Milpitas Rotarians Look Down From The Sky

Milpitas Rotary Club members and guests were treated to a presentation of aerial photography, past and present, by featured speaker Dave Ruiz, Project Manager/Image Analysis of Photo Science in Emeryville. 

His program, which took place last Monday, Dec. 3, touched on various technical uses of aerial photography and concluded with numerous treasured images of historical persons and events.

Amelia Earhart and her plane, Charles Lindberg, construction of the Bay Bridge and the Golden Gate Bridge, and more were displayed. Past views of Milpitas showed the city growing from farms and orchards. Oakland Airport started out small and was greatly enlarged. Impressive was a shot of the San Francisco Giants Opening Day from 6,000 feet.

Past president Todd Flesner introduced the Leffler family; Darrel, Sandy, Jordan, and Matthew of Baseball Buddies, a foundation that ships gear to under-privileged children.

They ask members of the community to donate old and used baseball gear like cleats, bats, gloves, helmets, and catcher's gear. And then they ship them to impoverished schools and villages in areas like the Dominican Republic, Mexico, Venezuela, Panama, and many other nations who could use their help. 

Jordan and Matthew Leffler, 13 and 11, sought assistance from Milpitas Rotarians this time to help raise $75 to send a shipment to Haiti. November 26 featured speaker and former mayoral candidate Rob Means stopped by to distribute his latest Personal Rapid Transit (PRT) literature to Rotarians and guests. 

Means had previously presented his power point program on personal rapid Transit (PRT) for Milpitas between Curtis Ave. and Yosemite Dr., allowing easier access to downtown and the Great Mall for residents of the East side of Milpitas. PRT is up and running in Morgantown, West Virginia, in Uppsala, Sweden and at London Heathrow Airport in England. 

Rotary meets at noon on Mondays at Brandon's Restaurant in the Beverly Heritage Hotel.