Speaker Gifts Donated to Creekside Elementary

June 20, 2011 By Leave a Comment

Rotarian Steve McKae and Creekside Librarian Larissa WorthOur Program Director Extraordinaire for 2010-11 , Steve McKae, presented the speaker books to Creekside Librarian, Larissa Worth. After each speaker’s presentation, Steve presented a short synopsis of each book he chose for the benefit of the club and speaker. Then the speaker signed the donation plate inside the book cover. Some of the books given include:

  • Robert Lewis Stevenson’s ‘Treasure Island’ signed by Dr Hatcher, Center for the Pacific Rim
  • Dr Seuss’ ‘If I ran the Zoo’ signed by Bud MacKenzie, Trust in Education
  • Grace Lin’ “Where the Mountain Meets the Moon’ signed by Hon. Stuart Hing
  • Linda Sue Park’ ‘A long Walk to Water’ signed by Dennis Lyamuya, Mt Kilimanjaro Guide

Complete list:

Author Title In Appreciation Of
Linda Sue Park A Long Walk to Water Dennis Lyamuya (Mount Kilimanjaro guide)
Sharon Creech Walk Two Moons Tom Delfino
Rodman Philbrick The True Adventures of Homer P. Figg Carol Johnson
Anthony Hope The Prisoner of Zenda Vic Georgiou
James Thurber The Wonderful O Colette Ankenman
Sir Arthur Conan Doyle The Hound of the Baskervilles Jean Ohman (San Ramon Valley Historian)
William Pene du Bois The Twenty-One Balloons Chief Steve Simpkins (Danville Police Department)
Cynthia Kadohata kira-kira Katy Jarvis and Cora Henderson
Carolyn Keene The Secret of the Old Clock Gil Jardine
Dr. Cuthbert Soup A Whole Nother Story Peter Crooks
Marie Sellier Renoir’s Colors Gary Vilhauer
Philip C. Stead A Sick Day for Amos McGee Tamara Hunter (Putnam Clubhouse)
Berkeley Breathed Mars Needs Moms Ran Halog (Ala Costa Centers)
Ken Robbins Food for Thought Dr. James Felton (Center for Environmental Health Sciences, U.C. Davis)
Gloria Whelan and Peter Sylvada Yatandou Sheila Hurst
Dr. Seuss If I Ran the Zoo Budd McKenzie (Trust in Education)
Laban Carrick Hill Dave the Potter Randall Iwasaki (Contra Costa County Transportation Authority)
Karen Hesse Out of the Dust Dr. Frank Sulloway (U.C. Berkeley Institute of Personality and Social Research)
Grace Raymond Hebard Sacajawea Hon. Jerry McNerney (United States House of Representatives)
Laura Ingalls Wilder Little Town on the Prairie Susan Hill and Ted Rose (Project Amigo)
Robert Louis Stevenson Treasure Island Dr. Patrick Hatcher (Center for the Pacific Rim)
Rebecca Stead When You Reach Me Hays Englehart
Jean Lee Latham Carry on, Mr. Bowditch Seoin Moon (California Maritime Academy)
Charles W. Maynard John Muir Dr. Robert Schock (2007 Nobel Peace Prize Winner with the Interagency Panel on Climate Change)
Ginger Wadsworth Camping with the President Fred Rutledge (Principal at Tri-Valley Regional Occupational Program)
William H. Armstrong Sounder Michael Copeland
Angela Farris Watkins My Uncle Martin’s Big Heart Karl Diekman (Rotary District Governor, District 5160)
Steven P. Medley Antelope, Bison, Cougar Steve Polcyn
Mina Javaherbin Goal! Dr. Kathrina Rashid
Mo Williams Knuffle Bunny Free Ltjg Nate Scott (USN)
Grace Lin Where the Mountain Meets the Moon Hon. Stuart Hing (Judge, Alameda County Superior Court)
Jon Agee The Incredible Painting of Felix Clousseau Sgt. Ted Anderson (Contra Costa County Coroner’s Office)
Graeme Base The Legend of the Golden Snail Trina Swerdlow
Carolyn Sherwin Bailey* Miss Hickory Joan Lafayette and Eleanor Bonner (Loaves and Fishes)
Robert McCloskey* Blueberries for Sal Daniel Borenstein (Contra Costa Times)
Brian Selznick* The Invention of Hugo Cabret Steve Enoch (Superintendent of Schools, SRVUSD)

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Upcoming Speaker Dr. Patrick Hatcher 3/22/2011

March 17, 2011 By Leave a Comment

Patrick Loyd HatcherWe are delighted to announce that our speaker next Tuesday morning will be Dr. Patrick Hatcher, who is a professor at the University of San Francisco Center for the Pacific Rim and formerly a Kiriyama Fellow, Center for the Pacific Rim. A military historian by profession, Dr. Hatcher taught in both the history and political science departments at the University of California at Berkeley prior to his retirement. One of Cal’s most sought after guest speakers, he was honored with the MacArthur Award from the Institute of International Studies at Cal in 1987 and was the recipient of the UC Berkeley Instructor of the Year Award in 1988.   He is the author of three books, including “The Suicide of an Elite: American Internationalists and Vietnam,” “Economic Earthquakes: Converting Defense Cuts to Economic Opportunities,” and “North Atlantic Civilization at War: the World War II Battles of Sky, Sand, Snow, Sea, and Shore.”

Dr. Hatcher has been studying the historical, political and economic environment in Korea for the past decade and will be talking about Korea and the conflict between North and South.  Dr. Hatcher is an engaging and entertaining speaker, and some of our Cal grads may also know him as a popular guest faculty member on many alumni-sponsored trips overseas.  If you ask, he might also tell you about the Tango contest in Brazil.

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Asante Africa Tanzania Partner Dennis Lyamuya

March 14, 2011 By Leave a Comment

Dennis LyamuyaAt our meeting on March 1st, our guest speaker, Dennis Lyamuya ,spoke of his upbringing at the base of Mt. Kilmanjaro. He told an amazing story of perseverance. He was the oldest son in a family of 9 living in a hut. He dropped out of school to earn money to support his family by becoming a porter on Mt Kilmanjaro. He made over 220 trips. He was promoted to a Mountain Guide. They sent him the College of Wildlife Management that eventually led to his role of Chief Safari Guide in the National Parks of Tanzania. While at University, he was elected President of the Student Council. He has recently traveled extensively within Tanzania representing the college to various dignitaries.

Dennis has been intimately involved with Asante Africa Foundation from the inception. Much of his wisdom and insights are cornerstones of what the organization is today. Asante Africa is a non-profit organization in SF Bay Area run by Erna Grasz. We are in the process of putting together a Global Matching Grant with Asante Africa.

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Great speakers for February including Nobel Prize Winner

January 28, 2011 By Leave a Comment

We have some great speakers for the month of February 2011 at our club including Nobel Prize Winner Dr. Robert Schock. If you would like to be a guest please contact us so we can make sure there is room.

2/1/2011: Michael Copeland, a humorist and frequent contributor to Alive magazine, will talk to us about “Things that scare” and other humorous observations. This will be a good reason for members to pick up a copy of Alive, which is free at newstands around Danville (including Bagel Street Café in the Livery), and enjoy the many entertaining features by local writers.

2/8/2011: Time will turn back to 1903, and our visitor will be President Theordore Roosevelt (in the person of Fred Rutledge). President Roosevelt will tell us about his recent visit and camping trip with John Muir in Yosemite and his interest in preservation of our natural resources. President Roosevelt, who will receive the Nobel Peace Prize in 1906 for his efforts to bring about an end to the Russo-Japanese War, is the first of our Nobel Peace Prize winners who will speak to us in February.

2/15/2011: We will be celebrating Valentine’s Day with our guests, and we will have a two-part program. We will start with out Student/Teacher of the Month presentation. We then will welcome Dr. Robert Schock who was Coordinating Author of the 4th Assessment of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. Dr. Schock and the IPCC received the Nobel Peace Prize in 2007 along with Former Vice-President Al Gore for their contribution to knowledge of climate change. Dr. Schock’s topic will be “Climate Change: Myths and Realities.” This is an extraordinary opportunity to hear about an extremely important subject form a preeminent expert and to ask questions that all of us have about this topic.

2/22/2011: Tom Delfino, Executive Director of the California Citrus Nursery Society, will introduce us to some varieties of citrus that may not be familiar to all of us, and he will bring some samples to share. The Califoria Citrus Nursery Society is an association of citrus tree growers and is much involved in research to improve existing varieties and identify new varieties as well as research to protect against the introdution and propagation of pests in the citrus orchards, one of California’s hallmark industries.

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New Danville Police Chief Steve Simkins Visits DSVR

October 11, 2010 By 1 Comment

Stephen McKae and Danville Police Chief Steve SimpkinsNew Danville Police Chief, Steve Simkins spoke at our meeting on October 5.  He has been on the job for just 2 months.  We remembered him fondly from the time he spoke to us when he was in charge of the Martinez jail a few years ago.  And he said he enjoys speaking at Rotary Clubs because it reminds him of his father who was an enthusiastic Rotarian for many years.

The new chief follows the “Broken Window Concept’.  What that means is that if you tolerate a broken window without fixing it, then pretty soon other things will go wrong.  Thus, paying attention to the details are important.  He wants his officers to treat the community as if their family lived there.

According to the Chief, the biggest problem facing Danville, is ‘crimes of property’, which is only gotten worse with the bad economy.  He wants his police to throw up a ‘Force field’ to keep the bad guys out, and make Danville less of an attractive target.  He reminded us that we shouldn’t leave doors unlock, garage doors open, and electronic items visible in cars.

Chief Simkins told us that the Danville Police have volunteer opportunities.  Right now, they have about 20 volunteers that help out in numerous types of office and community jobs.  They were white shirts at events.  There is also a Volunteer patrol car, that is driven around noting open garage doors and other potential crimes of opportunity.  Then a letter is sent, with the message “If I was a thief…”   In addition, they have Volunteer Reserves that need to go through formal training.  It consists of three different levels, with the highest at 6 months of night classes.

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Diana Brown SOAR for Youth

June 16, 2010 By Leave a Comment

Yesterday Diana Brown of SOAR came to speak to the Danville/Sycamore Valley Rotary. Tonight I had the pleasure of speaking with her on my Blogtalkradio Podcast. Diana is the president and founder of SOAR for Youth. After a very successful career in IT including Fortune 100, education and government Diana was inspired by comments a friend had made about being a foster child. Her friend had experienced abuse at the hands of their aunt who was also their foster parent. The story changed Diana’s life as she felt that she needed to do something about the situation facing foster children.

Diana Brown receiving speakers certificate from Rotarian Del Chandler

Diana approached the issues facing foster kids the same way I would imagine her approaching any challenge she had faced in the business world. She spoke to faculty involved in Social Services and gathered other information about the problems. Armed with this information she devised a 3 year summer program to help these kids in need through a partnership with UC Berkeley. The program she created and implemented with the help of plenty of volunteers provides the kids with anything from basic life skills education to college preparation. When the kids arrive at camp they are quiet and keep to themselves but by the end of the week they are laughing and enjoying themselves the way kids that age should be.

Listen to the Interview

If you have the opportunity to volunteer, I believe it will be a life changing event for you. If you’d like to funnel your support to SOAR through Rotary, please use the contact page on this website to reach us.

Participant Testimonials:

What did you learn that will help you the most this next year?
  • Learn to love myself.
  • Just to look at things from a different point of view.
  • English and Math classes and stress relievers.
  • That you are never alone and there is always a way to survive and be very successful.
  • That even if you don’t see some interest in some things you should not just back away from it, give it a try…

More information about SOAR:

SOAR for Youth was established in February 2009 to provide high quality support, opportunities, and rapport that foster youth would have otherwise received from their parents. One of the goals of SOAR is to help foster youth become independent and productive members of our society.

Through a summer residential academic enrichment program that uses teaching, coaching, counseling, outdoor adventure activities in collaboration with the University of California at Berkeley, community foster youth organizations, and Bay Area children services agencies, SOAR helps teenaged foster youth gain the knowledge, skills, and confidence needed to pursue post secondary education and succeed. It is a three-year program. Once selected, each youth is invited to attend three summer camps (Prepare To SOAR, Learn To SOAR, and Time TO SOAR). In addition, SOAR stays connected with the youth throughout the following academic years, providing sustained support and attention to encourage their progress.

Access the Soar for Youth Website

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Loaves and Fishes

February 21, 2010 By Leave a Comment

LAFFBMichael Baroman-Coggins of Loaves and Fishes of Contra Costa County came to visit our Rotary Club recently. Michael informed our club more about what Loaves and Fishes does to feed the hungry of Country Costa County. As a followup he was interviewed on one of our members podcast.

Listen to the Podcast

Resources

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