President Dudley Thompson
Call to Order – President Dudley Thompson
President Dudley Thompson called the 5,351st Civic Thursday meeting of the Rotary Club of Oakland to order at 12:30 p.m. Apparently, last week's meeting (#5,350) was so memorable, President Dudley repeated that meeting number in his opening remarks. Next week's meeting may be meeting number 5,352, depending on Dudley's math skills.
Thought for the Day – Jason Wizelman
Jason Wizelman recommended that given all of the world's problems, we be kind to each other and shared this thought by Mark Twain: "Kindness is the language that the deaf can hear and the blind can see."
Visiting Rotarians and Guests
Past President and Past District Governor Ed Jellen welcomed Dianne Dorn, past president of San Leandro Rotary.
A host of members introduced their guests:
Ed Brail, guest of Isaac Kos-Read
Angela Clausett and Terry Wiley, guests of Georgia Richardson
Angel Lax, guest of David Kersten
Jimmie Wilson and Christine Saunders-Berg, guests of Renia Webb.
New Members Live and In Person
President Dudley welcomed the new members present in the ballroom who joined between January, 2020 and August, 2021. For many, this was their first in-person Civic Thursday meeting. The following members stood and introduced themselves:
Sheng Thao, Keith Uriarte, David Kersten, Nancy Williams, Pauline Fox, Derreck Johnson, Peter Agnoletti, Sandeep Rajbhandan and Deep Rajbhandan.
Ces Butner
Ces Butner - Back at the Lectern
President Dudley invited Past President Ces Butner to the stage which due to Covid-19, was a somewhat unfamiliar place for Ces. Dudley presented the framed mayoral proclamation to Ces which established June 24, 2021 as Ces Butner Day in the City of Oakland.
New Member Induction
The Oakland Symphony is our newest corporate member. Steve Nicholls introduced executive director Dr. Mieko Hatano and music director and conductor Michael Morgan (who was unable to attend the meeting). The Oakland Symphony was founded in 1933 and 54% of its musicians are women. Welcome to Rotary.
Cocktails with the President
Cocktails with the President
Past President Michael Bruck invited everyone to the August Cocktails with the President on Thursday, August 19th at 5:30 p.m. at Calavera Mexican Kitchen & Bar, 2337 Broadway (at the Hive), Oakland. Ruth Stroup of the Ruth Stroup Insurance Agency will buy your first margarita and will even throw in some snacks. No reservations are necessary.
Committee Signups
President Dudley announced that it's time to sign up for committees. Check the committees you want to join (or rejoin) on the list. Feel free to shop around. The AV Committee made a special plea for members. Sign-up sheets were distributed in the Ballroom.
Liz Ortega - Toro
Speaker for the Day – Liz Ortega - Toro
Keith Uriarte introduced Liz Ortega-Toro, the executive secretary-treasurer of the Alameda Labor Council. Liz is the full-time officer who runs the Council's daily operations. Keith took advantage of the opportunity and invited Liz to join the club. Guess what? Her answer was "yes."
Liz is the first Latina to serve as secretary-treasurer in the history of the council. She arrived in the U.S. with her mother and brother as undocumented immigrants and joined her father in Oakland. She graduated from Fremont High School and joined the labor movement at age 21.
The labor council represents 135,000 union members in Alameda County and pursues better health care and better pay for those members. Labor is developing new models of organizing and speaking to workers. The council recently organized 3,000 new union members without any face-to-face interaction.
Unions need to deal with both "bread and butter" issues as well as social and political issues. Liz expressed the opinion that the gig economy is another term for not paying workers and maintained that gig workers should have the right to organize and unionize. The advantages of having a union workforce include forming a partnership between employers and labor and establishing clear employment terms
Bell ringers
Shannon Hackley, Steve Blair and Sheng Thao rang the bell in Ces Butner's honor. Joe Goralka rang the bell in honor of the Michael Morgan, Dr. Mieko Hatano and the Oakland Symphony. Lorna Padia Markus, Robert Kidd, Keith Uriarte and Renia Webb rang the bell in honor of Liz Ortega-Toro.
Adjournment
President Dudley reminded the crowd that a few tickets are still available for the upcoming Oakland A's vs. N.Y. Yankees baseball game on August 27th. The meeting was adjourned at 1:30 p.m. as he rang the bell.
Proposed for Membership
An application has been received from the following individuals. If no objection is received within five days, the application will be submitted to the Board of Directors for approval.
Jimmy Wilson
ATTORNEY
1225 Fallon Street, Ste. 900
Oakland, CA 94619
Sponsor: Renia Webb
Liz Ortega
TREASURER - LABOR COUNCIL
530 Fortuna Ave
San Leandro, CA 94621
Sponsor; Keith Uriarte
Birthday Greetings
Happy Birthday! Celebrating between August 18 – 23 are:
19 – Celeste Gordon
10 – Deborah Morgan
20 – Gail Uilkema
21 – Joel Parrott
23 – Joe Goralka
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
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