As usual, the kids were scarier than (most of) the adults when the Fair Oaks Rotary sponsored Dentist Full Employment Day Safer Halloween again this year in Fair Oaks Village. Local businesses and Rotarians tried to add some healthy items to the typical heavy glucose load, much to the approval of parents... the kids' reactions were not measured.
Other attempts at promoting things besides tooth decay involved participation by local firefighters and the encouragement of the arts by distributing new and lightly used books, and a performance by a local musician. We think the kids like everything, and we sure enjoy doing it, so you can probably look for us again next year.
On a crisp autumn Saturday morning, nothing satisfies the soul as much as donuts & coffee (Rotary fuel) and picking up trash. Today, the crew of Rotarians and Interactors (a high school affiliate of Rotary) had to make do without the coffee for our quarterly beautification of Madison Avenue adjacent to Bella Vista HS, but we did it. The four teams came up with some unusual stuff and we had so much fun, we'll probably do it again in a few months.
May 2020... food insecurity all around us and a pandemic at our throats. Solution: Fair Oaks Rotary (and to be fair, our buds at the Orangevale Rotary) step up so that our local food bank can add an extra day of distribution. You know... just until things are back to normal. Well, 4+ years later, the cars are still lined up and we're still at it, but at a much improved facility.
It's still the same old routine... sort, bag, box and load. Service Above Self... so satisfying. Who knows when we'll stop?
Three Fair Oaks Rotarians joined about 30 other Rotarians from around the US recently and went to South Africa to help deliver "Tutu desks", a laptop desk/learning device developed in concert with the Desmond Tutu Foundation; several thousand were distributed to schools at three townships, including Soweto.
The trip also included some historical and cultural aspects, and of course, some schmoozing with South African Rotary bigwigs, like the local District Governor.
Finally, it wouldn't have been a true Rotary trip without a little FUN, so how about a couple of game drives and wine tasting at a winery founded in 1658. All in all, a great couple of weeks.
We at Fair Oaks Rotary had helped put these planter boxes in at Northridge Elementary years ago, but the pandemic led to their neglect. That was noticed a few months ago during our Holiday Food Basket project, so we leapt into action on a recent Saturday, assisted by some parents from the school.
Armed with gardening implements and energized by Rotary fuel, we cleared the weeds and put fresh soil in the boxes, and scattered decomposed granite between them.
We thought the end result was pretty nice, and the kids were appreciative that they would be able to begin planting again.
For more action shot of Rotarians at Work, click Read More.
Fair Oaks Rotary helped the students at Bella Vista High School by providing their Career Center with a $1,000 grant for improvements and additional counseling materials. The honorary presentation of the check was attended by Rotarians and some officers of the school's Interact club, which is sponsored by Fair Oaks Rotary.
Our club would like to thank residents of All Seasons - Residential Assisted Living of Orangevale, and the members of our club who helped to produce gift bags consisting of underwear, hand warmers, toothbrushes, toothpaste, washcloths, mouthwash, flashlights, soap and 1st aid supplies on Jan 29th. These gift bags were distributed on Jan 31st by the Homeless Assistance Resource Team (HART of Orangevale and Fair Oaks) at the Fair Oaks Library to needy residents from our area. This was a wonderful example of cooperation between our club, the residents of All Seasons and those people who donated the giveaway items! Thank you!! Community service is at the heart of what we do!
Students from the Fair Oaks Junior Rotary Club, known as Interact, were among the many volunteers working the water aid station at Mile 10 in Old Fair Oaks on Sunday morning, December 3 for the California International Marathon.
More than 9,600 athletes participated. That's a lot of water to serve the runners as they speed by. Volunteers started at 5:30 am to set up the thousands of water cups needed and worked until 11 am to clean up.
Cordova High School's cross country team lead by Josh Gruver sponsors the Mile 10 aid station with help from both Bella Vista and Cordova Interact clubs.
Sacramento hosts this event each year. It is a qualifying event for the Boston Marathon. Special this year was that it also served as an Olympic Event Qualifier as well.
Bella Vista Interact Students Help with the California International Marathon
Rotarians were at it again, creating fun and happiness, while putting joy on the faces of little ones. On October 27th, the community of Fair Oaks held the annual Safer Halloween in Old Fair Oaks Village. This is an event where children 'trick or treat' their way through the shops of the village, and Fair Oaks Rotarians, dressed as various characters, provide candy and frivolity for all. For two hours, from 11am to 1pm, the village is full of strange looking creatures, both big and small, that turn trick-or-treating into a family event. The Rotary Club of Fair Oaks provided the candy, as well as the characters to make this event happen. Our club looks forward to this event every year!
Members of the Rotary Club of Fair Oaks gave their time and energy, on the morning of October 7th, to help make DfG pads to be delivered to young women in Mozambique. Days for Girls International, is an organization founded by Celeste Mergens in 2008, that supplies menstrual cycle kits for women in developing countries. At this event at the Maidu Center in Roseville, over 150 new DfG kits were created from materials donated by local merchants, so that young women in Mozambique can feel good about themselves.
On Friday, September 15th, Fair Oaks Rotarians were out in force to support the Women's Empowerment Graduation & Luncheon. This is a yearly event in which local women, who have overcome diversity in their life, graduate from the program where they learn the skills to move forward in life, to become the best they can be. Fair Oaks Rotary is so proud to support these women, and help provide a memorable occasion upon graduation that they will never forget!
Congratulations to our President, Mazzy Chirwa, for her persistent work and collaboration with Meristem to make this happen. These proud new 11 founding members are excited to start a new chapter in our District.
The Club was formally inducted on April 27th by our District Governor, Karen Cendro. The officers are: President, Noah Wright, Treasurer, Steven Mecklenburg, Secretary, Frederick Ha and PR , Tara Abraham. Counselor Eric Steward of Meristem and former Rotarian himself, will continue to work with this Club to help it grow.
The Bella Vista High School Interact Service Club members were at it again! Yes, this Spring they again organized an all school clothing drive to benefit others, something they did last year as well.
It took a fair amount of planning, and then over a two week period, they encouraged students to bring in their slightly used clothes to donate to the Underground Clothing Connection located in Sunrise Mall. This unique store gathers clothes to support student families who are experiencing financial or housing hardships. The families shopping at the store are enrolled in the San Juan Unified School District, and they must be referred by their school.
Ultimately, 1,625 articles of clothing were donated and counted by the Interact students, who then determined which three classes donated the most number of items. This Friday, the Interact students will be purchasing and delivering pizzas to the three classrooms that donated the most number of clothes.
Great job, Interact! This took time and effort to organize, and a special shout-out goes to Interact President Andrea Choi and Faculty Advisor Heather Hawkins (both seen in the photo, with a few of the first donated bags of clothes).
Rotary Club of Fair Oaks was celebrated at the “Best of Fair Oaks” event. The club took home...
#1 BEST SERVICE CLUB and #2 NON-PROFIT ORGANIZATION
The attending club members were all smiles with President Mazzy showing off our plaque. (Whose that person in the back who sneaked into this photo shot? Why it is the Fair Oaks Recreation & Parks District, Sean Ventura) Our new member Garret McDermid, was looking pretty wild in those pants.
Also, congratulations to members Katie Yount for #1 Best Insurance Services and Citizen of the year and Dustin Buck for Best Financial Services and Business person of the year!
Joe Scheimer, District 5180 Foundation Chair, defied the virus (yes, he got it not long before he was to head out to AZ) and rode in the “Ride to End Polio” bike ride on Nov 19th in Tucson, AZ with over 7K fellow cyclists riding for various charities.
Here’s Joe’s report:
“Despite coming down with COVID on Nov 9th, I was able to recover enough to finish the Ride to End Polio at the 39th El Tour Die Tucson. Three of us D5180 Rotarians did the Ride to Polio: Steve Brozosky did the Century (1-2 mi), John Meisner did the Metric Entry (62 mi), and I did the Half Century Metric (32 mi).
How much did Joe raise (with our club’s support)?? 42,389! Great job Joe!
It was a long time coming, but we finally saw the completion of our District Grant Project started in 2022 with a total donation of $10,000. ($5000 from our Club and $5000 from the District).
The Barn is vision of the Director of the Orangevale/Fair Oaks, Rotarian Keith Wright. It provides shelter for both the clients and volunteers, when food baskets are placed in the trunk of the clients cars. Past President, Diana Cralle was ecstatic to see this finally come to fruition.
Let's face it. The kids and their parents were wearing scarier costumes than the Fair Oaks Rotarians. But hey, the point is to let everyone enjoy mid-day in Fair Oaks Village, improve the area's literacy index with the new and gently used books we hand out, and keep local dentists fully employed. We're so good at it now that you can plan on seeing us again next year.
Frequent visitors to this website know that we beautify Madison Avenue between Chicago (the street, not the city) and Kenneth four times a year by picking up all the stuff that people tossed out over the last three months. Sometimes we get a skeleton crew and sometimes it's a party. Today it was a party, with around twenty volunteers total, about half Rotarians and half from the Bella Vista Interact Club, which is sponsored by the Fair Oaks Rotary. Fortunately, there was enough Rotary fuel (i.e., coffee and donuts) to adequately power the project. You can look for us again in January 2023.
COVID made us skip a year in the usual biennial series, but Career Day returned this year to Bella Vista High School, thanks to to joint work of the BV faculty and the Fair Oaks Rotary Club. First presented in 2015, Career Day gathers representatives from over 70 occupations, from airline pilot to speech pathologist, from dietician to psychiatrist, from actor to software engineer. The almost 2,000 students select three presentations to attend, and virtually every classroom at the school is used. It's one of the most popular programs among the students, and many presenters return year after year. It's a good bet we'll do it again in 2024.
If it's September in Fair Oaks, then it's Chicken Festival time, meaning it's time once again for the Fair Oaks Rotary to resume their traditional job of hydrating the masses at the microbrew tasting area... for a small fee, of course, which goes into our project fund for next year's service projects. If you were wondering what was new for 2022, that would be the wine tasting section. All in all, it's a fun and rewarding afternoon, so look for us again next year.
Women's Empowerment is a local Sacramento organization that provides job training and other life skills for homeless women, usually graduating several classes a year. They have an 85%+ rate of getting their graduates into long-term jobs and housing. For the last several years, Fair Oaks Rotary has provided logistical and moral support for the September graduation luncheon, and 2022 was no exception. Since this has the main aspects of a Rotary project, service and fun, it's likely we'll be back next year.
The Welcome Crew from Fair Oaks Rotary, including his first host mom and brother, was on hand at Sacramento International Airport on Thursday evening for the arrival of this year's Rotary Youth Exchange student from Sweden, Arvid Kaldo. He's the guy in the white T-shirt and, contrary to other reports, all that luggage is NOT his. He will attend Bella Vista High School for the next school year. Welcome to California, and especially Fair Oaks, Arvid!
Every summer, our club pays for a handful of 17-year-olds to attend the Rotary Youth Leadership Awakening, a week long leadership camp in the Sierras, AND we usually have a few members volunteer to serve as "counselors" to assist in the running of the camp. The students who attend report back to one of our meetings about exactly what they did and how it affected them, and that report has kept us sending them year after year. This year's four young women continued that tradition, so we hope to keep providing that life-changing experience for another group in 2023.
We do this every three months. Sometimes we get a dozen and sometimes we get less. Today the summertime blues apparently hit, and these five daunting gentlemen found themselves cleaning Madison Avenue near Bella Vista High School by their lonesomes. But the Rotary fuel (bagels and donuts) was satisfying and by our next time (September), school will be back in and we can count on some help from the BV Interact Club, our high school affiliate.
Those of you who follow this website have seen the name Stewart Fang before. Back in February, the Waldorf High School junior won our club's speech contest. The next month, he won the District semifinals. And this past weekend, at the District 5180 Conference, speaking on the topic "Serve to Change Lives" against three other semifinalists, he won the District finals. Congratulations, Stewart!
The winner of the Fair Oaks Rotary Club's speech contest on February 28, Stewart Fang from Waldorf High School, went on last night to win the District 5180 semifinal contest against a half dozen other club winners at Folsom Lake College. Speaking on the topic "Serve to Change Lives", he will now enter the District finals against three other semifinal winners, to be held at the District Conference in Stateline, NV, on April 30. Congratulations, Stewart!
That headline raises the obvious question, "What's a WAPI?" The quick answer is Water Pasteurization Indicator and, to avoid any further obvious questions, that's a little device that tells the user when water has been raised to the temperature that kills all the organisms that can make you sick from drinking it. That is a great help when dealing with questionable water, since it allows the water to be made potable without boiling it, saving fuel and time. In the developing world, this is a big deal and can save lives.
There were students from a half dozen or so Interact Clubs in the Sacramento area who gathered At Folsom High School for four hours on a Saturday, with Rotarians from several clubs supervising and doing quality control. Bella Vista Interactors found themselves assigned to an early step in the process, heating and crimping one end of the plastic tube... over a device that put out a 600 degree flame. Be careful!
Other school's Interactors prepared the wire, inserted the wax plug which is the actual indicator, and tested the final product for correct function and water leaks. The students cranked out 332 of these devices; they will be delivered to Rotary clubs in Peru and Ecuador next month for distribution. Do you think these kids had a good time while doing good? My guess is... for sure!
Well... no. We actually went WITH the dogs to Sunrise Senior Living to bring a bit of Irish cheer to the residents. There was even some TV coverage which, as you might notice, went to those Golden Retrievers and their local meet-up group. Following the publicity, we headed to the "backyard" to distribute greeting cards, do some mingling and a little serenading.
This is definitely a feel-good project, making it very likely that we'll be back next year.
First we gather, sign in, and get energized on Rotary fuel.
Then it's time for the group photo, grabbing those big orange bags, and getting to work.
We at the Rotary Club of Fair Oaks "beautify" Madison Avenue between Chicago and Kenneth four times a year, and this time we were joined by eight members of our affiliate at Bella Vista High School, the Interact Club. If you want to be amazed at what people throw out their car windows, join our club and we'll let you do it too. Let's see, I guess you can look for us again in June.
Ever attend a high school speech contest on Zoom? Well, last year our club did, and it was less that edifying. Somehow, watching speeches delivered from bedrooms (and the like) just didn't cut it. So we were happy to host this year's contest at our first in-person meeting after the Omicron surge. We had four speakers, one from Bella Vista HS, one from Waldorf HS and two from Meraki HS, and we listened to a great variety of expositions of this year's theme, Serve To Change Lives. The winner was Zishu (Stewart) Fang, a junior at Waldorf; he will move on to the District semifinals.
Fair Oaks Rotary's president-elect, Zambian-American Elitas (Mazzy) Chirwa, announced a successful recent trip to Zambia, during which she delivered... get this... a) twenty pounds of books provided by member Steve Hoverman to the only school for the hearing-impaired in Zambia, and b) pen-pal letters from 4th graders at Northridge Elementary to students at the school. The school is supported by the Rotary Club of Kitwe in Zambia and they are now hoping, in conjunction with the Fair Oaks club, to expand what they do for the school. If this type of thing looks like something you could get behind, click that DONATE button at the top of our home page, or better yet, join our club!
When Fair Oaks Rotarian Geri Beck got the word that the village school in Kiyunga, Uganda, needed funds to purchase and install a water tank to store collected rainwater, she brought the idea to the club's International Service committee and the $1,500 to complete the project was quickly approved. The photos above were recently received showing the tank and presumably the prep work needed to install it. Who knows? Maybe one of these years, some of us will go to check it out.
As we have done for several years, despite no auditions and a barely obvious lack of rehearsals, the caroling chorus from the Rotary Club of Fair Oaks subjected entertained audiences at two local senior homes with a selection of holiday melodies. This year the ensemble added two ukeleles and a harmonica, which seemed to increase the applause a few decibels... perhaps. This is so much fun that we'd probably do it with no applause, so I suppose we'll be back next year.
It starts with the teachers at two Fair Oaks elementary schools identifying families who could use some supplemental food during the holidays. Then the food arrives. Then it goes into the boxes, all 96 sets of two. Finally, as after-school pickups begin, it's loaded on to hand trucks and rolled to the curb. The last delivery is well after dark. If this looks like your idea of fun, you just might be a Rotarian at heart. Come join our club and we'll do it again next year.
Faithful readers of this website know that we're out there on Madison Avenue between Kenneth and Chicago every three months, renewing our amazement at what people toss out of car windows as we clean up their mess. This time it looks like we recruited a few high school students and at least one elementary student. Although there is no photo of the Rotary fuel (coffee and donuts for the uninformed), I'm told it was there. [Your usually reliable reporter was not present, which accounts for the not-normally-seen duplication in a few of the photos.] Look for us again in... let's see, March, I guess.
The last week of October, AKA Dentist Full Employment Week, always finds the Fair Oaks Rotary trying to do our part by ensuring that the children of Fair Oaks have an adequate supply of sweets for the coming winter. This annual Halloween extravaganza also serves as an excuse for many to costume up and shed a few years. And to demonstrate to the parents of Fair Oaks that Rotarians value things other than candy and frivolity, we give every trick-or-treater a free new or gently-used book. If this all looks to you like it's fun, well, you got the idea. Look for us again next year.
If you're a regular reader of this space, you realize that the Fair Oaks Rotary began supplying the Fair Oak-Orangevale Food Bank with volunteer help in May 2020, a few months after the pandemic showed how food insecure some in our area were. Are we still in the game? Absolutely! Fill a need and have fun... it doesn't get any better than that.
After a one year COVID hiatus, the Fair Oaks Chicken Festival has returned, and to a brand new location, Fair Oaks Park. And the Fair Oaks Rotary was there in our traditional role of hydrating the masses who are in attendance, and raising money for the many projects we do throughout the year. As is apparent from the pictures, it was a pretty nice day and we sold all the beer, so you can probably look for us again next year.
Women's Empowerment is a local Sacramento organization that provides job training and other life skills for homeless women, usually graduating several classes a year. They have an 85%+ rate of getting their graduates into long-term jobs and housing. For the last several years, Fair Oaks Rotary has provided logistical and moral support for the September graduation luncheon, and this year was no exception. In addition, their director Lisa Culp spoke at the club's weekly meeting and was given a check for $1,000. Since this has the main aspects of a Rotary project, service and fun, it's likely we'll be back next year.
Enough Fair Oaks Rotarians showed up to get the job done... and the lone BV Interactor also helped... but maybe we should try one extra club meeting announcement next time. What was the job? If you follow this website closely, you know it's the quarterly Madison Avenue cleanup. The weather was beautiful, the coffee was wonderful, and the donuts were... ABSENT! Despite that, the crew pressed on and expressed their usual amazement at what people toss out of their car windows. Look for us again in about three months.
At the close of the District 5180 Conference yesterday, awards were announced for the 37 clubs in the district. The Rotary Club of Fair Oaks won gold medals in all the categories that were evaluated and won first place among all the large clubs in the district.
District Governor Brent Hastey then announced that he was naming Fair Oaks the Club of the Year and awarded them the Governor's Bell for the next Rotary year. I don't want to brag... well, that's not totally correct... but we have won The Bell three times in the past nine years. This almost certainly means that we are a pretty good Rotary club.
Bella Vista Interact Club, Fair Oaks Rotary & Vitalant teamed up to save lives for four hours on April 14. Vitalant brought a couple of bloodmobiles to the New Life Church and the Interact and Rotary clubs located the donors and provided Rotary fuel (not the usual donuts, but plenty of goodies to go with the coffee). Air 1 Radio provided music and goodies, and the local Golden Retriever meet-up group brought a few canines to comfort the stickees. Twenty-two people rolled up their sleeves and gave of themselves. It was quite a happenin', so you might keep an eye out for another one in the future.
Bringing Valentine's Day cards to senior facilities was so much fun, so why not Easter? Same formula... golden retrievers, smiling Rotarians, grateful seniors. And let's not forget those who prepared cards behind the scenes and couldn't participate in the delivery. Let's see... when is that next holiday?
It happened on Zoom, so the chance for that group photo at the end disappeared, but four remarkable young women high school students spoke to the Fair Oaks Rotary via their computer cameras about this year's district speech contest theme, "How 2020 Opens Opportunities". The winner (pictured above) was Nancy Cheng, a senior at Waldorf High School. She will now compete in the District semifinals, but in the club's eyes, they were all winners. We're all looking forward to next year's in-person competition.
and Bella Vista Interactors Takes on Madison Avenue
The group pictured above, heavily armed with "grabbers" and bright orange trash bags, and energized by Rotary fuel... coffee and donuts, for the uninformed... made short work of all the trash on Madison Avenue between Chicago (street, not city) and Kenneth, as per our agreement with Sacramento County, which gives us free advertising by posting signs delineating our "beautification" zone. We do this once a quarter, so give us a wave if you see us again.
For a look at the Interact crew, click "Read more..."
Well, mid-February can be a kind of lonesome time at an elder care facility, especially during a pandemic. So making over 400 Valentines and distributing them to a handful of area facilities seemed like a pretty good idea. And that is exactly what Fair Oaks Rotarians did, assisted in the distribution by a bunch of beautiful golden retrievers. Who knows... maybe a doggie even made a Valentine or two. It seemed to brighten up the day for a bunch of senior citizens... AND Rotarians.
From this photo, it might look like it, but here's the rest of the story. One of our members who is a well connected dog lover thought that it might be fun to have a get-together at the New Life Church while our club was helping the Fair Oaks-Orangevale Food Bank with their Saturday distribution. And while we're at it, why not have a local news station bring a crew out for a look at what we're doing? Well, it was fun, and we were on TV!
Elitas "Mazzy" Chirwa has been chosen to serve as the president of the Rotary Club of Fair Oaks in the 2022-23 Rotary year. Born in Zambia a number of years ago (women's ages are classified), she was a journalist there and came to the US after being awarded an internship by CNN. She has been a Fair Oaks Rotarian for six years and recently got her Master's degree in counseling. She is a Paul Harris Fellow and previously served as the Club Service Chair. Congratulations, Mazzy!
2020 threw a big obstacle in the way of service projects in general, but Fair Oaks Rotary's elves would not let a worldwide pandemic stop one of our annual favorites, preparing and distributing holiday food baskets to less well-off students of local schools. One hundred families will eat a little better this holiday, thanks to the crew in these pictures. Next year... off with the masks and on with the holiday hats! For more photos, click "Read more..."
When the coronavirus pandemic dramatically increased food insecurity in the Fair Oaks and Orangevale communities, the director of the Food Bank, himself a Fair Oaks Rotarian, knew where to turn for help when he wanted to expand his distribution hours to include Fridays. In May, Fair Oaks Rotarians partnered with other groups and provided the volunteers on one Friday a month to help distribute the much-needed food. We've always been masked, but the months have seen the other attire go from shorts and flip-flops to jackets and hats. When will we be finished? I suppose when things get back to "normal", so you can consider this an interim report.
Well, to be truthful, the providing was kind of indirect. What we did was set up a food drive at the entrance to a local Walmart, asking entering customers if they would purchase various items that the Fair Oaks-Orangevale Food Bank needed and donate them through us. It was the generosity of the Walmart customers that day that gave the Food Bank 2,200 pounds of food to distribute. Good for them... and hey, good for us for enabling them to make the holidays a little brighter for some family. For more pictures of the crew in action, click "Read more..."
Properly equipped and attired, and fueled with Rotary fuel (see photo), a number of intrepid Fair Oaks Rotarians, reinforced by four Bella Vista Interactors, braved ultraviolet rays (AKA sunshine) and temperatures in the mid 50's to beautify their assigned section of Madison Avenue... basically from Chicago to Kenneth in front of Bella Vista High School. If you've seen similar stories on this site in the past, it's because we do this (about) every three months because we like it... and because Sacramento County gives us free advertising (see photos). Wave to us next time.
You long time fans of this website know that the end of October is a special time in Fair Oaks Village as the Park District and Rotary Club join to put on Safe Halloween, an event which lasts well into the afternoon and has all kinds of stuff for kids (and parents) to enjoy. Well, welcome to the 2020 version, when the coronavirus put a stop to many of those activities. We call it Safer Halloween and it's limited to two activities, promoting literacy (reading and book distribution) and providing full employment for dentists (handing out candy). Rotarians were costumed (and not), the books were guarded by a masked man in black, and novel candy delivery systems were utilized. The best part... the kids looked like they loved it, so look for us again next year.
Well, OK, they don't get rich, but their Rotary Club does. How does that happen? They order on the "Dine to Donate" program, and a percentage of their bill comes back to the club. We've all been missing the chow line at our weekly meetings, and the Zoom-meisters just haven't been able to replicate it. So we've been saving personally... AND getting hungrier... every Monday since March. So... we invaded the Armenian Grill House tonight and made them busier than they have been for a while, AND we'll get a check from them in a month or so. Not sure who's up next, but this looks like a winner fundraiser.
Wait, Rotary has SWAT teams?!! Well, yes, they STOP WASTE AND TRASH. And the Fair Oaks Rotary team (plus one Bella Vista Interact Club member), braving nasty air... I think "unhealthy" is the proper term... AND the coronavirus, AND a notable lack of Rotary fuel (coffee and donuts, for the uninitiated) ventured forth this morning on Madison Avenue between Chicago (Avenue, not city) and Kenneth for their quarterly beautification project. Pickings seemed a little slimmer than usual, perhaps another side effect of COVID-19 keeping people off the street. But there still was a decent haul, so look for us again in a few months.
If that headline makes you think that there's a lot of helping going on, well, you're correct! AboutKidz is a local Fair Oaks organization that is about (helping) kids. When they needed some hands to help distribute backpacks with school supplies to local kids, who better to assist, i.e., help, than Fair Oaks Rotarians? And help they did, handing out over 1,000 backpacks to about 600 kids. It was such a gratifying experience that you might even think we'd help next time.
Women's Empowerment... remember them from last year? They are the wonderful organization that provides job training... and SO MUCH MORE... for homeless women so that they can break the cycle of poverty they often find themselves trapped in. Fair Oaks Rotary... what do we do? Well, we "sponsor" the fall graduation ceremony each year by providing and serving the luncheon after the ceremony. This year found the class reduced from the usual 20-25 to seven, meaning less need for food and servers, but we were still there. Let's hope that they're back up to speed as soon as this pandemic ends, because some of us miss helping get rid of the left-over dessert.
In front of an audience of (mostly) masked Rotarians in his front yard (and unmasked Transformers on his front steps), Dennis Dunbar, our "Connect To Transform Lives" club president, got "transformed" (i.e., demoted) right out of his job, and Diana Cralle took the gavel for the 2020-21 Rotary year. Social isolation spared Dennis some of the usual shenanigans associated with the Demotion ceremony, but all the attendees arrived in a drive-by procession, a first in Fair Oaks Rotary Demotion history, I'm sure. A few more Demotion records: shortest duration and least amount of alcohol consumed. But the important stuff got done and so you can count on us doing good in Fair Oaks and around the world for another year!
When the COVID-19 pandemic increased food insecurity in the Fair Oaks-Orangevale area, FO/OV Food Bank director and Rotarian Keith Wright knew where to get help. Expanding their hours by adding distributions on Friday seemed like a good idea, and Rotarians jumped at the chance to serve. Clad in their designer masks, they learned their tasks without too much difficulty and took over the new Friday distribution hours through the end of summer. To read more about even more food distribution, click Read more...
Well, it started almost eight weeks ago, so it's starting to look like a trend. The park district took away our meeting space, then the whole state shut down. So for seven straight weeks, we've been meeting on line via Zoom Webinar. After a couple of meetings feeling our way in the dark, we have actually had real live speakers for the past five weeks, telling us about topics of interest during these trying times.
And we haven't stopped the projects, either, from a biweekly Zoom "happy hour" with attempted singalongs (bottom line... singalongs on Zoom don't work well) to food collections and other support of the Fair Oaks-Orangevale Food Bank. It will take more than the coronavirus to slow this club down. Look for more later.
The annual Fair Oaks Rotary speech contest found five young women from three local high schools giving us their thoughts on the District's theme this year, "Connect to Inspire". As usual, it was one of the best meetings of the year as we were all charmed by the poise and intellect of the speakers. The winner was Celene Aridin, a senior at Bella Vista High School; she will move on to the District semifinals in a few weeks.
Thirty years ago, someone in our club must have said, "Let's throw a Crab Feed", and a tradition was started. Serving 500+ guests annually at the club's biggest fundraiser is quite a task, but it ends up being so much fun that it doesn't seem like work. And it's not just the crab and the courses leading up to it that makes it a great night; the auctions and raffles, and the newly added Dessert Dash, just add to the excitement. Look for us again in mid-February 2021!
Rotary and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation are renewing their longstanding partnership to end polio, announcing a joint commitment of up to $450 million to support the global polio eradication effort.
Rotary & the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation Commits to Eradicate Polio
Plans are made weeks in advance, and the day begins about 7:00 am. Boxes are delivered and food is gathered from food banks (Fair Oaks-Orangevale and Sacramento), Winco and private donations. Then the food has to be divvied up among the boxes, and it all has to get handed out at the end of the school day to about a hundred families that otherwise might have a skimpy holiday food-wise.
The only hitch in the whole day... whoever picked up the Rotary fuel (coffee and round baked goods with holes in the center) accidentally picked up bagels instead of the other round baked good with a hole in the center. But it served as a teachable moment. Was it fun? Well, I hope to shout... a resounding YES! So look for us again next year.
There are no auditions or tryouts. There are no rehearsals. There are just three guitars and a harmonica valiantly struggling to keep them on key. But nineteen Fair Oaks Rotarians, one Bella Vista Interactor and one Rotarian's sister "invaded" Oakmont of Fair Oaks this afternoon and spread a lot of holiday cheer to the residents... singing-type cheer, not the beverage kind. It's a good thing the place is dog-friendly, because a couple of pooches came along also. Closing song... how about a Happy Birthday to 102 yo Bette, sitting next to the dog (above right). Now that they're all on key, look for them to do it again next week!
Somewhere in that mass of Del Campo High School Cougars is Bev Purcell, widow of Jim Purcell, the Rotarian who many years ago dubbed the Bella Vista-Del Campo football game, which is essentially the Fair Oaks championship, the Battle for the Oak. Fair Oaks Rotary now gives to the winning school a perpetual trophy and a $1,000 graduation award to present to the student of their choice; in addition we pay for the entry of all who identify themselves as a military veteran. I've lost track of when Bella Vista last won the game, but at 34-13 it was closer than usual this year. Keep your hopes up, Broncos!
Fair Oaks Rotary kicked off a year-long one-on-one mentoring program at Meraki High School with a day-long workshop to match mentors and mentees and get to know one another. This will be followed by monthly meetings between the twenty mentors and their students. Everyone seemed to have a good time and we're looking forward to a productive program.
On two nice Saturdays in early October, a bunch of Fair Oaks Rotarians, helped by a few Bella Vista Interactors and a Center Point resident or two, provided muscle (?) and landscaping expertise, and fancied up the area around Center Point, a facility for folks recently released from prison. This will make for a much nicer environment when their families and kids visit on weekends. Fortunately, after the second work day, there was adequate recovery time for all the aching backs before our next meeting.
It's not clear who the competition was, but the Rotary Club of Fair Oaks was voted the best association or organization in Fair Oaks for this year; this means that we are almost certainly a pretty darn good club.
Well, we did it again. We sent six outstanding Bella Vista juniors to the Rotary Youth Leadership Awakening (RYLA) camp in the Sierras last summer, while only paying for three spots. How did we do that while meeting the 4-Way Test, you might ask? Well, by having alternates ready when other clubs failed to fill their spots, or had campers drop out, that's how.
Tonight, those six (L to R, Thida Mommaitri, Celene Aridin, Evan Manley, Tafari LaBrie, Jun Seo and Amanda Drew) told us how it went and what it meant. In the most personal way, they described challenges, teamwork, trust, vulnerability, deep friendships formed in a matter of six days, and, um... oh yeah, FUN! At the end of their presentation, they attempted to teach the audience a dance to the Justin Timberlake song "Can't Stop The Feeling" (a signature RYLA dance taught to all campers for years); although their efforts might be regarded objectively as largely unsuccessful, there was lots of laughter and applause when the music ended. It's always one of the best meetings of the year, and this was no exception.
Temps in the high 80's and some great music makes for thirsty Fair Oaks Chicken Festival attendees. That sounds like a job for the Rotary Club of Fair Oaks, who once again arranged for plenty of beer and wine... and water too, just for the health of it. The money is still being counted, but it seems like we'll have some good funding for the many service projects we do. It's starting to look like this is an annual tradition, so look for us next year again.
That headline would make many wonder what Women's Empowerment is, and what exactly it means to "sponsor" a graduation. Well, the website of this 18 year-old program probably says it best: "The mission of Women’s Empowerment is to educate and empower women who are homeless with the skills and confidence necessary to get a job, maintain a healthy lifestyle, and regain a home for themselves and their children." As they graduated their 76th class, consisting of 21 women, what that "sponsor" business meant was that we bought, prepared and served the lunch following the ceremony. Of course, that also included setting up and cleaning up, and making sure that no left-over dessert went to waste. We've been doing this for several years and there's a good chance we'll be back next year, because it's a real feel-good experience... and the dessert is always yummy. For more pics of the crew in action (?), click "Read more..."
Nourished by Rotary fuel (click "Read more..." if interested) and attired quite nattily, the Rotarians from the Fair Oaks club, reinforced by one member of the Bella Vista High School Interact Club, sallied forth on to Madison Avenue between Kenneth and Chicago (the street, not the city) in their never-ending quarterly quest to keep Mad Ave looking good. For the end result, click "Read more..."
Where is Rotaryville? It's that relaxed state of a Rotarian's mind when the projects are on hold, and Rotarians are connected and inspired. It occurs at irregular intervals, and another occurrence is about to happen, this coming October 25-27 at the Peppermill Resort and Casino in Reno. If you told me that the District 5180 Conference is happening on those same dates, you'd be absolutely correct. But time is running out, so find out more and register now by clicking here.
I know you're asking yourself, WHO is Lovisa, and what are the blue and yellow flags all about? Well, she would be Lovisa Hansson, and if you guessed that was a Swedish flag, you'd be correct. She is the Rotary Youth Exchange student sponsored by our club; she will be spending the next nine months attending school here in Fair Oaks. We had a crew of 18 to welcome her to Sacramento; she would be the one standing between her first host mom, Jeanne Carr, and our outgoing student, Charlie Bingaman, who is off to Bolivia soon.
The bell rings and the room empties... hey, it's tradition. Then the little kids lure the adults back in with... Transformers? Really? It all made sense when incoming club president Dennis Dunbar revealed the club theme for the year... Connect to Transform Lives. It was a good start to what looks like another great year for the Rotary Club of Fair Oaks.
What's inspiring about Hamburg, you might ask. Well, it was the Rotary International Convention, which welcomed 25,000+ Rotarians from 170+ countries for five days of learning, inspiration and hanging out together. Eighteen members of the Fair Oaks club had so much fun attending this one, that it looks like next June in Honolulu may see even more going!
Well, this Big Day of Service was a special one, because a bunch of people besides Rotarians got to discover the joy of service. We did our gig with our good partner, the Fair Oaks Rec & Park District, as part of their annual It's My Park Day. Twenty of us turned out to drag previously cut tree branches to a chipper-shredder, a task for which most of us were eminently qualified.
We did so well that we had time to rest and eat. By the way, when lunch was served, it was obvious that a Rotarian had not planned it, since is was mostly "real" food, like sandwiches; fortunately, as we were finishing eating, someone came by with Rotary food (cookies, though anything sweet would do). All in all, a really nice day, and I'm guessing that we'll be back next year.
Well, first of all, the number of contestants doubled from last year. Next, there were entrants from more schools. And finally, photos larger than 8.5x11" were allowed. Thus, in many aspects, the contest (and photos) were bigger. So the headline isn't just an attempt to be punny. As is usual with these contests involving the future generation, club members were awed and thankful that they didn't have to determine winners. It's a relatively new project for the club, but it looks like it's here to stay.
No, it wasn't fine champagne. Instead, it was Bubble Master Quentin and his secret (?) formula for perfect bubbles. He made them, kids made them, even Rotarians made them. All in all, it was six hours of magical entertainment for a bunch of kids... of ALL ages.
Powered by Rotary fuel (bottom center photo) and clothed in fashionable Rotary attire (instead of Sacramento County's drab orange vests) a crew of Fair Oaks Rotarians, along with a few Bella Vista Interactors and a Rotarian family member, headed out on Madison Avenue between Chicago (the avenue, not the city) and Kenneth on their quarterly beautification project, i.e., trash pickup. For more of the action, click Read More...
Somewhere in that huge crowd are nine Fair Oaks Rotarians who braved blue skies and sunshine at the southern tip of Baja last weekend to deliver water filtration systems to hundreds of rural families whose water is contaminated with pathogenic bacteria. They worked alongside Rotarians from the Los Barriles Rotary club, who surveyed the area to come up with the recipients. Rumor has it that some fishing occurred, but nobody's bragging; maybe they need another margarita. This trip is starting to take on an annual flavor.
It happens every year. A handful of kids from local high schools come in and amaze the club... and 2019 was no exception. These five students, three from Bella Vista High School and two from Sacramento Waldorf School, shared their interpretations of this year's theme, "Be The Inspiration". All five were inspiring and most of the audience were happy not being judges and having to choose only one winner. Charlie Bingaman of SWS, who was the winner, will proceed on to the District semifinals on April 10. As usual, it was one of the best meetings of the year.
Once they were inside the Fair Oaks Community Clubhouse, those attending the Fair Oaks Senior Luau must have wondered, "What rain?" Fair Oaks Rotary, along with partners Fair Oaks Inner Wheel and the Fair Oaks Recreation & Park District, provided smiles, leis, food from the islands (served by the ladies from Center Point), entertainment and, it looks like from the photos, dance lessons (!) for a crowd of appreciative local seniors. Anyone wanna learn the hukilau? Then keep an eye out for this event next year!
OK, to be honest, we had some help putting solar panels on the roof of the Fair Oaks-Orangevale Food Bank. Our buddies in the Rotary Club of Orangevale chipped in both money and sweat... sorry I didn't take any photos of you, guys. Grid Alternatives... what an amazing NGO... provided know-how for us solar panel neophytes (and made sure we all signed releases before climbing on the roof). And The Rotary Foundation provided funds in the form of a District 5180 Grant. All in all, a great project!
Even though the actual Mardi Gras is still a few weeks away, that didn't damper the spirits of attendees at Fair Oaks Rotary's 29th annual Crab Feed. Over 500 folks feasted on the best minestrone in Sacramento County, pasta with a yummy meat sauce, and ummm... oh, yeah, crab! With the Bella Vista Interact Club providing the waitstaff, both clubs (Interact and Rotary) ended the night with more bucks to fund their service projects. With next year being #30, it's probably a safe bet that we'll do it again.
This is Rotary's gig, right? That's what the sign says. And that's what four members of the Interact Club of Bella Vista High School were probably wondering one cold... by Fair Oaks standards... Thursday afternoon as they beautified Madison Avenue near the school. Since the Rotary Club of Fair Oaks sponsors the Interact Club, I suppose that counts for something. And it looks like Interactors are as fueled by sweets as Rotarians. Maybe they'll have a joint project next time.
That's right, all you crab eaters! Widely recognized as one of the best in the area, the 2019 edition of the annual crab feed of the Rotary Club of Fair Oaks is scheduled for Saturday evening, February 16, at the Divine Savior Parish Hall on Greenback Lane in Orangevale. Tickets are available from your favorite Fair Oaks Rotarian, on Eventbrite (click here), or by emailing the club. Don't miss out on great food and a fun evening!
We call it the Holiday Basket project because, well, Holiday Boxes doesn't sound very elegant. But 120+ families at Northridge Elementary School couldn't care less about the name; they only know that they will be eating a little better this holiday season because of the Rotary Club of Fair Oaks. Once again, Chief Elf Jim Erickson honchoed the project and Jacob Giorgi's moving company provided the boxes. It's likely we'll do it again next year, because we're hooked on that feel-good feeling. For some pictures of Rotarians having too much fun, click Read More...
After two rehearsals performances at other senior facilities, you gotta figure that the Fair Oaks Rotary Caroling chorus would probably have it together... and they apparently did, if the reception they got at Eskaton Gold River was any measure. As usual, many of the residents didn't need songbooks to join in; they knew all the words of all the verses. Who the heck does that nowadays? Anyhow, it was so much fun that they'll probably be back in 2019.
Oakmont of Fair Oaks senior center had the unfortunate distinction of being the first victim audience of the Fair Oaks Rotary's caroling efforts in 2018. Despite the club's limited rehearsing... none, actually... the residents were quite gracious and generous with their smiles. With two more gigs at other centers next week, keep your fingers crossed.
Haha, you didn't think the club ran a marathon, did you? However, some 40+ club members reported to set up the aid station at 5:45 am... yes, you read that right. Witnesses reported that it seemed to be a lot of fun, so someone must have brought Rotary fuel (coffee and donuts for you neophytes). Since this is an annual event, does that portend something for 2019?
The addition of a (faux) gingerbread house and some super-cute kids made it highly likely that the Fair Oaks Rotary float in this year's Fair Oaks Santa Parade would blow the competition out of the water... if they still gave prizes for best float. Of course, Santa is always the main winner, hands down. Lighting the tree in Village Park and a few carols is a great close to the evening.
From setup to waiting tables, to ladling soup, to hawking raffle tickets, students from the Interact Club at Bella Vista High School and two from the Fair Oaks Un-school raised the bar in the local food service industry when they provided the help at the annual Soup Night of the Fair Oaks Historical Society. The club is sponsored by the Rotary Club of Fair Oaks.
OK, maybe one of those big bubbles scared someone... but only till it popped. Safe Halloween is one of those feel-good traditions in Fair Oaks Village, and the Rotary Club of Fair Oaks is always a big part of it, whether it's running a bubble station, supervising games, reading to the kids or handing out books. And as usual, we were ably assisted by the Fair Oaks Inner Wheel and local high schoolers. Look for us again next year.
Continuing a long-standing tradition of many a number of years, the Fair Oaks Rotary ran a microbrew tasting venue at this year's Fair Oaks Chicken Festival, and as usual, it was a major attraction. The weather cooperated and the result was substantial funding for the club's service projects. Having a couple of great bands didn't hurt, either. Look for the same thing next year.
The Interact Club at Bella Vista High School, sponsored by the Rotary Club of Fair Oaks, got off to a great start for 2018-19 on Club Sign-up Day. There was a lot of enthusiasm, which led to a lot of new members. They'll get opportunities for service and leadership, and the chance to apply for Rotary's youth programs like the Rotary Youth Leadership Awakening camp and Rotary Youth Exchange.
Is the Slocum House Restaurant on its way to a glorious comeback? Well, it's too early to tell, but with the promise of the use of the patio for an event, the Fair Oaks Rotary chipped in and made the place presentable. Hey, it was all in a day's work... well, maybe two.
This summer the Fair Oaks Rotary made their annual switch of Rotary Youth Exchange students, as Naja Jorgensen headed back to Denmark after a wonderful year with us, and Charlotte "Charly" Ahrens arrived from Germany to begin what we all expect to be a great year.
The annual Concerts in the Park series has proved to be a good venue over the past few years for finding some great Rotarians, so the Membership folks are working hard again this summer. I've heard that they hand out really good lollipops. Hey, it works!
The planners of this year's Rotary International Convention in Toronto probably never saw it coming. The Fair Oaks Rotary's contingent of fourteen painted the town... well, whatever color the Canadians paint towns when they're having a good time. Lots of camaraderie, lots of inspiration, lots of learning, lots of fun. Next year... look out, Hamburg!
Center Point is a rehab facility located in Fair Oaks, and it came to our attention that some of their physical plant, especially furniture, could use a little spiffing up. Well, at Fair Oaks Rotary, that's the kind of thing we do, so on a nice Saturday in May, that's what this crew did. It was much appreciated.
It may be hard to see their photos in this picture, but these young women, the top four in this year's high school photo contest, held the club's interest with their discussion of the how's and why's of their choice of subject and technique. It's just more proof that kids today are giving us good reason to be hopeful for the future.
You might be tempted to ask, "Where the heck is Los Barriles? And what were Fair Oaks Rotarians doing there?" Well, if you check the map of the south part of the Baja California peninsula, you'll see that it's on the east coast between La Paz and Cabo San Lucas. And if you're an avid reader of this website, you'll recall that this is an annual trip to help the Rotary Club down there with various projects. This year's project was screening for various health conditions... blood pressure, vision, diabetes and dental problems. Between our four, eight from the Rotary Club of Nevada city, and the local Rotarians, we saw more than 300 people, mostly students, in a weekend. Was there a follow-on fishing trip? You won't see the answer here. For more of the action, click Read More...
It was a Citrus Heights Rotary project that we were just helping on, but the seventeen Fair Oaks Rotarians were the most from any club there. What did we do? Well, in about two hours we packaged 17,000 nutritious meals for shipment overseas to feed the hungry. So we did good and had a lot of fun... in addition to making a fashion statement with our cute little red hair covers. For more shots of the action, click Read More...
Once a year, the Fair Oaks Rotary, in conjunction with the Fair Oaks Recreation and Park District and the Fair Oaks Inner Wheel, brings local seniors to "Polynesia in the Village". There is no pig cooking underground in an imu, but it doesn't seem to make a difference to the attendees. The food is yummy and the entertainment is... well, participatory, and everyone seems to go home happy.
It's always one of our best meetings, and 2018 was no exception. Natalie Fulton, a senior at Bella Vista, won this year's club level speech contest, speaking on the theme "Making a Difference". She will now move to the regional semifinals in early April.
It started out looking like a basketball court, but a day's effort by the Rotary Club of Fair Oaks turned it into Mardi Gras in The Big Easy. For the 28th straight year, this event sent the 500+ attendees home with tummies full of minestrone, pasta and, of course, Dungeness crab. Add one of the 48 desserts in that auction and the great prizes in the silent auction and raffle, and you've got the makings of a great evening. Oh, did I mention that the funds raised will pay for the club's projects, both in Fair Oaks and around the world, for most of the next year. Look for us next year for #29!
We would like to thank Oakmont of Fair Oaks for being a Gold Sponsor at our Mardi Gras Crab Feed.
Members of the Interact Club at Bella Vista High School, sponsored by the Rotary Club of Fair Oaks, gathered school supplies over the past several months for students at Santa Rosa area schools impacted by the fires of last fall, and they were delivered to the grateful schools today. When you wonder about the generosity and compassion of this generation (whatever they are called), think of this episode.
The crowds at the downtown Folsom ice rink didn't know what to expect when the song with the cha-cha beat started up, but the dancers from the Fair Oaks Rotary soon showed them. The blame credit for the original concept goes to club member and District Governor Nominee Ray Ward, and choreographer Richard Kowaleski gets the credit for whatever degree of organization the troupe showed. A few people clapped loud enough that two encores were performed. Who says that you can't teach a Rotarian to dance?
We had a new chief elf this year... really new! Jim Erickson, brand new in the club, took the reins of Santa's sleigh like an old pro. Wielding his trusty clipboard, he provided organization, while his fellow newbie Jacob Giorgi provided boxes and a truck. Donated turkeys and other food items filled the boxes that provided some extra holiday nourishment for needy families of students at Northridge and Legette elementary schools. For more of the action, click Read More...
'Tis the season, so once again, the Fair Oaks Rotary, after hours of diligent rehearsal, invaded the serenity of Eskaton Gold River and subjected treated the residents to an hour of holiday favorites. Attempting to keep us on key were guitarists Pete Schroeder and Jake Kurtz, while one year old Mary Louise Gustafson provided vocal syncopation. And once again, resident Bill embarrassed us all by knowing virtually every verse to every song we sang BY HEART! Before our performance, we treated (that may not be the correct word) ailing member Charley Blatchford to a briefer ensemble at his home. As is usual with Rotary stuff, it was more fun than should be allowed.
It all started with Rotary International President Ian Riseley's challenge to all clubs around the world to plant one tree per member this year. So Community Services Director John Paul Jones rounded up 100 trees from the Sacramento Tree Foundation, got the cooperation of the Fair Oaks Recreation and Park District, and arranged for three busloads of really nice people with strong backs and wearing orange vests (supervised by a few county sheriff deputies), and we all planted those trees around Phoenix Park in a couple of hours. As someone said, "Many hands make light work"; it's true! For more photos of the action, click Read More...
Armed with grabbers (the technical term for those things that pick up trash without getting your hands dirty), and fueled with Rotary fuel (donut holes and coffee, for the uninitiated), the Fair Oaks Rotary sallied forth on a crisp December Saturday on their quarterly mission to make Madison Avenue between Kenneth and Chicago (the street, not the city) as pristine as a really clean street can be. It's unclear who brought the fuel, but it wasn't the brigade commander, Field Marshal Shepherd, who may be looking at a demotion to Colonel if he doesn't start looking out for the troops. We'll do this again in Spring 2018.
Although the Fair Oaks Rotary's float in the annual Holiday Parade truly glistened, it didn't glisten enough to win any trophies this year. Apparently, the decorating crew wasn't able to turn that big rectangular thing into a believable tree, and even loading the float with really cute kids and signs touting all the great things they do couldn't turn the tide. But it was all so much fun that they'll be back next year for sure.
It's starting to sound routine, but once again, the Battle for The Oak (the Fair Oaks High School football champioinship) was won convincingly by Del Campo High School and they were presented the Jim Purcell Memorial Trophy. As usual, the Fair Oaks Rotary paid the admission of all military veterans to the game.
Fair Oaks and Point West Rotary's joined their talents to plan a Leadership Conference for students at Encina and Bella Vista High Schools. Combining lecture with one-on-one mentoring and small group discussions about leadership, ethics and the Four Way Test, the conference was well received. Both clubs plan on working together in the future.
Safe Halloween... that doesn't sound too exciting. But when it's the Fair Oaks Rotary (and a few partners, to be honest) putting it on, it's a different story. Games, books, reading stories, and... oh,yeah... candy made for an exciting (and safe) day for kids in Fair Oaks this October 31. Every year it's more fun, making it likely we'll be back next year.
For the ninth time in as many years, the Fair Oaks Rotary hosted 300+ guests at the premier autumn tasting event in the Fair Oaks area. More than a dozen local restaurants and foothill wineries and two local breweries presented their wares, and a "Wine Wall" and silent auction rounded out the evening. It was a rousing success, both in the enjoyment of the guests and in the funds raised for the club's many projects in the coming year
Contrary to what you might expect from the photo at the top, the Fair Oaks Rotary had a successful day at the 2017 Fair Oaks Chicken Festival, making a bundle of money for the great projects they do throughout the year by selling sample tastes from the dozen or so breweries who donated their product. For more photos of the frivolity, click Read More.
Although the Folsom Cordova Community Partnership called it Family Fun Night, in truth it looked a lot more like Fair Oaks Rotary Fun Night. Rotarians had pre-packed bags for the kids to take home and provided some of the "entertainment" for the night, reading to the kids and introducing them to the mysteries of acoustic guitar. Some of the materials for this project were paid for by a grant from The Rotary Foundation.
Women's Empowerment is a program that teaches job skills to homeless women. Recently, the Fair Oaks Rotary has been priveleged to help with the refreshments at the graduation from the program, and we did it again on September 15. As you can see, taking part in this puts smiles on the faces of out volunteers.
Join Us at the Fair Oaks Chicken Festival's Craft Beer Garden!
The Rotary Club of Fair Oaks is again proud to be hosting the Craft Beer Garden on September 16th from 11 am to 5:30 pm. We will be located at 10123 Fair Oaks Blvd. next to Central Valley Community Bank and in front of Honeymoon Tatoo.
We will be serving a selection of beers from 12 different Craft Beer Breweries. In addition, we are providing Live Music by J's House Band and Acoustic Space Travelers.
Under the command of Field Marshal (Hon.) Neil Shepherd, the Fair Oaks Rotary assembled a contingent of road warriors armed with grabbers and orange bags for our quarterly removal of trash on Madison Avenue between Kenneth and Chicago (Ave., not the city). Despite the apparent lack of Rotary rations (donuts and coffee), the task was accomplished in fine order. For a look at some of the individual action, click Read More.
For the first time in its 71 year history, the Fair Oaks Rotary saw the handoff off the presidency from one female to another at the annual Demotion of the President. Despite leading the club to the Best Club in the District title, Karen Romines was subjected to the usual roast before handing the gavel to Anne Browning. And despite their "not-ready-for-prime-time" status, the Rotarettes made another appearance and once again wowed the crowd, convulsing most of them in laughter. It was a great end to a great year, and we're all set for next year.
The mighty River Dogs of the coach-pitch (7-8 year-old) division of the Fair Oaks-Orangevale Little League wound up the 2017 season with a rousing... um, game. Since no one keeps score, it was hard to tell who won, not that it really mattered to anyone. Both sponsoring clubs showed up in force. For more of the action, click Read More.
Fair Oaks Rotary once again had a great turnout for the annual It's My Park Day, sponsored by the Fair Oaks Recreation and Park District (FORPD), and we really showed that we know how to spread wood chips. Seriously, folks, somebody's got to do it, and who better than a group of business professional and community leaders. Besides being fun and useful, projects like this make our partnership with FORPD even closer. For pictures of the action, click Read More.
As predicted in the story from two weeks ago, the Rotary Club of Fair Oaks continued the maintenance and beautification of their arbor in Plaza Park in beautiful downtown Fair Oaks Village, this time adding some plants along the wall in back of the arbor. Considering that three Rotarians escaped prior to the press (that would be me) arriving for the culmination photo, it looks like there may have been more than one Rotarian assigned to each plant. Needless to say, they were done so fast that the lack of Rotary fuel (i.e., coffee and donuts) didn't affect the outcome.
The Rotary Arbor in Plaza Park got some well-deserved maintenance today by some Fair Oaks Rotarians and friends, and from the photos, it looks like they were well-supervised. With no evidence of Rotary fuel in sight (that would be coffee and donuts), it's not clear how they got through the morning. Look for another work detail in a few weeks.
Well, it was a club service project in conjunction with the Rotary Club of Cabo Del Este in Los Barriles (between La Paz and Cabo San Lucas) and two other northern California clubs, Nevada City and Quincy. The goals were threefold: spiff up a dormitory at a school for kids from the surrounding mountain ranchos, distribute fleece blankets with edges crocheted by Rotarians and Fair Oaks Inner Wheel, and do some scouting in preparation for a future water project. All were achieved, as was the hallmark Rotary goal of having fun. It was all so successful that something similar is likely to happen again next year.
Four high school students spoke on the topic of "Serving Humanity" at our club level speech contest at the meeting on March 6, and most in attendance were glad that they weren't judging the contest. Our winner, Bella Vista senior Sara Ostad Rahimi, now proceeds to the regional semifinal contest on March 30.
Accompanied by #100ActsOfGood mascot Rooty the Rooster, nine stalwart members of the Rotary Club of Fair Oaks braved some pre-storm wind chill and a dearth of Rotary fuel (that would be coffee and donuts to the uninitiated) to perform their magic on Madison Avenue from Chicago to Kenneth by picking up several months worth of trash. Rooty, as usual, simply tagged along doing nothing but watching and then hogged the post-work photo, for which he almost ended up in an orange bag himself. Look for us out there again in a few months.
Fair Oaks Rotary turned a basketball court into NOLA Party Central and used their usual formula of delicious crab and minestrone, wonderful auction and raffle items, and a great crowd to raise funds for their many projects in the coming year. They hosted 560 enthusiastic partygoers and initial reports of a great time make it likely that they'll put on #28 this time next year.
As they do every year about this time, a crew from the Fair Oaks Rotary barged in on two third grades at Northridge Elementary School and gave every child his or her own dictionary. And as they always do, the kids appeared thankful and excited. Will it produce a Pulitzer Prize winner for Fair Oaks in the next generation? Only time will tell. But it's a pretty good bet we'll be back next year.
They had to be escorted in by the umbrella platoon, but once inside, the weather was fantastic, the food was yummy, and the entertainment was great. Fair Oaks Rotary, in partnership with the Recreation and Park District and the Fair Oaks Inner Wheel, once again brought Polynesia to the Community Center for a sold-out room of senior citizens.
OK, who's Rotary Ray, and what's a DGD? Well, that would be Ray Ward... yeah, the one in OUR club... and he was chosen to be the District 5180... yeah, that's OUR district... Governor in 2019-20, making him the District Governor Designate. How's that for a mouthful? And making it even more special, he will become the first District Governor from the Fair Oaks club in our 71 year history! Congratulations, Ray! We should have realized something was up when all those Past (and current and future) District Governors showed up at our meeting, which is the usual custom to announce the DGD in our district.
As is their custom this time of year, the Fair Oaks Rotary, led by Chief Elf Cliff Straehely, with assistance from Chief Elf Emeritus Tom Rains, using financial assistance from a bunch of places and muscle (believe it or not) from club members, packed and distributed over 100 boxes of holiday-related food for low income families at Northridge and Legette Elementary schools.
Fair Oaks Rotary's acclaimedrenowned hastily-assembled but energetic (that's the phrase I was looking for) Holiday Chorus ventured across the American River today to Eskaton Gold River, where they provided singing and merriment galore for the residents as they performed some Christmas favorites to the guitar accompaniment of Pete Schroeder, who organized the whole thing and claims to be the one responsible for the group's musical direction. They were joined for the last few numbers by resident Bill (left end of lower right photo), who definitely added some oomph to the group and who actually knew verses 2, 3 and 4 to Jingle Bells by heart. The group's next performance is being negotiated.
Well, it's The Rotary Foundation's 100th birthday in June, and what better way to celebrate than by doing something good for someone. Rotary International is encouraging all Rotarians worldwide to "get caught in the act of doing good", then posting what they do on social media and tagging it with the hashtag #100actsofgood. For a look at what our club is doing, click here.
Showing off Rotary's 100 Acts of Good theme, the Fair Oaks club did a little bragging about all the good things we do here and around the world as we participated in this year's parade through the Village opening the holiday season. The festivities concluded with the lighting of the new Village Christmas tree... that's the conical one, not the palm trees. Happy Holidays! (For a look at the decorating of our "float", click Read More)
The 2016 football game between Del Campo and Bella Vista High Schools, AKA the Battle for The Oak, had an outcome pretty similar to the last ten or so games, and it wasn't pretty. Del Campo's Cougars kept the Jim Purcell Memorial Trophy by beating Bella Vista's Broncos 69-0. As usual, the Fair Oaks Rotary had a crew there passing out flag lapel pins to all military veterans (and paying for their admission to the game), and President Karen Romines and Jim's widow Bev Purcell were there at the end for the presentation of the trophy. Del Campo HS will also be presented with $1,000 to award to a graduating senior next spring. We sports fans know that the Cubs were proof that all streaks end, but hopefully this game will become competitive again before 108 years.
Fair Oaks Rotarians, with help from Inner Wheel and some great high school helpers, once again made Halloween safe... AND FUN... for kids and parents who came to Fair Oaks Village for a little early trick-or-treating. Games, three reading stations, free children's books and, of course, candy made for a great day for the kids, and another great year for their dentists.
They may not get credit for saving lives, but Fair Oaks Rotarians (and some friends and family) poured craft brew samples from almost a dozen local breweries to raise funds for the many service projects they do here and around the world. It was hot, it was work, it was fun, and it was profitable, so I suppose we'll probably do it again next year. NOTE: apologies to the many who worked but whose photos aren't here.
Neil Shepherd and his crew of members with nothing better to do on a Saturday morning in August performed our quarterly duty of beautification (trash collection) on Madison Avenue between Chicago and Kenneth, right in front of Bella Vista High School. Without the usual help from our high school affiliate, the Bella Vista Interact Club, it took a few more Rotarians than usual to get the job done. Rumor has it that Rotary fuel (coffee and donuts) were provided.
The usual suspects were on hand when Rotary Youth Exchange student Joao Veri arrived at Sacramento International from his home in Sao Paulo, Brazil, on August 9 for his year (well, school year) in the United States. His first American "mom" and "brother" joined Youth Services Chair Maggie Hoy in welcoming him. We're looking forward to a great year!
Family Promise is a Sacramento program to assist homeless families with finding housing and improving the chances that this will be a permanent solution, by improving job skills and taking other steps leading to employment. When Fair Oaks Rotarian Geri Beck made our board aware of the lack of tech hardware at their headquarters, the board and its tech guru Keith Walter stepped up. We purchased, delivered, set up and provided instruction on three Chromebooks and a wireless printer for families currently in the program, with plans to follow up as needed. For a look at the typical day of Rotarian Geri Beck as she volunteers there. click Read More.
In a tradition dating back as far as anyone in the club can remember, 2015-16 president Pete Schroeder was unceremoniously demoted from on high back into the ranks, while Karen Romines was given the title Madame President, making her the fourth female to head this illustrious organization and its 71st president. Before he felt the love of all the club members, Cubs-Bears-Bulls fan Schroeder was decked out in a White Sox T-shirt, Giants hat, and 49er boxers. Poor guy. Stay tuned for a great year in 2016-17.
Our club is pleased to announce grant funding for up to $1,000 per project for charitable and educational activities to benefit children and senior citizens in the local community.
Application deadlines are October 1, January 1, and April 1.
It was 98 degrees, the Cats lost, and the bus broke down on the way home. Did that make the annual outing to Raley Field for Rotary District 5180 (which includes the Fair Oaks club) a bust? Not according to President Pete and the folks who collected the donations for polio eradication. Maybe it had something to do with the contents of the coolers on board the bus. For a few more photos of the "action" (or lack thereof), click here.
What the heck does that mean? Well, on a nice Saturday in April, a bunch of Fair Oaks Rotarians (and a pint-sized supervisor) with your basic gardening implements went out to River Bend Park and cleaned the overgrowth from a campsite, making it usable for children's programs this upcoming summer. The before and after photos (they would be #1 and #3, above) show what a great job they did. For a look at even more photos of the work that went into this, click here.
OK, we had a little lot of help from our high school affiliate, the Interact Club of Bella Vista High School. And once again, we were forced to work without the usual Rotary fuel, coffee and donuts. But the weather was good, the kids were great, and Madison Avenue between Chicago and Kenneth looked great afterward. I think Sacramento County will let us keep participating in their Adopt-A-Street program, as we have for about ten years now.
First Little Free Library "Planted" and Stocked...
AND USED!
No sooner had the Fair Oaks Rotary's first little free library been planted on Pennsylvania Ave just north of Sunset, than a young local resident was seen inspecting it and availing himself of some reading material. Now we've got about nine more to "plant" so that literacy can grow in Fair Oaks. That's the plan, anyway. For more of the fun, click Read more...
Alright, alright! It was their project, and we helped, with some funding and nine semi-able bodied volunteers. In 90 minutes, we (that would be everyone there) filled over 17,000 14-oz. bags with a nutritious rice-soy-vegetable mixture, with each bag providing a meal for six people, which will be shipped to places in the world where the need is greatest. It provided camaraderie, the satisfaction of service, and a good laugh from looking at each other with hair covers on.
After a couple of projects with the "big" Fair Oaks Library, club literacy-meister Bruce Hagel found a "little" library project to work on this year. After getting the wood shop kids at Del Campo High School to do the woodwork, he talked new-ish member Reid Gustafson into using his garage and driveway for the work parties to prime, paint and shingle the things. I guess that's what happens when you put an attorney in charge of a work project. For lots of photos of all the "work", click here.
February in Fair Oaks means the Rotary will feed 500+ at their biggest fundraiser of the year, the Mardi Gras Crab Feed, and 2016 was no exception. From Caesar salad to minestrone to that tasty crab, attendees left with a satisfied palate, as usual. A silent auction and several raffles attracted the usual generous crowd, enabling the club to finance the myriad of projects for the next year. Thanks to all who helped and attended. For lots of photos of all the fun, click here.
What better way to warm up 100+ Fair Oaks seniors than some pulled pork and Polynesian music? The luau's sponsors (Fair Oaks Rec & Park, Rotary and Inner Wheel, and the Bella Vista Interact Club) decided to move the luau from its customary September date (too close to that Chicken Festival) to January, where the only conflict was the Rotary's distribution of dictionaries to LeGette third-graders. Hey, no problem... youth service in the morning, seniors at lunch. For more of the action, click "Read more..."
The answer to that question is that they likely will be smarter in the future, and at least partly because of Fair Oaks Rotary. As they do about this time every year, Fair Oaks Rotarians visited Northridge and LeGette Elementary schools and gave every third-grader their own personal dictionary. Even in the age of iPads and Google, the kids looked pretty pleased about their new acquisition. For more photos, click "Read more..."
Almost buried in that mass of young, sweaty testosterone is Rotary Club of Fair Oaks honorary member Bev Purcell, on hand to present the trophy named after her deceased husband, past president Jim Purcell, to the winner of the Del Campo-Bella Vista football game, AKA the Battle For The Oak, so named because it decides the Fair Oaks high school football champion for the year. By a 49-26 margin, and for consecutive years that are getting hard to count, Del Campo won the game.
In addition to the trophy, a $1,000 graduation award is presented to a senior at the winning school by the Rotary club, and since the game usually occurs in close proximity to Veterans Day, the club also pays for the admission to the game of anyone who identifies themselves as a military veteran. For a look at the trophy and the crew at the gate, click the link...
Books and games and... oh,yeah, candy... made for another great Safe Halloween in Fair Oaks Village. As usual, the Rotary Club of Fair Oaks was among the organizations having fun working hard to make the day a success. For a further look at the frolicking, click the link...
With a lineup of about a dozen wineries and restaurants, and a few brewers thrown in for good measure, this year's edition of Fair Oaks Uncorked provided the over 270 attendees with the usual high quality food and drink, making it a stunning success. Oh, and that's not even considering the funds raised for the community projects of the Fair Oaks Rotary. A big thanks goes to Marlow Simonetto and her crew, and to volunteers from the District 5180 Passport Club, whose work allowed more Fair Oaks Rotarians to actually nosh and imbibe a little.
For those of you who care, the dessert police reported that 37% of attendees were seen eating dessert before "real food".
Fair Oaks Rotarians Fight Thru Lack of Coffee and Donuts
To Beautify Madison Avenue
Despite a glaring lack of the usual morning project fuel, a valiant crew of Fair Oaks Rotarians and Bella Vista High School Interactors, led by the intrepid Cliff Straehely, were on duty today restoring Madison Avenue from Chicago (Avenue, not the city) to Kenneth to its usual pristine shape. In an unusual development, the Rotarians actually outnumbered the high schoolers. The name of the person who neglected to bring coffee will remain confidential. For more details, click the link.
Who are all these folks lounging around the Bella Vista High School library on an October Tuesday morning? Well, they are among the 70 or so speakers from diverse occupations recruited by the Fair Oaks Rotary and Bella Vista faculty to speak to the students about their vocations at Bella Vista's second biannual Career Day. The students were polled about their preferences, and each speaker spoke to three groups of about 30 students in the course of the morning. The consensus of all involved: let's do it again in 2017! For more, click the link...
Craft Beer Booth Fundraiser At The Fair Oaks Chicken Festival
If you didn't make the chicken festival this year, you missed a beautiful day and a lot of fun. Although a number of us weren't exactly up with the chickens, it felt close enough that early Saturday morning. Setting up the area for microbrew tasting is an exercise in teamwork. If you have not experienced the joy and challenge of setting up the various awnings we use, you are missing out. It's necessary and fun to duct tape and otherwise do "orthopedic repairs" on some of the old awnings we utilize. Even one of our mascot, metal chickens needed some "medical attention" in ord be able to er to stand up. Perhaps it had had a rough night, the night before. It all came together and we sold a lot of beer to a lot of happy and satisfied customers. I thought the band was great. Apparently, they also play heavy metal, but I was happy that they chose to use their acoustic instruments for the chicken festival.
Over the weekend of August 7-9, a hardy group of Fair Oaks Rotarians, along with family, wannabes and other assorted folks, headed for Lake Francis Resort near beautiful Dobbins, CA, for our club's fourth annual "camping" trip, organized by the irrepressible Maggie Hoy. Our Danish exchange student Stine was introduced to the Fair Oaks Rotary version of roughing it; I think she liked it.
We ate and drank too much, but we solved a lot of world problems and we worked off many of the calories playing Maggie's dumb sophisticated games on Saturday afternoon. Did we have fun? Hey, it was a Fair Oaks Rotary event... of course we did. There are more pictures if you click the link.
Fred Rowe took the microphone to introduce a mighty nice speaker, our own Elaine Roc. After being successful at an earlier career for about 20 years, she resigned to do something else that touched her heart. She has been working for Blood Source, in which she was rapidly promoted. Currently she is the director of automated recruitment, at which post she uses her considerable people skills to raise awareness about donating to Blood Source. She also serves with the central California hemophilia foundation.
Blood Source was initially founded in 1948 as a nonprofit, at the impetus of some physicians at Sutter Hospital who needed more blood to do their work. Elaine decided to focus mainly on one aspect of the wonderful work done by Blood Source, namely "Source Plasma". Plasma is the liquid part of blood. Both whole plasma and its components are vital to the treatment of at least 80 different diseases. The number of uses for plasma and its components is sure to increase because there are numerous on-going research projects on plasma.
There is a worldwide need for the Blood Source products. Blood banks around the world need plasma and its components because these are scarce commodities in many foreign countries. About 65% of the source plasma obtained in the United States is sent to other locations around the world.
To prepare for a plasma donation, a person should avoid caffeine during the day before, eat a good meal, and drink a lot of water. Although it takes only about five or 10 minutes to donate whole blood (depending on the size of your veins), it takes about 45 minutes to donate for "source plasma". During this process, the donor is entertained by recent movies and delightful company. Temporarily some of the donor’s blood leaves the donor, while it is being subdivided into components, and then it is returned, minus "the goodies". Theoretically one could donate source plasma every other day but to be more conservative, plasma donations are limited to twice a week.
One of the most important products is Immunoglobulin. These are a variety of antibodies in immunoglobulin which can be utilized to combat diseases. Since different people have been exposed to different diseases, these different diseases stimulate the production of various different antibodies, making immunoglobulin products very versatile and valuable. The Common denominator of these various diseases is that the patient has an impaired immune system. Some people are genetically unable to form any antibodies at all, and infusion of these immunoglobulins, beginning shortly after birth, prevents the death of these babies, although we don't know how long these patients will ultimately live. However, one recipient mentioned by Elaine has completed medical school and is the oldest living recipient of this treatment, so far.
Our club now is categorized as one of the "big clubs" in our district and records have been kept about the frequency of blood donations in the various clubs in the District. We rank sixth among the big clubs which is not anything to brag about. Elaine distributed cards which can be utilized, so that our friends and relatives can also donate and credit our club. Some people (about 38% of the population of the United States) are unable to donate because of various FDA restrictions. For example, there is a weight minimum of 110 pounds. Women are not allowed to donate. Elaine ended early but remained afterwards to answer the many questions.
Lester Snow spoke on the California water system, its history, the drought and other potential problems with our water delivery system. Lester is Executive Director of the California Water Foundation. He has been the Director of the California Department of Water Resources and our region’s Director for the Bureau of Reclamation.
Lester began his talk with a brief description of the statewide interconnected water storage and delivery system which serves 30 million people and irrigates over 5 million acres of farmland. The system includes the State Water Project, the Central Valley Project, and several major aqueducts. Wikipedia is recommended for an excellent overview of the system.
The water system in California is faced with several severe challenges:
* Aging infrastructure, designed when California’s population was less than half of today’s population.
* Overdrawn and, until recently, completely unregulated groundwater supplies
* Climate change.
At this moment, California is in the midst of the worst drought in its history. Snowpack is nonexistent. Reservoirs are very low and there will be little runoff from the mountains into the reservoirs. Up to 80% of the water the state uses this year will be groundwater, which is being depleted too fast. (Some areas in the Central Valley are sinking one foot per year as water is pumped from the underlying aquifers and San Jose is now 14 feet lower than it was years ago.) Locally, the Folsom reservoir will probably be drawn down to the lowest level in its history because the Bureau of Reclamation is withholding releases from Shasta to reduce water temperatures and protect salmon – and increasing releases from Folsom to compensate.
As an example of aging infrastructure, Lester cited the Sacramento San Joaquin Delta. The Delta has existed since the end of the last ice age and was originally a large freshwater marsh. Beginning in the late 1800s, Chinese labor and then dredgers were used to create levees, channel the flow of water through the Delta and convert most of the Delta for agriculture. The Delta now produces about $500 million in crops. The levees are not completely adequate and it is feared that a combination of high water and an earthquake could break the levees and flood much of the Delta, rendering it useless (Ed note: supposedly) for agriculture.
Lester briefly discussed the Delta tunnel project, which has been proposed by the Jerry Brown administration. He cited reasons for building the tunnels but, in general, did not mention the many objections raised by opponents of the Delta tunnels.
Meeting Highlights
Ray Ward is recognized by Membership Director Alice Rowe. Ray brought six new members to the club during the past year and half.
Emeritus member Charley Blatchford celebrated his 80th birthday. In the photo, Charley is paying a generous birthday fine.
James Mann, who has been undergoing dialysis, was able to attend the meeting. James reports that he is doing better.
New members Shelley Weisman and Gus Ballis had their red ribbons removed and became full-fledged members. They are shown with their sponsor, Ray Ward, and their mentors, Peter and Karen Romines.
Pete Schroeder reported on Camp Winning Hands, where Pete was a counselor last week. The photo is from the Shriner’s website. It shows Pete teaching a youngster with hand differences to play guitar. Pete spent five days working with the kids at this camp. The Shriner Hospitals for Children of Northern California sponsored the camp and paid for everything. Pete reported that Rotary made the camp possible.
The kids camped overnight and Pete was housed in a cabin full of 7 – 11 year old boys. Pete reports that he is now, as a result, an expert on zombies and possible the health hazards that can result when a normal person is touched by a zombie, with urinary contamination of the blood being number one on the list.
Our club was chartered on March 7, 1946 and will celebrate its 70th anniversary this fiscal year. With that in mind, Club Historian, Ralph Carhart, provided a brief history of the club’s first 40 years of existence.
Details below.
Announcements
It is difficult to determine meeting attendance in advance, which makes it difficult to buy and serve the right amount of food. Diana Cralle asked that all members RSVP at least two days before a meeting. Suggested mechanisms for RSVPing were contacting Ray Ward via Facebook or Nancy Regan by email.
Perhaps the easiest method might be to RSVP to the weekly meeting notice sent out by Ray Ward every week.
Bob Walters announced that Club Foundation will be holding its annual election of members at its next meeting on August 15. Anyone interested in being on the Foundation Board should submit a short written application, in the form of a letter or email to Bob. The application should summarize, along with anything deemed pertinent by the applicant, experience with 501(c)3 organizations. Campaign speeches will not be allowed.
Details below.
Club Services Director, Dawn Abatamarco, asked for volunteers to serve food at each meeting (2 per meeting) and others to do the center pieces at each table.
Marlow Simonetto is managing this year’s Fair Oaks Uncorked. We still need wineries and restaurants. Please help Marlow and her committee recruit them.
Also, tickets are now available. Please start selling them.
Maggie Hoy is the organizer for Saturday’s Mystery Trip. Maggie revealed three clues:
This will be an outdoor event.
It may be cold (the weather, that is)
Bring a camp chair so you have something to sit on.
As good stewards of Madison Avenue from Chicago (the street, that is) to Kenneth, May 9 found the Fair Oaks Rotary Club out in force, along with the Interact Club from Bella Vista High School, to rid the avenue of several months of accumulated litter. The unusual thing about this particular day was that Rotarians outnumbered Interactors, perhaps due to the availability of donuts procured by Dino Sammakieh, the honcho of the trash patrol.
It's rumored that President Jim Cralle was upset by the potential dangers of the pedestrian access to the area around his favorite fishing hole, prompting him to arrange a project of the club, its Interact affiliate at Bella Vista High School, and some folks from the local Americorps on a sunny Saturday morning in April. I'm sure there were donuts involved somewhere, but no one took a picture of them.
Valentine weekend saw President Jim Cralle and the Fair Oaks Rotary working hard on their joint project with the Fair Oaks Recreation and Park District and Honorary Mayor Bob Clouse to lengthen walking trails at Phoenix Park, making them more usable for baby strollers, wheelchairs and other conveyances that may not perform well on grass. The project was partially funded by a matching grant from The Rotary Foundation.
As usual, we sold this event out... 550 crab lovers feasting on minestrone, pasta, and scrumptious crab, washed down by margaritas, hurricanes, fine wine and other assorted beverages, playing heads-or-tails, taking a chance on the FunDraw and MegaDraw and bidding in the silent auction. A big thanks to our sponsors and donors and everyone who spent the money that allows us to do all the good stuff we do in Fair Oaks and around the world.
Active Sponsors:
Thanks for the support, we had another successful year.
As is their custom about this time of year, Rotarians from the Fair Oaks club distributed brand new dictionaries purchased by the club to every third-grader at Northridge Elementary School, after doing the same at Legette Elementary last week. The Legette crew were either shy or left their cameras at home, because no photos could be found. For more pictures of happy kids, click "Read more".
If Madison Avenue from Chicago Avenue to Kenneth Avenue was looking a little cleaner recently, thank the Rotary Club of Fair Oaks and the Bella Vista High School Interact Club, under the supervision of Karen Romines and John White. The two organizations cooperate on this quarterly project as part of the county's Adopt-A-Street program. The big find this time: a car bumper!
For the sixth consecutive year, the Fair Oaks Rotary hosted the premier autumn wine-and-food tasting event in the area, Fair Oaks Uncorked, at St. Mel's Parish Hall. Attendees were treated to vintages from ten wineries and delicacies from ten local restaurants. If you missed it, make a note to check next October's calendar for the seventh edition.
On a beautiful Saturday, the Fair Oaks Village celebrated local businesses with food, music, and beer. The Rotary Club of Fair Oaks helped by providing thirsty patrons at the beer wagon and at the craft beer booth. The proceeds from this event will be used for local schools and other local projects.
Fair Oaks Seniors Whoop It Up at the 2014 Rotary Luau
Last year, the Interact Club learned the Hukilau; this year, it was a half dozen or so spry seniors... all women... what does that mean?... who jumped at the chance. And once again, for the 11th straight year, the Rotary Club, the Inner Wheel, and the Recreation and Park Department of Fair Oaks put on a great luau for the seniors in the community. If you're wondering who all the really young looking people in the linked album are, that's the Bella Vista Interact Club, without whom we'd probably still be passing out the lunch trays. For a closer look at the festivities, click here.
Last Rotary year, we fixed a lot of the insides of this house on Winding Way, which was occupied by a disabled senior citizen with a long history of volunteering in the Fair Oaks community, and now we returned to make it look as nice outside as it is inside. Our own Geri Beck was the driving force on this one. The answer to the question in the title would seem to be seven... or was it eight? In case you haven't figured it out, the photo on top is BEFORE.
If you don't see any tents, there's a reason for that. We didn't bring any... well, at least the adults didn't. For the third year in a row, in spite of prior violations of the campground noise curfew, Lake Francis Resort in Dobbins allowed the Fair Oaks Rotary to spend a weekend there. If you're dying to see people having too much fun, go to our Facebook posting of August 17. Just don't say you weren't warned.
Presenters meet in the library to take attendance... after all, this is school.
On October 11, from 9 am to noon, the 2,000+ students at Bella Vista High School attended the first Career Day at BV in over a decade. Each student attended three successive small group sessions of 30-40 students presented by over 70 presenters representing a wide variety of professions and jobs. It was a massive undertaking and by all accounts, it came off pretty well at all levels.
Some times, the best laid plans... you know the rest. And Chicken Festival 2013 was one of them. At first the cool refreshments offered by Fair Oaks Rotary's beer booth and micro-brew tasting area were well appreciated, but just about the time that sales usually pick up, the skies opened up, and in spite of the "fun" reported by those on scene, the bottom line looked like it was going to be affected. For a complete look at developments, click here.
For the tenth year in a row, the Fair Oaks Rotary co-sponsored the Fair Oaks Senior Luau, in conjunction with the Fair Oaks Rec & Parks Dept, Fair Oaks Inner Wheel and Fair Oaks Foundation for Leisure and Arts. The Bella Vista High School Interact Club provided the table servers, and 140+ seniors were treated to Polynesian cuisine and entertainment, some of it by Rotarians and Interactors. For the full monty, click here. To see our Bella Vista Interactors dance the Hukilau, click here. To see President Mike shake his thing, click here.
On September 7, the "Fair Oaks Rotary" bus... actually, we rented it... took us, along with members from a few adjoining clubs, to Amador Cellars for some tasting and a BBQ dinner in their new barn. For a full report and photos, click here.
Fair Oaks Rotarian Dave Claugus at the top of Mt Whitney as he celebrates the completion of his 200+ mile trek along the John Muir trail to raise funds for Polio Plus. He just helped make us "this much closer" to polio eradication. Congratulations, Dave!
Problem: falling down fence, overgrown yard, lack of resources. Solution: nine Fair Oaks Rotarians and an hour and a half, followed by a mighty construction job by our newest member. Just another example of Rotarian community service in action. To see Fair Oaks Rotary in action, click here.
On Saturday, July 13, Fair Oaks Rotarians, relatives and friends were treated to a demonstration of proper watering technique by new club president Mike Maddox after several hours of beautifying Village Park as part of the Fair Oaks Recreation and Park District's It's My Park Day. For a FULL report, click here.
So if you've noticed that Madison Avenue around Bella Vista High School looks pretty clean every three months or so, then thank the team of BV Interactors and Fair Oaks Rotarians that does the work. April 6 was the latest Beautification Day, aka trash pickup. Click here to see how it went.
Encouraged by the sitting ovation our group of Rotarian warblers received at our Christmas performance at Eskaton Fountainwood, Pete Schroeder assembled a quartet and we did it again. To see a few photos of what it was like to be there, click here.
Rotary Animals Invade Fair Oaks Library Prior to Celebration
Buddy (the Raccoon) and Bunny (the Energizer... well, bunny) made an appearance at the Fair Oaks Library on March 29, one day prior to the big celebration to open the new Families and Books Center, a joint project of the Rotary Club of Fair Oaks, Friends of the Library, and the library itself.
They even talked some kid into reading a book to them.
Join us on March 30 at noon as we dedicate the place.
Our meeting on Monday, March 25, was special for several reasons. Past President Warren McWilliams celebrated a special birthday; contrary to popular opinion, he was NOT one of the founders of Rotary International in 1905... after all, he's just a kid at 80 years young! And our program was brought to us by our newest member, Natasha Owen, who described the development of the Russian consular system and her role as the first ever Russian consul in Sacramento. Following this, we were treated to four traditional Russian songs by two members of the Russian community. So our club's immersion into local cultural diversity continues!
On Saturday, March 23, the finishing touches were put on our Family and Children's Center project at the Fair Oaks Library, just in time for the celebration scheduled for Saturday, March 30. Lots of hands-on work and $6,000... half of that as a grant from The Rotary Foundation... went into creating an area specifically for kids under 5 and their parents. We partnered with Friends of the Library on the project. The final work crew members couldn't resist being the first to actually use the area.
On March 15, a group of Fair Oaks Rotarians and spouses ventured to the Little Saigon area of South Sacramento for the 2nd annual Gala Dinner of the Greater Sacramento Vietnamese American Chamber of Commerce. That's a mouthful of initials, and the Rotarians enjoyed many mouthfuls of delicious ethnic food served at the New Happy Garden Restaurant. What were they doing there besides eating? Well, it was the kickoff of new member Dave Barr's program of experiencing diverse cultures without the cost of international airfare. Where will it lead? Hey... come along for the ride and find out!
On March 11, astrophysicist and NASA scientist Tobias (Toby) Owen, who is also the spouse of newly inducted member Natasha Owen, presented a dryly witty summary of the search for life in the universe, especially intelligent life, and showed us remarkable photos from the recent Mars rover Discovery. One of the questions he posed was why another intelligent life form would identify themselves to us Earthlings if they were able to observe the current state of affairs on this planet. All in all, a remarkable presentation!
Rotarians Ponder the Search for Life in the Universe
With well over a hundred Rotary club banners, collected during our members travels, sitting in storage, it was time to hang them on the wall! And who made the display for us?
As usual, our annual Spaghetti Feed with our Fair Oaks Inner Wheel affiliate was packed and energetic. IW President Janet McWilliams described the great work IW does locally and internationally, and the members lightened our wallets bidding on an assortment of items in a fun raffle. Check out the rest of the details in this weeks ACORN.
We packed 'em in for the Inner Wheel Spaghetti Feed!
In an amazing display of literary prowess, ten Fair Oaks Rotarians participated in the annual Read Across America Day at Northridge Elementary School by actually reading to students in their classrooms. Read Across America Day is celebrated nationwide on or near the birthday of the late Dr. Seuss and was established to promote the joy of reading. Member Bruce Vincent recorded this reaction to his efforts, later reporting that he set it up.
Five seniors from Bella Vista High School... in the picture above, Dustin Mueller, Tim O'Shea, Anna Ustinova, Jessica Terry and Kara Zeman, along with club president Beth Wilcoxen and speech contest chairs Bill Wagner and Karen Romines... each gave their interpretation of the theme "Peace Through Service" at the annual speech contest of the Rotary Club of Fair Oaks on Monday, February 25. The annual speech contest is always one of the most enjoyable programs of the Rotary year and this year was no exception. The contest was won by Kara Zeman, who will now compete in a regional semifinal against eight other club level winners on Monday, April 8 at 6:00 at the Roseville Theater on Vernon Street in Roseville, with the eventual goal of competing in the District Finals on Saturday, May 11 at the District Conference at the Hyatt Lake Tahoe in Incline Village.
If you missed this year's Fair Oaks Rotary Crab Feed because it sold out and caught you by surprise, click here or scan the QR code at the top left, then fill out the form and we'll contact you next year before the ticket sales open to the general public. Here's a little picture of the party we threw on February 9.
A team of ten departed for Iquitos, Peru on December 1-2 and returned on December 9-10. Who were they? Three from our club, two from Rancho Cordova (plus one spouse), two from Whirlwind Wheelchair, designer of the RoughRider, one physical therapist and one Spanish interpreter. What did they do? In conjunction with the Rotary Club of Iquitos, they brought the gift of mobility to 176 people in the Amazon basin in the form of RoughRider wheelchairs.
To save reading another 100,000 words, click here for about 100 photos of their adventure.
On December 17, ten Fair Oaks Rotarians, led by the intrepid Pete Schroeder, warbled our way through a half dozen or so Christmas carols at the Eskaton facility where long-time member John Yetto resides.
Two more members, who shall remain nameless, arrived just as we finished singing.
When the Rotary Club, Inner Wheel, Women's Thursday Club, Merchants' Association and Theatre Festival of Fair Oaks combine with the Bella Vista Interact Club to put on Halloween festivities for the village's kids, you can figure that it will be quite an event. It was. Check it out by clicking here. And check our Facebook Page for even more.
But it was only for a night (October 29) so not to worry. Ms. Energizer kept us all safe, and we heard our outbound RYE student, Isabel Jacobson, tell us about her year in Denmark. Click herefor the hard photo evidence, but it's not for the faint of heart. Look for details in this week's ACORN.
For the tenth year in a row, Del Campo High School was victorious over Bella Vista High School in this game, the Fair Oaks high school football championship. The Rotary Club of Fair Oaks gives a perpetual trophy named after the Rotarian who started this tradition, Jim Purcell, and also a $1,000 graduation award to a senior at the winning school, as well as paying the admission of all military veterans to the game. For a look at this year's fun, click here.
What could be better on an autumn evening than great food accompanied by great wines? That's what the Rotary Club of Fair Oaks delivered on Friday, October 12, to the delight of the 200+ in attendance at the Fair Oaks Community Clubhouse.
If it's mid-September, it's Luau time in Fair Oaks as the Rotary Club of Fair Oaks, Fair Oaks Rec & Park Dept., the Fair Oaks Inner Wheel and the Bella Vista Interact Club all combine to treat our local seniors to an afternoon of island culinary delights and entertainment.
By almost any measure the 7th Annual Chicken Festival on Saturday was a huge success with over 12,000 people estimated to have attended. Many Rotarians contributed to this years' festival including Shelley Mathews, Bob Walters, and Dan Smallhouse. Dan reported that gross sales at both Rotary booths exceeded $5,000 this year - congratulations and thanks to the many volunteers who made this possible.
Steve Hoverman, celebrating a birthday, put up a tent. The rest of us were in other structures. But if Maggie says it's camping, then it's camping. We swam, played "games" of Maggie's devising, made s'mores, and violated the 10 pm quiet time. To see all the ugly details, click here.
For those of you who missed it, the Fair Oaks Rotary achieved its fundraising goal of $3,000 for this years Relay For Life. As usual, we made our fun-raising goal also. And I think we were one of the few teams to keep someone on the track for all 24 hours... did someone check those Interactors between midnight and 3 am? For photographic proof, click here.
On Saturday, July 14, Rotarians from the Rotary Club of Fair Oaks worked at Phoenix Park as part of the Fair Oaks Rec and Park Dept's My Park Day. If you don't think the park looks more spiffy as a result, click here to check out actual photographic proof.
Just like every three months, Madison Avenue in front of Bella Vista High School is CLEAN, thanks to the Bella Vista Interact Club and the Rotary Club of Fair Oaks. Usually the trash is on the ground, but these two seem to have located some in a tree. For a look at the whole crew and a more standard trash pick-up technique, click the little blue "More..."