Ces Butner
Call to Order – Ces Butner
President Ces Butner called to order the 5,344th Civic Thursday meeting of the third oldest Club in the Rotary world to raucous applause from the California Ballroom for this first meeting in-person since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Teresa Weyand
Thought for the Day – Teresa Weyand
Teresa Weyand provided the thought of the day. California has opened up but instead of taking hand sanitizer and masks out in public, courage and compassion are needed. She included a quote from aviatrix Amelia Earhart: “No kind action ever stops with itself. One kind action leads to another. Good example is followed. A single act of kindness throws out roots in all directions, and roots spring up and make new trees.”
Visiting Rotarians and Guests
Past President & Past District Governor Ed Jellen welcomed Brad Howard and Brandy Saldana from Uptown Rotary Club, Serilinda Jackson from Piedmont-Montclair Rotary Club, Jen Nettles and Dre Konsur from CIM in Jack London Square, Wendy Howard’s guest Mark Delventhal, a past president of Piedmont-Montclair Club and Dudley Thompson’s guest, David Boone.
New Member Induction – Lois Corrin
C J Hirschfield introduced our newest Rotarian, Lois Corrin. Lois bleeds Cardinal Red (Stanford) and has known Kamala Harris since childhood. She is a mom who describes herself as an “extra” extrovert who is glad the pandemic is nearing an end. President Ces read the Rotary Four Way Test and presented Lois with her red badge. Welcome Lois!
Oakland A’s Game Tickets Available – Mark Rosen
Mark Rosen, High Adventure Committee co-chair, encouraged Rotarians to sign up as soon as possible for tickets to the Oakland A’s games the club has planned. Tickets are selling fast…only 40 tickets left for the July 2nd game. Guests and friends are welcome to attend as well. Tickets are $80. Go to the Club website calendar to find the link to sign up.
Leeann Alameda, Annual recipient of the Dan Lasar Good Job award 2021
Dan Lasar Good Job Award Presentation
President Ces announced the annual recipient of the Dan Lasar Good Job award. When Dan Lasar was president (1990-1991) he would recognize members’ work by saying “Good Job”. The award now is given in recognition of those who give an extraordinary amount of time and energy to the Club. Some former honorees include Past Presidents Ed Jellen, Lorna Padia Markus and Jack McAboy and President Elect Dudley Thompson. This year’s winner is Leeann Alameda, co-chair of the Public Image/Communications Committee, The Rotary Foundation Campaign Committee and Board Secretary Oakland Rotary Endowment. Next year she will be President of Oakland Rotary Endowment. Kudos to Leeann!
Highlights of President Ces’s Year in Office
President Ces recapped his hectic year as Club President and gave special thanks to the following members:
- David Stein who led the Speakers Committee in providing a stellar array of speakers from around the world.
- Isaac Kos-Reid who led the Public Image/Communications Committee to make great strides with social media and communications, and with branding the weekly club meetings as “Civic Thursday”.
- David Kittner and Steve Nicholls for their leadership and generosity in the Community Service Committee’s Feed the Hungry all-time high donation total.
- John Holmgren and the KinderPrep Committee for serving the children and teachers during this past year of distance learning.
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Fred Morse and Steve Blair, co-chairs of Saroni-Lena Scholarship Committee which awarded nine scholarships this year to high school seniors.
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Renia Webb and Phil Bennett for their leadership of the Karl Stucki World Committee Service Committee.
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Linda Chew who stepped in to chair and produce the weekly Live Oak after the untimely death of Rich Hallock.
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Peter Sherris who chaired of the Housing Insecurity Task Force.
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Joe Goralka and Leeann Alameda who led the very successful campaign for The Rotary Foundation.
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Kathleen Sims, whose leadership produced the successful virtual fundraiser event.
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Jack McAboy for providing President’s Special Committee leadership.
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Board of Directors for establishing the Diversity Equity and Inclusion Committee, co-chaired by Celeste Gordon and Greg Knight.
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Sandeepa Nayak and Jack Iles for making our meetings run smoothly as Audio-Visual Committee Co-Chairs.
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Pat Williams and Jesse Bowdle for helping guide Ces throughout the year.
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Linda Boessenecker and C J Hirschfield for helping secure a great new club administrator.
Brad Howard
Speaker for the Day – Brad Howard
Allison Bliss introduced this week’s speaker, Brad Howard. Brad is a past district governor and past Board Director of Rotary International. Through his work, he has helped lead 1,600 people in polio vaccination internationally. Brad spoke about the Rotary Peace Mural Project and diversity goals which are very important to him, Rotary, and the community. The origins of the Peace Mural began after the Nia Wilson killing on BART. Brad was heading into a meeting early in the morning and came across a young man who was painting a mural on his building. After one week, this man, Timothy Bee, finished the mural in honor of Nia Wilson. Timothy came from a disadvantaged background and it helped encourage Brad that a Rotary Mural would be a possibility.
Three Thirty Three Arts helped design and build the Rotary Peace Mural, was unveiled later in the day at Jack London Square. Funding came from various sources through Rotary and Kaiser amongst others. CIM provided the mural space since CIM is a large corporation that manages property across the country. CIM and Jennifer Nettles agreed to use a property in Jack London Square. The mural is entitled The Embrace. Following the unveiling, Rotary held Cocktails with the President—the one and only in-person event—at Scott’s in Jack London Square. Allison Bliss introduced this week’s speaker, Brad Howard. Brad is a past district governor and past Board Director of Rotary International. Through his work, he has helped lead 1,600 people in polio vaccination internationally. Brad spoke about the Rotary Peace Mural Project and diversity goals which are very important to him, Rotary, and the community. The origins of the Peace Mural began after the Nia Wilson killing on BART. Brad was heading into a meeting early in the morning and came across a young man who was painting a mural on his building. After one week, this man, Timothy Bee, finished the mural in honor of Nia Wilson. Timothy came from a disadvantaged background and it helped encourage Brad that a Rotary Mural would be a possibility. Three Thirty Three Arts helped design and build the Rotary Peace Mural, was unveiled later in the day at Jack London Square. Funding came from various sources through Rotary and Kaiser amongst others. CIM provided the mural space since CIM is a large corporation that manages property across the country. CIM and Jennifer Nettles agreed to use a property in Jack London Square. The mural is entitled The Embrace. Following the unveiling, Rotary held Cocktails with the President—the one and only in-person event—at Scott’s in Jack London Square.
Bellringers
When asked about the many bellringers made during the meeting, Executive Administrator Jesse Bowdle had to admit they were still being tallied both from donors on ZOOM and those in the Ballroom. The Live Oak was tasked with listing everyone—and it is a great send-off of joy and achievement for the work during this Rotary year:
- Ruth Stroup (5), Lois Corrin, Joycie Mack, Joe Goralka, Bruce Nye and Jason Wizelman rang the bell for Ces Butner and his great year.
- Sandeepa Nayak, Barbara Beery, Isaac Kos-Read, Joe Goralka, Tom Limon, Ces Butner, Linda Boessenecker and Kristine Watson rang the bell for Leeann Alameda.
- C J Hirschfield ran the bell for Steve Nicholls and his support of Feed the Hungry.
- Joycie Mack (3) rang the bell for her son who is surviving COVID-19, for Juneteenth becoming a national holiday and for all of us being together in person.
- Roberta Abel rang the bell for Oakland Rotary as she says good-bye and heads to Portugal.
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Joe Goralka (2) rang the bell for Wendy Howard and Brad Howard and their great Howard Tours trips, and for a Rotary friend who just died.
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Bruce Nye rang the bell for his daughter Caitlin who surprised him on his birthday.
Adjournment
President Ces adjourned the meeting stating "that's the way it went” at the 5,344th meeting of the third oldest Rotary Club in the world as he rang the bell from the Ballroom podium.
Birthday Greetings
Happy Birthday! Celebrating between June 25 and June 30 are:
25 – Sheldon Crandall
– Charlie Elliott
26 – Jesse Bowdle
Membership Anniversaries through June 18 - 30
Thank you for your years of service to the Rotary Club of Oakland and the community!
- Luise Roke – 20 years
- Mary Geong – 19 years
- Elizabeth Johnson – 18 years
- Keith Giron – 14 years
- Dan Altemus – 13 years
- David Barron – 8 years
- Steve Lowe – 8 years
- Jain Williams – 8 years
- Joseph Koroma – 6 years
- Ethel Lee Miller – 6 years
- Steven Jones – 4 years
- Pat McMillan – 4 years
- Ahmad Anderson – 3 years
- Candice Elder – 3 years
- Greg Knight – 2 years
- Margee Witt – 2 years
Next Meeting, Thursday, June 25 – The Demotion of President Ces Butner
Past President Michael Bruck announced next week’s meeting will be ZOOM only. Not to be missed is the celebration of President Ces Butner’s year, and his demotion to Past President. The program is put on by the Club’s Past Presidents. Don’t miss it!
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