President Meghan Burton called the first meeting of 2024 to order at 12:30. Ramon Ware led the pledge of allegiance.
Inspiration
Ramon also provided the inspiration for today. With the start of a new year, it is a great time to reflect on the work we have done, are doing now, and will be doing in the future, and that the work itself can inspire us to do great things together, and make a difference!
Introductions
A “guest” introduced herself, Anjana Bose, and announced that she will be rejoining the club! This generated a big round of applause.
JoAnn from Los Gatos Morning Rotary as a guest of Ed.
John Colwell got a jump on 30-for $30, and proudly sporting his University of Michigan hat and clothes, donated $100 to the scholarship foundation in honor of Michigan’s college football national championship.
Club Business
Meghan announced that the Rotarian in the Wild today was Randy Cobb. He had a picture of himself at the top of the 22,000 foot peak of Aconcagua in Patagonia.
Suzanne Boxer-Gassman and Lisa Cheskin talked about the upcoming crab fest. Lisa noted that tickets will soon be available to the general public, so Rotarians should get their tickets now to avoid disappointment. Quantities are limited! Lisa also went through the several Rotarians who have already bid big(!) on a number of items.
Membership
In what would turn out to be a very busy day for Paul Johnson, he introduced the club to a new Red Badge member, Matt Mullikin.
Jason Deppong - Red Badge Bio
Jason is the principal at Lexington. He’s been an educator for 25 years. His passion for education came naturally - his mother taught at Fisher! Jason talked about his approach to education, which is based on action and community service. Jason is also passionate about travel, just having returned from India where he went with his 16 year old daughter. And, he lived for years in Norway where he was a principal at an International Baccalaureate school there.
Paul Johnson awarded the Blue Badge to Jason.
Jenna Mittleman - Red Badge Bio
Jenna is Principal at Daves. Again, teaching ran in the family for Jenna, as her father was a math teacher for more than 45 years at Archbishop Mitty. She has daughters, a 14 year old and a 16 year old, and her husband Scott is a math teacher. More family educators: her sister is a teacher at Fisher! Jenna started in Morgan Hill, then went on to Daves in what was a challenging situation. She has focused on staff climate and culture, and created a staff “family” at Daves. A current focus is on growth in reading instruction. And, she is currently completing a PhD in Social Justice and Education at University of Santa Clara. Jenna’s focus is on cultivating knowledge, skills and dispositions to lead.
Paul Johnson awarded the Blue Badge to Jenna.
Sarah Tellez - Red Badge Bio
Sarah is the Los Gatos Union District Assistant Supervisor for Human Resources and Administration - or, as she said, just about everything! She grew up down the street in Saratoga. Her father worked with semiconductor pioneers at Fairchild Semiconductors. She earned her undergraduate degree at UCLA and a masters in administration from Claremont. She went with her husband to Houston for a career move, and her children were born there. A subsequent move by her husband to UCSC brought her back to the area, and they have lived in Felton for more than 20 years. She’s been a long time educator, and first became a principal in 2009. Her older daughter is recently married and lives in Brooklyn. The younger daughter is an android programmer. Sarah loves to travel and plans to go to Italy in April. Her objective is to participate in Rotary to grow in her community service.
Paul Johnson awarded the Blue Badge to Sarah.
Lissa Kreisler - Red Badge Bio
Lissa describes herself as a local gal, born in New York City. Lissa is involved in a lot of nonprofit and community work, and she worked for about 30 years at KBAY as a morning talk show host, though that is only part of her 50 year career in radio and journalism. She has two daughters and grandchildren she is clearly very proud of. She is also the partner of our very own Jeff Blum, whom she met 12 years ago on match.com. Lissa talked about some career highlights, which include being named to the Bay Area Radio Hall of Fame in 2015. She shared news about her daily life with her audience “family” frequently. She had the opportunity to interview Barry Manilow (who said “I love you Lissa”), Tony Bennet, Simon Cowell and Bette Midler.
Finally letting Paul keep his seat, Jeff Blum awarded Lissa her Blue Badge, and regaled all with a poem that was a paean to Lissa.
Program
The speakers today were Los Gatos Rotary Club members Matthew Huddes and Tom Picreaux. Matthew and Tom came to talk about the recently formed non-profit, Los Gatos Foundation for Older Adults to Thrive, where they are both Directors.
Tom described the formation of the Foundation. It was an outgrowth of committee work from the town of Los Gatos. A group of people - including Tom, Matthew, Dick Konrad, Jeffry Blum and others - put together a roadmap of future services for older adults last year. This roadmap was unanimously approved by the town council. The Foundation, created in October 2023, will focus on the creation of a new age-friendly center for all, getting community input regarding needs, raising funds for the center, and working in partnership with the town.
Mathew noted that 30% of voters in Los Gatos are over 60, and that this older population is a growing share of the total population. And services for older people have been declining, precipitously during the COVID shutdown. There is an existing community center, but it doesn’t seem to fit the needs of the community. In doing the services road map work last year, the committee benchmarked Los Gatos services with several other towns, and Los Gatos ranked near the bottom in almost all categories.
The goal for the Foundation this year is to define the full concept and purpose of a community center for all generations. They will perform further site visits, seek community input and develop a vision. They will finalize a design concept, and understand the implications of the design for fundraising. And, Mathew cautioned us to think of this project as a 10 year or more process.
Tom and Mathew noted several ways that Rotary could work with the Foundation. Helping develop the foundation mission, being involved in fundraising and even possibly using the community center building-to-be in some way. They also noted that in addition to traditional fundraising, they will be looking at grants and endowments as important sources of funds.