Pledge of Allegiance: Jim Shypertt lead the pledge
Thought for the Day: Frances Boscacci expressed wishes for peace and understanding. As Rotarians, we depend on each other and only together can we accomplish the greatest good of helping others.
Visiting Rotarians and Guests:
Liz Shuck, our new Assistant Governor from the Half Moon Bay Club
Andrea Papajohn – Burlingame City Council
Phil Magic for his third visit
Interact Club Auction:
Jennifer Pence introduced 4 members of the Burlingame High School Interact Club – Libbey Kwok, Lindsey Kwok, Zoe Sener and Saniia Jackson. These four students presented a slide show. In 2023 the Interact Club was resurrected and partnered with Student Service Club to combine forces. They are connecting with Burlingame groups, Burlingame Rec Center and Samaritan House. Their main focus for this year is Food Insecurity. They are doing food drives, bake sales, senior dance events, education classes and movie nights. Then the lightning-fast Auction started with Jennifer presiding. So many items! The bidding was furious and the money was flying all over. No word on how many bucks was made but it was a lot. At the end there were cookies for sale. Congratulations to the BHS Interact Club for a successful fund-raising event which we are happy to support!
Announcements:
Bob Doerr talked about our India project and our International Project Committee’s presentation to the Rotary Club of Pacifica early Tuesday morning at their breakfast meeting. They were very impressed with our multi-year efforts and our pending third project at a Tribal Girls school in the Eluru district of Andhra Pradesh and pledged their support. In addition, 2 members of that club wrote out checks for a total of $600 as personal donations! Five of us are going to India for the dedication of our second project on December 7, along with two Berkeley students who will be filming a documentary on our efforts. Bob urged the Burlingame Rotarians to check out our very active International Committee and to consider joining the eight members we have so far. None of this would have happened without the enthusiasm and dedication of Bobba Venkatadri and he is so grateful for having joined Burlingame Rotary and the success we have had.
Christine Krolik talked up the 100th Anniversary Celebration coming up January 30 at the Kohl Mansion. Tickets are live and available on the Rotary website. This promises to be a historic memorable event and a milestone in the history of our Club and not to be missed. It will be a great look back at the founding and significant events over the century of our Club’s existence plus humor, entertainment and great food. Bring yourself, significant others and anyone else you can think of to celebrate 100 years of service!
Jay Miller reminded us to check out this month’s Rotary magazine, with articles on our sister magazines in different languages and countries, and unique ways Clubs are connecting with each other, in addition to our connections through the various Districts like 5150.
Program:
Felicia Marcus was introduced by Jennifer. Felicia’s resume and credentials are impressive and lengthy. She is currently the Landreth Visiting Fellow, Water in the West Member, Water Policy Group at Stanford. Some of the interesting points of her talk are as follows.
She was a Rotary Fellow for a year in Hong Kong years ago
She is a public interest lawyer and has spent time in government at Public Works, the EPA, the State Board of Water Quality and is currently working in climate adaptation, policy making and water policy.
The water situation in California is an incredibly complex issue and cannot be approached with one or two solutions. We have the most variable hydrology of any state, a mix of water sources, a mix of storage and conservation issues, a huge population expected to increase to 50 million, the most diverse landscapes and topography, and local control of 4000 water supply systems run by 2600 water agencies.
Climate change is creating havoc due to loss of our snow pack and has other ramifications on storage, demand and more frequent and severe fires. Snowpack is less due to increasing temperature.
Water rights, politics and funding sources all collide which make progress for effectively managing supply and demand very difficult.
The California Water Action Plan under Governor Brown set out comprehensive goals and made conservation a way of life in the state. Governor Newsom is also proactive and is continuing the efforts.
The public was fantastic in responding to the droughts in the past by conserving water in many different ways.
Sea level rise will have a major economic impact on San Francisco Bay communities.
The Delta is the central challenge to manage and is ground zero for the water wars between farmers, environmentalists, urban and rural users. Fish are declining due to pumps and dams.
The drawdown of statewide groundwater is serious and will affect future generations.
The key to the future is integration and local and regional leadership including conservation, efficiency, recycling, stormwater capture and parks.
President Phil closed out the meeting after thanking John and presenting her with a certificate noting that Burlingame Rotary is donating polio doses in his name.
With the election so newly past and plenty of emotions swirling, how do we conduct ourselves when talking about it all? What can we say to our friends who voted differently from us? How do we repair relationships that were bruised by the election tensions?
Our three clergy (Father Michael Mahoney, Rabbi Jay Miller, and Pastor Paul Watermulder) will lead us in using this season of Thanksgiving to face our shared future with integrity, goodwill, and gratitude!
