Congratulations to Joe Brennan of the Rotary Club of Half Moon Bay for being selected as Rotary District 5150's Rotarian of the Month for September 2023! Joe has been a Rotarian since 2000. He began his Rotary journey with the Rotary Club of San Francisco and then joined the Rotary Club of Half Moon Bay in 2013. Joe has served as Club President and is the consummate Rotarian. He attends every weekly meeting and participates in almost all of our Club's community service activities.
Dedication to his Community: Joe leads our Breakfast for the Needy Program for the Abundant Grace Coastside Worker Agency. Monthly, he organizes our Club members into two early morning teams to prepare a warm meal for our unhoused community members.
For the past three years Joe has been part of a small team to assemble supplies for needy families served by Coastside Hope, an organization that our Club supports with District-Designated funds. Each month, Joe works with one or two other Club members to purchase and pack approximately $80 worth of household necessities for eight identified families.
Since 2021, Joe has been our Little Library guru. Our Club co-sponsored, built, and installed seven Little Libraries across the community. Joe maintains those Little Libraries, checking on them monthly and replacing parts and books as needed.
Joe is a member of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows in Half Moon Bay. For the past five years, he has arranged for our Club and the Odd Fellows to socialize together each holiday season. This has built a strong relationship between the two clubs.
International Service: In 2022 when COVID prevented our Club's team from helping a medical clinic in Mexico, Joe purchased medical supplies with money from his own pocket and took the supplies to the clinic in La Paz, Mexico.
In 2023 Joe returned to La Paz, Mexico with a team of seven Club members to provide support to a medical clinic. Again, he purchased medical supplies with his own funds and donated the supplies to the clinic.
Joe has also served on medical missions with Alliance for Smiles, an organization that provides free surgical repairs for cleft lip and cleft palate in the continents of Asia and Africa.
Joe truly exemplifies the Rotary motto of Service Above Self in everything he does. We at the Rotary Club of Half Moon Bay are honored to have Joe as our valued member. Joe Brennan is most deserving to be recognized as District 5150’s Rotarian of the Month for September 2023!
