Greeting/Ring Bell Welcome to our meeting of the Mountain View Rotary Club. This year's International Rotary Theme is “Create Lasting Impact."
Pledge of Allegiance – lacking an American flag, Tom Myers led club members in pledging allegiance to the sailfish.
Thought for the Day – 3fer Jarod shared thoughts on who decides what we pay attention to.
Introduction of Guests: No non-speaker guests
Club Business/Announcements
Community Service & other Club updates:
Mt View Art & Wine Festival: 5 members worked the sales booth and became experts at point of sale machines. Rotary cheer to: Paul, Sanjay, Cathy, Heather and her son.
Alex presented service project: Sept 22nd 11:30 AM-1:00 PM - sorting clothes for the needy at Hope’s Corner
Bruce: Tom, Tom’s colleagues, Scott, Alex, Stephen and Bruce assisted local elderly individuals two times in recent weeks in clearing homes for safe accessibility and providing others services. Help was needed on short notice, in the future Tom or Bruce will announce beforehand when possible.
Memorial for Hiroji Kariya: service was held Sunday, August 30, 2026, at Mountain View Buddhist Temple
Honor flights (Michael):
Recap of recent honor flight: The weather in DC was perfect and all 25 veterans and 25 guardians were deeply moved by the experience. They visited several memorials and laid a wreath at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier on Sept 11.
Caymus Winery fundraiser: Successfully raised $25k at their fundraiser event and honored 4 WWII Veterans on the front label of a special bottling of Caymus Cabernet Sauvignon.
Upcoming District Dates/ Events:
September 19th – Rotary Collaborative Impact Summit, San Jose McEnery Convention Center
Registration is open, but beginning to fill. It’s an opportunity to connect with Rotarians and representatives from various non-profit organizations.
Check club’s website or District 5170
Upcoming Club Dates/ Events
September 29th: Social at Vaso Azzuro, time TBD. (Note: Vaso Azzuro will be permanently closing.)
October 6th: Mike Kasperzack “Achieving 4 Million Mile Status with United”
November 30th: Rotary Foundation donations made through the end of November will be matched by an anonymous donor
Program Wei Qun E and Jon Mara
Wei Qun E is Executive Director and volunteer client manager of United Effort
Mission: Their mission is to help people experiencing or at risk of homelessness move towards self-sufficiency and find a safe home in our community. United Effort provides case management services to help their clients apply for benefits and services they are eligible for, help clients looking for housing options, and provide self-sufficiency coaching services.
Her backstory: Wei was upset to find people sleeping on the street in Mountain View back in 2018 and looked for a non-profit to contribute to. She had volunteered with organizations before, but found United Effort’s case management approach over years uniquely effective and was able to talk with repeat clients to understand their story.
What they do: United Effort provides clients with bus passes, walks them through housing applications, and helps them find work and (with CSA) handle car registration. They were also able to build one list with information from different housing authorities, using software to flag when information changed.
Challenges and Needs:
The process of finding housing can be complicated and barriers include mental and physical health, access to information, knowledge of the law, and awareness of opportunities for assistance.
Even if United Effort will cover or subsidize rent, individuals may not meet minimum income requirements and be ineligible.
Waiting to get into a shelter can take several months. There are no shelters for seniors and a dedicated women’s shelter is only open in winter.
The primary need now comes from lack of affordable housing supply. Cottages, ADUs, and spare rooms can really help. However high demand means even shared rooms can cost >$1000/mo.
In Santa Clara County, more people are coming out of housing than are being housed - approx 3800 lose housing every year while a fraction of that are newly placed in homes.
Many veterans are eligible for special benefits, but don’t have access to their DD214 discharge papers.
The organization still does not have an office. Owners don’t want to rent vacant space to an organization serving people experiencing or at risk of homelessness.
Accomplishments: United Effort has helped around 1200 individuals find housing. They were also awarded LAMVCF’s $25,000 “Live Where You Work” Challenge Grant to help local working people. They are using the funds to launch a new housing initiative connecting essential workers and seniors with local homeowners who have available space.
Jon Mara is a member of United Effort’s Lived Experience Advisory Board and a former client.
His story: Jon became critically ill but kept working until he ended up in the hospital. He thought he might die though 3 surgeries saved him. Unable to work, he couldn’t afford rent and became homeless. He started couchsurfing with people he knew around Northern California and Oregon. He then began living out of his car. A different organization helped him find temporary housing. In Jan 2024, he couldn’t get permanent housing and was going to leave the area. His case manager suggested he go see Wei at United Effort. She made a lasting impact on his life. She helped him find a place to live and provided financial assistance. He now advises United Effort in its service.