Welcome

We had a unique year in many ways.  We started once again meeting in person.  For a couple of months into the year, we went back to meeting via Zoom, while COVID-19 gave us another restriction.  Our facility rental presented us with a significant increase after many years of a comfortable agreement.  With the increasing cost of food this past year, we were challenged midyear with finding an affordable caterer that was compatible with our already established budget.

 

In spite of these challenges, we had a productive year.  I attribute this to our great Board of Directors’ team and their assigned committee chairs and many other Rotary Club of Sebastopol members who pulled together a successful year.  At the start of the year, I asked past president Jack Blasco to spearhead the update of our club and foundation bylaws from 2014.  Kudos to that great team for a thorough update on both documents.  Another team headed by Tom Boag and Robin Maybury updated our Electronic Communication and Privacy Policy document.

 

We gained new members throughout the year plus a couple later in the year who will be inducted in mid-July.  All of these members have been active in the club with great enthusiasm and skill sets.

 

Our club service and club activities kept our directors and many committees and volunteers busy throughout the entire year.

 

Two programs that were on hold due to COVID-19 were back in person this past year.  These were our RYLA program (that previously met via Zoom) and our High School Speech Contest that was on hold for a couple of years.  Career Day at West County (Analy) High School was brought back into our programs this past year and was held via Zoom.  With restrictions winding down, we are now allowed to participate in the Rotary Youth Exchange program.  An outgoing student was selected for the coming year and has already been assigned to go to Italy, her first choice.  She has been actively fundraising for her coming year.

 

Our many other programs in Vocational & Youth Exchange, Community Service, and International Service were very active.  Among many other local programs, some of our most popular of these programs include Overcoming Obstacles Awards (scholarships), Learn to Swim, and Mark Sell Teacher Grants.  Teacher of the Year awards, SRJC Scholarships, Interact programs, Financial Literacy, Community Grants, Dictionary Project, and our many Community Volunteer projects kept many of our Rotarians busy throughout the year.  We spearheaded our second SSAC Summit in tandem with the City of Sebastopol to energize the community to volunteer in support of needs throughout.

 

Funding to support all these quality programs comes from last year’s fundraising efforts in the drive-through Crab Feed for the teacher grants and the very successful Derby Day event to support other programs.  On top of this we brought in around $22,000 in sponsorships.

 

Our International Service team was very successful across the board.  We have $1,000 already in reserve for HopeCorp Street Business School, the initial $6,800 program sponsored by the Rotary Club of Phoenix that is developing into a global grant.  Our club donated $1,000 to the Puerto Vallara Sur Club’s scholarship program. These funds allowed us to sponsor 3-children.  Chidamoyo Hospital, received an email from Major Mareki (hospital admin) saying the baby incubator we supported ($7,200) arrived just in time to be utilized to help 2 premature babies! 

The Rotary International Foundation Annual Fund Goal for our club was $20,000, and our contribution was $50,305 at 252%.  Other RI funds for Polio Plus showed a goal of $10,000, and we were at $57, 979 at 579.8% and first place in our District 5130.  This brings our total contributions to $108,284 and first place in our District 5130.  A starting donation of $10,000 from our club to the Ukraine refugee relief fund program snowballed a sum >$20,000 to the cause.

Thanks to the entire Rotary Club of Sebastopol for making such a challenging year so rewarding!