San Francisco Chinatown Rotary - Hall of Fame - District Rotarian of the Month

Sugo is a vivacious young lady (at heart) and is a Charter member since the club was organized in June 30, 2008. Born and raised in San Francisco, she has ties to the community and knows many, many people within the SF community. She is retired, but busy with her 5 grandchildren and is very hands-on as a grandmother - often seen regularly at the children's schools serving lunches on Tuesdays and Thursdays, or taking the kids to their activities and practices.

During the first year of the club, she was the Foundation Chair and a Director of the Club. she recruited many new members who also became Charter members. she continues to recruit new members and is currently a Director of the Club again. Sugo has the name of "Head of the Dragon Ladies" as she is in charge of all of the Club's food activities.

Food is very important to this club and Sugo knows how to organize the food events; holiday parties, annual fundraising, garage sales and community service projects. Food is always there! She assigns the duties, but most importantly, she pitches right in there and prepares her "special chicken salad". Her culinary skills are so well known, as she was sought after to bake 1,000 cookies for the District 5150 Foundation event at the Jacuzzi Winery on Sept 18, 2011.

She traveled with three other club members to China last year to volunteer for two weeks to support one of the club's international projects, Half the Sky orphanage. They painted tables and chairs, assembled wagons and toys, and helped with caring for the children.

What is hard to put into words is that Sugo is one of the key members of the club. Every club has a core group of members that drives the club to success. Sugo is one of those members. She is the "glue" of the club and her contributions are more than participating at many of the club service projects or paying her dues on time. It's keeping the other members engaged and offering leadership.

When doing her weekly grocery shopping in SF Chinatown, she drops by the nearby elementary schools and seeks out the needs of the children and organizes free baseball games for the students as well as heads up planting projects to beautify their schools. She has the energy of a teenager and a voice of reason in the club. She loves to travel and eat, and loves to be with her friends at the Rotary Club of San Francisco Chinatown.

Andrew "Saw" Yu, October 2010

Andrew lives his life "Service Above Self". He immigrated from China when he was twelve years old. After high school, he served 6 years in the United States Marine Corps active and reserves. He continued his academic career and graduated from San Francisco State University with a degree in chemistry. He is currently the Chief of Operations - Department of Environmental Occupational Safety at SFSU.

Andrew has volunteered for ShelterBox even before becoming a Rotarian. He volunteered as an interpreter in China following the massive Sichuan earthquake in 2008. Most recently, he is currently working with Jim Carriere, District wide ShelterBox Representative, member of the Rotary Club of San Rafael Harbor.

Joining Rotary in January 2009, Andrew has shown unequal passion and commitment for the task. He is at every meeting, every project, no job is too big or too small for Andrew to lend a helping hand. Currently, he is World Community Service Co-Chair where he was instrumental in helping us fund a matching grant project with the RC of Central Marin as the lead, to fund nutritional center training in Nepal.

Andrew went overseas in 2010 for an Alliance for Smiles international relief missions as one of their interpreters, for clef palate surgery.

He has acted as interpreter for Rotary with meetings with the Chinese Consulate both with District 5150 and 5160.

It is not that he has great language skills that make Andrew a Rotarian of the Month, but the fact that he answers the call every time a request is made. "Service Above Self"

Jim Allen, September 2009

Jim is currently our Community Service Chair, Chair of our Annual Fun Fest, and President Elect. As community service chair, Jim has visited our second adopted school, Jean Parker Elementary School and has consulted with the principal for two potential service projects, building 5 cubby hole bookshelves and school benches. He has visited Home Depot for donations.

He has taken the initiative to visit other SF Rotary Clubs to speak with their community service chairs to see if these clubs are interested in participating in some of these projects.

When the club received 90 free tickets for Safari West in Santa Rosa, Jim helped arrange for transportation for our sponsorship of bringing 90 Jean Parker 3-4 graders to Safari West.

Our most recent fund raiser was a garage sale on Aug 8-9, 2009. Jim (and his wife Helen) collected many items and stored them in their garage and living room. He then filled his truck a few times and brought them to Millbrae for our garage sale. After the garage sale, he helped fill his truck with the remaining unsold items and brought them to Goodwill.

Jim has also volunteered to be one of the contacts for our new Interact Club. We hope to begin the process as soon as school begins in the next couple of weeks.

Our club will have a couple of upcoming "gift basket" projects for the SRO (Single Room Occupancy) in Chinatown and families recommended by CES/Beacon Center during the holidays and Chinese New Year (2010). He has already begun the solicitation of items to companies and started collecting and storing items in his house.

As a new club, you could not ask for a more dedicated volunteer.