On 6/18/2019, Chopin Kiang (the club's newest member), gave his first presentation to the club explaining a little about who he is. Pictured above is Chopin Kiang.
Chopin told everyone that he migrated to the United States as a child from China (due to war in the area). His grand father had given everything he owned (home, land & money) to corrupt Politicians to get them on a ship coming to America. Because they had to act like they were simply taking a vacation and would be coming back, they could only take a few suitcases (his suitcase shown on the table in the photo above). In the suitcase, Chopin had photos, a Bible, and an Abacus (Chopin pointed out that the abacus was invented in India instead of China). Chopin showed everyone all the articles in the suitcase and told a story about each one.
Chopin also told everyone that he grew up a Christian because his father, a Christian Minister, told him he was but he himself had never felt that way. As a result, at the age of 14, he rebelled against his religion and his family disowned him. After a number of years of trying different religions as well as alcohol and drugs, he finally came to his senses when he married and started to go to church with his wife. He then went back to school and got his degree. During that process, he actually received a Rotary scholarship and that planted the seed about Rotary doing good in the world. He joined the U.S. Navy after high school and started saving for his future. After leaving the Navy and getting his college degree, he became an Educator and is now a Financial Services Advisor. He stated that after coming to the club's last year Paul Harris Dinner (invited by David Arevalo and Frank Parker), he decided to join our club.
Chopin also told the story off once having working for a California Newspaper company where he received an award for selling newspapers (see photo below). He told everyone that after receiving the award he believed he had finally become an American.
