CLUB ROTARIO

DE SAN CARLOS MEXICO

Your Rotary Year 2009 / 2010

The Club President's Summary

The Rotary Club year 2009 -2010 began on July 1st. Your club continued to meet weekly and met throughout the slower summer months.  We met at the Country Club, we met at La Palapa and we met on the covered patio area at Fiesta Real. We kept the meeting minutes and emailed them to each member each week in order to keep the membership informed.

In July we completed the payments of the 2009 Scholarship funds to the students for the following year. Your club currently has ninety four students in our scholarship program.

In late August we received a grant arranged by Rotarian Rudy Baron. 

This was in response to a request from the Primaria in San Jose for air conditioning for the school.

The grant was used to buy four new AC units in addition to the three that were donated.

The seven AC units were at the school at the beginning of September waiting to be installed. 

The hurricane hit us three days later.

In September we were walloped by Hurricane Jimena and the three Rotarians in town joined forces with Charla Hickey, PJ Schramel and Shelly Johnson to form and manage a Hurricane relief Committee. With the amazing assistance of the San Carlos Community and Rotary Clubs from North of the Border The Committee raised $156,000 in USD and in kind donations, including 48 Shelter Boxes for the relief effort and managed the communities of San Carlos, San Jose, Santa Clara, Fatima and some of the smaller communities as well. After helping to feed clothe and shelter more than 2,000 families (providing enough food and water to meet the weekly needs of each family) the Relief Committee disbanded after about six weeks and the remainders of the funds were divided equally between The Castaway Kids building fund and the Rotary Hurricane fund.  Rotary’s funds are being used to complete repairs caused by Hurricane Jimena.

After the hurricane the club arranged for delivery of replacement sand for the playground area at the Ranchitos kindergarted that had been washed away by the storm. 

Rotarians Tammi Miller and Darren Thompson were presented with plaques naming them Rotarians of the Year for all of the hard work and sacrifices they made during the hurricane.

In November several members of the club prepared

and served breakfast to an orphan group that came down

from the town of Imuris in northern Sonora for a day at the

beach in San Carlos.

                                                In December, your club again hosted the Tucson Rotary

                                                for the annual Christmas Parties for the children at La Manga,

                                                Ranchitos, and Santa Clara Schools.  In addition, your club

                                                sponsored the Christmas Posada in Santa Clara.  All in all, 

                                                helped to meet the Christmas needs of more than 750 children

                                                at a cost of just over $10,000 US.  Thanks again to the committee

                                                and to Santa Claus, AKA Joe Flores.

We began conversations with the Tucson Club in December

regarding the dire condition of the Ranchitos Public Library.

That discussion is still ongoing and in the interim the Tucson Club

donated four laptop computers that have been set up and are now

enabling many more studnets internet access through the library.

We brought the laptops back from the PETS training in March

and installed them the same week.

                        Thank You Tucson!

                                                                           Barbara Stanford and the Aspen Club donated

                                                                            a load of books in Spanish and English and Barbara has

                                                                            begun giving English lessons at the Primaria and

                                                                            Kindergarten.  Thanks Aspen for giving us Barbara and

                                                                            the books.

     Our Spouse's Nights were excellent this year with

     Dixie Gleason at the helm.  We used Spouse's

      Nights for our Rotary Induction ceremonies and made

      sure the spouses were included.  Our Spouse's Night outing

      to Bellas Artes in Guaymas was set up and managed by

      Bernie Parten.  It was a huge success with over 100

      Rotarians, Spouses, and Guests in attendance.  The bus

      trip and the free drinks may have had something to do

      with the success.

   Dick Yackley and his construction committee have almost completed the new storage bodega at the

                                         Ranchitos Primaria.  This project is funded by the remainder of last year's Carne Asada money and an

                                         advance from this year's Carne Asada.  The club has also agreed to finance a new laptop computer for the

                                         kindergarten with this year's Carne Asada funds.

   Rotarian Paulo Delgado arranged to have

   the ACs rebuilt, the electrical system upgraded,

   and is overseeing the rebuilding of the washed out

   sidewalks, ramps, and wheelchair access at the

   Primaria in San Jose with $6000 of the Jimena

   relief money.

The El Cobijo trustees had a great deal of difficulty deciding what to do after the structural

damage was evaluated.  Your club advised the Trustees that we had approximately $7000 US

that would be at their disposal for whatever they needed in getting the old men back into a

shelter.  The Trustees finally chose to keep the old facility open and move the residents back.

Rotarian and club Treasurer Darren Thompson has been overseeing the rebuilding

project at the El Cobijo.  In March, we received a call that they were out of food.  We made

two shopping trips and delivered the necessary items ASAP.

   Our annual Tour of Homes in February        experienced a smaller than usual turnout but with expanded sales and raffle tickets as well as some excellent auction items we made as much this year for our scholarship program as we did last year.  A big Thank You goes out to

Terry Coggins and Thonda Oliver

and the entire committee for a job wel done.

However, we still need donations from club members and other clubs to meet our annual Scholarship commitments.

                                                In February, many of our Rotary members pitched in and did the hamberger cook-out

                                                for the Rescate Bazaar.  The net proceeds of around $700 US was presente to Rescate.

The annual Carne Asada was held at the Ranchitos Primaria in February with Brian Usher doing a masterful job of leading his team to another successful event.  The children provided excellent and colorful entertainment for the warm up.  The mothers and fathers of the PTA cooked up the best carne asada tacos yet.  The professional Mariachis made a big hit as the headliners of the show and of course the magic touch of Thonda and her liquor baskets made the raffle a huge success.  Net proceeds were a little over $5000 US which will be used to fund the projects at the school.

Club Administrative Activities

                     At the Club Assembly in January, the club membership was presented with the annual budget and current

                        financial statement.  The club voted unanimously to accept the budget as proposed.  Election of officers was also

                        held in January with the club voting unanimously for the 2010-2011 slate of officers.

                                                                                                President:  Richard Wilcox

                                                                                                Secretary:  Mike Palmini

                                                                                                Treasurer:  Darren Thompson

                                                                                                Board Members:  Dick Yackley, Thonda Oliver, Gordon Rector,

                                                                                                                               Brian Usher, and 2011-2012 Pres-Elect Steve Bausch

                        In February, the club approved changes to the By-Lays and copies were handed out to all present with addditional

                        copies available.

                        In March, your club sent four members to the President Elect Training Seminar in Mesa this year.  The seminar is

                        for PEs, PEEs, Secretaries, and Treasurers.  Richard and Steve went as the PE and PEE, respectively.   Mike went as

                        Secretary and I went in Darren's place as Treasurer.  We made many solid contacs for future Rotary Projects and we

                        each received some valuable training to move our club forward.

                        You can feel very confident in your new leadership team.  They are excited and looking forward to 2010-2011.  Your

                        new president, Richard Wilcox, has some ideas for moving the club forward as does your club Secretary, Mike Palmini.

                        Thank you for allowing me the privilege of representing your club as President this year.

                        George Gadsby

                        President

                        Service Above Self

                        2009/2010