DeAnna Pursai is a new member to the Saratoga Rotary Club, as well as being a member of the San Jose Rotary Club. She has served on the San Jose Rotary board and has been active in the Rotary PlayGarden, Climate Action, and SJSU & International House Committees. This year she will serve as the District 5170 Climate Action Council Chair brining climate action committee chairs together to share best practices and community project ideas. She is a schoolteacher by trade, teaching in Seattle Public Schools, Evergreen School District, and San Jose Unified School District. In 2009 she co-founded College of Adaptive Arts with Dr. Pamela Lindsay, who received her doctorate in 2019 in curriculum and instruction in higher education and adults with intellectual disabilities. She has been named an Architect of Change by the Maria Shriver blog and was recently named a CNN Hero in April of 2022. Her long-term vision is to show how an expanded layer of higher education can live on every campus of higher learning around the world to be as accessible and widespread in Education that Special Olympics so effectively provides for lifelong athletic opportunities.

Violin concert master and collector of rare violins

When San Francisco Chronicle Columnist Herb Caen described Joseph Gold as a "giant on earth," he was referring to that 'something extra' which he carries into every violin performance. 

Growing up in Southern California, the son of Russian emigre parents, he began his violin studies at the age of eight.  He went on to graduate from the University of Southern California and holds a Master's Degree as well as three teaching credentials.  

He now makes his home in San Francisco, is an enthusiastic proponent of the "romantic revival" of Nineteenth Century violin music. His two favorite virtuoso composer-performers are Paganini and Sarasate. Numerous publications include his book, Paganini's Art of Violin Playing, as well as many transcriptions and original compositions.

For more info visit his website https://jgoldviolin.com/index.html 

We will be showing a documentary video called “Hakone Gardens and Executive Order 9066”.  It is a series of very personal stories of how the Japanese concentration camps of WWII affected the lives of the people of Hakone Gardens.  Reiko Iwanaga, Bev Harada and Patti Workman, three of the trustees of the Hakone Foundation will share their experiences.

Trying somethig new this year. We care combining fellowship activity as well as a service activity at our regular meeting time. We have reserved the Bocce Ball court outside our meeting room and after a brief history and explanation of how to play, you are welcome to play Bocce. (Get some practice in for our Bocce Ball Fellowship event on August 18!) Thanks to generous gift from SRCF, we will also be packing backpacks with the  school supplies for students that Terrance’s nonprofit serves. You may participate in either or both – it is a day to socialize with fellow Rotarians at work and play.

My name is Paige Brown, I am the Outreach Coordinator for West Valley Collection & Recycling and am a passionate advocate for eco-friendly education and finding sustainable ways to reduce landfill-destined waste. I love using my presentation opportunities to help others, especially when it comes to finding creative and effective solutions for recycling, composting, and waste-reduction. My career-goal is to help the communities I work with reduce the waste they are producing and work to create a more sustainable, eco-friendly home and/or business that is kind to the planet.

Play Bocce and munch on pizza and salads

Jane Mark has been Planning Manager with the Midpeninsula Regional Open Space District (otherwise known as Midpen) for 8 years.  Jane has over 25 years of environmental planning and public agency experience working for Midpen and previously with Santa Clara County Parks.

Jane has worked on projects such as the landscape restoration, public access improvements and eventual opening of Mount Umunhum summit which is in Sierra Azul Preserve, completion and opening of a portion of the San Francisco Bay trail in Ravenswood Preserve in East Palo Alto, planning and design for new public trails and trailhead parking at Bear Creek Redwoods Preserve in Los Gatos, among a handful of planning projects that have been funded by Measure AA. She looks forward to sharing information about these projects at the August 19, 2022 Rotary Club luncheon, and to share with audience useful tips for an enjoyable outdoor experience.

Before joining Midpen, Jane worked as Principal Planner at the Santa Clara County Parks and Recreation Department for close to 15 years, where she worked on a 20-year Strategic Plan for the regional parks system, Master Plan for Martial Cottle Park and other park plans.  

On a personal note, Jane is a transplant from New York City where she started her residency in Berkeley, pursuing and eventually completing her Masters degree in Landscape Architecture and Environmental Planning and Masters degree in City and Regional Planning.  Prior to moving to California and beginning her studies at the University of California at Berkeley, Jane lived and worked in New York City as an urban designer.  Jane currently lives in San Jose with her husband and her two sons and loves how her work will be enjoyed by her children and others now and in future generations.

Bring a dish to share and something to drink social event. Red wine and water will be provided by hosts