Barry Cheskin led the pledge.
President Doug welcomed us all to Spring.
Visitors were
- Lisa Cheskin’s friend Audrey Fox from San Jose Rotary, whose brother is our speaker today
- Gordon welcomed a walk-in visitor from Massachusetts Brad Spring
- Lisa welcomed the speaker’s wife Syd Braker
Ramon inspired us by reminding us that as Rotarians we each carry leadership potential in our community. By leading with example, our efforts will ripple out.
The St Luke’s food pantry eggs were a bunny theme for spring. Thanks Randy and Kathy.
Thank you to Nicolette’s first Tuesday at Florentine Village which was a hit last week and pictures were shared. Note May’s first Tuesday will be at Terraces 5-7 with hosted food and drink, and we will be joined by 3 other local Rotary clubs.
President Doug shared photos of the Hunger at Home volunteer crew last week. Also pictures of the Rise Against Hunger event at Prospect High, where early Saturday 30 Rotarians gathered to package 22,000 meal kits!
Rachelle explained Rotary’s ongoing commitment to End Polio, and kicked off our annual April giving campaign for it. Rotary has been supporting these efforts for 40 years, and working along with the Gates Foundation our goal is to completely rid the planet of polio. Consider giving to this major Rotary effort and be proud of how far it has come.
Doug listed the highlights of the recent Board meeting.
- Shir Hadash room rental fees will go up due to extended room usage 11:30-2:30, but through Cindy’s and Ramon’s efforts it seems dues will not have to go up
- all committees gave status reports
- the charities grants process is nearly complete, with final board approval happening this week. The process and results will be published for all by Doug. Dan Snyder commented he appreciated all 3 grants committees invited all members to attend via zoom, and that the whole process was transparent and fair.
Announcements:
- 4/12 is Hunger at Home volunteer opportunity
- 4/15 is a zoom Rotary mega meeting focusing on peace. Doug will send the link. Last mega meeting had 500 attendees
- Rotray speech contest is being held at district level. Doug to send link to donate to the prize.
- 4/26 is a District learning opportunity for new officers or others interested in the Rotary ways, held at WV College
- 4/30 is a Fisher track meet and Lissa sent a sign up genius link for volunteers…many are needed!
Doug’s “Share your family” this week was by Patti. She showed a 1979 photo of her 11 siblings and parents in her Modesto backyard. She was in the back row as she was 6 ft tall in 8th grade! Her closest sister was 10 months older than her. She forgot to mention that her father was a teacher and many in her family are teachers, and she highly values their undervalued contribution to society. She appreciates that education ideally is the great equalizer. Also when her mother wasn’t making 3 meals a day for 13 people, she was a community volunteer (like some of her kids, wink)… earning her nickname Saint Lorraine.
The other photo Patti shared was of her family of 4 hiking at Nisene Marks State Park last January: Anya is 24 and about to graduate San Jose State next month with a business degree, hoping to run a non-profit some day. Case is 28 and living and working in beautiful San Francisco, working in Public Health. Erik runs Venova Medical in town.
Doug asked members to send him photos of themselves at 10-20 years old, for a fun guessing game coming up.
30 for 30:
-Tom Boyce gave $60 to remind Art to also give $60, which he did, as they are both celebrating 60 year wedding anniversaries this month!
-The Greek gave $30 to remind all that tax day is coming up and pay your taxes.
Lisa Cheskin introduced the speaker Matt Braker, a prosecutor in the DA’s Office, responsible for cold cases. He is also the incoming San Jose Rotary President.
Matt Braker has served as a prosecutor with the Santa Clara County District Attorney's Office for over 25 years, bringing justice and compassion to some of the county's most challenging cases. As the head of the Homicide Unit, he oversees all homicide prosecutions, the Cold Case Unit, and Officer-Involved Shootings.
A two-time recipient of the prestigious Napolean J. Menard Trial Advocacy Award, Matt was most recently honored in 2017 for successfully prosecuting three jail guards in the high-profile murder case of mentally ill inmate Michael Tyree.
Matt earned his undergraduate degree from the University of Washington and graduated from Santa Clara University School of Law in 1992. He and his wife, Cyd, reside in San Jose and are proud parents of two grown sons, Bill and Max.
Beyond the courtroom, Matt has been an engaged and passionate member of the Rotary Club of San Jose since 2015 and will proudly assume the role of Club President this July.
He highlighted the story of a 1974 Palo Alto murder and the groundbreaking forensic techniques that finally brought justice decades later.
Matt will also discuss the formation of the Cold Case Unit within the Santa Clara County District Attorney's Office, sharing insights on the unit's successes and how modern technology is transforming the way old cases are solved.
Matt said there are currently 300 cold cases/sexual assault cases in the county. Since Rosen became DA, 31 have been solved, a high number. Success has been due to resources, determination, science and technology. He told the story of Lisa Perlov, and explained on a human level what a giving and caring person she was for her family. While hiking on the Stanford dish trail in 1973, she was raped, strangled and murdered. Evidence was gathered but it wasn’t until 2005 that the DNA under her clipped nails was compared to the DNA of convicted criminals. There was no match. Then in 2017, that same DNA was compared to the database of family DNA sites such as 23 and Me. This time there was a match to 2 cousins of the suspect. After extensive work by an expert genealogist, a suspect was identified and he had a history of sexual assault convictions and lived in Hayward. Detectives followed him to a coffee shop, retrieved his discarded coffee cup, and his DNA matched that of the scrapings under the victims nails. He is currently serving a life prison sentence.
The meeting was adjourned.