Life in the Fishbowl: Lessons to Help You Survive and Thrive in Elected Office.

Currently, Guisselle Nuñez  is the Associate Vice President, Strategic Marketing Communications for San Francisco State University and serves as the chief marketing officer. Born in Nicaragua, raised in East San José, and a life-long resident of San José, Guisselle has served on many non-profit boards and currently serves on the Board of Regents for her alma mater, Santa Clara University. She’s a community volunteer, award-winning marketing communications leader, speaker, and author of the book "Take Charge of Your Brand” and co-author of “Life in the Fishbowl: Lessons to Help You Survive and Thrive in Elected Office.” A former political spouse for twenty years, she continues to coach many political spouses, candidates, and elected officials on how to manage their personal brands and navigate life while serving in public office.

The Los Amigos de Washington committee is providing a toy gift for each student at Washington Elementary School.  The toys have arrived, and holiday elves are needed to wrap the 360 gifts.  If you have some free time, please join us at the wrapping parties to be held on:

December 10 - 9:00 a.m. - 11:30 a.m.
December 13 - 10:00 a.m. - 1:30 p.m.
December 16 - 12:00 p.m. - 3:00 p.m.
IF NEEDED. December 17 - 11:00 a.m. - 1:00 p.m.

All wrapping will be done at Washington Elementary School, 100 Oak St., in downtown San Jose.  All elves must check in at the office.

Any questions?  Contact Sarah Janigian (sarah.janigian@gmail.com) or Audrey Fox (audrey_fox@comcast.net).  If you plan to come by, please RSVP.
 

The Military Care Committee is looking for volunteers to help place wreaths on veterans’ graves at Oak Hill Memorial Park (300 Curtner Ave San Jose) on Saturday Dec. 14h from 9:30AM - Noon as part of Wreaths Across America Day. This year more than 4,600 locations in all 50 states will be participating and it’s expected that more than 3 million wreaths will be laid to honor our military veterans. Our committee has a total of 1118 wreaths so we could really use your help!  

Please contact Megan Toeniskoetter or Brad Baron for more information.

Rotarians and their guests were welcomed to “Snow Fest,” our annual holiday luncheon, not with badges but bottles of wine, courtesy of Bert George. We mixed and mingled in the lobby, enjoying passed appetizers from Scott’s Seafood and a delightful champagne cocktail.

There was some “gift giving,” too, as Rotarians brought in boxes of cereal, granola, oatmeal and soups to donate for SJSU Cares and the Spartan Food Pantry.

When the doors to the dining room opened, we were treated to the music of the Symphony San Jose Quintet, who would play more holiday favorites later in the afternoon. Noticeably, the quintet included Robert Massey, one of our members and executive artistic director of the symphony, on trumpet.

President Heather Lerner welcomed us promptly at 12:15 p.m., thanking the Culinary and Hospitality Committee for their work on the event. 

Bert George came up next to present the Glenn George Spirit of Rotary Award, which is named after his father, a past president in 1980-81 but really represents his long family involvement in Rotary, going back to his grandfather, Joseph George, who helped start our club’s foundation in 1946 with a $1,000 donation.

This year’s award was presented to the family of the late Dr. Gary Silver, who started our Adult Gift of Life Program, providing heart-valve operations free of charge to 46 patients from 19 countires around the world. “There’s no one I can think of who has done more for the club,” Bert said. Dr. Silver’s family will direct a $5,000 donation to the Rotary Club cause of their choice.

We had another musical treat next as Audrey Fox and Sarah Janigian, representing the Los Amigos de Washington School committee, introduced Washington Elementary School Principal Maricela Alcalá-Franco and the school’s young mariachi performers, who played several songs for us including a finale of “Feliz Navidad.”

Sarah Clish introduced our next performer, pianist Peter Colclasure, who was a 2023 recipient of the Leigh Weimers Emerging Artist award. He was followed by a reprise performance of the Symphony San Jose Brass Quintet to finish out the event.


Submitted by Sal Pizarro, Rotary Meeting Summaries committee.
To see all pictures, click here, thanks to Hal Hendrickson, Photography Committee.