Meeting Highlights - October 20, 2020

What's Up with the Castro Valley MAC? Ken Carbone, Chair - Castro Valley MAC Castro Valley Municipal Advisory Council (MAC) Chair Ken Carbone started with an overview and history of the MAC. Cliff Sherwood, who served on the MAC when it was established, provided additional history and context. As Ken pointed out, the MAC is an advisory council that makes recommendations to the Alameda County Planning Commission and Alameda County Board of Supervisors as well as other governmental agencies. The seven members are appointed by District 4 Supervisor Nate Miley. Learn more about the MAC here.
What's Up with the Castro Valley MAC?
Ken Carbone, Chair - Castro Valley MAC
Castro Valley Municipal Advisory Council (MAC) Chair Ken Carbone started with an overview and history of the MAC.  Cliff Sherwood, who served on the MAC when it was established, provided additional history and context.  As Ken pointed out, the MAC is an advisory council that makes recommendations to the Alameda County Planning Commission and Alameda County Board of Supervisors as well as other governmental agencies.  The seven members are appointed by District 4 Supervisor Nate Miley.  Learn more about the MAC here. 
 
Ken is a Castro Valley is a Castro Valley native and graduated from Castro Valley High School.  He the principal at Dolphin Graphics, a company that specializes in the "Branded Message."  As Ken explained, when he became involved in local issues, his philosophy was "If you are willing to complain, you need to be willing to do something."  Ken has served twice on the MAC with service on the Alameda County Planning Commission in between his service on the MAC.
 
In his presentation, Ken focused on the issues with the MAC is currently dealing and will move forward to the Planning Commission and/or Board of Supervisors.  Ken devoted a good portion of his time to answering questions from members including cityhood for Castro Valley, an elected MAC, the impact of the demise of Redevelopment Agencies, traffic around "Burger Island," the General Plan among other topics.
 
President Gary thanked Ken for the informative presented and invited Ken back for future updates as well as a program on his drone photograpy of Castro Valley..
Member Moment - Chris Carr
Chris Carr is one of the newest members of the Rotary Club of Castro Valley, but he has been active in Castro Valley prior to joining the Club.  He spearheaded the project to place banners along Castro Valley Blvd. to recognition all the students who graduated or were promoted in June.  That commitment included actually putting up the banners.
 
Chris will born and raised in San Mateo County and attended the College of San Mateo and UC Berkeley.  After a 20-year career in Silicon Valley in various positions, Chris went to work for LaSalle Morgage Services in Montcliar as a Mortgage Banker.  Even before joining Rotary, Chris was committed to Service Above Self through his volunteer work (e.g., Alameda Elks Lodge, Castro Valley Little League).  Chris described his passions (i.e., cooking, exercising, travel, his motocycles, live music, and especially, his wife and children).
 
Chris concluded with 3 Keys to Happiness:  Somehting to Do; Someone to Love; and Something to Look Forward To.  Click here to see the slides and click the link below to watch the presentation.
 
Since Chris joined the Club during the pandemic, we look forward to meeting him in person.  Welcome, Chris!
  • President-Elect Murline Monet reported on the District 5170 Avenues of Service program that she attended virtually on October 17.  She shared the web site of the keynote speaker, Heidi Kuhn who is Founder and CEO of Roots of Peace, which is a humanitarian-nonprofit organization whose Mission is We are committed to replacing the remnants of war with the Roots of Peaces, where planting peace and prosperity is our product and global legacy.  Cliff Sherwood added that in 2012-2013 under the leadership of President Hafsa Burt, the Club partnered with the Rotary Club of San Francisco to support a Roots of Peace project to remove land mines in Crotia, Hafsa home country.  Murline also shared a list of projects from other Clubs in District 5170.  Click here to see the list.
  • Past President Todd Anglin announced a new partnership with Aurora Catering, who has been collecting donations, to provide Thanksgiving meals to the 31 local firefigthers who were involved in with the recent fires in Napa and Northern California.  Working with Brian Centonir of the Alameda County Fire Department, Aurora Catering has been asking customers to donate $20 to provide a Thanksgiving meal for a firefighter.  Donations can be mailed to the Rotary Club of Castro Valley at PO Box 2117 Castro Valley CA 94546.  Please note that the donation is to support the Thanksgiving meal for firefighters.  Thank you in advance for your generosity.
  • Carol Bigelow announced that H.A.R.D. will not hold its Annual Thanksgiving Lunch at the Senior Center this year due to COVID-19; however, H.A.R.D plans to hold a drive through Senior Goodie Bag Giveaway on November 19 at 11:00-12:30.  Carol already has 4 volunteers, but could use 1-2 backups.  Please contact Carol for details.
  • Chili Cook-off Chair Randy Vanderbilt, Rodeo Parade Chair Murline Monet, and Racial Discrimination Forum Chair Mark Poinatowski reported on thier recent and future committee meetings.  The Chili Cook-off and Parade Committees are planning as if the events will occur in May 2021.  Watch email for details regarding future meetings.
  • Members are requested to register for lunch meeting on ClubRunner under Upcoming Events.
  • The Zoom link to access the the lunch meeting is always: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/240179056 
October 27 - Lunch Meeting via Zoom at 12:00 pm
 
Speaker - Raul Andino, PhD, 
 Professor of Immunology and Microbiology - University of             California, San Francisco 
Topic - A New Polio Vaccine
 
November 3 - Lunch Meeting via Zoom at 12:00 p.m.
  • Topic:  Eden Area Regional Occupational Program (ROP) 
  • Speaker:  Linda Granger, Superintendent Eden Area ROP
November 10 - Lunch Meeting via Zoom at 12:00 p.m.
  • Topic:  American Association of University Women (AAUW)
  • Speaker:  Julia T. Brown, Chair of the National Board of Directors of the American Association of University Women.
November 17 - Lunch Meeting via Zoom at 12:00 p.m.
  • Topic:  Club Assembly - Strategic Plan 2025
  • Facilatator:  President Gary Howard.
  • Watch for details in an email.
November 24 - No Lunch Meeting