R.I.P. Mathilde Schmidt
President Dwight Perry started the meeting by reporting on the passing of Honorary Member Mathilde Schmidt who was 100-years old and who had been an active member until the last few years. Mathilde, along with Dr. Heidi Hausauer, joined the Club when the Castro Valley Sunrise closed. President Dwight shared several stories that captured Mathilde's spirit. The Castro Valley Forum had an excellent article on Mathilde. Click here to read it.
Breathing for Life Project (BFL) Dedication Trip to Nejo, Ethiopia
There were many visiting Rotarians from the Rotary Clubs of Cupertino and Fremont as well as District 5170 in attendance today. They were attending to hear Rotarian Obse Lubo's presentation on the dedication of the Breathing for Life Project (oxygen generator for Nejo Hospital in Ethiopia). This Rotary Global Grant project, led by the Rotary Club of Castro Valley, is one of the largest ($385,000), if not the largest, in the history of Rotary District 5170. Many of the visiting Rotarians were actively involved in the project from the earliest days, are members of Clubs that contributed to BFL, and accompanied Obse and Castro Valley Rotarian Carol Wikle on the dedication trip in October 2021.
Obse Lubo reported on the dedication and ribbon cutting for the BFL Project oxygen generator in Ethiopia and shared many photos from the dedication trip. The project originated with Obse about 6 years ago with many others involved throughout the years in making the oxygen generator project a reality. Contributors to BFL included The Rotary Foundation (TRF), District 5170, the Rotary Clubs of Cupertino, Fremont, and Fremont Morning as well as many other Clubs in District 5170, in the United States, and in the world. After delays due to the pandemic, the dedication ceremony finally occurred in October 2021.
The photos above are just a small sampling of the BFL dedication trip. See more photos from the BFL dedication trip, click here. To watch Obse's entire presentation to the Club, which included comments from Rotarians who made the trip, click here. To view the slide presentation, click here. To watch a video of the dedication trip, click here. As you can see, the BFL involved many activities.
The Joys of Being a Ham Radio Operator - Bob Shayler
Castro Valley Rotarian Bob Shayler is a retired physics teacher from San Leandro and a ham radio operator. He described the value and joy of being a ham operator, an activity is open to all ages that does require a license and some training. Bob explained that ham radios are valuable to the community because they can provide communications for local events, such as parades, and are often the only means of communications are a natural disaster. Bob shared that maybe the best part of being a ham radio operator is the opportunity to talk to people and make friends all around the world. Getting started in the world of ham radio is easy. A ham radio operator no longer has to know Morse code as one once did. Getting started does require some equipment and a large antenna, which Bob explained and showed photos in his presentation. There are several local ham radio clubs, which are a great place to start. Bob belongs to the Hayward Radio Club and serves as Club Secretary. In Alameda County, there are 5,762 ham radio operators.
Watch Bob's presentation here. Click here to access the excellent links in Bob's presentation to learn more about being a ham radio operator.
Banner Presentation
Kern Lewis presented President Dwight and the Club with a Club Banner that his wife, Olga, received on a recent trip to Ukraine when she participated in a Rotary event. The interesting fact is that the banner is an IYFR banner (International Yachting Fellowship of Rotary). To learn more about IYFR click here and see where the IYFRs are located click here.
Announcements
Banner. Kern Lewis presented a banner that he had received [[I didn’t catch who it was from.]].
Events in May. President Dwight announced that the Chili Cook-Off (May 13, chair: Randy) and the Rodeo Parade (May 14, chair: Lytrel) are on.
Rotary Foundation. President Dwight again solicited donations to the Foundation to reach our goal of $10,000.