BWB South Bay at the Rotary Collaborative Impact Summit
October 7, 2026
On Saturday, September 19, 2026, BWB South Bay set up at Table 405 at the Rotary District 5170 Collaborative Impact Summit in San José. The day filled the McEnery Convention Center with more than 100 Rotary clubs, district committees, and nonprofits, plus several hundred Rotarians and guests, under the theme Inspire. Collaborate. Act.
It was the next step in the growing BWB x Rotary relationship. In July, BWB South Bay joined the Morgan Hill Rotary Club for its monthly cleanup at Galvan Park. This time, we brought a little of that park with us.
What Was on the Table
Our table told one story: litter in a local park can become a map, a work of art, and a conversation starter.
- The Real-World MOOP Map, shown on a printed board with a “Try It” QR code and running live on a laptop
- A magnetic bottle-cap sunflower, built from caps picked up at Galvan Park
- A bottle-cap checkers set, made from the same haul
- BWB South Bay stickers, BWB flyers, and our Burners Without Borders hoodie standing guard at the end of the table
From Trash to Art
Every cap on the sunflower and the checkerboard started as MOOP on the ground at Galvan Park. Most were beer caps, collected during the monthly cleanups with Morgan Hill Rotary.
Turning them into art took four steps:
- Collect. Caps came home in a box after the Galvan Park cleanups.
- Clean. They went into a mesh “delicates” laundry bag and through the dishwasher.
- Lay out. The clean caps were spread face-down on cardboard.
- Magnetize. A dab of hot glue and a small magnet went into each cap.
At the summit, the magnetic caps formed a sunflower on a steel grid board, and a second set became a playable checkers game.
Every cap on this board was once MOOP in a city park.
The trash-to-art idea landed with people, especially the team from Keep Coyote Creek Beautiful. It turned a pile of litter into something people wanted to pick up and talk about.
Above: Caps in the box, in the mesh bag, in the dishwasher, and drying on cardboard with hot glue and magnets
The Real-World MOOP Map
The Real-World MOOP Map tracks the before and after of community cleanups. Volunteers log MOOP (Matter Out Of Place) with geotagged, street-level photos, so a group can see where litter collects and show the difference its work makes.
The map is live and free for anyone to use. BWB South Bay uses it, along with BWB Colorado, BWB UK, BWB Amsterdam, and others.
What Came Out of the Day
One table and one Burner led to a list of new connections.
- Rotary clubs across the Bay Area stopped by for long conversations about cleanups, community resilience, and working with Burners.
- Keep Coyote Creek Beautiful (KCCB) showed strong interest in the MOOP Map, and we have a follow-up call with them in October. https://www.keepcoyotecreekbeautiful.org/
- Other community groups, including the Billy DeFrank LGBTQ+ Community Center, joined the conversation about local resilience and cleanup work.
- Open invitations came from several Rotary clubs for BWB South Bay to present at their meetings.
- A presentation to the Morgan Hill Rotary Club is on the calendar for December 9, 2026.
Thank you to District Governor Geeta Kadambi, Event Chair Cheryl Lander, Event Vice Chair Harry Price, and the Rotary volunteers who spent months putting the summit together. As Geeta put it in her thank-you note, the summit lasted one day, but the relationships built there can create impact for years.
Ways to Get Involved
What started as a simple hello on the playa keeps growing into real work together.
- Map your own cleanup. Try the Real-World MOOP Map at moopmap.org. It’s free for any group.
- Join a Galvan Park cleanup. Morgan Hill Rotary cleans up the park on the second Saturday of every month at 10am. Check the BWB Community Activation Calendar.
- Come to the December 9 presentation at the Morgan Hill Rotary Club.
- Invite BWB South Bay to your club. If your Rotary club or community group wants a presentation, reach out to BWB South Bay.
- Join the Rotary × BWB Fellowship. Fill out the form to help shape what comes next.