Events

Join us for our annual  scholarship bike ride in support of Menlo Park Rotary's college scholarships for local first in generation college attendees.   The race starts at The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints with three longer routes along the Peninsula and a shorter family ride.  Lunch and snacks provided. Visit Tourdemenlo.com for more information.

IJM is the International Justice Mission.  Their mission is to end the business of international trafficking and slavery.  Anthony is the San Francisco Bay Area Director of Strategic Partnerships.  Here is their website:

Jeanette Pohlen is an Assistant Coach of the Stanford Women's Basketball Team.  Prior to being named assistant coach by Kate Paye, Pohlen spent the past two seasons as Director of Player Development. 

A 2011 Stanford graduate with a degree in communication, Pohlen returned to Stanford as a coaching intern in 2021-22 before assuming the player development position she held for the last two years.

Playing for the Cardinal from 2007-11, Pohlen was the 2011 Pac-10 Player of the Year and named to the All-America teams of the Associated Press (first team), USBWA and Wooden Award after averaging 14.5 points, 3.2 rebounds and 4.8 assists per game as a senior. She shot 41.7 percent from behind the arc and made what was then a school-record 96 3-pointers.The Cardinal went to four straight Final Fours during Pohlen's collegiate career, including runner-up finishes in the NCAA Tournament in 2008 and 2010. Overall, Stanford was 137-14 in her four years and dominated the conference, winning the Pac-10 regular-season and tournament titles all four years.

Referencing the 2024 Silicon Valley Index report, Joint Venture Silicon Valley CEO & President Russell Hancock will share trends and analysis of the strength of the Silicon Valley economy and the health of our community.  

Online at www.SiliconValleyIndicators.org, the interactive data hub provides charts and access to the underlying data, links to data sources, and additional related online resources.

Dr. Andrew Reddie, Assistant Professor of Cybersecurity at UC Berkeley, will present National Security in the Era of Artificial Intelligence. Does the future of the human race depend on an algorithm? This question will readily come to mind as Dr. Reddie describes the incorporation of artificial intelligence (AI) into the modernization of nuclear weapons and command and control architecture, and outlines the steps superpowers must take to mitigate the risks posed by autonomous technologies used in war.

Rotary Club Menlo Park strongly supports St. Anthony's by volunteering, donating money, turkeys etc. We recently donated $5,000 to help with the production of a movie to better tell their story.  Max Garcia and Rickey Ono, two key people from St. Anthony's will present their new Video and update us on what is going on at St.Anthony's.

Blair Giffords and Mimi Gordon will describe the work that Global Health Connections does in rural Kenya. 

Global Health Connections was founded to connect, engage, and empower individuals to improve the health and sustainability of their communities. GHC believes in empowering individuals and strives to improve the sustainability of villages through community-led learning, mentorship, and opportunity. GHC's focus is on building Community Health and Empowerment Clubs (CHECs) throughout communities in Western Kenya.  They are currently active in 8 villages in Kisii County and 2 in Homa Bay County. In early fall of 2024, thanks to a large Rotary International global grant and Adopt-a-Village sponsors, they will be entering into 4 more villages--1 in Kisii County, 2 in Homa Bay County and 1 in Kajiado County--bringing their total to 14 active villages. They also have 5 self-sustaining and self-governing CHECs, bringing our total number to 19 villages.

Women in traditional villages in Kenya spend hours scouring the countryside for wood to use in their indoor cookstoves. The Health consequences of smoke inhalation are high, as is the cost to the environment. Adding injury to illness, the women are often attacked on their way home with this precious commodity.

Amy Boggs has identified a variety of sources, supports, and infrastructure that would help us to adopt a village to which we could bring solar stoves, and she will introduce this possible project to the club. Participants would help with installation and training, and would also be able to enjoy game drives in the Maasai Mara.

Jack Lekishon is a Maasai elder and has identified Kolong Village, Kenya as a receptive community to whom we could bring solar stoves in the summer of 2025. His timely visit will allow him to present the views of an elder in Kolong Village as well as those of the women in the village. 

San Mateo County Rotary Blood Drive
Drive Date: Tuesday, 11/19/2024
Drive Time: 11:30 am – 3:00 pm
Location: Redwood City Library Community Room, 1044 Middlefield Road, Redwood City

Mark Soltau served as content editor for Tigerwoods.com for 20+ years, TOUR Correspondent for Golf Digest and covered the SAn Francisco 49ers, golf, Stanford Athletics and other Bay Area Teams for the San Francisco Examiner. He is the author of Right Place, Write Time, which tells fascinating first hand stores of some of the greatest athletes of all time.  From early childhood games spent on the San Francisco 49ers sidelines where his dad was a star, to documenting first hand Tiger's career from Stanford through all of his major vicotires, Mark shares unique insights from the perspective of one of the most trusted journalists in sports.

Bring a frozen turkies to Allied Arts on November 20 as part of Rotary's annual turkey drive.   All turkeys will go to St. Anthony's Kitchen in Menlo Park.

Please bring your frozen turkey to our weekly meeting at Allied Arts! 

The Dining Room provides three basic core services:  food, clothing distribution and a health program.  In addition it has been designated as a disaster relief center in San Mateo County. The Dining Room also hosts other events and programs throughout the year such as a toy distribution during the Christmas season.

Our patrons include working and non-working low-income families, the elderly, the homeless, and newcomers to the area.  Many are working productive members of our community whose wages are insufficient to cover the high cost of living in the Bay Area, especially when supporting a family.  The meals and services provided by the Dining Room help defray these costs.

This volunteering activity provides you with the opportunity to prepare and serve food. 

https://www.paduadiningroom.com/

I will be telling fun and interesting short stories about leasing the first ever office space to Facebook and meeting with Mark Zuckerberg.

Former Rotarian Glen Rojas, David Johnson, and I were all Rotarians who had met Facebook and Meta founder Mark Zuckerberg. Glen Rojas was Menlo Park's City Manager during the process of developing the campus of Facebook. Dave Johnson was the Business Development person for the town of Menlo Park.  Glen and David plan to speak to our Rotary Club next year.

Meet at the Arts in Action warehouse to pack kits.

Art in Action is a nonprofit to empower students through arts education. We will get together at the warehouse to put together kits.

The Dining Room provides three basic core services:  food, clothing distribution and a health program.  In addition it has been designated as a disaster relief center in San Mateo County. The Dining Room also hosts other events and programs throughout the year such as a toy distribution during the Christmas season.

Our patrons include working and non-working low-income families, the elderly, the homeless, and newcomers to the area.  Many are working productive members of our community whose wages are insufficient to cover the high cost of living in the Bay Area, especially when supporting a family.  The meals and services provided by the Dining Room help defray these costs.

This volunteering activity provides you with the opportunity to prepare and serve food. 

https://www.paduadiningroom.com/

The Dining Room provides three basic core services:  food, clothing distribution and a health program.  In addition it has been designated as a disaster relief center in San Mateo County. The Dining Room also hosts other events and programs throughout the year such as a toy distribution during the Christmas season.

Our patrons include working and non-working low-income families, the elderly, the homeless, and newcomers to the area.  Many are working productive members of our community whose wages are insufficient to cover the high cost of living in the Bay Area, especially when supporting a family.  The meals and services provided by the Dining Room help defray these costs.

This volunteering activity provides you with the opportunity to prepare and serve food. 

https://www.paduadiningroom.com/

Founded in 2008, LEMO Foundation is a Bay Area-based nonprofit that exists to close the opportunity gap for student athletes. LEMO ensures that all student athletes, regardless of income, can access the supports, resources, and experiences they need to thrive. We serve as a comprehensive all-in-one destination for students to engage in sports, education, and community programming that models and cultivates the mindsets, habits, and relationships for success. Through a supportive campus and enrichment programs, we enable student athletes to play, learn, and grow to their full potential.

https://www.lemofoundation.org/

Pete Wilson will be interviewing Mike Herzen and Wil Patterson.  We can look forward to finding out about their background, as well as (hopefully) enlightening insights and wisdom.

Born into the carnival life of a Borscht Belt Catskills hotel family, Bart has never let the ordinary constrain him. From professional photography to painting, he has always set his creativity free, now entering into the realm of authorship. His first book, A Catskill Carnival: My Borscht Belt Life Lived, Lost and Loved, is a memoir of his early years in a unique setting, coming to terms with and cherishing its life lessons.

https://bartcharlow.com/about.html

Susan Dean is the President of the Rotary Club of San Francisco Chinatown.  She will be presenting about a Global Grant to eliminate cervical cancer in Guatemala.  Amy Boggs thought her global grant proposal was very thorough and would make an interesting presentation to our Rotary Club.