Category Archives: Service Activities

Rotarians and Residents Join Together for the Homeless

Recently, a well-known local charity, Mary’s Kitchen, suffered a tragic fire in their kitchen. Mary’s Kitchen feeds as many as 1,000 homeless persons in Orange County, operating six days a week.

During their recent, quarterly, food drive Albertson’s grocery, Orange Plaza Rotarians received a $100 bill from an anonymous donor who requested that it be delivered to Mary’s Kitchen. (More than 800 lbs of food items were collected on September 17th for homeless veterans served by Veterans First of Santa Ana.)

The following Wednesday, club members unanimously voted to boost the Mary’s Kitchen donation to $500 from club funds.

The Rotary Club of Orange Plaza wishes Mary’s Kitchen a speedy recovery as they continue their outstanding work!

New Literacy Projects in the Works

Orange Plaza Rotary recently approved a full slate of service projects for the 2016-2017 Rotary year, including two projects aimed at improving basic literacy in our community. “Read to Me” is a returning project proposed by member Teri Snyder. Club members and volunteers will assemble packages with new books, literacy resources and a “Read to Me” onesie for distribution to families of babies born in our local hospitals.

Plans are also underway to establish a “Little Free Library” program in Orange. At the suggestion of Immediate Past President Tracey Curtis, the club will build and distribute small birdhouse-like libraries to volunteer stewards in our neighborhoods. We are excited to add this new project!

We are also looking forward to joining students in our Mentor Meals Program for another morning of volunteering at ThinkTogether, cleaning donated, gently used books for distribution to local schoolchildren.

We love doing good. Do you? Join us!

“Basic Education and Literacy” is one of the six “Areas of Focus” of The Rotary Foundation, which celebrates its centennial year in 2016. Learn more at Rotary.org.

And This Little Piggy Conquered Polio

Once upon a time, a little Rotary club joined with 20 other volunteers to build a home on the outskirts of Tijuana. At the end of a rewarding day, the volunteers caravanned back to the international border and waited in line for approval to cross into the USA. The volunteers told jokes and stories and communicated with the car of friends behind them by waving, making faces and other amusing gestures.

But the group was distracted by 1) the urgent need of a certain member to find a nearby restroom, and 2) the many fine wares being hawked by dozens of Mexican vendors along the route to the border. So, the certain member was dispatched with a Mexican guide to find relief, only to return with the announcement that he had located the perfect souvenir of the group’s experience: Rotunda, the Polio Pig.

Much haggling ensued before Rotunda was purchased, but when the transaction was concluded, Rotunda was immediately delivered to the club treasurer, traveling in the car directly behind the SUV filled with generous pig-loving Rotarians. Dolores’ expression when receiving this gift was not glee, exactly, but more of a look of astonishment and woe. Nonetheless, Rotunda occupied a place of honor in her office for many years and occasionally attended a Rotary meeting, car show or other special event.

Alas, little piggies do not live forever and the time came to slaughter Rotunda for market. With all the pomp and circumstance we can muster, Orange Plaza Rotary threw Rotunda a going-away soiree on August 17th. As you can tell by the photos, Rotunda enjoyed the proceedings immensely, even after we performed surgery to extract over $98 dollars from her posterior. Although Rotunda did not survive the surgery, her sacrifice will change the lives of children around the world who receive vaccinations through Rotary’s campaign to End Polio Now. With only three countries left on the list of “endemic” regions, Rotary and its partners are truly “this close” to eradicating polio from the face of the earth. The polio campaign is just one of the programs of The Rotary Foundation, which celebrates its 100th year of service this year. Want to know how you too can change the world? Join us!

Speaker Series Entertains and Educates

Orange Plaza Rotary isn’t always on the go. Sometimes, we take a break from our many service projects and sit down for food and drink with an interesting speaker.

Our Wednesday night meetings at Marie Callender’s are low-key and interactive, allowing us to get to know each other and our guests. In the last month or so, we’ve had a great time with:

Dr. Lynn Marran – The founder of Children in Focus, a nonprofit organization that screens and treats children for functional vision problems that can interfere with learning. Over 30 optometry students have participated in training to detect these problems and more than 400 children have benefited from the program. Dr. Marran volunteers at local schools and shelters through Vision for Life and the Illuminations Foundation to provide eye care for the needy.

Chris Epting – Chris Epting, author of the new book “Teddy Roosevelt in California”. Through firsthand accounts, speeches and rare photographs, author Chris Epting tells the story of a great and profound journey that had a lasting effect on conservation history and the National Park System.

Hope Nelson – This former Rotary Youth Exchange Student spent an incredible year in Emsdetten, Germany sponsored by the Rotary Club of Conroe, TX during 2007-2008. It was one of the most influential years of her life, where she “caught the travel bug”. Upon returning, she attended Texas A&M University and joined the Corps of Cadets, graduating in 2012 with a double major in International Studies and Russian, and earning a commission in the United States Army as a Military Police Officer. Throughout her career, she has spoken at clubs throughout Texas and Missouri about the impact that Rotary Youth Exchange made on her life.

Kristen Davis – Member Kristen Davis did a great job presenting “Let’s Talk Rocks” at the July 11th meeting. We had six kids in the audience, and a couple of them brought rocks to share with Kristen and ask for her professional help in identifying them. A trained geologist, Kristen has a large personal collection of rocks and minerals and takes regular “field trips” to find new specimens. Thanks for the “craft talk” Kristen!

Next up? Rotary District 5320 Governor Ray Sanford. Join us on July 20th!

John Boyd Award Caps Banner Year

Orange Plaza Rotary received numerous honors for its work during the 2015-2016 Rotary year. The club was recognized for its activity in all areas of Rotary service, including its international service project partnering with the nonprofit organization “Stop Hunger Now”. For its efforts in organizing a food packaging event that sent more than 40,000 meal servings to Vietnam and the Philippines, Orange Plaza Rotary was honored with the “John Boyd International Service Award” presented by fellow Rotarians of the Rotary Club of Brea on July 11th.

The Rotary Club of Orange Plaza Rotary was recently named “Best Small Club” among the 45 Rotary clubs in District 5320, which includes all of Orange County and parts of southern Los Angeles county. The “Best Club” banner was awarded at the May 2016 District Conference in Newport Beach by then-Governor Kevin Padilla of Placentia.

On behalf of Rotary International President Ravi Ravindran, Governor Padilla also presented the prestigious “Presidential Citation” to Orange Plaza for the Rotary year ending on June 30^th. In making the award, Rotary International noted the participation of more than 75% of Orange Plaza members in “hands-on” projects in the community, praised the group’s sponsorship of a student service organization (El Modena High School Interact) and thanked the club for its financial support of The Rotary Foundation, the charitable arm of Rotary International.

Orange Plaza Rotary (widely known as the organizers of the Annual Orange Plaza Car Show) also received the “Quality of Life” Award from the Orange Chamber of Commerce on June 16^th. The award, shared with two other Rotary clubs in the city, recognized the club for outstanding service by a nonprofit organization. OPR’s local service projects include quarterly food drives for homeless veterans, design and installation of custom wheelchair ramps for the disabled, and guiding high school students through the signature project, “Mentor Meals”.

The Rotary Club of Orange Plaza plans another busy year of service in the next twelve months, expanding successful programs and adding new community-based projects in the City of Orange.

Orange Plaza Receives Quality of Life Award

Orange Plaza Rotary (widely known as the organizers of the Annual Orange Plaza Car Show) received the “Quality of Life” Award from the Orange Chamber of Commerce on June 16^th. The award, shared with two other Rotary clubs in the city, recognized the club for outstanding service by a nonprofit organization. Orange Plaza’s local service projects include quarterly food drives for homeless veterans, design and installation of custom wheelchair ramps for the disabled, and guiding high school students through the signature project, “Mentor Meals”.

2016 El Modena Senior Scholarships Awarded

Orange Plaza Rotary provided two $500 scholarships to students graduating from the Collaborative Technology Program at El Modena High School. The students were active in the Mentor Meals program co-hosted by Orange Plaza Rotary, Hispanic Chamber of Commerce and El Modena Alumni. Congratulations to Odaliz Gonzalez and Velta Mansfield. They will be continuing school at Santiago Canyon College in the fall. Great Job!

The club also presented a $1,000 Scholarship to Sabrina Tsai, the outgoing President of the Interact Club at El Modena, sponsored by Orange Plaza Rotary Club. Sabrina worked tirelessly this past year with our club doing many volunteering functions. A well deserved winner. Sabrina also received a sizable scholarship from the U.S. Marine Corp. Sabrina will be continuing her education at SD State, in San Diego. She makes our club proud.

Just Another Brick in the ???

We were so happy to support the City of Orange to renovate the historic Hart Park bandshell. Orange Plaza Rotary bought one of the 140 bricks that helped to fund the renovation. We partied in the park on June 6th to celebrate the completed bandshell.

On the Road: Old Orange Brewery Co.

We had fun welcoming guests and trying out the great craft beers at Old Orange Brewery Co. during our May 25th mixer and social. Past District Governor Jim Paddock visited us to recognize Rae Shirer for contributing more than $7,000 to The Rotary Foundation. We then inducted Mary Noguera into our club and celebrated with a round of great brews. What did PDG Jim have? Why, the “Cussin’ Jim” IPA, of course.

The Best Little Club in O.C.

So this happened…

The members of Orange Plaza Rotary attended the Saturday luncheon at the annual Rotary 5320 District Conference and then hung around for District awards afterward. Oh, how we cheered as our friends in San Clemente Sunrise and Anaheim Hills captured the flag for best project in Community, Youth and International Service! We patted ourselves on the back when we received a Public Image citation and a well-earned Presidential Citation but, truth be told, we were just a wee bit disappointed.

Yes, our motto is “Service Above Self”, but if we are honest with ourselves, we have a competitive spirit running through our tight-knit group. We headed out into the afternoon sunshine, vowing to do better next year.

And then the sun went down, and the lights came up, and dinner was served. We danced, we ate, and we drank. Just a little. Not enough to miss our big moment when Governor Padilla announced Orange Plaza Rotary as the best small club in Rotary District 5320!

After the shock wore off, we got a good night’s sleep. Now we’re ready to do it all again.

‘Cause yeah, we are a little club, but kind of a big deal.