President Dudley Thompson
Call to Order – President Dudley Thompson
President Dudley Thompson called to order the 5,349th Civic Thursday meeting of the Rotary Club of Oakland. He welcomed those in the California Ballroom, as well as those joining online.
Sedrick Tydus
Thought for the Day – Sedrick Tydus
Sedrick Tydus gave us the thought about Change. Not always something we are comfortable with normally, it is important the way we look at it. It is here to stay. Embrace Change!
New Member Inductions – Deep Rajbhandari and Pete Agnoletti
Sandeep Rajbhandari introduced one of our newest members, his father Deep Rajbhandari. Deep, the son of a Rotarian in Nepal, started working when he was 17 years old after his father’s death. He has started several companies, studied to be a commercial airline pilot, founded the first publicly traded airline in Nepal and started an insurance company as well. Deep was a member of Rotary in Nepal prior to coming to the U.S.
President Dudley introduced our other newest member, Pete Agnoletti. Acknowledging that he has known Pete all his life – because Dudley has been friends of his parents for about 50 years. Pete is Vice President of Brokerage for Marquee Commercial. He is father of a daughter born earlier this month on July 5th.
Welcome Deep and Pete!
Visiting Rotarians and Guests
There were no visiting Rotarians at the meeting. Several guests attended via ZOOM and in the ballroom. Marques Cook of Capitol Corridor JPA was the guest of Sandeepa Nayak. Also online were Michael Knox and Shane Durkan from Skyline High School, Mark Fowler of Stowe Management Corp and Christina Ong. In the ballroom, Fred Morse introduced Victoria Balla and Thoa Nguyen, and Robert Rayburn introduced Aisha Brown.
John Holmgren
KinderPrep Committee – John Holmgren
KinderPrep Committee Chair John Holmgren talked about their activities. They provide services to most Transitional Kindergarten classes in Oakland Unified School District. While the annual field trips to Children’s Fairyland, Oakland Zoo and Chabot Space & Science Center were cancelled due to the pandemic, the committee hopes to hold them next spring at which time adults will be needed to chaperone the children. This past year, gift cards for supplies were given to the teachers and learning kits were prepared for the students. The committee also put together a book bag for each child’s use this summer. As classrooms open up again, 35-40 volunteers will be needed so each TK class can have a Rotary liaison. Email John Holmgren at holmgren.johnk@gmail.com if you can help.
Saroni-Lena Teacher Awards
Saroni-Lena Teacher Awards
Fred Morse, Saroni-Lena Scholarship Committee Chair, introduced Gail Uilkema and Karen Friedman who announced the winners of the Saroni-Lena Teacher Awards. Each student Saroni-Lena recipient was asked to nominate a teacher who has contributed to their success.
Gail introduced the first four recipients:
- Saqib Hashim was nominated by Mia Irwin-Pollard.
- Sarah Pallito was nominated by two of her students, Melaney Chavez and David Huang.
- Michael Knox was nominated by Elijah Weller
Karen introduced the remaining recipients:
- Mark Frey was nominated by Ian Prchlik
- Shane Durkan was nominated by Daniela Acevedo
- Marietta Joe was nominated by Thoa Nguyen
- Christina Ong was nominated by Victoria Balla.
In appreciation, Rotary is providing each teacher with a stipend for their personal use.
Robert Rayburn
Speaker for the Day – Robert Rayburn
Scott Bowhay introduced Robert Rayburn, club member and elected member of the BART Board of Directors. Robert spoke about the BART is emerging from the pandemic. Ridership initially declined 94% and while there are projections for how it will increase, factors such as a higher rate of remote work will contribute to what the new ridership level will be.
To make the travel experience safe and more convenient, the air on train cars is filtered more often. All trains will have 10 cars to provide more space for distancing. BART has gone to clipper cards and there is a parking application that will offer contactless touch for making payments. BART has developed a Strategic Homeless Action Plan. On trains the Ambassador Program will be in full swing. Riders can text BART through a Watch application or call a phone number for non-emergency situations. Trains also will have call boxes on board. New fare gates are being installed to cut down on fare evaders.
BART is actively involved in transit-oriented development including projects at Lake Merritt, the 19th Street Station, and Mandela Station/West Oakland BART.
Bellringers
Dudley Thompson rang the bell for the birth of Pete Agnoletti’s daughter, Giovanna.
Steve Lowe rang the bell for Robert Rayburn.
Adjournment
President Dudley thanked all of the members who took part in the day’s meeting. He reminded us that we serve to help others as he rang the bell at 1:31 pm and adjourned the meeting.
Birthday Greetings
Happy Birthday! Celebrating between August 5 – 10 are:
7 – Leann Alameda
8 – Ana-Marie Jones
8 – John Protopappas
9 – John Claassen
9 – Joanna Leonard
10 – John Holmgren
Membership Anniversaries in August
Thank you for your years of service to the Rotary Club of Oakland and the community!
- Lorna Padia Markus – 25 years
- Allison Lindquist – 15 years
- Bob Barth – 13 years
- Peter Sherris – 12 years
- Gary Flaxman – 10 years
- Robert Rayburn – 8 years
- Yong Bai – 7 years
- Cynthia Harris – 5 years
- Mona Hall – 4 years
- Stacey Manley – 4 years
- Lesley Weaver – 3 years
- Suzi Alvarez – 2 years
- Kymberly Miller – 2 years
- Derreck Johnson – 1 year
- David Naveh – 1 year
- Maude Pervere – 1 year
Stephen Menendian
Next Meeting, Thursday, August 5 – Stephen Menendian – Roots of Structural Racism (ZOOM meeting only)
Robert Kidd announced next week’s speaker is Stephen Menendian. He is a lead author of "Roots of Structural Racism" (June 2021), a study of racial residential segregation and its consequences. He is also Director of Research at the Othering & Belonging Institute of the University of California, Berkeley.
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