Meeting Minutes for Tuesday, August 15, 2023 
 
Meghan Burton began the meeting at 12:30
 
Pledge: Nicholas Welzenbach
 
Inspiration: John Pencer. He talked about how walking 30 minutes, 5 times per week is extremely beneficial to health. Reduces hypertension, diabetes, strokes, cancers, etc. It also promotes cell growth in the brain. So go out and walk!
 
 
Guests: Jeff Blum introduced Eleann and David Yick. John Colwell introduced his wife, Betty. 
 
Rotarian in the Wild: Andrew Howard who was backpacking in Tuolumne.
 
Rotarians at Work: West Valley Community services had a successful shopping day to fill backpacks for back to school and 800 backpacks were filled for Pacific Clinics for back to school supplies.
 
Thank you to Kathie and Randy for the busy turtle eggs decorated for St. Luke’s to celebrate back to school.
 
Upcoming Events:  Annual adult club BBQ at Vasona Park on August 22 at 5pm.
 

Announcements: 

Membership Update by Jeff Blum, he is asking for volunteers who would like to help with any part of this committee, and for Rotarians to reach out to prospective new members. He is always available for any questions from new red Badge members about the process.
 
Climate Action Council: The District is looking for a Climate Champion Ambassador from each club to be part of this council. They meet via Zoom for one hour, once per month. See Meghan if you are interested.
 
No 30 for 30 this meeting.
 

Speaker:

Retired Judge LaDoris Hazzard Cordell, Her Honor: My Life on the Bench…What Works, What’s Broken, How to change It.
Judge Cordell graduated from Stanford Law School in 1974. She was the Assistant Dean of student’s affairs at Stanford Law School. She was the first female African American Judge appointed in 1982 in Northern California, and in 1988 won the election to the Superior Court of Santa Clara. She retired from the bench in 2001, then serving as Vice Provost and Special Counselor to the President for Campus Relations at Stanford. She served as Independent Police Auditor for the City of San Jose for 5 years. She is also an accomplished musician and is the co-founder of the African American Composer Initiative.
She is the author of the book, Her Honor: What Works, What’s Broken, How To Change It. She was a dynamic and inspiring speaker and spoke about different chapters in her book: Where There’s a Will, Bad Judges, Thank you for your Service, Judges For Sale, Judges Under Attack, and The Fix. She shared stories about juries, judicial independence, probates and wills, constitutional amendments, and the need for us as voters to stay involved and knowledgeable about the candidates for whom we are voting. 
 
Meghan adjourned the meeting at 1:30pm; Rotarians who were interested in asking more questions were invited to remain.
 
Rotary BBQ next week NO lunch meeting. 
 

 
From last week’s meeting:
 
Birthdays
 
John Walker Aug. 4
Donna Brewster Aug. 4
Paul Brennan Aug. 6
Barry Cheskin Aug. 8
Sandy Bocks Aug. 9
Doug Carlen Aug. 9
Tom Dodge Aug. 14
Kirsten Bridges Aug. 16
Ramon Ware Aug. 21
Cindy Gentile Aug. 25
Beth Smith Aug. 28
 
Anniversaries
 
Todd Taylor 17 years
Rachelle Lopp 4 years
Nancy Consentino 2 years
Ramon Ware 2 years
Matthew Hudes 1 year
Adam Mayer 1 year