District 5150 International Service Award - San Mateo Rotary
District 5150 International Service Award - San Mateo Rotary
District 5150 International Service Award - San Mateo Rotary
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<strong>District</strong> <strong>5150</strong><br />
<strong>International</strong><br />
<strong>Service</strong><br />
<strong>Award</strong>
Project Overview<br />
Goal: Renew 30-year old sister club agreement<br />
between the <strong>Rotary</strong> Club of <strong>San</strong> <strong>Mateo</strong>,<br />
California and the <strong>Rotary</strong> Club of Toyonaka,<br />
Japan to extend the exchange of many facets<br />
(students, ideas, information, documents,<br />
pictures, videos) of two <strong>Rotary</strong> club from<br />
different parts of the world.<br />
Goal: Work together on an <strong>International</strong> <strong>Rotary</strong><br />
project that brings both our cultures together.<br />
Background: Original agreement was signed in<br />
1978 for 10 years, then renewed in 1987 for 20<br />
years, then re-signed in 2007/2008 for 20 years.
Positive Results<br />
Agreement was executed in person between the<br />
RC of Toyonaka’s s President Teruaki Furusawa<br />
and RC <strong>San</strong> <strong>Mateo</strong>’s s President Mark Avelar<br />
Incorporated local community because the City<br />
of <strong>San</strong> <strong>Mateo</strong> has a sister city agreement with<br />
Toyonaka, Japan<br />
Provided for 4 Toyonakan Rotarians to visit RC<br />
<strong>San</strong> <strong>Mateo</strong> with their wives.<br />
Activities included a luncheon with the <strong>District</strong><br />
Governor, 2 excellent dinner experiences, and<br />
site seeing around our county
Statistics<br />
The <strong>Rotary</strong> Club of <strong>San</strong> <strong>Mateo</strong> has 140<br />
members at the time of our exchange<br />
We had about 10 members who were active in<br />
planning this exchange, but 100+ members got<br />
to enjoy our luncheon that included the signing<br />
of the agreement.<br />
Total dollar cost of project was approximately<br />
$1700.00 for expenses.<br />
Total cost of work hours was approximately 80 -<br />
100 hours of time.
Collaboration<br />
It took about 3 months of preparation before the contingency from<br />
Toyonaka arrived in <strong>San</strong> <strong>Mateo</strong> on January 3, 2008<br />
During this three month period the details of the new agreement were<br />
worked out. The agreement was update to take into consideration current<br />
technologies and other methods of exchanging information today.<br />
The four members that visited from Toyonaka receive our weekly<br />
newsletter (Spinnings) in PDF format via email.<br />
Incorporated international reach with our local community (youth baseball<br />
players) and civic leaders (Mayor, Council Members, and County<br />
Supervisor) because the City of <strong>San</strong> <strong>Mateo</strong> has a sister city agreement ement with<br />
Toyonaka, Japan. Our City sends a civic group to Toyonaka every 2 years.<br />
Bill Kenney, who originally signed the sister club agreement in 1978<br />
headed the committee to get the new agreement in place but also is<br />
working on ideas on how to have more activities and extend this friendship<br />
of <strong>Rotary</strong> clubs beyond the piece of paper.<br />
<strong>San</strong> <strong>Mateo</strong> <strong>Rotary</strong> translated the previously English only version of this<br />
agreement into Japanese.<br />
During the signing the two clubs exchanged gifts such as club flags,<br />
signature pens, copies of the agreement in glass blocks
Pictures<br />
<strong>Rotary</strong> luncheon and Sister Club Agreement signing:<br />
First Row (seated): Eiko Yokota, Mayor and Rotarian Carole Groom, President Mark Avelar, <strong>District</strong><br />
Governor Brian McLeran, President Teruaki Furusawa, , Dr. Masamitsu Sawaki , Taeko Sawaki<br />
Back Row (standing): Hiroshi Yokota, Jeff Lowenstein, Masatsugu Tsuji, Yoko Kojima, John Barrett
Pictures<br />
Toyonakan delegation:<br />
Taeko Sawaki, Yoko Furusawa, Teruaki Furusawa, Masatsugu Tsuji, Dr. Masamitsu<br />
Sawaki, Eiko Yokota, Hiroshi Yokota
Pictures<br />
Group shot at Bill Kenney’s<br />
house first night reception<br />
John Barrett with Teruaki<br />
Furusawa<br />
Teruaki Furusawa, Sue<br />
Kenney, Mrs. Furusawa, and<br />
Bill Kenney. Mr. Furusawa’s<br />
sister stay in the US with the<br />
Kenney’s several years prior<br />
President Mark Avelar listening to<br />
translator and Rotarian M. Tsuji<br />
John Barrett and Yoko Kojima.<br />
Yoko is the daughter of a<br />
Toyonaka Rotarian who did not<br />
come to sign the agreement<br />
but was at our club 6 months<br />
prior to actually get the<br />
discussions started to get the<br />
agreement renewed. She is a<br />
cardiology student at Stanford<br />
Rotarian Gary Hunt and M. Tsuji<br />
enjoying dinner conversation
Pictures
Agreements – 1978 & 1987
Agreement – 2008 – English / Japanese
Website Postings<br />
This is a snapshot from the SM <strong>Rotary</strong> Club History page<br />
Current member and<br />
committee chair of<br />
our sister club<br />
activities - Bill<br />
Kenney traveled to<br />
Japan in 1978 to sign<br />
the original<br />
agreement
Web paper posting:<br />
http://www.smdailyjournal.com/article_preview.php?type=lnews&id=85825
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