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!
SonRise Volunteers included Alana…
By Nancy L. Clark
Sunday, June 26, was a special evening at Incontro Restaurant in San Ramon – it was taken over by “horses.” “Incontro” expanded to a whole new meaning—not only does it signify the coming together of the cuisine from owner Gianni Bartoletti’s mountainous Northern Italian region of Piemonte and Southern Italian region of Puglia, but, on June 26, it also included a coming together of Bartoletti’s wonderful cuisine and SonRise Equestrian Foundation volunteers.
SonRise Volunteer, Del Chandler, trying to keep the order straight.
To raise money for the Foundation, Bartoletti invited the SonRise volunteers to wait and buss the tables with all gratuities going to the foundation. For one night, attorneys, accountants, management consultants, store owners, etc., took orders, served food, filled water glasses, and cleaned tables. “This is hard work. The professional staff were great and thankfully kept us all organized,” said Del Chandler, who served a large group from the Danville-Sycamore Valley Rotary. “I am just pleased that I got the order right and didn’t drop anything!” Our club was represented by 8 Rotarians with spouses, family and friends, 20 total.
As one of the volunteers, this writer can attest to how difficult food service is. With no restaurant work experience, I too jumped into to help. My feet, back, and patience clearly prefer the role of customer as opposed to busboy. No surprise that we needed about 5 volunteers for every professional. Although we volunteers may have fumbled our way through the evening, the customers were delighted at our effort and our eagerness to serve.
Melanie Buerke, Founder of SonRise Equestrian Foundation, and Gianni Bartoletti, Owner of Incontro Restaurant
“Gianni (Bartoletti) is so kind to help our foundation. He definitely cares about the community and is willing to take the risk with us as his staff,” said Melanie Buerke, Founder of SonRise. “We raised $2000 which will help us continue to provide a therapy equestrian program that connects youth and horses. For all our aching feet, it is worth it to see a young person build self-esteem or to see a child with autism speak for the first time by connecting with our horses. Thanks to all our volunteers and a wonderful giving community, we can help so many.”
This article can also be found with others about SonRise at
http://sonriseequestrianfoundation.wordpress.com/
SonRise Equestrian Foundation is a non-profit organization guided by Christian-based values that makes a positive difference for youth living with social, emotional, or physical challenges including terminal illness. Participating children develop confidence, integrity and responsibility through mentoring and peer relationships centered around the care and enjoyment of horses.
For more information, go to http://www.sonriseequestrianfoundation.org/
Incontro Restaurant is located at 2065 San Ramon Valley Boulevard in San Ramon (925. 820.6969) and is open Tuesday – Sunday for dinner. For more information, go to http://www.incontrosanramon.com
This year’s Rotary Convention was held in New Orleans from May 22-25. Over 18,000 Rotarians attended the convention. Incoming President, Mike Sherrill was in attendance, as was current President, Melanie Prole. David Behring was there representing the Wheelchair Foundation. We got to see each other at the District Mixer held at the historic Hotel Monteleone in the French Quarter on Tuesday Night.
The highlight for many Rotarians was the speech by Bill Gates of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. He said that he has made the eradication of Polio the #1 Priority of his foundation. He says the fight cost $1 Billion a year and that we as Rotarians need to lobby our governments to assist in the funding. The US has given $130 million, Canada gave a large donation to coincide with last year’s RI Convention. England’s government has also contributed. But there are many other countries that could give to the fight.
Bill Gates closed by saying:
“Your Voices, Your Continuing Commitment will allow us to close the book.”
Rotary was challenged by the Gates Foundation to raise $200 million by 2012 for Polio. In turn he donated $350 million. We are at $173 million.We were entertained by the Preservation Jazz Band before one Plenary Session.
Past RI President and current Foundation Chair, Carl-Wilhelm Stenhammar gave a surprising speech on change. He says the Chair shouldn’t be a 70 year old guy like himself, but a 40-something Executive that stays in the position for 4 years, the better to provide continuity in interactions with Foundations and NPO’s.
Rotary has been working with a consultant, Michael McQueen, who is a researcher, as well as a member, of Generation Y. He is now a member of Rotary, but wasn’t before because no one asked. He says that Gen Y understands the value of networking with more experienced members. However, just don’t expect perfect attendance and regular attendance at social events.
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!
Special thanks to our Sponsors!
Date: Thursday, May 5th, 2011
Time: 5:30 – 8:30 PM
Location: The Blackhawk Museum – 3700 Blackhawk Plaza Circle, Danville, CA
Flyer - Click to Download
A “CASABLANCA” Evening of Great Food, Wine & Entertainment!
We would be delighted to have you participate in a wonderful evening event, the 21st ANNUAL BLACKHAWK FOOD, WINE AND FILM FESTIVAL on Thursday, May 5th, 2011 beginning at 5:30 pm at the Blackhawk Auto Museum.
Our primary motivating force, “Service Above Self”, is to give back to the community and to help those in need. Your generous participation and that of our sponsors provides us with the resources to undertake more projects in our community than ever before.
We are proud and honored to have had the Livermore Valley Wineries as our exclusive wines and as a partner in the fundraiser. You will have an unforgettable gourmet experience, sampling the wares of over two dozen of the area’s best restaurants and a like number of Livermore Valley wineries. The festivities include a fun raffle, and silent and live auctions. Throughout the evening guests can relax and enjoy the classic movie Casablanca. This festival is our Club’s thank you, for those who support the Danville/Sycamore Valley Rotary Foundation with a donation of $40 or more. Supporters will leave this event with the lasting satisfaction that their entire donation will support the community and international service projects of the Danville/Sycamore Valley Rotary Foundation. Last year’s event raised nearly $70,000 and was attended by about 800 supporters.
Live entertainment will feature the Kathy Blackburn, jazzest, singing songs from the movie Casablanca, SRVHS Jazz Band and vocal groups. The auction will not include any of the lovely cars at the Blackhawk Auto Museum, but you will still have an opportunity to admire their favorites, from behind the velvet rope.
Proceeds will fund projects, including: Special Olympics, CASA Youth-to Youth Conference, the construction of Veteran’s Memorial Building, Discovery Counseling Center, Youth homes for Girls, the Third Grade Literacy Project, East Bay Stand Down for Veterans, The Wheelchair Foundation and international projects, including polio eradication, clean water projects, hearing aids and cleft palate surgeries for children, medical services in impoverished areas and many, many more worthwhile projects. Please join us for a fun filled evening with the hottest invitation in town!
For more information, call or email , Newell Arnerich, Foundation Chair, or any Danville/Sycamore Valley Rotarian
Telephone 510-366-0716 or Newell@ADarch.com
Current President Melanie and Past President Debbie are taking a trip to Monterrey Mexico to visit some of the Matching Grant projects the Danville/Sycamore Valley Rotary Club helped fund as a result of their trip in 2008.
They will be visiting Ludoteca de Cumbres, an after school program in a distressed neighborhood in Santa Catarina. Danville/Sycamore was the lead club along with the Santa Catarina Rotary Club in Mexico. Danville and Lafayette Rotary Clubs also contributed, as well as a match from Rotary International, in providing $30,000 in computers, desks, and play areas.
Debbie and Melanie plan to bring items that the children can use, such as school supplies (notebooks, pens, pencils, colored books, scizzors), as well as tolietry items (Toothpaste, toothbrushes, hair brushes, soap, and lotion) and small stuffed animals.
Anyone who is willing to donate these items please contact Melanie by February 20th, 2011. If you’d prefer to make a cash donation you can also do so here. Any donations received between now and 2/20/2011 will go to this effort, otherwise 100% will go to other worthy causes.
Ludoteca de Cumbres
We have some great speakers for the month of February 2011 at our club including Nobel Prize Winner Dr. Robert Schock. If you would like to be a guest please contact us so we can make sure there is room.
2/1/2011: Michael Copeland, a humorist and frequent contributor to Alive magazine, will talk to us about “Things that scare” and other humorous observations. This will be a good reason for members to pick up a copy of Alive, which is free at newstands around Danville (including Bagel Street Café in the Livery), and enjoy the many entertaining features by local writers.
2/8/2011: Time will turn back to 1903, and our visitor will be President Theordore Roosevelt (in the person of Fred Rutledge). President Roosevelt will tell us about his recent visit and camping trip with John Muir in Yosemite and his interest in preservation of our natural resources. President Roosevelt, who will receive the Nobel Peace Prize in 1906 for his efforts to bring about an end to the Russo-Japanese War, is the first of our Nobel Peace Prize winners who will speak to us in February.
2/15/2011: We will be celebrating Valentine’s Day with our guests, and we will have a two-part program. We will start with out Student/Teacher of the Month presentation. We then will welcome Dr. Robert Schock who was Coordinating Author of the 4th Assessment of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. Dr. Schock and the IPCC received the Nobel Peace Prize in 2007 along with Former Vice-President Al Gore for their contribution to knowledge of climate change. Dr. Schock’s topic will be “Climate Change: Myths and Realities.” This is an extraordinary opportunity to hear about an extremely important subject form a preeminent expert and to ask questions that all of us have about this topic.
2/22/2011: Tom Delfino, Executive Director of the California Citrus Nursery Society, will introduce us to some varieties of citrus that may not be familiar to all of us, and he will bring some samples to share. The Califoria Citrus Nursery Society is an association of citrus tree growers and is much involved in research to improve existing varieties and identify new varieties as well as research to protect against the introdution and propagation of pests in the citrus orchards, one of California’s hallmark industries.
We are fortunate as Rotarians and Humanitarians to have played a significant role in the polio eradication efforts. The global health community including Rotary International and the Bill & Melinda Gates foundation have committed over $630 Million dollars in recent years in an effort to eradicate polio from our planet. There are two events coming up this weekend that are likely to be of interest to Rotarians everywhere.
This Friday, January 28, 2011, ABC World News Tonight with Diane Sawyer will report on an polio immunization trip last November to India. Trip participant and local Rotarian PDG Brad Howard notes that ABC has its own Global Health campaign website. So check your local listings, mark your calendars, set up those recorders, and tell all your friends and fellow Rotarians to watch.
To launch Bill Gates’ 3rd annual letter, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation invites you to join a conversation about the extraordinary progress in the fight to eradicate polio and the enormous lifesaving potential of vaccines.
Thanks to a global childhood immunization effort, polio has been reduced by 99% and we are on the cusp of eradicating only the second disease in history. This presents a powerful case for the value of vaccines.
Unique Perspectives
Bill Gates will join global leaders to discuss what the past can teach us about protecting children around the world from polio and other vaccine-preventable diseases. The event will be moderated by ABC World News anchor Diane Sawyer, and speakers include:
Panelists will discuss why now is the time to rid the world of polio and ensure all children have access to lifesaving vaccines. No child deserves to face the threat of preventable disease, whether it’s polio, measles, or pneumonia.
To watch the live webcast, please visit www.gatesfoundation.org on Monday, January 31 at 9:30 a.m. ET. It will also be available on demand following the event.
Maritza Jefferson-Gregory, Executive Director of Paradise Adolescent Homes (PAH), presented Mary with a ‘Special Recognition Award’. This honor is to recognize Mary’s leadership in involving our club in giving the girls in PAH homes in San Ramon suitcases, backpacks, pillows, lock box, and other items that would make their stay in a foster home more pleasant. Mary started this project about six years ago at the recommendation of Peggy Ebersole, wife of Bruce and a teacher at Del Amigo High School. The mission of PAH is to serve the needs of at-risked teenage girls in home setting, and give them the tools to transition to adulthood.
Mary and Community Services Committee also organized a Pre-Thanksgiving dinner at Marie Calendars this last Thursday evening. The picture below are of several of the girls enjoying themselves at dinner.
East Bay Stand Down – Community Volunteers Encouraged to Register Now
Volunteers, veterans, community leaders, friends and supporters. We encourage you to personally register first and then share this request for volunteers for the East Bay Stand Down 2010. EBSDA is a four day 24 hour program for homeless veterans.
Register at: eastbaystanddown.org
Please join us in supporting the East Bay Stand Down
Even if you are not sure of the day – dates or time you will be available to volunteer for EBSD you should still register now. Provide us with all the basic information we need for registration. Your registration allows us to provide names and contact information to cover the hundreds of volunteers this outstanding community service event for homeless, needy and displaced veterans with the insurance policy required by the federal government.
East Bay Stand Down is AUGUST 5 – 8 at the Alameda County Fairgrounds. The only 4-day program to give a helping hand “up” to local veterans… this is not a hand-out… it is a community service assistance effort – needing your personal assistance through “volunteer efforts” & “donations” – Make a Difference today.