SAN MATEO ROTARIANS CELEBRATE WITH CAKE, CHAMPAGNE, AND memories
San Mateo Rotarians & friends turned out in abundance on a gloriously sunny January day to commemorate the Club's Centennial. Rotarians were treated to champagne and cake as Mitch Postel, Jeff Lowenstein, and Tom Bormes provided glimpses of Rotary days gone by. Mitch gave a great overview of California, San Mateo County and the City of San Mateo as they were in 1924 when the Club's Charter was granted. Jeff shared videos capturing the memories of many longtime San Mateo Rotarians. Former Club President and District 5150 Governor Tom Bormes recounted how it took a Supreme Court decision in 1989 for women to be allowed to participate in Rotary. He highlighted the important work of Rotary International, especially in the ongoing worldwide battle to eradicate polio through Polio Plus. Definitely a celebration fit to last another 100 years!
Tony Villanueva and the Decorations Committee made sure the Poplar Creek venue took on a festive air with table decorations, hanging banners, and balloons galore!
Dick DeLuna warmly greeted T. Jack Foster and his son, Jack. T. Jack joined the Club on January 15, 1966, making him a 58-year member!
Laura Bent especially enjoyed the "100" glasses given to each Rotarian. With thanks to Tony for providing the glasses and to Laura for being a good sport in modeling them!
Barbara Evers (one of the first women to join the Club) joins Nancy Stanton in an enthusiastic toast to the Club's Centennial. Always nice to have a bit of bubbly to accompany
lunch!
Omar made sure the champagne (donated by Mitch Postel) flowed freely. Jeff Lowenstein highly approved & Dan Ionescu seems to be wondering where he might find a glass, too.
Centennial Committee Chair Mitch Postel & Committee Member Bernie Mellott are delighted the Centennial has finally arrived!
President John welcomes Past President Tom Bormes to the podium to share memories & reflections on RI & the San Mateo Club. Tom gets the prize for brightest jacket of the day!
What might Kitty Lopez, Phil Raiser, Jeff Lowenstein, & Peter Webb have in common? They're all smiles as they prepare to wish the Rotary Club of San Mateo well as it embarks upon its next 100 years!
It was wonderful to have such a great turnout for the Centennial Celebration.
Thanks to all the Rotarians who attended. But....We're not done, yet! Stay tuned for details on the May Gala still to come!
Kudos to Centennial Committee Chair Mitch Postel and Jeff Lowenstein who have been busy interviewing long-time Rotarians, capturing memorable oral histories of the Club. Jeff has done all the magic involved to make the videos available on-line. You can access some this week & the rest will be posted in Spinnings next week. Go to these links for this week's batch:
Hanna Malak is the Regional CEO of the Northern California Red Cross. A San Mateo native, Malak is a proud Serra High School Alum & currently serves on the Serra Board of Directors. He assumed his current role with the Northern California Red Cross in July 2022 and has extensive Red Cross leadership experience across the United States. A member of the Red Cross Advanced Public Affairs Team, Malak has assisted in multiple disaster response deployments. He is a dedicated blood donor with over 100 donations and also volunteers as a mentor for the Latino Resource Group.
