Meeting Minutes for Tuesday, February 14, 2023,
Meeting began at 12:30 called to order by Mike Norcia
Pledge: Ron Cassel
Inspiration: Doug Brent, theme was staying open to possibilities and connection because we never know where they will lead.
Visiting Guests: Lisa introduced Laura Douglas and Martha Sterne. Ron Cassel introduced Andrew Dauber.
New Member: Paul Brennan. Paul Johnson presented Paul, the Assistant Principal of Fisher Middle School with his Red Badge.
Red Badge Duo Bio: Ane Troger and Fabio Giannetti.
Ane was born in Brazil, she spend lots of time on the longest beach in the world, Cassino. She loved to cook chocolate mousse with her grandmother. She always liked computers. She got her bachelors degree in computer science from Pelotas Catholic University and her PhD in Computer Science at Manchester University in the UK. Fabio was born in Spezia, Italy. He loved to play and program Z80 assembler, first computer was ZX Spectrum. He drove his first car, a Fiat 126, at the age of 12. He loved to cook with his granddad and maternal grandmother. He used to be an amateur motocross racer with his Malaguti Ronco 21. He has a degree in Accounting and his masters in Computer Science and Engineering from the University of Genoa.
Fabio at the beginning of his career worked at HP Labs in Bristol, UK and was the first to work with HP Brazil in Porto. Ane came home to Porto from the UK for visits and they met at the airport.
Ane started her career in academics in the UK, and has worked as a technical writer in the USA since 2013.She is currently working as a lead tech writer for Bayer.
Fabio started at HP and worked for major IT companies as both a technical contributor and a manager. He is starting a new job in March as VP of Engineering and head of Infrastructure at Clover.
They have two daughters, Stella, 14 and Katerina, 7. They love to travel, spend time at the beach and are all huge Star Wars fans.
They love Rotary and love volunteering, “ because being immigrants we feel that we can contribute back to the country that adopted us and make a difference for people out there striving to improve their lives as we have”.
Ane and Fabio were also presented with their blue badges today.
Announcements:
- Henry Vitkovich is having a heart procedure today at El Camino Hospital.
- First Tuesday: Thank you to Ed Stahl for hosting. We raised $450 for the Charities Foundation at JMcLaughlin.
- Charities Forms due February 28.
- We received front-page recognition for the CrabFest from the Los Gatan paper thanks to Rachelle Lopp.
- Inner Wheel is having annual raffle for their Founder’s Day Gift Baskets next week on 2/21 so bring your checkbooks!
Fund for Turkey:
If you are interested in helping after the earthquake in Turkey through Turkish Philanthropic Funds please contact Patti van der Burg.
CrabFest:
Big thank you to Suzanne Boxer-Gassman, Lisa Cheskin and Tina Orsi-Hartigan for their fantastic work organizing the auction, food, and overall event.
Also thank you to the over 90 Rotarians who pitched in to help from set up to clean up, solicitations, making soup, supervising, working in the kitchen and the list goes on and on.
The event grossed $78,000-- The best ever!
30 for 30:
- Barry Cheskin gave $100 in honor of Lisa for her fabulous work as chair of the auction for the CrabFest (and Happy Valentine’s Day) and thanks to Tina and Suzanne and the whole crew.
- Erin gave $30 in thanks for the speakers we bring in to our meetings to bring awareness of what resources are in the community.
Auctioning Crab at the Meeting:
John Pencer auctioned off the crab cakes and packages of crab and steaks that were made and provided by Eric Eberle.
Guest Speaker: For The Love of Chocolate:
Julie Anderson who is a pastry chef and chocolatier and was the former chef and owner of Fleur de Cocoa in Los Gatos.
She spoke about her intense 8 years at Fleur de Cocoa. It shaped her as a pastry chef and chocolatier, as well as, a mentor, leader and colleague in the food service industry.
She shared pictures of the delicious chocolate treats, wedding cakes and other pastries she created during her 8 years.
Julie is now starting her own online subscription chocolate bar company, Blue Canary Sweets.
The store will launch in the next few weeks.
Orchid auction:
Michelle Myers-Nelson auctioned off 5 orchids.
Winners were: Russell Couch, Michelle Strachan, Nicholas Welzenbach, Barbara Fishman and Paul Johnson.
Meeting Adjourned by Mike.