Local Community Services

The Rotary Club of Oakland 2010-2011 Each year, the Rotary Club of Oakland initiates an almost unbelievable number of activities. Under the dynamic leadership of President Jon Gresley, the 2010-2011 year proved to be no exception. Each Club member is typically involved in only a few activities, and therefore it is often difficult to be aware of the outstanding success that was achieved in the development of new programs, membership growth, and fiscal strength. It is virtually impossible to chronicle all of this Club's accomplishments; however, the following is representative of what our members accomplished under President Jon Gresley in 2010-2011.

 Thanked each weekly speaker with a donation in their honor to “End Polio Now.” Local Community Services  Awarded $30,000 in Saroni-Lena Scholarships to six Oakland public high school graduates to attend the  Leveraged $2,000 into $30,000 for the Dreamcatcher four-year college of their choice. Each student was program to shelter homeless youth in Alameda county also assigned a Rotary counselor to work with them with the first global grant for Oakland from Rotary through their college experience. International in conjunction with multiple Rotary Clubs  Completed the 18th year of the HOPE (Help Oakland in the Bay Area and $10,000 in matching funds from Pupils Excel) program, where 7th graders are paired the Rotary Club of Sao Paulo, Brazil. with mentors and sign contracts setting expectations  Purchased a Sony video camera and a Gateway for attendance, grades, and citizenship. In return, Computer to help educate low-income individuals each successful graduating senior receives $10,000 affected by Hepatitis C for the Organization to for post-high school education or training of their Achieve Solutions in Substance Abuse (OASIS). choice. This year one scholar achieved the goals,  Purchased redwood and decking screws to build 10 graduated from high school, and qualified to receive planter boxes for East Oakland Pride Elementary $10,000 for post-high school education. School.  Conducted the 29th year of Enterprise Institute for 65  Formalized the relationship between Peralta College juniors from Oakland high schools. The high school District, the City of Oakland, and the Oakland Rotary juniors worked with a group of their peers, led by a Endowment by signing a Tri-Party Agreement. The senior and a Rotarian to develop a start-up business agreement codifies the responsibilities of each partner plan. The students spent three days in the beautiful in the House Project. The project provides a hands-on Santa Cruz Mountains, learning business skills, team learning opportunity to more than 250 building trades work, and social responsibility. students enrolled in Laney’s carpentry program. The  Hosted a luncheon for the high school counselors project employs state-of-the-art “Green” construction who assist the Saroni-Lena Scholarship Committee in materials and techniques. selecting deserving candidates.  Worked with the Friends of Peralta Hacienda Historic  Fed the Hungry with a Club appeal during a Rotary Park to put video cameras in the hands of Oakland meeting, resulting in $2,692.50 each going to Meals youth to tell their own stories about growing up in on Wheels (BACS), Operations Dignity, Project Open Oakland while learning valuable skills in media arts, Hand, and St. Vincent de Paul Dining Room. digital editing, and story-telling. (Note that every dollar donated was matched by  Purchased $1,500 worth of cooking equipment for Eat Rotarian Sean Marx and his company, Give Healthy, Be Healthy Lifestyle Series at Missey’s Spa. Something Back.) (Motivating, Inspiring, Supporting and Serving Sexually Exploited Youth) MISSEY clients are young  Sponsored three Interact Clubs, bringing the joys of women who have not eaten healthy meals or learned community service and friendship to high school students. to select and cook simple healthy food.  Continued “Oakland Reads” for the 4th year in a row. The largest and smoothest “Oakland Reads” so far, this academic year (2010-11involved 125 volunteers International Service who distributed approximately 13,500 books (including classroom sets) to 4,200 students in 231  Cambodia – Donated $1,000 to clear landmines from 16 classrooms, plus classroom book sets to K-2nd acres of farm land near a small village. graders in 12 of Oakland’s neediest schools.  Laos – Donated $500 to build a smooth concrete walkway at  Purchased soccer balls, goals, cones, and training a school serving blind students. equipment for My Yute Soccer to conduct free soccer  Rotary International Foundation – Forwarded more than camps for Oakland children. $39,000 from members to The Rotary International  Supported the Ignite expo which showcases new Foundation to bring help and health to people who need it, businesses developed by entrepreneurship graduates locally and around the world. This year cumulative donations of the Urban FIRE program. from our Club members totaled $1,383,730.44.  Donated $1,800 to Eden I&R for a call management  Coaniquem Antofagasta/Santiago, Chile – Sponsored monitoring system to improve the 2-1-1 referral medical treatment and rehabilitation for one year for one service which currently handles100,000 calls per year child at the Burn Center, one of hundreds who need such (49% of which are from Oakland). help.  Kenya -- Rotary dollars will support village residents who will  Added a make ‘em go fast, gee whiz, quad processor make the bricks and have gathered the stones to create a server with hot swappable 250 gb hard drives and rainwater collection system for the village of Buyango. redundant power supplies to increase office efficiency and  Belize -- Expanded an existing grant to build toilet blocks at protect Club data. Joined TechSoup and upgraded the the Sacred Heart Primary School, replacing a very Rotary office to Office2010 while saving $4,500. unsanitary, antiquated system.  Purchased numerous software programs to enhance  Guatemala – Supported other Rotary Clubs, District 5170, productivity including Memeo, QODBC, and WinZip. and The Rotary Foundation to purchase medical supplies to  Installed Symantec’s Norton 360 on critical office Faces of Hope, which does cleft lip and cleft palate surgery computers to consolidate off-site data back up, virus for infants and children. protection, and computer optimization  Gaza Strip – Helped purchase prosthetic arms and legs for  Implemented LogMeIn to enable the Executive young land mine victims. Director to do critical work from home in her jammies.  Fukuoka – Sent Joshua Wang to Fukuoka, Japan,  Replaced the existing projector system with a $7,000 continuing a decades-long student friendship exchange with behemoth to allow our visually challenged members to our Sister Club. more easily see visual presentations (actually, it’s to keep  Japan – Collected and wired $42,500 to our Sister Club in the light bright enough that they don’t fall asleep). Fukuoka Japan to disperse as needed for earthquake and  Purchased and installed Uninterruptible Power Tsunami relief. Supplies for critical office computers.  Cambodia – Purchased two hand pump wells for frail elders  Added a Dell high speed color laser computer to more to use – relieving them of a 2-hour per day walk to get fresh quickly print routine office documents. water.  Raised over $23,000 at the 28th annual Taste of California  Laos – Provided 5 sturdy bicycles to 5 students in Laos so Wine and Food Festival, held at the Roof Garden at the that they may continue to attend a school that is a long Kaiser Center, while showcasing local vintners and food distance away, over a very rough road. and beverage establishments to more than 900 guests!  Kenya – Approved $8,000 to build and maintain wells and  Broke the record by raising $24,750 in Bellringers - $100 clean water systems to rural subsistence farmers in western donations made by members during Rotary meetings who Kenya who have had little access to sanitation and clean have had cause to brag, or who wished to honor a special water. Provide training to the local community water person. committees to maintain and fund the wells in the future.  Supported Rotary District 5170 by attending Avenues of Matched the $8,000 with $36,000 from partner Clubs and Service BBQ, District Conference, and District Assembly. Rotary International Global Grant money.  Put the spotlight on Committee Accomplishments at the 8th Annual Committee Fair at the Jack London Aquatic Center, while enjoying a stunning sunset, fine wines, and compelling committee displays.

Rotary Service & Fellowship

 Supercharged the Sports Committee by using the Club website effectively, setting up a formal season so that folks could participate and compete by tournament and by season, and by starting a formal point tracking system (with commentary) for players to measure their efforts and look forward to future events. Increased average Oakland Rotary tournament players from 8 to 25. 2010-1011  Conducted the 4th annual “Oakland Rotary Endowment Month” in March, launching four weeks of education, fundraising, and donor recognition.  Sailed the Bay on a 70’ Staysail Schooner, ate wild game and raised $3,000 at the “Wildside Dinner,” rode dirt bikes at Redwood and Skyline Parks, kayaked in the estuary, and camped in the Truckee basin.  Started the year with net assets in the Endowment of $2,790,611 and ended with about $3,165,501, for a net income of about $374,890.  Shored up the corporate structure of the Oakland Rotary Endowment through the creation of a Limited Liability Partnership to hold the ORE Development Fund Assets, aka, the house building project.  Dined in the open air, watched musicals, ate yummy “Building Bridges, dinners, attended cocktail parties, and watched a magical Connecting Continents” Cinderella puppet show!  Conducted two exciting and very fun New Member dinners where new members learned more about the broad range of Club activities and service opportunities, and topped them off with two New Member Cocktail Parties and 10 Orientation lunches.