Welcome

June 25, 2025 was the 100th anniversary of the Rotary Club of Sebastopol.

To celebrate the club's centennial, long-time members of the club formed a Centennial Committee with sub-committees.  The committees worked throughout the year to: (1) provide special monthly presentations at club meetings that highlight accomplishments, fundraisers, social events, youth activities and more that the club has participated in or led during its 100 years. (2) created a plan to build a Centennial Plaza, improve the snack shack and adjoining area leased by the little league including ADA restrooms, upgrade the main entry and walkway (currently uneven asphalt) into Sebastopol's Ives Park. (3) plan special events including a Centennial Celebration dinner and Sunday afternoon in Ives Park for the Community to enjoy for free.

This Rotary year in addition to all of the activities and events to celebrate our club's 100th year anniversary, the hits just kept coming.  The Sebastopol Rotary Club received the following District 5130 awards:

     * International Service award

     * Vocational Service Award

     * District Governor's Award

     * Club of the Year (large club) Award

The Sebastopol Rotary Club was selected for the above awards due to all of the following accomplishments during the 2024-2025 Rotary year.

Vocational Service

1) Our club took on the leadership role for District 5130 for Cool Kids Camp.  Our Club's Committee Chairperson, Robin Maybury, enlisted his spouse to co-chair with him upon the resignation of the previous program co-chair from another club in the district.  Robin has been presenting the value of Cool Kids Camp to other clubs in the district and has increased the number of children, to eighteen (18), who are given the opportunity to join this camp.  

Cool Kids Camp is for children ages 8 to 12:

• Who have suffered from physical and/or emotional abuse.

• Whose families are receiving social and/or psychological help.

The camp gives them a one or two-week respite and healing experience, providing recreation, new opportunities, and the chance to “just be a kid” for a while and even form life-long friendships.

2) Our Club was fortunate to receive a donation this year to help expand our Overcoming Obstacles Awards (OOA) Program.  In the past six high school students who have overcome serious obstacles in their young lives (e.g., homelessness, drug addicted or incarcerated parents, brain tumors, MS) are selected to receive a scholarship for college or vocational school.  This year we are able to extend this opportunity to eight students and include funds for the students' second year of study.

Youth Service

1) The Learn to Swim program, started in 1984, completed its 41st year although there was not a program during the Covid pandemic. Over 13,000 west county second graders have learned to swim for free. The program runs for four weeks during April/May and each student receives two thirty-minute lessons each week for a total of eight lessons. The Red Cross says that for every 100 children taught to swim a life is saved. This program continues to leave a great impression on the students, teachers,

parents, club members and the community volunteer swim instructors (100+) about the value of Rotary and what it does for our local community.

2) The Sebastopol Rotary Club adopted a school in Paso Ancho (near Puerta Vallarta) about 20 years ago and has provided computers, windows, toilets, a hand washing station, recorders for an after school music program, etc.  This year one of our members started to collect laptops from members that are no longer being used.  The laptop is "refreshed" and then a club member hand carries them to Paso Ancho and personally delivers them to students in need.  We have only completed two so far however the impact for the students was immeasurable.  One Rotary, one project, one laptop at a time will slowly make a big difference over time.

Community Service

October 2024 the Rotary Club of Sebastopol working in conjunction with the city and the Rotary Club of Sebastopol Sunrise replaced the fencing around the Willard Libby Park duck pond. The fence, which separates the park’s walkway from its pond, was failing at many points, causing an unacceptable hazard to park users. This was a huge undertaking over several weeks designing, picking up materials, building the fence panels, digging new post holes, pouring cement and installing the new fence posts and panels. This effort which was led by Jim Pacatte, retired contractor and member of the Sebastopol Rotary Club, included hundreds of hours of donated labor which likely saved the City of Sebastopol from 50 to 60 thousand dollars (total cost bid at about $75-80k vs the $20k the city had available to spend). Redwood and hog wire materials provided by the city were chosen to reflect the aesthetics of the park while creating safety for visitors. The city was facing tight budget constraints, and while the city's public works department was prepared to provide materials and removal of the old fencing, it reached out to Rotary hoping volunteers could do the work of building the new fence. The clubs, which have a long history of helping with this kind of project, quickly agreed.

Club Service

1)The club hosted many events to enhance fellowship: (a) a softball game between the Sebastopol Sunrise Club and our club, (b) bocce ball practices and games, (c) several happy hours (First Happy Hour (Aug), Halloween, St. Patrick's Day), (d) summer picnic, and (e) Holiday Party.  Friendship dinners and luncheons occurred during the month of April.

2) A major undertaking was initiated by the Archival/History Committee to scan all old AppleKnockers (weekly club bulletin), old pictures and newspaper articles in the Rotary storage trailer and found in many members and former members' garages.  At least thirty (30) years of history has been retained in an easy to find cloud storage (1980 to 2010), adding to the more recent electronically stored data (2011-2025).

3)  Hal Kwalwasser, from our club, has been leading the effort with the SCARC committee to roll out a Sonoma County wide Rotary Club initiative.  The team decided that the Dolly Parton Imagination Library would fit the goals.  The committee is in the planning stage and soon to begin a more concentrated roll-out effort.  The Sebastopol Rotary Club has made an initial contribution and begun efforts to enroll kids 0-5 years.  A Halloween event in Ives Park was hosted by the Kiwanis Club and other service clubs were invited to host booths.  The Sebastopol Rotary Club and Sebastopol Sunrise Club co-hosted a booth at the event and worked to share the gift of the Dolly Parton Imagination Library and enrolled 20-30 new children (while in costume and handing out candy, of course).

International Service

1) Global Grant - Club members Frank and Kathie Mayhew and our World Service Committee were instrumental in working with the Rotary Club of Kasangati in Uganda to assist with equipment, library and reading supplies and signage for the Power Her Up project – Second Chance to Education for Adolescent Mothers in Uganda.  This was a passion project of Kathie's before and after her passing in 2024; an important project continued by Frank in Kathie's honor. The project will address the following needs in the community:

-Post the COVID 19 pandemic that forced the closure of every institution including schools, many vulnerable girls were left at the mercy of their decisions. Most breadwinners were left without any meaningful means of survival hence exposing them to sexual acts that lead to teenage pregnancy as a means to survive. Therefore, the project intends to- Provide a worthy environment that will keep the adolescent girls/teenage mothers safe from all forms of exploitation – sexually or physically and mentally.

-Provide vocational skills through vocational training that will empower the girls with survival skills and make them employable.

- Provide the girls with an ECD section that will enable their babies get basic education and development as their mothers will also be in skilling lessons

- As a subsidiary of the project site, there will be provision of safe clean water at the school; this will be open access for community members to fetch.

2) District Grant - Our club assisted with rebuilding a storm ravaged playground in Tecuala, Mexico. This need was identified during our club's WSC Chair's 2024 visit to Mexico with the Festival of Brotherhood.

3) Programma de Becas-Working with Puerta Vallarta Sur Rotary Club our club supported twelve (12) Universidad level students continue their education with $400 scholarships each.

Best Regards,

Cindy Carter

Past President

2024-2025