, Vice-President Diana Garcia and Treasurer Ivy Chen who each spoke about how Service Above Self is reflected in the projects in which Rotaract is involved. A recent project involved feeding the unhoused.
Tim Hon
Speaker for the Day – Tim Hon
Oakland Community Rotaract President DeVante Brooks introduced artist, Tim Hon. Tim shared his journey from nighttime graffiti tagger to daylight muralist. He described tagging as a teenager as being an outlet for self-expression and giving him a sense of power. After the police visited his home to discuss his nocturnal activities, he channeled his energy into learning graphic design and computer programming. He began to see that his artistic abilities could be put to use enhancing the community instead of defacing it.
He and other graffiti artists began looking for eyesores in Oakland that they could improve with art. He quickly discovered the positive impact and joy art could bring to the community and produce a feeling of civic pride. His murals can be seen around Oakland including the Oakland elephant which took three weeks to paint on the side of a 10,000 square foot building. Tim has also partnered with Warrior Steph Curry to paint murals in Oakland high school gyms, murals to promote Under Armour and several other projects.
His work may also be seen on the Marriott Building in Oakland. He noted with pride that the police now commend, instead of condemn, him for his artistic endeavors. He continues to give back to the community by teaching kids to paint. His work may be seen at Illuminaries.net. President Ces thanked him and announced we are making a contribution to the unhoused in Oakland in his name.
Click here to watch Tim Hon segment.
Bellringers
Executive Administrator Jesse Bowdle announced the following bellringers:
Jim Caponigro rang the bell for Kathleen Sims.
Fred Morse and Tom Limon rang the bell for Tim Hon. Thank you!
Adjournment
President Ces closed the meeting at 1:30 p.m. by ringing the bell with his closing adage “and that’s the way it went” plus the reminder that Rotary Opens Opportunity for Service Above Self.
Birthday Greetings
Happy Birthday! Celebrating between April 8 and 15 are:
10 – Barbara Beery
11 – Ethel Lee Miller
– Siddhi Saraiya
12 – Lloyd MacDonald
13 – Jessica Hubley
– Courtney Ruby
14 – Tom Freeman
– Maude Pervere
15 – Bob Breecker
Membership Anniversaries in April
Thank you for your years of service to the Rotary Club of Oakland and the community!
- Jack McAboy – 46 years
- Kers Clausen -- 38 years
- Alex Poulsen – 32 years
- David Stein – 32 years
- Garrett Riegg – 27 years
- Susan Smith – 24 years
- David Rabb – 22 years
- Dhruv Patel – 9 years
- Ken Benson – 6 years
- David Kittner – 5 years
- Linda Bradford – 4 years
- Leeann Alameda – 3 years
- Tori Howard – 3 years
- Justin Stewart – 3 years
- Deborah Morgan – 2 years
- Mia Bonta – 1 year
- David Kersten – 1 year
Trish Anderson
Next Meeting, April 8 – Trish Anderson – School is Security When You Don’t Have A Permanent Home
Kathy Dwyer announced our next speaker will be Trish Anderson. The McKinney-Vento program is a federal program designed to address the problems that homeless children and youth have faced in enrolling, attending, and succeeding in school.
Trish Anderson is currently the Specialist, for Oakland Unified School District’s McKinney-Vento Program housed within the Community Schools, Behavioral Health Unit. She will share how many OUSD students are included in the program, how Covid-19 has made a tough situation even harder, and how Rotary may be able to help these students.
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