How do we grow our Rotary club? Word of mouth and guests, who are always welcome to attend one of our meetings and see us in action. Our meetings are multi-faceted. Rotarians from other clubs are always welcome to do a make-up. This week Janet's son Calvin and Robyn Nelson, soon to be inducted into our club from Green Valley Rotary Club in Nevada were introduced.
Sergeant at Arms Dale Ford is the orchestrator of fining our members, in a light-hearted way, which helps us grow our funds so we can generously support non-profit organizations. Fines and happy bucks, donations from our members and guests for things they are thankful for add to our growing kiddy. Another way is through holding fun outings and events, August 20 is our Angels Game & Chili Cookoff event. During the year we celebrate our anniversary, a Bowl-a-thon, and more. Tom Mahoney got the Fine Free Badge for the next month, he paid for the opportunity to be safe from fining.
Girls, love to shop, Women of Rotary have the opportunity to purchase beautiful jewelry, with a percentage of each purchase being donated to Human Options. It's Campagne, chocolates, an open h ouse, a fun rotary party, and a great way to do a make up meeting. Cisca is our organizer on this event.
RYLA-Rotary Youth Leadership Award — Becoming a Better Person — was today's topic, presented by three deserving young girls.
The Irvine Rotary Club raises money to support a variety of local and international projects. Our support for youth includes helping them break out of their mold and experience a new world.
Tania, Myra, and Bernice are Santa Ana Boys and Girls Club members who got to share in the experience of a lifetime, attending RYLA camp for a long weekend recently in Idyllwild, CA. They met other rotary sponsored youth from around the world and forged friendships for life, shared and learned, with no parents around. This brief experience opened their eyes to new adventures, helped overcome fears and helped to transorm them. They learned communication skills, leadership skills and how to form a tight-knit "family" with other youth. "It gives me the guts to talk to anyone now," said one girl. They are the future of rotary, kids who learned new perspectives.
How they got involved in RYLA and Boys & Girls Club-each girl lives in a tight-knit Hispanic community, and what they know is they want to go to college after they graduate high school, which is only a few years away. According to Bernice, she needed more than 100 community service hours in three months, and she turned to the B&G Club to connect her to the community service avenues. She and her friends started going at a young age, love volunteering, and long after they've completed their hours, they are still hanging out at the club. They use the gym for all kinds of sports, and love to play with the little kids there, "It's like our second home", says Tania who plans to major in psychology when she goes to college. Mayra plans to attend an art institute.
RYLA camp Alumni run the camp programs and are the camp leaders the following year. The girls plan to work hard and attend RYLA meetings so they can provide service next year as camp counselors and leaders. It makes our rotarians feel terrific when we can hear first hand how our monetary contributions, and personal support pay it forward. One of our rotary members is the link between the B&G Club, RYLA and the support they receive.
Interested in learning more about how you can pay it forward, please attend one of the Irvine Rotary Club's weekly meetings, every Wednesday morning for breakfast at the Irvine Community Center, 3 Ethel Copley Way, Irvine, CA. You are always welcome!
