OUR CLUB’S PROJECTS: WE ARE PEOPLE OF ACTION
We find great pleasure and excellent results when we partner with other volunteer organizations to benefit all concerned. In addition to grants and financial support, we volunteer our time through hands-on projects and the distribution of groceries at SF/Marin Food Banks in Bolinas and Tomales. We also read for the Bring Me a Book Foundation program. We help out at fundraising events for other non-profits in West Marin, like the Inverness Garden Club Scholarship Foundation and West Marin Senior Services.
If you have an idea for a hands-on project in West Marin, we will enjoy hearing from you!
Together we can achieve outstanding results and experience the rewards of Service Above Self.
LOCAL PROJECTS & CONTRIBUTIONS
Rotary Peace Garden
In 2017, after planning and collaborating with Toby’s Feed Barn, local garden suppliers, General Hardware in Point Reyes Station, and Inverness Gardening Service, our Club created a beautiful garden of three raised beds between Toby’s Feed Barn and the Station House Café on Main Street, Point Reyes Station. A dedicated team of volunteers keeps it looking its best year-round! Locals and tourists alike pause in their passing to admire the flowers and take a moment to enjoy some Peace.
Western Weekend
Our Club collaborates to produce this annual event with West Marin Lions Club, Toby’s Feed Barn, Tomales Bay Youth Center, The Marin Farm Bureau, West Marin Commons, Marin County Supervisor Rodoni’s Office, Sacred Heart Church, and West Marin Community Services, among other local non-profit groups, to “Remember our Rural Roots” in a celebratory weekend event with 4H shows, a barn dance, food vendors, and a parade!
Chili Cook-Off
During the annual Western Weekend event, competitors devise recipes to be named Chili-Cook-Off Winner of the Year! This fundraiser has Club Members serving up original homemade chili and tallying responses from adoring “recipe testers” following the Sunday Western Weekend Parade.
KWMR: West Marin’s FM Radio Station
Our Rotary Club is an Underwriter of the local radio station to support this valuable community resource for entertainment, live interviews, community connection, Emergency Response Network announcements of fires, road closures, power outages, evacuation notices, and other emergencies. Rotarians also volunteer on the phones during KWMR pledge drives.
West Marin Senior Services / Stockstill House
Our Club volunteers with West Marin Senior Services at Stockstill House, a senior residential home in Point Reyes Station. Projects have included gardening, painting, and construction of a storage shed for emergency supplies. We have given grants to purchase a generator for power outages and upgrades to their water system and fire sprinklers.
YOUTH SERVICES
Third Grade Dictionary Project
Each year, we give a beautifully illustrated dictionary to every third grader in seven West Marin public schools: from Bolinas-Stinson School to the Bodega Bay Elementary School. This project improves our third graders’ reading, writing, and comprehension skills and benefits their families, classmates, and communities. Our schools and students look forward to their Rotary Dictionaries every year!
Rotary Interact Club
Our Club members chartered and continue to mentor the Interact Club at Tomales High School. These young leaders take action by doing local projects, such as town park clean-up days and building new trophy cases for their school. They are also active in several other school clubs and activities.
Rotary Youth Leadership Awards (RYLA)
Rotary Club of West Marin sponsors several Interact Club students annually to attend a leadership weekend event, Rotary Youth Leadership Awards. RYLA always has enthusiastic responses from attendees! The students return from RYLA with more personal confidence, new skills, and enthusiasm for building a better future for themselves and their communities.
Tomales Bay Youth Center Bike Shed (2019)
In collaboration with West Marin Lion’s Club and their bike storage shed at West Marin School in Point Reyes Station, our Rotary Club secured a Rotary Community Service Grant in 2019. It solicited additional matching donations to purchase, assemble and install hanging bicycle racks, a heavy-duty dolly for moving skateboard ramps, and a professional workbench. The Bike Storage Shed project is featured on our website’s Home Page.
FOOD AND MEAL PROGRAM
Food Bank Volunteers
Several of our Club members volunteer weekly at Food Banks in Bolinas, Point Reyes Station, and Tomales. We help by packaging and handing out bags of groceries and fresh produce to individuals and families with limited incomes, especially during COVID-19.
Bolinas Community Kitchen Hot Meal Program
Our Club donates funds to help support the much-needed Bolinas Community Kitchen Hot Meal Program. As needed, some of us also pick up and deliver these hot meals.
Thanksgiving and Christmas Dinners in Point Reyes Station and Bolinas
Our Club purchases local organic turkeys and donates them to Community Centers where free Thanksgiving meals are prepared. These dinners serve several hundred people who would otherwise have nowhere to go for a celebratory meal on this holiday. Our members also participate by cooking and serving at these special holiday events.
DISASTER PREPAREDNESS AND RESPONSE GRANTS
Local Disaster Council Grants (2021)
The Rotary Club of West Marin supports our nine local volunteer Disaster Councils with funds to purchase emergency communication radios, disaster response equipment and emergency shelter supplies and meals for those having financial hardship. In April 2021, RCWM awarded a total of $3,885 to:
Bolinas Community Center $900 for Emergency Shelter Supplies (matched by Bolinas Fire Protection District for a total of $1,800).
Bolinas Community Center Hot Meals $750 for 1.5 months of COVID relief free meals prepared by volunteer cooks.
Inverness Disaster Council $525 for 50 each drawstring backpacks, reflective vests, clipboards and hard hats (matched by Inverness Public Utility District Board and Inverness residents to total $1,050).
Nicasio Disaster Council $960 for 6 Emergency Shelter mini portable ECO-Safe toilets, chemical supplies and commercial grade toilet seats (FEMA approved).
Stinson Beach Disaster Council $500 (matched by Stinson Beach Fire Protection District for a total of $1,000) to purchase 20 Baofeng BF-8888S Emergency 2-way radios and batteries and one Professional icom Radio.
Tomales Emergency Response Network $250 for a Double-sided 40”x 28” mobile dry erase whiteboard sign for public notifications during emergencies and permanent sign for Disaster Supply trailer.
T.E.R.N. Tomales Emergency Response Network (2020)
Working with the West Marin Disaster Council, our Club did a Community Assessment that identified the Tomales Emergency Response Network (T.E.R.N) as having the greatest need for new emergency response equipment and the least available resources. Our Rotary Grant, plus funds from our Club’s Disaster Response Fund, allowed T.E.R.N. to purchase new emergency radios and a dedicated laptop and printer to improve and increase their outreach to Tomales and the surrounding ranches.
P.R.D.C. Point Reyes Disaster Council (2020)
Our Rotary Grant supported the PRDC Power Up Project, in addition to individual donations, funded the purchase of two dual-fuel generators, extension cords, and surge, protectors. These supplies are used at cell phone and laptop recharging stations for community access during disasters. The Point Reyes Disaster Council purchased enough cords and surge protectors to meet Social Distancing requirements at charging stations and will also get set up Emergency Shelters.
GLOBAL GRANTS
We help support international projects through the Global Grant program of Rotary International. These grants (minimum of $30,000) may take several years to develop and implement and are undertaken jointly by one club in the country where the project will occur and a partner club in another country. The Rotary Club of West Marin has chosen to support international projects by dedicating some of its Rotary Foundation Grant money to other clubs in District 5150 to assist them in reaching their funding goals for a Global Grant. Global Grants are then partly matched by Rotary International Foundation. Projects that specifically benefit women are also eligible for partial matching from the Rose Stone Foundation and Namaste Direct. Our Club selects projects that will leverage our grant to the greatest extent. Here is a list of typical Global Grants we have supported:
H2Open doors water purification plant in Uganda (2020-2021): Rotary Club of Peninsula Starlight, CA and Rotary Club of Kampala Nsambya, Uganda
Guatemalan Women Small Business (2019-2020): Rotary Club of San Mateo, CA
Peruvian Greenhouse Project (2019-2020): Rotary Club of Mill Valley, CA, Rotary Club of Los Alamos de Monterrico, and Rotary Club of El Rimac
Morocco High Atlas Irrigation Aqueduct (2017–2019): Rotary Club of San Carlos, CA and Rotary Club of Marrakesh-Majorelle
Micro-lending in Ecuador (2006)
If you live outside of West Marin and wish to find a Club near you, we can assist so you too can get involved and experience the rewards of Service Above Self!
To learn all about Rotary International, go to www.rotary.org.
Rotary Club of West Marin partnered with other organizations to support Eco-Sorting Stations (ESS) in West Marin to as an educational tool to help people understand how to properly sort refuse to be in compliance with SB 1383.
Pictured is Kate Ryan-Ross, General Manager of the Bolinas Community Center with their ESS.