Community Service

How the District Community Services Team can help YOUR club

Provide a forum for Clubs to discuss ideas for community projects, fundraisers, and planning of projects.

Provide tools for new Club Community Service Chairs to plan, implement, and evaluate effective service projects.

Provide tools to perform effective community assessments to assist in developing community projects.

Keep the District web pages for Community Service up to date and pertinent.

Work with the District Governor to develop best practices for utilization of District Grants under the Future Visions Plan.

For the most current information:

Contact Mel Gallegos, District Chair of Community Services

Phone 858-705-1403

Fax 858-486-1794

Email at mel.gallegos@prodigy.net

Contact Sarah McAfee, District Vice-Chair of Community Services

760-717-0905 (H)

Email at sarah2dogs@cox.net

Community Services Resources

Rotary International offers many resources to our clubs and their leaders. There are resources to help each club's Community Services Chairs. please click on the links below to view some of these resources. You can view them online or download them to your computer:

Communities in Action: A Guide to Effective Service

Community Assessment Tools

The Community Service Update is a quarterly electronic newsletter that provides Rotarians with news about effective service practices, project resources, and important service-related events. You can sign up here: Sign up

Club Support of our Military and their families

Welcome to the first installment of a salute to District 5340 Rotary Clubs supporting our Military and their families. We will look at the Rotary Club of Carlsbad:

The Rotary Club of Carlsbad continues to aggressively support the Commanding Officer, 1st Battalion, 4th. Rotarians Gene Forsyth and Ursula Sweeney have been the club lynch pins in coordinating with the Family Readiness Officer (FRO) of 1/4 to implement the following programs and events.

•Provided three 160qt. Igloo Coolers with signage

•Provided four stainless steel chaffing dishes & serving utensils, 9 spoons and 3 tongs, All engraved with 1/4 logo, USMC Eagle, Globe and Anchor, and slogan "Whatever It Takes"

•A Welcome Home banner and club presence for the 1/4's return from Iraq in April 2009

•From 8 to 14 forty gallon bags of clothing every month to 1-4 and Purchased 4 heavy duty four wheel hanging racks to display donated clothing

•Currently working with the Sewing Club of San Bernardino to provide six 8 ft. long formal table cloths in solid red/green/blue/white colors for 1-4 events

•A complete set up for several 1st time mothers including car seats, clothing, diapers, baby powder/oil/soap/etc and playpens. All of the shopping for the new mother's items is done by our club members and club wives

•Provide new and used toys for the 1/4 Children's Nursery aboard Camp Pendleton

•Collected new and used children's books for the upcoming deployment. This allows all the dads and moms on deployment to record the reading of the children's books which are sent back for their families to view at home

•Collected new and used magazines and books (not children's) for ¼ personnel to read while on deployment

•Presented Gift cards at Christmas and Thanksgiving for trees, toys, clothing, and food to the military families to show we support and love them. This totals approx $400 per family for 2 to 4 families per season

•Donated approximately 150 tickets per event to the Marines and sailors and their families for the Boy Scout's Easter Breakfast in Carlsbad and to the Rotary Clubs of Carlsbad's Oktoberfest

•19 Marines from the 1/4 volunteered to work at Oktoberfest in every area needed beginning at the 6 AM set up and continuing throughout the day working at the event and helping with the tear down. The volunteers were particularly appreciated for their assistance in setting up the kitchen and cooking facilities

•During RY 2009-10 Monthly Theme's were chosen to support our troops and their families. It was asked that the purchase amount not exceed $5.00 dollars, so that it would be just a fun project

Here's Looking at you U baby...Baby stuff.. powder, lotions, diapers, toys etc

Manly Man.. combs, brushes, after shave, razors

Warm and Cozy.. blankets...

What a Lady.. hair brushes, hair ties, soaps ,lotions, nail polishes

Tree Mendous... all sorts of tree ornaments and decorations

Coupons R Us...coupons and gift cards to various food stores..

Eat and be Merry.. coupons and discount tickets to various fast food restaurants.

•In addition, on a monthly basis, clothing, toys, and housewares are donated from St. Patrick's Catholic Church, Carlsbad, Thrift Shoppe. The incredible ladies sort and have the items ready for pick up by Rotarian Gene Forsyth for delivery to the ¼ FRO

•During the course of the Rotary year, a local hair stylist ask her clients to bring in gently used evening dresses and accessories......We collected OVER 50., along with shoes, purses etc. This was the work of Tina Blankenship of Chitzel's Hair Design in Carlsbad. The dresses and accessories were donated to the wives of 1/4 personnel for the Marine Corps Ball

The club was represented at the Battalion Family Day, Battalion Commanding Officer Change of Command Ceremony and the Commanding General's 1st Marine Division Appreciation Dinner. Our club was recognized and received a beautiful framed appreciation for the efforts in working with our respective Marine units. The Battalion Commanding Officer has spoken to our club at regular meetings, in addition to the Battalion Executive Officer, Battalion Sergeant Major, and the Family Readiness Officer. In all of these instances, the families of these individuals have been guests at our meetings. The FRO is an invited guest to at least one club meeting each month. Her husband is currently deployed to Afghanistan.

In addition to the above support for 1/4, the club annually awards one Non-Commissioned Officer's sword to the Honor Graduate of the Corporal's Course which is conducted aboard Camp Pendleton.

Rotarians At Work

Rotarians At Work Day 2010 was on April 24, 2010. We expect each of the 61 Clubs within our District to work on one or more hand-on projects in their community. The projects are listed on the new Rotarians At Work Website. Click on Submit A Project to register your project for this year!

Don't Wait Vaccinate

What is the Don't Wait Vaccinate Committee?

Because of Rotary's success in world wide eradication of Polio, Rotarians were asked to help with the improvement of infant immunization rates here in the United States. In the early 1990's infant immunization rates against all childhood diseases including Polio for children under two in the USA was approximately 50%, one of the lowest rates in the entire world. Rotary International launched this program in 1994 under the name "PolioPlus USA." The District 5340 "Don't Wait Vaccinate" Committee was formed in 1994 and has been meeting monthly ever since.

The Don't Wait Vaccinate Committee is part of the San Diego County Immunization Initiative (I-3), a coalition of over 130 community and health service organizations whose goal is to raise immunization rates in children and adults. These combined efforts have raised rates in children under two from 51% in 1987 to 81% - 85% today. The effort is ongoing.

The Committee meets monthly at St. Paul's Senior Home in Hillcrest. The room space and a continental breakfast is provided by Cheryl Wilson of the Downtown Rotary Club.

The purpose of the District Committee is to motivate and guide Rotary clubs in District 5340 to launch immunization projects in their respective communities. These are hands-on projects, usually with local clinics and schools. It is distinctly not a fund raiser.

Representatives from all D5340 clubs are welcome and encouraged to attend.

We are available to give programs to clubs about immunizations. Contact: H. Glenn Kellogg, M.D. (HGKELL@aol.com, 619-281-8593) or Amnon Ben-Yehuda (AmnonBy@aol.com, 619-582-6127).

Organ and Tissue Donors

How can you save a life?

More than 1500 persons in the San Diego area wait for an organ transplant, people who could live, if an organ became available. While signing a donor card and placing the pink dot on your license served as an important symbol of your intent, it did not place you on any list or registry.

Donate Life California will allow you to express your commitment to becoming an organ, eye and tissue donor. The Registry guarantees your plans will be carried out when you die. Your generosity can save up to eight lives through organ donation and enhance another 50 through tissue donation.

You'll give people a second chance to experience life's joys-childhood, attending college, building a career, having a family. Ultimately, your gift of life will touch countless more people-the recipients' friends, family and loved ones. You'll allow them to continue their cherished relationships.

However, the person who may be affected the most by your life gift is you. While deciding to donate, you'll learn more about yourself. You'll share your insights with your family and friends. And you'll realize you'll be doing one of the most caring and unselfish things in your life.

We can now register by going to www.donateLIFEcalifornia.org or www.doneVIDAcalifornia.org.

For more information about organ and tissue donation please contact Lifesharing through Sharon Ross at ssross@ucsd.edu or by phone at 619-521-1983.

What better way is there to do Service Above Self?