Meeting Highlights – October 9, 2018

David Stark – Update on the Current State of the Real Estate Market in Central Alameda County David Stark, Bay East Public Affairs Director, spoke to the club about the local real estate market. David started with an overview of how we got to where we are statewide with the housing markets (creating more jobs but not enough housing to keep up) and then focused on the local housing market showing multiple charts to illustrate his conclusions that the housing market will remain strong due to supply and demand. He stressed multiple times that we are blessed to live in Castro Valley where the average residential home now sells for $880,000 . . .

Meeting Highlights – September 25, 2018

Brad Howard – Update on the Challenges of Growing Rotary in the U.S. Brad Howard, Rotary International Director and holder of multiple other positions in Rotary over the last 40 years, spoke to the club about how to ensure the future of Rotary as a vital, contributing organization in the 21st Century. He shared the trends we are all familiar with as Rotarians: While membership is expanding rapidly in many areas globally (notably India,
Taiwan and other Asian nations) membership in the original Anglophone countries of the U.S., Australia and the U.K. is falling.

Meeting Highlights – September 18, 2018

Kathleen Scheidel – Update on Capital Punishment in California Kathleen is a Castro Valley resident who has been active in the schools (e.g., Marshall PTA, Measure G Bond Oversight Committee) and community, works for the State Public Defenders Office representing individuals charge with a crime subject to capital punishment. While she was not representing the Office today, Kathleen did provide a history and update of capital punishment in California. The 8th amendment to the U.S. Constitution addresses “cruel and unusual punishment,” but nothing in the Constitution prohibits capital punishment. Her office has 40 attorneys and numerous paralegals, but is not funded or staffed at the same level as the Attorney General’s Office

Meeting Highlights – September 11, 2018

Mary Jo Price, Theater Manager of the Douglas Morrison Theater Today’s presentation focused on an update on the activities of the Douglas Morrison Theater (DMT), part of H.A.R.D. by Mary Jo Price, the Theater Manager. May Jo joined the Doug Morrison Theater in January 2018 bring a rich history of working with people and theater, including Children’s Creative Museum (2012-15), Administrative Director at the Playwrights Foundation (2015-2016), Operations Manager at Tandem, and Partners in Early Education (2016-17) before coming to the Douglas Morrison Theater.

Meeting Highlights - September 4, 2018

Ginny Roth – Walk to End Alzheimer’s Ginny Roth, Chair of the East Bay Walk to End Alzheimer’s Volunteer Planning Committee, and Sherry Ford, a volunteer with the Alzheimer’s Association of California and Nevada, share their personal stories regarding Alzheimer’s in their families and explained why they are actively involved in the Walk to End Alzheimer, which is scheduled on October 20, 2018, at Heather Farms in Walnut Creek.

Meeting Highlights- August 28, 2018

Teddy and Keith Seibert – TwiningVine Winery The husband and wife winemaking team of Teddy and Keith Seibert from TwiningVine Winery in Castro Valley shared their winemaking experience and samples of their wines to the delight of the members.

Meeting Highlights – August 14, 2018

District Governor Tim Lundell - District Governor (DG) Tim Lundell addressed this year’s Rotary International theme, Be the Inspiration. DG Lundell said that he thought long and hard about
how to implement this theme in District 5170 and has concluded that our biggest challenge is the dwindling membership in the Clubs throughout District 5170. One of the reasons for the decline of membership is the aging population; therefore, DG Lundell has decided to emphasize membership growth as the highest priority for District 5170.

Meeting Highlights – August 7, 2018

Dennis Waespi, Director – East Bay Regional Park District Castro Valley resident Dennis Waespi represents Ward 3 on the East Bay Regional Park District (EBRPD) Board of Directors. Ward 3 includes Castro Valley, most of Hayward, Union City, and a portion of Fremont. The parks in Ward 3 include Anthony Chabot, Lake Chabot, Cull Canyon, Don Castro, Dry Creek/Pioneer, Garin, Hayward Shoreline, a portion of Pleasanton Ridge, Quarry Lakes, and Vargas Plateau.

Meeting Highlights – July 31, 2019

Getting and Keeping a High Profile for a Business or Organization - Tim Smith from LOGOBOSS discussed the importance of branding in a business. He stressed that every business or organization represents a brand. The successful ones build a brand, while others are branded by their performance and/or perception by their customers.

Meeting Highlights – July 24, 2018

Rotarian Kern Lewis from KO Websites in Castro Valley on Current Trends in Social Media. To illustrate and highlight the current trends, Kern walked members through actual monthly analytical data from a client and explained how the data addresses a current trend in social media.