Get to know North Bakersfield Rotary

Posted by Liz Alves 
on Feb 07, 2015
 
North Bakersfield Rotary was founded in 1942. Click Read More to learn about its fundraisers, service projects (including the spooky one pictured here), and traditions. 
 
Special thanks to Teresa Ford for telling the district about this club.
 
 
Founded: 1942
 
Meets: Tuesdays at noon at the Petroleum Club of Bakersfield
 
Find them online: Website  Facebook 
 
Sample service projects:
  • North Bakersfield Rotary showed the power of collaboration, joining with Chevron of Bakersfield to give 675 backpacks to kindergarten students. In August, they gave the backpacks to incoming kindergarten students in Standard School District and Beardsley School District.
  • In partnership with 40 students from local Interact clubs, the club hosted a spooky booth at the 2014 Safe Halloween event at the Kern County Museum’s Pioneer Village.  Up to 10,000 children attend the trick-or-treating event each year.
  • In November, the club helped pack and distribute 350 Thanksgiving baskets, filled with the food families could use to have a holiday meal. The club joined the community effort, raising money for the baskets from members and sponsoring companies.
Annual fundraisers:
  • In April, the club hosts Dinner at the Derby. The event, featuring horse races, dinner, and auction, benefits the club’s foundation and Youth Connection. 
  • The club also organizes Premiere Bakersfield, a wine-tasting event that benefits the club’s foundation and the Benefit Bakersfield Foundation.
Some traditions:
  • Each week, the club asks the person presenting the program to sign a new book that is then donated to the Standard School Library. The school’s librarian recommends books.
  • Sheri Horn-Bunk, the 2014-2015 president, draws the name of a club member at each meeting. That member chooses a local nonprofit to receive a $100 donation from the club’s foundation. See past winners on the club’s Facebook page.
  • Each year, the board chooses a Paul Harris Fellow recipient from the community, which is then awarded during the Charter Night celebration.
In a member’s words: “Our club is a club that works together, laughs together, and practices the ideals of Rotary day in and day out. I was impressed with our club from the moment I walked into my first lunch back in 2001 as a guest of long time member, David Milazzo. When I found out that the focus of this club was improving the lives of children, I was hooked.” – Teresa Ford