Last year, past president and one of the club founders, Liz Werhane, went on a trip through the northwest region on Italy. She was the only person that represented our country and came back with tales of new friends and gelato.
District 2030 is once again hosting their tour for 2009. The trip will take place from March 20 to the 29th, 2009.
Applications (CV) should be sent to internazionale2030@yahoo.it by December 31, 2008. Additional information can be found in this brochure [PDF]
California Pizza Kitchen calls it Philanthopizza. We call it helping orphans in Rwanda. The Rotaract Club of Santa Barbara wants to help you, too. On November 18, we want to save you the worry of wondering “What will I eat for lunch?” or “What will I eat for dinner?” On November 18, you should print this flyer [MS-Word] and take it with you to California Pizza Kitchen at 719 Paseo Nuevo (on Chapala). In return, CPK will give Rotaract 20% of your check, which we’ll use on our Rwanda project.
Not in the mood for a sit-down meal? The offer also applies to take-out. You can order in advance at (805) 962-4648. Here’s the menu. Just be sure you present the flyer. The deal is good from 11 a.m. to 10 p.m.
We’ll try to keep our usual meeting short that night so that we can head to CPK together afterward for dinner.
Deepa Willingham, a local Rotarian and mother of Rotaractor Reena, is the driving force behind an incredible education program for women in India. She’s trying to win a huge grant from American Express via an online popularity contest. Please help.
The program could win up to $1.5 MILLION dollars from American Express. Here’s info about the program your votes could support: www.paceuniversal.com
Use this link to vote http://www.membersproject.com/project/view/NPW3H0
You should be able to click the “nominate this project” button on the right side of the page. It will ask you to sign up — email address, name, password — as a guest member. The project is called ERADICATE POVERTY w/ EDUCATION & LITERACY. It is in the Education and Achievement Gap category.
Although the German Rotaractors rolled in and out of Santa Barbara in their Chevy suburban all too quickly, we enjoyed their visit while they were here!
Rita, in the tank top in the photo above, was a phenomenal hostess. She took them on the Landshark, walked them to the mission (yes walked), had an ice cream cone at Ben & Jerry’s with them and shared her apartment with three of our five guests!
In the evening, 10 Americans and 5 Germans hit the town. After a very happy hour (or two) at Sandbar, we enjoyed dinner at Los Arroyos. Then the group went to Elsie’s to keep the conversation going.
Whether from the Black Forest, Munich or Berlin, they all had many stories to tell and great senses of humor. You are all welcome back anytime!
Rotary set a Guinness world record for the most books collected in a 7-day period by collecting 242,624 books for children in grades K-3 with the book drive at the Rotary International Convention earlier this month. Story here.
Our club donated 342 books. Thanks so much to everyone who contributed, especially big donors like Nilagia and Leana! Thanks also to everyone who helped carry them through the Los Angeles Convention Center!
The books will go to students in Los Angeles area schools.
On Monday, June 23,** five members of Rotaract clubs in Germany will be hanging out in Santa Barbara. **NEW DATE
We got to meet them at the Rotaract Pre-Convention at the International Conference in Los Angeles, so we know they’re fun!
The plans are somewhat tentative, but we’ll likely go to a happy hour and dinner downtown. They’ll also be around during part of the day for those who don’t have to work.
If you want to hang out with them, contact Rita — ritanewhouse@hotmail.com — or Liz — sb_rotaract@yahoo.com. Be sure to include your phone number because we may not be able to confirm the plan until the actual day.
Rotary wants to collect 250,000 children’s books at the International Convention in June.
The Rotaract Club of Santa Barbara wants to help.
Last year we collected new and used children’s books and donated them to an after-school program through People’s Self-Help Housing. This year, we have a chance to be part of a much larger effort.
Here’s how you can participate:
If you order books on your own, please let us know. It would be great to track how many books out club donates! Rotary wants to build a mountain of books. I’m a fan of literacy. Aren’t you? Kids need more to read than blogs. This is an exciting international effort. Thanks in advance for participating.
This is as close to Girl Scout Cookies as our club gets. We’re selling holiday cards with polar bears on them to raise money for our international fund. We’re in the early stages of planning a trip to aid the community of Morelia, Mexico. We’re aiming for a March trip with a couple of the local Rotary clubs.
The polar bear cards are $15 for a box of 12. The cards are blank inside and quite adorable outside. Rotaract earns $10 for every box we sell! If you are interested in buying a box or selling some boxes, please contact Liz at sb_rotaract@yahoo.com.
For every box a Rotaract member sells, they’ll get a raffle ticket. One prize will be a $50 cash gift card, and smaller prizes have yet to be determined.
If you have an office or a retail location where you could sell these, please let us know. We even have display setups. Thanks for your help!
The Rotaract Club of Paranaque East – Paragon in the Philippines invited us to participate in its International Doll Collection Project.
The last time I saw the list, the U.S. was highly under-represented. There were only 3 U.S. clubs participating, and none of them were from the West Coast.
On behalf of our club, we sent Beach Glam Barbie to add to their collection. Admittedly, this isn’t the most elegant choice, but it is a bit of a reflection of where we live. She has her bathing suit, her sunglasses and a matching purse.
Even if it’s a strange form of international relations, the point is that we’re opening communications.
We’ve also reached out to the Rotaract Club of San Diego North to see how we might help with any post-fire efforts, but we have not heard back.
