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The FOGHORN
ROTARY CLUB OF HALF MOON BAY
January 26, 2023
Celebrating Future DG Mitone Griffiths
Article by Steve Wilson
Our January 26 meeting was a celebration of our Mitone's selection as D-5150's well deserved nominee for District Governor-elect, putting her in the line of succession for DG two terms hence. Mitone will be the third member of our club to have served as DG. The honor is of course very deserved, as Mitone has been a tireless cheerleader for Rotary and its values for many years, and has distinguidhed herself particularly for her leadership and advocacy in the Shelter Box program, which has provided key humanitarian relief throughout the globe. Mitone, heartfelt congratulations from all of us! Your track record with our club, the District and RI itself is testimony to what one person with positive energy can do.
Present at the meeting, were our current DG Gary Chow as well as a number of past DG's (including our own Dave Cresson) and those "in the line" now, including Pacifica's Steve Wright and also Larry Hendrix. Gary presented some welcome good news, which was that worldwide no active cases of polio wave been reported for at least 18 weeks.
PP and future DG from Pacifica Steve Wright presented our recent PP Joe Brennan with a certificate from The Rotary Foundation for 2021-22 in recognition of our Club's financial support for the RI "End Polio Now" during Joe's presidency.
We set aside time during the meeting for thoughtful sharing about the mass shootings earlier in the week and this Club's response to the shootings as part of an overall Coastside effort to assist the surviving families and address the root causes. We Coastsiders understand that the living conditions of the farmworkers and paucity of community resources both play a role here. In our reflections, it was clear that gun violence and gun availability generally, and community mental health resources for farmworker populations, play roles in what happened. Several suggestions for making other clubs in the District aware of channels for assistance, with the common thread being the fact that our own club Foundation can be a catch-point for aid received from thoroughout the District and a valuable ally to Alas Coastside Hope and Puente, the three local nonprofits most effective in addrssing the needs of these families. this will be a continuing conversation in months ahead.
The Club also commended our member Joaquin Jimenez for his excellent and sensitive representation of the community and its needs in meetings with state agencies and in media interviews.
After a series of warm tributes to Mitone (including recognizing Ralph Ely for introducing Mitone to Rotary), Mitone talked about her priorites for the months ahead, one of which will be a business promotion-oriented meeting with Toastmasters to be held February 21 (more on this at upcoming meetings) and her desire to see more energy and resources put into Rotary Means Business.
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