District 5240 has no shortage of outstanding Rotarians whose service to humanity can serve as an inspiration to all of us.

This Rotary year, we plan on recognizing and sharing their inspirational journey.

Each of the 12 Groups in the District has been assigned one month in the Rotary 2019-20 year for the Assistant Governor and Presidents to select one Rotarian of Action in their Group

For the month of  September the Rotary Clubs selected as their Rotarian of Action to be Amy Kardel. 

In recognition of “doing good in the world”, Amy will be presented with a Paul Harris Fellow Recognition.

Amy Kardel - Rotary De Tolosa of San Luis Obispo

Amy Kardel embodies “Rotary Connects the World”.  Despite being a local successful business owner; the Vice President of Strategic Workforce Relationships for Globally recognized Computing Technology Industry Association; a wife, and a mother of four amazing teens and twenty something, Amy by far has been the absolute most dedicated and active Rotarian in our club under my Presidency. 

Amy has served with distinction on our board of directors for seven of the past nine years in demanding positions: New Generations Director, District & Global Grants Chair, Youth Services Director, and currently as our International Service Director.  Also a Master PRLS graduate she has participated in two NIDs, one to Indian and one to Ghana.

At her own cost, Amy traveled to Hamburg to represent our club and broaden the outreach of our International Student Youth Exchange program.  Amy coordinated a train trip to the gathering of five current German and SLO high school students to converge on Hamburg’s International Conference.  While in Germany, Amy saw an opportunity and with her vast connections orchestrated setting the path for an additional exchange student getting accepted into Mission Prep high school who is in San Luis Obispo now and wouldn’t of happened without Amy’s tenacity and dedication to the Rotary International Youth Exchange program. Amy serves as Rotary youth exchange officer for our club and is certified the US Department of State for that role.  Amy always engages others in our clubs youth exchange making it a benchmark program.

Amy contributes to our brand as Rotarians locally and around the world like no other.  Amy single handedly orchestrated the speaking engagement of General Consul of the Federal Republic of Germany with our club to celebrate the 70th anniversary of German & San Luis Obispo students exchange program—The longest successful consecutive exchange of any county. Putting the spotlight on Unity and Peace.  Amy also is Co-Chair of the German School Committee and has done so for more than two decades.  

Amy leads the committee to help find and support host families and all that comes with the responsibility of having a teen across the globe for a year.  Over the years Amy and her family have hosted a record thirteen exchange students and provided a spare bedroom for countless other students in transition. Last month Amy also took our exchange students to the German Consulate in LA to kick off their year and explain their important role as citizen ambassadors.

Amy was also instrumental in the establishment of the San Luis Obispo County Community Foundation--which helped secure financial gifts to support the program and now exceeds $150,000. These vital funds provide annual scholarships to exchange students to cover the expenses of their flights as well as any clubs and activities that students participate in while abroad, ensuring that this incredible exchange opportunity is available to all students regardless of financial means.

As our clubs International Service Director, Amy helped facilitate the acquisition & delivery of a state of the art Lensometer for local area high school students to process glasses and provide the gift of sight to less fortunate people throughout South America. Our clubs ongoing collaboration with Eyecare International has resulted in Rotarians with boots on the ground to deliver these glasses to the needy.  In September of this year our club alone collected a record 861 pairs of glasses up from last year’s efforts of 132 pairs.  

The absolute tireless dedication and ripple effect caused by the relationships Amy has forged through Rotary De Tolosa, casts a bright and powerful beacon and demonstrates how Rotary Connects the World.  Without any reservation Amy Kardel is highly deserving of this award.