Visit of the Five Rotarians

This past Saturday five members of the Rancho Bernardo Sunrise Rotary began the year right for 78 orphans in Tijuana.

Coordinating with Club Rotario Milenio Minarete and Club Rotario Tijuana Oeste (both based in Tijuana), RB Sunrise arrived bright and early at Sonrisa de Angeles Orphanage.

Their primary goal was to participate in an annual religious celebration called the Visit of the Three Kings. Yet with the idea of service above self firmly in mind, the five San Diegans also brought with them sweatshirts and shoes as presents for each of the children.

“The facility is located in a remote location on the periphery of Tijuana, and houses 25 children on a full-time basis,” explained project coordinator Paul Gorman. He also noted an additional 24 young children are left there to allow their single mothers to work.
Wanting to maximize the opportunity, the three Rotary clubs also coordinated similar donations for the children of nearby Ciudad de los Niños orphanage.

A total of $1,600 was raised from contributions by generous San Diegans to purchase the sweatshirts and shoes for these 78 children in need. Said Gorman appreciatively; “We could never do this without the help of the larger community, and look forward to being able to help even more children in the future.”

Lupita and Kevin celebrate the Visit of the Three Kings

RB Sunrise Rotary Doesn’t Understand the word “NO”

Determined to continue improving lives at every age and income level throughout the community, 20 volunteers from the Rancho Bernardo Sunrise Rotary Club recently fanned out across area elementary schools to distribute free dictionaries to third graders.

“We organize this effort in cooperation with the SoCal Dictionary Project,” reports club president Rick Coburn. SoCal DP is dedicated to providing free English and Spanish/English bilingual dictionaries to all third grade students in the nation’s public schools. “We are very proud to have been involved in this excellent effort.” says Coburn, noting this is the ninth year the RB Sunrise Club has worked with area schools in this way.

Each year RB Sunrise Rotary distributes almost 1,350 dictionaries – one for every third grader at 11 San Diego-area elementary schools. The money used to sponsor this year’s program was raised during the club’s 2011 holiday campaign, an annual event that uses a full-page ad in area newspapers to thank the generosity of area individuals and businesses responsible for donating tens of thousands of dollars to help make North County a better place to live. RB Sunrise Rotary returns every dollar to the community through programs like the Dictionary Project.

Children at Dingeman, Ericson, Hage, Hickman, Jerabek, Mason, Midland, Painted Rock, Park Village, Valley, and Walker elementary schools benefited from the dictionary program. Coburn reports efforts are already underway to raise money for next year’s dictionary campaign.

About Rancho Bernardo Sunrise Rotary: The RB Sunrise Rotary is a group of professional men and women dedicated to service above self. They meet each Tuesday morning at 7:00 am at the Country Club of Rancho Bernardo, 12280 Greens East Road, San Diego, CA 92128. Prospective members are invited to attend a meeting as a guest.

Each club meeting includes a speaker addressing items of interest in business, politics, finance, and the world at-large. Speakers begin their presentations at 8:00 am. Members of the public are invited to attend these meetings at no charge if staying for just the speaker. A $15 fee will be charged to those staying for breakfast.

The Rancho Bernardo Sunrise Rotary club itself can be found online at http://www.rbsunrise.org/.

Rotarians Harold Dokmo (white shirt, standing, right) and Michael Rennie (teal shirt, beard, right) left Ericson Elementary with a whole new bunch of friends. The kids have been sending in thank you notes without a spelling error in sight.

Carol Prendergast earns Paul Harris Award...Again!

Carol Prendergast, fresh from her European vacation, joined fellow RB Sunrise Rotarian Craig Brown as he presented her two stone Paul Harris award pin. The Paul Harris award is given any time someone contributes $1,000 to the Paul Harris Foundation, and this was Carol's third time. Awesome job, Carol! Your generosity is something we're all trying to emulate.

AAUW sends girls to science camp

Irene Dunny of the AAUW (American Association of University Women) and wife of RB Sunrise Rotarian Jim Dunny receives a donation of $750 from Joseph Giamanco to help cover the costs for sending a teenager to science and math camp for a week over the summer. This is the third year when the Rancho Bernardo Sunrise Rotary has sponsored a child to go to this camp.

Paul Harris Number 3

Rancho Bernardo Sunrise Rotary Executive Secretary Jim Dunny received his two-stone Paul Harris award at this morning's meeting. Said fellow Rotarian Craig Brown of Rancho Financial as he presented the pin, "Jim achieved his Paul Harris one-stone pin through the course of his normal giving to the Rotary Foundation. However, when the Foundation offered a recent promotion offering to match your contribution dollar for dollar, Jim jumped at the opportunity and donated $500. The resulting $1,000 in his account gave him the pin with two stones." Well done, Jim. The results of your generosity will be felt around the world.

Donating to worthy causes

One of the things that I really love about belonging to Rotary in general, and the RB Sunrise Rotary club in particular, is the great causes that our money goes to help. Here our Community Chair Rod Weiss makes a $1,000 contribution to the Ed Brown Center. And this was JUST after he'd given another $500 to the Jewish Family Services.Ya gotta love it!