Raised in San Jose, Lissa was fortunate to begin and end a 40 year morning radio career in her hometown. The first ten years at KLOK-1170 and then 30 years at KBAY-FM. In 2015, she was honored to be inducted into the Bay Area Radio Hall of Fame. For the last 7 years she has had a show on KCAT-TV in Los Gatos called Community Storytelling. Always a lover of the community and Non-Profits, Lissa remains active as an Emcee/Fundraiser and volunteer. But her favorite title is that of Grandma to four fabulous children, ages 2 to 9 years.

Don't miss her talk on September 25th about her "Decades of Sunny Mornings".

Scott's Seafood will provide lunch ($30*) at Wednesday's meeting. The buffet lunch menu includes: 

Starters: Lobster Bisque, Caesar Salad
Entrees: Blackened Snapper, Bistro Steak, or Eggplant Parmesan (VGT)
Sides: Sauteed Seasonal Vegetables (VGT, GF), Roasted Yukon Potatoes (VGT, GF)

GF - Gluten Free, VGT - Vegetarian, VGN - Vegan

Please order by Monday, September 23rd at 12noon.  Plan ahead and order early! Late orders will be charged an extra $5.

Important note: If you have a 10-pack, you still need to register, so we have enough food. Please look at payment options as they have changed.

If you were at the Fall BBQ, you saw the grand unveiling of our brand new Mobile Medical Clinic. We want to continue the celebration!!

The Next Big Project Committee wants you to join us on September 25th for the special opportunity to get one of Jay Ross's Chocolate Chip Cookies! This was a staple of Jay's presidency, and we are going to be bringing it back for this next meeting!

Join us for the continued celebration on September 25th!

The International Service Committee invites you to the Annual International Feast to enjoy the "Tastes of the World" focusing on Peru!

Improve Life and Health with Clean Water for Peru's Santa Rosa De Pedro Human Settlement. Enjoy a delicious international feast, music, Jaranon y Bochinche dancers, wonderful raffle prizes – and fun and friendship!

WHEN: Friday, October 18th, 2024 at 5:30pm
WHERE: Gordon House, 1690 Senter Rd, San Jose, 95112
COST: $70 per person, additional donations are welcome!

RSVP AND DONATE HERE!

Join us to celebrate the 2024 Leigh Weimers Emerging Artists Awards recipients. You can't help but be inspired when the winners share their art through performances or discussions. The event closes with our Club presenting each artist with an unrestricted grant of $5,000. Many of our members count this as their favorite program of the year!

We welcome all members of the community, especially non-Rotarians, to join us for this wonderful event.

Wednesday, October 16 at Hammer Theater from 12:15pm-1:15pm.

It is free to attend*, but you must still register! Register HERE!

*Box lunches will be available to pre-order soon

Our 2024-25 Community Grants application window is now open and closes Monday, September 30.

Thanks to our generous members, we have $200,000 to distribute to local non-profit organizations, and our Foundation Trustees recently voted to raise the maximum grant amount to $15,000.

Please help share this opportunity with non-profit organizations you are involved with - click link for Grant Guidelines and the Grant Application. Both are available at https://www.sjrotary.org/ under Applications.
 

Our last meeting of the summer also was one of the most packed in recent memory, as Rotarians and guests packed into the Summit Center, no doubt because of this week’s speaker. We were greeted in the lobby by the members of the International Service Committee, with many wearing traditional garb from various countries around the world, and students from San Jose State University’s International House.

Once again, Jeff Pohle provided piano music – it sounded pretty “smooth” for Santana fans – before President Heather Lerner rang the meeting to order. Despite the large audience, Red Badgers Shannon Corpuz and Rukhsana Khan handled the traveling microphones to get guests and visitors introduced in record time. 

Kathleen Thomas came to the stage to talk about the International Service Committee and gave us updates on two Global Grant projects the club is working on: One in Peru to build a sustainable water filtration system for a town that needs clean water and another in Uganda that’s spinning off former District Governor Savita Vayidhyanathan’s Independence Through Hygiene initiative. You can support initiatives like these by attending the international feast at the Gordon House on Oct. 18. (New date!)

After those serious issues, the mood got a little lighter thanks to Past President Brian Adams and his Schtick or Treat segment, presenting the Top 10 signs at Rotary that Halloween is approaching. To avoid loud outbursts of laughter to those reading this summary at the office, we’ll refrain from sharing all 10, but the No. 1 reason was “Scott’s Seafood is serving Halloweenies for lunch,” 

Then it was party time, thanks to Past President Cindy Faulkner, who rolled out the menu of everything that the Culinary & Hospitality Committee handles – the Holiday Luncheon, the Spring Blind Wine Tasting and themed events that are auctioned for big bucks at our holiday gala. Cindy then switched gears to talk about the Ski Committee, which has visited 35 locations since it was formed in 1987 and is headed to Aspen in February 2025. There are still a few spots left on that trip, and did you know that about 40 percent of the committee’s members are non-skiers?

During her President’s time, President Heather gave a big round of applause to the Executive Chefs and the Red Badge committees for their enormous effort in making last week’s barbecue at History Park a big success for the 260 people who signed up to come. She also mentioned that the monthly downtown happy hour was moving to 4-6 pm on the Third Thursday (if you’re reading this on Friday, it was at Rollati yesterday.) She was also buzzing about an upcoming Native Pollinators event coming up and sang the praises of the Leigh Weimers Emerging Artists Awards, which returns to the Hammer Theatre on Oct. 16. 

We then had a special flag exchange with a visiting Rotarian from District 3189 in the state of Karnataka in India. 

Past President Larry Stone provided a glowing introduction for our speaker, San Jose Mayor Matt Mahan. Mayor Mahan, who normally provides an update at the start of the budget season in March, talked about how the city is doing in his five priority areas: Ending the Era of Encampments, Safest Big City, Clean Up Our City, Build Housing and Grow Our Economy. Of particular interest to downtown, he noted that he’s helped cut the ribbon on 21 new businesses in downtown San Jose this calendar year, and that effort is being helped by city grants. The number of applicants to the San Jose Police Academy is also trending upward for the first time in recent memory, and there are more eyes on downtown now because the police department’s Field Training program has returned to downtown, which also has Community Service Officers patrolling on bike.

He also fielded several questions about climate change, downtown cleanliness and improving permit time for homeowners and spurring the county to do more about homelessness. In regards to bringing more activity downtown, Larry Stone asked when City Hall workers will be required to return to the office full time. Mayor Mahan said that right now, workers are required to be there 3 of 5 days but the reality is closer to 4, and staffers in the mayor’s office come in 5 days a week. But he warned that City Hall’s workers are just a fraction of the people we need to have back downtown to make a difference.

Submitted by Sal Pizarro, Rotary Meeting Summaries committee.
To see all pictures, click here, thanks to Carl Cilker, Photography Committee.
Video is available here, thanks to John Duhring, A/V Committee.

Alex Stettinski is the CEO of the San Jose Downtown Association (SJDA).  He has an extensive background in the business improvement district, economic development and tourism/destination marketing industries and served in several leadership roles for the past 20 years. He ran the economic development efforts for the City of Beverly Hills as executive director of the Beverly Hills Chamber of Commerce and was Vice President of Operations & Strategic Planning at the West Hollywood tourism bureau. Before that, he was part of the revitalization process of Downtown Los Angeles and started The Avenues of Art & Design Business Improvement District (BID) in West Hollywood. In 2018, he was recruited to start the first BID in Nevada as the Executive Director of the Downtown Reno Partnership, and in 2020 was awarded an Award of Excellence by the International Downtown Association (IDA) for its highly effective social outreach program.  He has an international background - born in Switzerland, raised in Germany, and educated in Germany and the US. He is a Board member of the International Downtown Association (IDA) and serves on its Policy Committee.
 

Ardi Arian is the Founder and CEO of Renewable America, a company dedicated to delivering renewable energy solutions for communities. Over the past 20 years, Ardi has been instrumental in launching several start-ups, with a strong focus on developing commercial solar systems on the ground as well as roof. After earning a degree in electrical engineering in Germany, Ardi founded his first company, Germany Energy, in 2005. Ardi has successfully completed throughout his career over 60 turnkey solar projects for private equity funds, now operating across Europe and the United States.

In 2017, Ardi relocated to San Jose and envisioned a more vertically integrated business that could oversee every stage of a solar project’s lifecycle. This vision led to the founding of Renewable America in 2019, in partnership with a Japanese business partner. The company acts as a one-stop shop, handling everything from project development, engineering, and financing to full-scale construction and operation of solar+storage community projects. By placing these projects closer to suburban areas, Renewable America improves energy resiliency, providing localized, sustainable energy solutions. These projects are unique in that they enhance a company's energy resiliency by being located near suburban areas, rather than in remote locations thousands of miles away.

Outside of his professional life, Ardi is an avid sports enthusiast. He enjoys beach volleyball, wakeboarding, tennis, golf, kitesurfing, speedboating, and swimming, among other outdoor activities. His passion for the outdoors extends to spending quality time with family and friends.