James Noe Named 2018 Alamo Citizen of the Year

From Rotary Club of Alamo: James A. Noe, a longtime Alamo resident, has been selected as the 2018 Alamo Citizen of the Year! Jim is a very well deserving recipient of this honor and was recognized for his outstanding and tireless efforts in making an impact on Contra Costa County’s impoverished communities. Jim becomes the 33rd Alamo citizen recognized since the Rotary Club of Alamo began the program in 1985.

In presenting the award, Steve Polcyn, past president of the Rotary Club of Alamo and the 2017 Alamo Citizen of the Year, stated: “Jim epitomizes the Rotary slogan of Service Above Self. He has helped alleviate human suffering and provided for the neediest individuals in our greater community.”
Jim also received certificates of recognition from Assemblywoman Catharine Baker and Contra Costa County Supervisor Candace Anderson for his dedication, compassion and loyalty for the thousands of residents of Contra Costa County. Jim served as the chief financial officer of Alamo-based McBail Company, a mid-sized
real estate builder-developer. He retired from McBail in 2006. After retiring, he threw himself into volunteer work full-time, serving as a board member at Shelter, Inc. for 15 years and as Shelter Inc.’s Board President for two years. He started the Swing for Shelter Golf Tournament while on the Board.

He is co-founder of the San Ramon Ecumenical Homeless Ministry. Additionally, he has been a member of St. Joan of Arc Catholic Church’s St. Vincent de Paul Conference in San Ramon for 25 years and an active volunteer at Loaves and Fishes of Contra Costa County, working quietly to help provide food, clothing, and financial assistance to people in need in Contra Costa County.

Later, Jim served as a board member at Society of St. Vincent de Paul of Contra Costa County (“SVdP”), where he was eventually elected Board President in 2010. As Board President, he used his own time and resources—both financial and skills-based—to improve the lives of countless Contra Costa County residents. Jim served six-years as SVdP’s Board President.

Under Jim’s leadership, SVdP grew and expanded its services to meet needs Jim recognized in the community, including: building the SVdP Free Dining Room in partnership with Loaves & Fishes of Contra Costa County. On his initiative, through his careful planning, lobbying, fundraising efforts, and sheer willpower, SVdP opened the free dining room in Pittsburg in July 2010. The dining room now serves over 120 meals per day, over 31,000 meals per year!

Jim also helped SVdP respond to the needs of the uninsured in Contra Costa County. In 2010, he helped build a four-exam room clinic at SVdP’s Pittsburg Family Resource Center. Jim developed the partnership with the Rotary Club of Alamo and 10 other local Rotary Clubs and RotaCare Bay Area, which provides the clinic license and malpractice insurance for volunteer physicians and nurses, to open the clinic. With Jim’s leadership, the RotaCare Pittsburg Free Medical Clinic opened in 2011, with an all-volunteer staff providing health care and referrals to uninsured adults with acute or chronic medical conditions.

In 2015, Jim coordinated a facility capital expansion providing additional space for the free medical clinic operations and social worker offices. He led the $265,000 capital campaign, acted as “general contractor” and made his own personal donation of over $15,000 to the project. The free medical clinic has provided over 10,000 patient visits to uninsured Contra Costa residents.

Most importantly, Jim also helps connect mentors from the Contra Costa business community with participants in a Workforce Development Program. The SVdP Work Force Development Program is a transitional jobs program that helps individuals with barriers to employment find work and develop both soft and technical skills for survival in a changing economy.

Jim is almost always the first person to say, “Yes, I can help,” when presented with any kind of problem affecting impoverished members of our community. Although he shies from receiving recognition for his efforts and tends to work behind the scenes, his efforts are essential to the nearly 150,000 people served by St. Vincent de Paul, Loaves and Fishes and Shelter, Inc. of Contra Costa County each year.
Recently, Jim was tapped to help establish a new high school in Oakland, Cristo Rey East Bay High School.

The Cristo Rey Network is the largest network of urban high schools in the country enrolling exclusively low-income youth. The Cristo Rey Network delivers a distinctive approach to inner-city education that equips students with the knowledge, character, and skills to transform their lives. The Cristo Rey model focuses on high-school preparation that ensure students are successful in college, as a college degree is a way out of poverty for low-income youth. Cristo Rey schools establish a culture of high-expectations by blending rigorous academics, four years of professional work experience, moral values, and support for students to and through college. As a member of the Cristo Rey East Bay Founder's Circle, Jim’s involvement has been to advise in the location and building/renovation of the facilities, fund raising, and direction of the high school. The current focus is to secure corporate partners as employers for Christo Rey students, as this is a work-study high school aimed at providing college- preparatory education for under-represented urban youths. The Christo Rey East Bay high school hopes to open in 2019.

With the enduring homelessness and poverty in so many areas of Contra Costa County, the work of Jim remains a little noticed, but essential contributor to meeting the direct needs of our struggling residents.It is incredible how the efforts of just one person sometimes can make such a visible difference in addressing these problems. Through the past 25 years of service to St.Vincent de Paul, Shelter Inc., Loaves & Fishes of Contra Costa, the RotaCare Pittsburg Free Medical Clinic, Jim has quietly but with extraordinary effectiveness identified needs, coordinated responses, and collaborated with other organizations to meet those needs. Jim’s name is not one you see in the headlines, but his contributions in so many ways have resulted in positive impacts and benefits for literally thousands of people in Contra Costa County.

The Rotary Club of Alamo was founded on May 7, 1971 and has 50 members. The Club’s major on-going activities include:
 Support for two RotaCare Free Medical Clinics that provide free health care in our community for uninsured and under-served adults with acute or chronic medical conditions.
 Cash and volunteer time for Meals on Wheels.
 Renovations at the Bay Area Crisis Nursery.
 Renovations at the Choice in Aging Adult Health Day Care in Pleasant Hill.
 Support for two Cub Scout troops.
 Support for a water-harvesting project in Tanzania.
 Contributions to the Rotary International End Polio campaign.
 School dictionaries distribution to local third grade students.
 Support for the Wheelchair Foundation.
 Roadside cleanup and beautification in Alamo.
 The Annual Easter Egg Hunt and Family Fun Day at Livorna Park
The Club meets at Round Hill Country Club, 3169 Round Hill Road, Alamo, at 12:15 p.m. on Wednesdays.

Image via Alamo Rotary Club