Events

Let's go shopping.  Last year we donated 126 gifts. So far we are under 40, so if you can help you can select the amount and person and select from their wish list. This is ALL on-line - No need to wrap or deliver.  

Link for Gifts:     https://vtree.fgt.org/RotaryClubofLosGatos/   

For 30 years, Family Giving Tree has been granting holiday wishes to children, seniors, and adults experiencing homelessness. 

Due to the efforts of Judy and Julian Rodriguez, the Los Gatos Rotary Club has been providing holiday gifts to the needy for most of those 30 years. Let's carry on their legacy. 

Please join us in bringing smiles to the faces of those who need it most - those neighborhoods hardest hit by the pandemic. Through the 2020 Holiday Wish Drive, you can make an impact in your Bay Area backyard, in your own community. 

Last year, our club donated 126 gifts. With the need even greater this year, let's beat that number this time!

Los Gatos town gives to our neighbors in need - We have this Los Gatos!  

All 5 of Los Gatos service clubs (our club, morning Rotary, Lions, Kiwanis, History Club) with the coordination of Los Gatos are helping our neighbors in need.  Each receipent will receive a Holiday Box see contents below.

Your help is appreciated:

1. Donate any amount: $20 covers the expese for 1 person. $100 covers one family. To donate go to this URL or use the QR code on the flier:              https://bit.ly/2H2Ny28

2. Sign-up help collect items, pack boxes, set-up tents for drive up deliver. (Lots of choices) 
    Contact Dick if you can help. 

See all details from Catherine at the Chamber of Commerce: 

 Let’s fundraise. 
 
Wednesday, December 2 – we will see how much we have raised – and determine how many boxes we think we can do.  We will then begin sign ups.   Last Day to Sign Up for a meal/box December 11.
 
Next Steps –
 
Boxes                   Chamber to secure
 
Food Items in the Boxes   
(If a Club would like to take on one of these items – do the prep and packing
And bring all December 16th a.m.  – great – Let me know asap)
 
Protein  - roast beef – Los Gatos Meats ?
Green Beans – chopped – with butter – spices - raw in plastic bag            
Potatoes -  maybe little round – with butter and spices – or mashed?
Or Pasta?
Oranges
Dessert
Dinner Roll
Other Treats
 Chocolate: wonder if anyone would donate to our cause
Juice Co.  – for Family Boxes only

Holiday Greenery -   Kiwanis  taking the lead
Gift Cards 
Puzzle/game
Bows

Books:Friends of the Library – CS to contact them 

TIME LINE FOR Assembly of Gift Boxes
 
Prep all we can before the 16th.  Deliver everything to Assembly site.
Arrive morning of 16th 9 a.m.     3-4 volunteers from each Club.   We will be working outside under tents – but it will be cold.
Assembly Lines making boxes – 2-3 hours.
 
Set up Pop Up Tents in Parking Lot  -  Each Club will have a tent.  2-3 volunteers at each tent.
Drive Through  Pick Up begins at 1 p.m. – 3:30 p.m.  – people have scheduled times for their pick up.   We check them off the list
               Put a box in their car – wish them happy holidays, sing, wave and dance – whatever.  And send them on their way.  Some live music would be great – so would some holiday decorations.
 
Deliveries will begin at 3 p.m. – Drivers and instructions are all set.  We just need to give them the boxes and that crew will take it from there. 
 
This is a rough draft at best – but we are starting to get some framework around this project. 

Arturo Villarreal is a San Jose native with roots in Del Rio, Texas. He was born into a farm working family and attended segregated all Mexican schools in Del Rio until his sophomore year in high school.

He received his AA from SJCC and a BA in Behavioral Science with a double major in Cultural Anthropology and an MA in Social Science from SJSU. He is the co-author of the book Mexicans in San Jose.

Currently he is teaching ethnic studies at Evergreen Valley College. He also serves as a commissioner on the County of Santa Clara Historical Heritage Commission.

Jose Manuel Gonzales: Apache Alcalde/ Mayor of San Jose

The talk will revolve around history of Jose Manuel Gonzales. The talk will revolve around how Jose Manuel volunteered along with his wife and children in the De Anza expedition and served as an interpreter, was a founder of San Jose, served as the second mayor and built the oldest adobe home still around in Santa Clara county.

Randy has worked with Teen Challenge since 1979. He started ministering in Denver, CO as the Director of a 40-bed facility. It was there he saw the high value of helping people turn away from their destructive lifestyles.

Randy has a Ph.D in Christian Psychology from International Seminary. His BA is in Biblical Literature from Northwest College, and his MA in Psychology and Counseling from the University of Northern Colorado. Additionally, he is an ordained minister of the Assemblies of God.

In 1984, Randy and his wife, Dana, founded a Teen Challenge Christian Academy in Wyoming. They served 45 students with a residential Junior High/High School education program. Watching confused teens gain control of their lives was amazing. They expanded operations to South Dakota where he helped revitalize an existing program.

In 1996, Randy and Dana took the opportunity to lead the Teen Challenge organization in Northern California and Nevada. They brought the region to a new level of effectiveness and growth. They also opened new centers in Humboldt County, CA, Reno, NV, and Las Vegas, NV.

In 2017, Teen Challenge NorWestCal Nevada opened a new Adolescent Girl's Center in the Nevada territory. This is a dream come true for Randy and Dana who have been praying for this property for years.

A year later, Sacramento Valley Teen Challenge fell under the leadership of Randy and Dana. This includes four centers which are located in Sacramento, Redding, Lincoln, and Yuba City.

Under the guidance and direction of Randy as CEO, Teen Challenge NorWestCal Nevada has grown to include ten residential centers, two thrift stores, and numerous outreaches. Randy also serves on the Board of Directors for Global Teen Challenge.

Erika Buck has worked at Youth Science Institute (YSI) since early 2016. She started as the Development Director and then became the Executive Director in late 2016.

Erika has a B.A. degree in Psychology from Miami University in Oxford, Ohio.

Prior to her position at YSI, Erika worked extensively with the YMCA as a Senior Director of Youth Development with programs focused on aquatics, sports, child care, summer camps, and teen civic engagement.

Erika has lived in California since 1999 and is originally from Cincinnati, Ohio.

We fight human trafficking by sponsoring at-risk girls to stay in school.

Laura Gill is the Community Engagement Manager at The Marine Mammal Center in Sausalito where she leads public program development and implementation, including virtual programs, interpretive resources, and tours. Laura has served in many different education roles at institutions such as Aquarium of the Bay and the Sea Lion Center at San Francisco’s Pier 39, the Roundhouse Aquarium and the Santa Monica Pier Aquarium in Los Angeles, CA which only strengthened her belief that we are all interconnected and dependent on a healthy ocean. Laura was inspired to pursue a career in conservation education after earning her B.S. in Marine Biology from UCSC.

In “Behind The Bark”, I will be sharing a brief history of The Marine Mammal Center’s work with rescue, rehabilitation, release, research, and education and then take a deeper dive into the stories of our common patients including sea lions, elephant seals, and harbor seals.  I’ll describe the challenges they face, how we care for them at the Center, and how people can get involved to protect them and our shared ocean environment.

Both the Pfizer and Moderna COVID vaccines have been authorized for use in the United States, and more are on the way.  This presentation will describe how these new authorized vaccines differ from vaccines that have been used in the past and will discuss how limited doses of vaccines will initially be provided.  Additional discussion will focus on other COVID vaccines in the pipeline, and their potential advantages and disadvantages.

Joel Ernst trained in Internal Medicine, Infectious Diseases, and in Hematology and Oncology at the University of California, San Francisco.  He joined the faculty at UCSF where he established a research program in host-pathogen interactions and immunity, and cared for patients with infectious diseases, including the earliest AIDS patients, at San Francisco General Hospital.  He was recruited to the NYU School of Medicine in 2003, where he was Director of the Division of Infectious Diseases and Immunology as well as Director of the Graduate Program in Immunology and Inflammation, and Professor of Medicine, Pathology, and Microbiology.  In 2018, he was recruited to UCSF where he is Professor of Medicine and Chief of the Division of Experimental Medicine. 

Will discuss specifics of the upcoming WineFest.

Land Trust Santa Cruz, speaking about their Wildlife Tunnel Under Highway 17:

What THEY Protect

The Land Trust of Santa Cruz County is dedicated to protecting and caring for the lands we love.  We protect both working lands, like farms and timberland, and natural lands with high conservation value – thus protecting water supplies, wildlife habitats, and open space.

In 2011 the Land Trust completed a Conservation Blueprint for Santa Cruz County. The Blueprint calls for the protection of 50,000 priority acres in our county and will guide the Land Trust’s work through 2035. To date, the Land Trust has protected 14,000 acres by working with willing landowners and land conservation partners.

Due to Covid-19, our CrabFest and Auction is cancelled but will return in January, 2022.  Meanwhile, please buy your tickets today for our first ever Virtual WineFest.  
It promises to be a fun event that you can enjoy in the safety of your own home.  

SAVE THE DATE:  5pm Saturday, January 30, 2021: Rotary Virtual WineFest & Auction

Don’t Be Crabby…Come “Wine” with us.

REGISTER BEFORE the 19th!  
$150 for two people ($100 is tax deductible) 

After you register we will send you all the details, including when and where you pick up the Wine Tasting Kit.

• Wine Kit includes tastings of 5 Left Bend wines, with snack size food pairing, 1 full size bottle of premium red; all guided by Left Bend Wine maker Gary Robinson. 
• Enjoy musical performance by members of the San Jose Youth Symphony
• Raise the paddle for impactful International Youth projects and bid on exciting silent auction items (on-line before and after the event)
• Two door prizes will be awarded at the end of the evening!

ALL NET PROCEEDS BENEFIT ROTARY CHARITIES FOUNDATIONS WHICH GIVES TO LOCAL & INTERNATIONAL CHARITIES
HELP US HELP OTHERS!

Barrie is on the Board of Directors for our local Metropolitan Education District and MetroEd Foundation. He will speak about their program which provides technical and vocational education to high school students and adult learners.

We will hold a virtual Richard D. King Annual Youth Speech Contest which is sponsored by all Rotary District 5170 clubs:

Each student may select their own topic which they feel is timely and of interest, and the speech must be the original work of the contestant. The content of their speech must relate to the Rotary International President’s theme for the year.

This year’s competition addresses the 2020-2021 theme, “Rotary opens opportunities” In addition to this theme, the speech must also illustrate how youth is able to reach out to others utilizing the Rotarian’s 4-Way Test:

Is it the truth?
Is it fair to all concerned?
Will it build goodwill and better friendships?
Will it be beneficial to all concerned?