| It is an honor to welcome you to our website. The Rotary Club of Healdsburg is located just 70 miles north of San Francisco in the heart of Sonoma County wine country. Our club has 62 members and is part of the worldwide family of Rotary International. With over 32,000 clubs and 1.2 million members in 168 countries, our motto “Service above Self”, is the driving force behind the time, expertise and money which Rotarians use to carry out the projects to improve our towns, are communities and the lives of citizens worldwide.
We are neither a political nor religious organization, but individuals joined together with a common cause to serve the greater good. In Healdsburg we have many ongoing projects such as Meals on Wheels, the Annual Foss Creek Clean up program, our Annual Easter Egg Hunt, the Healdsburg High School Career Day, Healdsburg Elementary School Reading program, Senior Thanksgiving Lunch, the Relay for Life fund raiser, the Children’s Bike Safety Project, a hygiene and nutrition program:”My Body is Healthy” and our multi year financial support for the Healthcare Foundation of Northern Sonoma County.
Our Scholarship Fund, a 501 ( c ) (3) foundation, provides scholarships to graduating Healdsburg High School students. The funds current value is in excess of $125,000. The clubs stated goal is to increased this value to $250,000 over the next three years. This endowment will provide the monetary support to expand our Scholarship funding for local students to continue their educational goals.
This year’s Rotary International President Ray Klinginsmith has set his theme as “Building Communities Bridging Continents”. Clearly the message is that each club within this worldwide organization has an opportunity to make a difference. Not only a difference within our town but the greater community at large. Rotary International received an initial $100 million dollar challenge and a second $200 million grant from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation as part of the effort to eradicate polio throughout the world. Our club is well on its way to meet or surpass our part of this matching grant challenge. In addition, our club is involved with micro financing projects in Kenya, supporting the Safe Blood Africa in Nigeria program as well as an onsite construction project for teacher housing facilities in Costa Rica.
In the summer our club organizes a golf tournament which nets close to $10,000. And again this year on December 11th, our club will hold its annual Crab Feed and Auction. This local fund raising event, which has been a community tradition for 30 years, brings together family and friends and nets more than $50,000 dollars. All the money goes to support both local and international projects.
“Service above Self” is our Rotary motto that ignites the fire within each of us to make this world a better place. I hope to see you one day as my guest at our club meeting held every Monday at 12:15pm. I believe you will feel at home and among new found friends.
Kent Mitchel
President
Rotary Club of Healdsburg, 2010-2011
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