Danville/Sycamore Valley Rotary
Help us create a better community...
Our primary motivating force, “Service Above Self”, is to give back to the community and to help those in need. The generous participation of our sponsors provides us with the resources to undertake more projects than ever before. Through your generous donations we are able to reach out to those in need in our community and make this a better place. Thank you for supporting our community through your Corporate Sponsorship!
The Danville/Sycamore Valley Rotary Club is excited to announce the launch of a new program called Rotary HOME (Home Maintenance for the Elderly) Team, which will be providing a FREE basic household repair service for Seniors in the local community. This program was originated by the Lamorinda Sunrise Rotary Club, and is a partnership with the Episcopal Senior Communities (ESC).
Seniors have a difficult time with many common household repairs due to their physical condition or safety issues. In some cases the cost of hiring a handyman or contractor to perform minor repairs is prohibitive, and there may not be any family able or willing to assist. Some of the repairs or maintenance items include:
Replacing light bulbs in hard to reach areas (ceilings, ovens, refrigerators), replacing batteries in smoke alarms (usually on a ceiling), leaking faucets, toilet tank malfunctions, squeaky doors and windows, damaged or torn screens, blown fuses or GFI resets, loose handles or drawer pulls, water heater temperature adjustments, etc.
Rotary wishes to identify seniors in the community who need assistance and to coordinate volunteer Rotarians to visit and make the necessary repairs at no cost to the senior.
With just a phone call or email seniors can request a 2-3 person team of Rotarians to stop by on a Saturday morning to handle the necessary maintenance issue. You’ll be asked for your name, address and phone number, along with a description of the maintenance need. Rotary will coordinate the teams and send them to you on a specific date. If your need is urgent we will do our best to accommodate you, but cannot promise a speedy reply.
When the Rotary HOME Team arrives they will introduce themselves and provide identification. They will review your request with you and ask you to sign a simple liability waiver. They will then determine what is necessary and complete the item(s). In the event the item needs additional expertise or is over and above the scope of our capabilities, Rotary will forward your name to the Episcopal Senior Communities’ senior service coordinator, who will attempt to assist you.
Upon completion of the maintenance item, the Rotary HOME Team will leave behind additional information that you might find helpful for other needs. Of course we would also like to hear from you about the service and we welcome your comments.
If interested in scheduling a visit, please contact Ruth Robeson with the ESC at 925-956-7363, or email your information to rotaryhometeam@hotmail.com.
Danville/Sycamore Valley Rotarians met a young artist, Andrea, who has cerebral palsy during a distribution of wheelchairs in Monterrey Mexico in 2008. For the last 10 years, her drawings have helped raise funds for wheelchairs in Monterrey. She started producing calendars about 8 years ago. A few years ago, she started working with local Rotarians to sell her calendars for the holidays to businesses in Monterrey. Last year they printed 12,000 calendars in Spanish.
We have been chosen to distribute the 2012 calendars in english to this area. Each calendar has a profit margin of about $2.00 that will be directed toward a future distribution of wheelchairs in Monterrey through the Wheelchair Foundation. The Danville/Sycamore Valley Rotary club has gone on several trips to Monterrey since 2003 and hope to go again in early 2013.
Individual calendars are $10.00. Volume orders of 200 calendars or more are $6.00 each. Business sponsorships are also available. For more information, please contact Melanie Prole.
We welcomed Karen Stepper, Mayor of Danville and our friend Don Ledoux, former member who provided an update on the progress and plans for the Veteran’s Hall in Danville
Groundbreaking on the new facility was held July 2, 2010 and is expected to be completed by early 2012. The building originally constructed in 1925. The new facility will almost double in size to over 12,000 square feet including a basement. The cost of the facility is about $8 million with approximately $6 million from the Town and $2 million from the community and an additional $1million endowment planned. The plan is to complete the capital campaign in the next 4 months.
The facility will be much more than a Veteran’s Hall in that it will include a Community Room, a Seniors’ Wing and a promenade. A military library is also planned.
In addition to the facility itself, the endowment is planned to support educational programs, etc.
Wonder what happened to the large redwoods that were in the front of the old facility? The lumber was harvested and some was used to construct benches that will be a part of the facility.
Grants have been obtained for funding for furnishings, kitchen equipment and fitness programs for seniors.
Our Rotary club has contributed $25,000 towards construction but of course more funding is needed!
A Major Donor Recognition event is planned for December 3.
For more information check out SRVveteranshall.org
Mike Sherrill
Here is a message from incoming DSVR club Pres Mike Sherrill. (Mike will be at the helm from 7/1/2011 – 6/30/2012)
It’s that time again as we start a new Rotary year. As we transition to a new year, I want to thank Melanie for her leadership this year – Great Job!
This year’s theme for incoming RI President, Kalyan Banerjee is “Reach Within to Embrace Humanity”. With that, the emphasis for President Banerjee is Family, Continuity (find what we do well and expand upon it) and Change, which begins with each of us. I fully support these points of emphasis and I hope you do as well.
I ask each of you to think about what gets you excited about Rotary and the Danville Sycamore Valley Rotary Club What makes you get up early each Tuesday morning to join us? It is the Opportunity to Serve? Is it the Opportunity for Fellowship? Is it the bagels and oatmeal? OK, hopefully it’s the first two or something else!
Let’s look at ourselves and our Club and see what sparks that passion within each of us and harness it – Rotary will offer you an avenue for service!
As we enter this year, among my goals are to spread the word of Rotary to potential new Rotarians. Service Above Self is our mantra – it’s so important that we look for opportunities to serve and Do It! And last, but certainly not least – Let’s Have Fun!
I am honored to serve as your President this new Rotary year and am counting on each of you to help make it a great year. I’m just the tour guide!
Mike
Del Amigo Principal, Lucy Daggett, presented the two recipients of our Scholarship. Both recipients were in Leadership Class. They both exhibited a good work ethic & attitude.
Steve has spent the last 2 years at Del Amigo. He is registered at Los Positos and wants to become a Emergency Medical Technician (EMT).
Richard turned his life around and came close to scoring a 4.0 in his 1 1/2 years at Del Amigo. He is already at DVC. He wants a career in Visual Affects.
Loaves & Fishes of Contra Costa has been feeding the hungry for over 25 years. Jolene Lafayette and Eleanor Bonner are Development Director and Interim Executive Director, respectively. Loaves & Fishes run 5 dining rooms in Antioch, Bay Point, Martinez, and Oakley. They serve between 800-900 nutritious meals at lunchtime.
Overhead is less than 15%, as they use 200 volunteers for cooking, food prep, serving, setup, cleaning, and drivers. Over 80% of food is donated. They buy mostly protein. They have a FEMA Food Grant that helps them purchase from the Food Bank. The ‘face’ of diners has changed in recent years. Before it was homeless and really needy. Now there are more families. It is a matter of budgeting for families finding themselves without a job or just a part-time job. Many parents can only afford cheap carbohydrates. Or it is a choice between food and gas.
Community Services represented by Bob and Brett presented a check to Jolene and Eleanor. Bob has volunteered previously with L&F.
Trust in Education’s latest project is solar ovens. Through the passion of a local East Bay volunteer, TIE made five solar cookers and sent them to Kabul in mid-2010. Then during Budd’s visit in September, they assembled the ovens and delivered them to refugee camps. The Afghanis didn’t know quite what to make of them. But Budd was encouraged enough to build 100 move ovens. Conversion to solar cooking is yet another TIE educational challenge. What better place than with those can least afford the alternatives. Wood if expensive. Smoke inhalation is a major health hazard, especially for women, who do most of the cooking. 70% of wood fires are used to heat water. Harmful bacteria is killed when water reaches 150 degrees, and the ovens can obtain 350 degrees in 45 minutes.
Our Program Director Extraordinaire for 2010-11 , Steve McKae, presented the speaker books to Creekside Librarian, Larissa Worth. After each speaker’s presentation, Steve presented a short synopsis of each book he chose for the benefit of the club and speaker. Then the speaker signed the donation plate inside the book cover. Some of the books given include:
Complete list:
| Author | Title | In Appreciation Of |
| Linda Sue Park | A Long Walk to Water | Dennis Lyamuya (Mount Kilimanjaro guide) |
| Sharon Creech | Walk Two Moons | Tom Delfino |
| Rodman Philbrick | The True Adventures of Homer P. Figg | Carol Johnson |
| Anthony Hope | The Prisoner of Zenda | Vic Georgiou |
| James Thurber | The Wonderful O | Colette Ankenman |
| Sir Arthur Conan Doyle | The Hound of the Baskervilles | Jean Ohman (San Ramon Valley Historian) |
| William Pene du Bois | The Twenty-One Balloons | Chief Steve Simpkins (Danville Police Department) |
| Cynthia Kadohata | kira-kira | Katy Jarvis and Cora Henderson |
| Carolyn Keene | The Secret of the Old Clock | Gil Jardine |
| Dr. Cuthbert Soup | A Whole Nother Story | Peter Crooks |
| Marie Sellier | Renoir’s Colors | Gary Vilhauer |
| Philip C. Stead | A Sick Day for Amos McGee | Tamara Hunter (Putnam Clubhouse) |
| Berkeley Breathed | Mars Needs Moms | Ran Halog (Ala Costa Centers) |
| Ken Robbins | Food for Thought | Dr. James Felton (Center for Environmental Health Sciences, U.C. Davis) |
| Gloria Whelan and Peter Sylvada | Yatandou | Sheila Hurst |
| Dr. Seuss | If I Ran the Zoo | Budd McKenzie (Trust in Education) |
| Laban Carrick Hill | Dave the Potter | Randall Iwasaki (Contra Costa County Transportation Authority) |
| Karen Hesse | Out of the Dust | Dr. Frank Sulloway (U.C. Berkeley Institute of Personality and Social Research) |
| Grace Raymond Hebard | Sacajawea | Hon. Jerry McNerney (United States House of Representatives) |
| Laura Ingalls Wilder | Little Town on the Prairie | Susan Hill and Ted Rose (Project Amigo) |
| Robert Louis Stevenson | Treasure Island | Dr. Patrick Hatcher (Center for the Pacific Rim) |
| Rebecca Stead | When You Reach Me | Hays Englehart |
| Jean Lee Latham | Carry on, Mr. Bowditch | Seoin Moon (California Maritime Academy) |
| Charles W. Maynard | John Muir | Dr. Robert Schock (2007 Nobel Peace Prize Winner with the Interagency Panel on Climate Change) |
| Ginger Wadsworth | Camping with the President | Fred Rutledge (Principal at Tri-Valley Regional Occupational Program) |
| William H. Armstrong | Sounder | Michael Copeland |
| Angela Farris Watkins | My Uncle Martin’s Big Heart | Karl Diekman (Rotary District Governor, District 5160) |
| Steven P. Medley | Antelope, Bison, Cougar | Steve Polcyn |
| Mina Javaherbin | Goal! | Dr. Kathrina Rashid |
| Mo Williams | Knuffle Bunny Free | Ltjg Nate Scott (USN) |
| Grace Lin | Where the Mountain Meets the Moon | Hon. Stuart Hing (Judge, Alameda County Superior Court) |
| Jon Agee | The Incredible Painting of Felix Clousseau | Sgt. Ted Anderson (Contra Costa County Coroner’s Office) |
| Graeme Base | The Legend of the Golden Snail | Trina Swerdlow |
| Carolyn Sherwin Bailey* | Miss Hickory | Joan Lafayette and Eleanor Bonner (Loaves and Fishes) |
| Robert McCloskey* | Blueberries for Sal | Daniel Borenstein (Contra Costa Times) |
| Brian Selznick* | The Invention of Hugo Cabret | Steve Enoch (Superintendent of Schools, SRVUSD) |
Having Budd MacKenzie speak to us about Trust in Education is almost an annual event. We have been supporting TIE for several years, and did so again this year with a donation.
Budd founded TIE in 2004, and has gone to Afghanistan twice a year for six years. He started by raising funds to build a school. But as he became more involved, his mission expanded. These are just a few of the projects.
Several years ago, local school children asked Budd where the play ground equipment was, and now TIE funds playground equipment, such as swings, slide, jungle jims, and soccer field goal posts. And even athletic shoes and shin guards after seeing a photo of girls playing in sandals.
In 2009, Budd was approached by Zoira, a young lady born in Afghanistan but who had been raised in California. After a visit back to her hometown in Farza, she was inspired to build a girl’s school. There was already one for boy’s. The new school will be 2 stories with more than 10 classrooms.
After receiving approvals from the Ministry of Education, they had a groundbreaking ceremony in 2010. The village men are volunteering their services and started digging the foundation immediately. They are on their way, with disbursements of materials only given after they have shown that progress has been made. TIE hopes to have the school completed at the end of 2011.
