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President's Message
"Rotary is Fun" Social Night was a great success! Thank you to all of our members and their guests who joined us for this virtual event. We had total about 36 people attending, 20 of them were non-Rotarian guests. We had a great turn out! We have a few of those guests interested in applying and joining as members of our club. Yay!
August has been extremely busy and productive! I am very optimistic and energetic moving forward into the new month. September, as many of you know, is Basic Education and Literacy Month for Rotary. This is one of Rotary’s six areas of focus. We all know how critical reading and writing are for success in life – for gaining information, communicating, making agreements, and so forth. Enhancing Basic Education skills and Literacy are essential in reducing poverty, improving health, encouraging community and economic development, and promoting peace. They can also enable success in business or a profession. Our Club's has been contributing to this area of focus for awhile and supported the dictionaries project for local elementary schools on Oahu. This Rotary year we are continuing this important mission and will be supporting Jefferson School students in their online education due to COVID-19.
At last, I have some news to share! I will be traveling to Russia for 3 weeks starting next weekend, however, it won't effect our Rotary activity and meetings, since I will be running the meetings on Zoom from there. (Thanks to COVID!) I will be available over e-mail at radnaeva.aryuna@gmail.com, feel free to reach out anytime!
Mahalo,
Ary Radnaeva
2020 - 2021 President of the RCHS
UPCOMING MEETING - September 3 - ZOOM ONLY!
As the number of COVID-19 cases in Hawaii is increasing, the RCHS, following City and County of Honolulu mandates and guidelines, is offering only virtual Zoom meetings in September. We are committed to ensuring the health and well-being of our members, guests and the community.
Please join us for our weekly meeting on September 3rd. This meeting will be only on Zoom! Our usual informal happy (half) hour begins at 6:00 pm, and the bell rings at 6:30 pm to formally start the meeting.
Our speakers are Caroline Kunitake & Younghee Overly who are actively involved in the work of the American Association of University Women (AAUW) Honolulu Branch. They will be sharing about AAUW’s mission and work. Please read about them below.
Caroline Kunitake
Born in Kona on the island of Hawaii, Caroline Michiko Kunitake graduated from Konawaena High School in 1993. Graduating from the University of Hawaii – Manoa in 1999, she has a bachelor’s degree in liberal studies – public health. She also received a master’s degree in Health Information Systems from Loma Linda University in California in 2002.
Caroline was an Americorps National Civilian Community Corps from 1999 to 2000 in the Southeastern US. She’s now employed at the Hawaii Emergency Management Agency as a Disaster Assistance Program Specialist. Caroline is currently an AAUW Honolulu Branch board members. She’s also active on the AAUW Hawaii Public Policy Committee and the AAUW Honolulu Branch Engagement Team. “I’m eager to empower women and hope to make a meaningful contribution to this organization,” she said.
Younghee Overly
Driven by the conviction that we can end violence and poverty by empowering women and by engaging men on healthy masculinity, Younghee is an advocate for gender equity. She spent past decade leading other advocates, advocating with policy makers, fundraising, and mentoring youth. She is energized by connecting and collaborating with other like-minded people to achieve a common goal. Younghee has three decades of experience in information technology industry including managing teams and projects around the world. She currently serves as Public Policy Chair for American Association of University Women (AAUW) Hawaii and Secretary for Hawaii Women’s Coalition.
Younghee immigrated to United States from South Korea when she was 14 years old; retired from IBM after 30 years of service; went back to school after retirement to learn more about the international development and gender, and graduated with a master’s degree in May 2016. She moved in June 2016 to Hawaii from North Carolina with her husband of 30 years, after spending their summers in Hawaii since 2007. Younghee and her husband have a 22-year-old son.
Please check out this link for more information about AAUW.
Dial by your location: +1 253 215 8782 US (Tacoma).
Last Week's MEETING - AUGUST 27
Last week's meeting was a "Rotary is Fun" Social Night. Visitors and prospective members joined Honolulu Sunset Rotarians for an informative meeting, complete with breakout sessions, to introduce potential members to some of the many facets of the organization.
Vocational Service Director Gabriel Ruelas and Membership Chair March Schlesser each made presentations to the whole group, focusing on areas within their responsibility.
PDG Win Schoneman, Marco Schlesser, Beth Hoban, Gabriel Ruelas, and Immediate Past President James Ham facilitated simultaneous breakout sessions, and then reported back to the group as a whole. They reported on some of the ideas that each group came up with. For example, several groups thought that we should look to younger people as members and as future leaders. People like to socialize in person but find that Zoom meetings have advantages also. The club's diversity is a major feature, which people would like to continue.
Member Spotlight
John Meyer writes:
I joined the Rotary Club of Honolulu Sunset as a Charter Member in 1995. Our Rotary club will celebrate our 25th Anniversary in December 2020. Ayman, Bob Ehrhorn, and I are the remaining Charter Members of RCHS. I was invited to join the first evening Rotary club in Hawaii by Joe Philips, who became my Sponsor and the first president of our club. I served as club president in Rotary year 2009-2010 and in various positions within the club such as International Service and Youth Services (formerly New Generations). I enjoy the diversity of our club and the fun nature of our members. I am awestruck by the impact Rotary is creating in our community and around the globe.
I am employed as the Area Manager for Aloha Petroleum, which is owned by Energy Transfer Partners. Aloha Petroleum has nearly 100 Shell and Aloha fueling stations throughout the state. We supply fuel to the military and federal, state, and county agencies. In addition, we provide fuel to large accounts such as Costco. For those with a sweet tooth, we also have the Dunkin Donut franchise in Hawaii. I try to apply the Four-Way-Test to my business and personal decisions.
Pre-COVID, I did a lot of traveling for work and pleasure. My wife Robyn and I are looking forward to resuming our traveling after the pandemic has passed. My hobbies include golf, hiking, and Sudoku. I was born in Panama while my father was serving in the military. My family transferred to Hawaii when I was very young and I had the wonderful opportunity to grow up in the most beautiful place on the planet.
Stories
PE Arjun Aryal shares:
"I did volunteer to Eco Rotary's (and ours too I think) mission to plant 5000 trees program.
Attached pics are at UH Manoa greenhouse a few weeks ago, and we were filling up soil bags needed for seedling."
RCHS BOARD Secretary position is Open!
A club secretary is an important role and it helps to run the club smoothly and effectively. The secretary also monitors club trends to help identify strengths and areas for improvement, and share this information with club leaders.
Maintain minutes of club, board, and committee meetings.
Make required reports to RI.
Perform any other duties that usually pertain to the office of secretary.
We need you to continue to run our club successfully! Please reach out to our Club TrainerBeth at bhoban@primecarehawaii.com for more detailed information.
President Ary Radnaeva
Thought of the Week
“What you get by achieving your goals is not as important as what you become by achieving your goals.”
The Pfizer mRNA vaccine trial may only be conducted for another two weeks.
If you wish to enroll or have questions about the Pfizer mRNA vaccine trial, please email Ronald G. Ruhaak at ron@eastwestresearch.com. His phone number is (808) 440 4426.
Feel free to share this information with your networks.
Rotary Club of Honolulu Sunset Weekly newsletter
Born in Kona on the island of Hawaii, Caroline Michiko Kunitake graduated from Konawaena High School in 1993. Graduating from the University of Hawaii – Manoa in 1999, she has a bachelor’s degree in liberal studies – public health. She also received a master’s degree in Health Information Systems from Loma Linda University in California in 2002.
Driven by the conviction that we can end violence and poverty by empowering women and by engaging men on healthy masculinity, Younghee is an advocate for gender equity. She spent past decade leading other advocates, advocating with policy makers, fundraising, and mentoring youth. She is energized by connecting and collaborating with other like-minded people to achieve a common goal. Younghee has three decades of experience in information technology industry including managing teams and projects around the world. She currently serves as Public Policy Chair for American Association of University Women (AAUW) Hawaii and Secretary for Hawaii Women’s Coalition.
Charter Member in 1995. Our Rotary club will celebrate our 25th Anniversary in December 2020. Ayman, Bob Ehrhorn, and I are the remaining Charter Members of RCHS. I was invited to join the first evening Rotary club in Hawaii by Joe Philips, who became my Sponsor and the first president of our club. I served as club president in Rotary year 2009-2010 and in various positions within the club such as International Service and Youth Services (formerly New Generations). I enjoy the diversity of our club and the fun nature of our members. I am awestruck by the impact Rotary is creating in our community and around the globe. 
