ROTARY AT WORK – BRINGING HOPE AND BUILDING COMMUNITY!

Rotary meeting: November 16, 2021

PRESIDENT BOB MILLER (VP, Business Services at First US Community Credit Union) called us to order and requested a moment of silence for RICK DAVIS’ (Retired Putative Writer) wife Myrna Davis who recently lost her battle with breast cancer. BOB thanked our Greeters, JENNY WINSTEAD (Administrative Director, Sacramento Literacy Foundation) and JOHN MCINTYRE (Chief Philanthropy Officer, Mercy Foundation), Wine Reception host JIM HENDERSON (Attorney, Messing Adam & Jasmine) and invited all attendees to serve as Photographer by sharing photos from the meeting with SULAF AL AJEELI (Membership Service Coordinator, Rotary) and LATOYA WONG (Executive Director – Rotary Club of Sacramento).

JAMIE FURLONG  quoted John C. Maxwell’s “Law of the Mirror” from his 15 Invaluable Laws: You must see value in yourself to add value to yourself. JAMIE reminded us to become our own encourager. The greatest limitations we experience in our own lives most often are the limitations that we impose upon ourselves.

Watch JAMIE deliver this awesome quote of the day by CLICKING HERE.

Honorary SERGEANT-AT-ARMS KATHE NATHAN (Retired, Merchant Bank of Commerce) introduced our meeting guests: Prospective Rotarians Samantha Jarosz, Larry Carmichael and John Brackenbury (SALVATION ARMY), LAINE HIMMELMAN (Development Director, Habitat for Humanity), guest of STEVE JOHANSON (Johanson & Associates) and Mary Jo Streng, guest of JIM STRENG.

STEVE JOHANSON donated his time to Greater Sacramento Habitat for Humanity. LAINE HIMMELMAN shared Habitat’s unique role building and repairing homes while revitalizing communities here in Sacramento, which recently claimed the dubious honor of being the least affordable city for home ownership.

Currently Habitat is working on a 13-home development in South Sacramento, of which one home is supported by the Rotary Club of Sacramento (to be dedicated on December 18!). To give a sense of the need, this year the organization received 7,000 applications for 12 available new homes. For anyone interested in supporting our local Habitat for Humanity, Wells Fargo will be providing $100,000 in matching funds for all donations this holiday season, beginning with Giving Tuesday on Nov. 30!

PAUL KEEFER (Executive Director, Pacific Charter Institute) shared some of the exciting developments underway at the small but strong Rotary Youth Exchange Committee. This year we are happy to be sending an outbound student for the first time since 2019 – the Club will have a chance to meet her and learn her destination soon!

Watch PAUL highlight activities of Rotary Youth Exchange by CLICKING HERE.

Chair of the Day KERRY WOOD (Chief Marketing & Donor Engagement Officer, Sacramento Region Community Foundation) introduced CASSANDRA JENNINGS, CEO of St. HOPE. CASSANDRA has been actively involved in the community for many years, working with the City of Sacramento and the Sacramento Housing and Redevelopment Agency and serving on many local boards. She joined St. Hope as CEO in July 2021 after serving as President and CEO of the Greater Sacramento Urban League for five years. She recently received the American Leadership Forum’s Exemplary Leader Award.

CASSANDRA began by sharing lessons from the musical Hamilton:

1. Don’t miss your shot

2. Be in the room where things happen

3. Rise up and push the envelope

4. Know who will tell your story

CASSANDRA explained how in 27 years St. HOPE has grown from the St. HOPE Academy after-school program to a spectrum of community services throughout Sacramento’s first suburb – the neighborhood of Oak Park. The organization is focused on underserved individuals and on revitalizing the neighborhood through education and economic development.

St. HOPE runs PS7 Elementary School, PS7 Middle School, and Sacramento Charter High School – enrolling 988 students. St. HOPE also owns and operates The Guild Theater and Underground Books, –one of very few African-American owned bookstores in the nation – and invests in Fixins’ Soul Kitchen and World Class Faders Barber Shop. They operate Esther’s Park, an outdoor event venue.

 

St. HOPE Development Company has played a large role in the community’s growth and evolution. In May 2003, St. HOPE opened the 40 Acres Art and Cultural Center, a 25,000 square foot mixed-use facility located in the heart of Oak Park’s commercial district which today houses Old Soul, Underground Books, The Guild Theater, and 12 loft-style apartments.

In the upcoming two years, they plan to build a new elementary school, revive the community garden, begin work on a new football field, spearhead multi-family housing options in South Oak Park and grow the St. Hope Academy.

Watch the full presentation given by CASSANDRA by CLICKING HERE.

Didn’t get a chance to make it to last weeks meeting? Don’t fret! We have a recording of it HERE. Not to mention, there’s still a chance to make it to the next one!

Due to our need to prepare ourselves for the feast that is Thanksgiving, we will not be meeting on Tuesday, November 23, 2021. The following week, however, will be Foundation Day taking place at The Annunciation Greek Orthodox Church from 12:10-1:30 PM.