Board Member Spotlights

Pi Ra, Board President

What inspired you to join the board of SDA? What does SDA’s mission mean to you personally?

"Two things inspired me to return to Senior and Disability Action (SDA): 1. SDA's long history of fulfilling its mission through "Good Trouble" activism and street theater. 2. The current (3rd) generation of dedicated staff members at SDA."

What’s one thing people might be surprised to learn about you?

 My family has owned a 142-acre farm in upstate New York since 1961. Originally it was a hops planation. In the '40's it was converted to a dairy farm. We rented out 60 acres of cropland, to a local dairy farmer receiving a calf, a pig, and all the hay we needed as payment. We raised, hunted and fished our own meat and grew our own produce. We even have a 1.5 acre frog pond with bass, pan fishes and a troublesome beaver. I left New York in 1976. My sister and her husband run the farm now. In 1978, I assisted a friend in Sturgeon Bay Wisconsin, in setting up a 100 acre organic dairy farm.

Sonya Rio-Glick

What inspired you to join the board of SDA? What does SDA’s mission mean to you personally?

I was inspired to join SDA in remembering the phrase “all politics are local” following moving to the Bay Area this time last year. SDA’s mission spoke to me as a disabled person invested in advocacy, COVID consciousness, and intergenerational relationships. Personally, SDA’s investment in both individual support and collective action resonates as a strong way to mobilize and sustain the communities I value most.

What’s one thing people might be surprised to learn about you?

 You might be surprised to learn I used to both dance and act professionally!