Meeting was called to order by President Mike Norcia at 12:30.
The meeting started with piano and singing of the Star Bangled Banner. On piano was Stella Giannetti, daughter of new members Ane and Fabio. She is an 8th grader at Union Middle School. Singing for us was by Franceille de Barros who is currently taking a masters course at SF Conservatory of Music.
Inspiration was provided by Andrew Howard - he spoke about the cleanup of the Los Gatos Creek. They had a great turnout and even had a wheelbarrow removed. His quote was from Laura Wilder of Little House on the Prairie - if you truly love nature, you will find beauty everywhere.
Visitors:
- Mike Norcia introduced his son Nick - he is going to be attending his last year at Cal Poly
- Andrew Howard introduced Ryan and noted he came by skateboard and has a ceramic coating business in LG
- Michelle introduced her neighbor Niki Niklowitz.
- New member red badge presented to Matthew Hudes by Dick Conrad. Matthew is a town council member and encouraged anyone to reach out to him if they have issues regarding LG.
- Tina and Andrew were congratulated for a great job on the BBQ
Announcements:
- The West Valley Community Services sends a big thank you - they were able to provide 400 kids with supplies and it was one of their biggest projects yet.
- Sept 27th - off site meeting at the Metro ED from 12-1:30
- 9/11 Ceremony -Veterans Memorial in LG from 4:30-7pm
- Sept 10th - Environmental Summit sponsored by Rotary Action – SC County Board of Supervisors chambers 70 W. Hedding St. San Jose from 8-1pm. Register at https://events.humanitix.com/2022environmentsummit.
- Sept 10th - Health Council Event - Stop the Stigma at LGHS from 10-4pm
- First Tuesday at Mike Norcia's house - Sept 6th with guest bartenders and a specialty cocktail from 5:30-7:30
- Oct 22nd - Rebuilding Silicon Valley
Red Badge Bio presented by Bobbi Bornstein. Bobbi has a varied background including working in the optical field for 20 years and several positions in the nonprofit sector. She is currently Manager of Volunteer Services at West Valley Community Services. Welcome Bobbi!
Suzanne Boxer-Glassman was presented the official plaque for Outstanding Rotarian of the Year.
Jennifer Lipskin spoke about the Leigh Sports Boosters - she is the President and shared info about the group which supports high school sports at Leigh.
30 for 30
Mike gave for the musicians to play another song - they played Beauty and the Beast. Many members matched this donation.
Lydia gave $100 in honor of her grandson.
Presentation:
Jessica Eastland & Christine Roberts Enneking with Lighting for Literacy.
LFL was founded by Jesse Salem and LG Morning Rotarian Doug McNeil in 2012. These two men each wanted to find a project that would benefit people and help the environment. They were introduced by mutual friends and like other startups the plans were drawn up on a napkin at Starbucks.
LFL supplies solar lights to houses in Mexico and other under developed countries - they are all made from scratch locally. The making of the lights has expanded to include corporate volunteers as well as students in grades 4-12. For the students this is part of their STEM learning and they are so excited when they see the lights go on.
In 10 years, they have completed over 70 projects and won many national and local awards. Their motto is: SEEE - Service, Education, Environment, Empowerment.
Fundraising mechanism - mostly individual donations - donations can be made on their website
Next trips - Peru, Malawi and each year they go to Colonet Mexico.
Meeting was adjourned at 1:30.
NO LUNCH MEETING NEXT WEEK. First Tuesday at the Norcias.