Rodeo week end is a big deal in our community. One of the highlights is the Rodeo Parade! For over 45 years the Rotary Club of Livermore has presented the annual Rodeo Parade on the second Saturday in June, starting at 10 a.m. 2018 was the 100th annual Livermore Rodeo, and the parade was bigger and better than ever, beginning with a cattle drive! Don’t miss next year’s parade! 

 

We sponsored the Little League World Series Intermediate age 13 year-old group tournament. Six teams from the United States and six International teams vied for the championship! President Marc threw out the first pitch in one of the games. He crossed that plate with a strike!

 

Club members and friends gather at the Rotary bandstand before heading out to help senior citizens with yard work, minor home repairs and other tasks they are unable to do themselves.

READY Students Celebrate at an End of Year Gathering!

The READY  (Rotarians Educating and Directing Youth)program provides tutoring and mentoring to students at Junction K-8 school, which serves under-resourced students. Over nearly ten years we have provided support to middle school children, encouraging them to dream as big as they can. We continue to hear from students have graduated from high school!

Hundreds of hours were spent building this gift to the community. Working with the City of Livermore and Livermore Area Recreation and Park District,both Rotary Clubs, the Rotarian Foundation of Livermore  and many local contractors donated their time and money. More than one hundred community members bought commemorative bronze leaves, which are displayed on the back wall of bandstand.

For more than 25 years our club has sponsored this program, as part of our International Focus on Youth.The Burned Children Foundation  provides  the care, education and rehabilitation of children with severe burns seeking treatment at COANIQUEM (All for the Burned Child) in Santiago, Chile. The organization does not charge for any of the services if provides to these children and families. Martin, show in the photo, is a young man that we have sponsored for five year.

For ten years the club has supported the Rotarian Foundation of Livermore’s party for under-resourced privileged children and families. More than1000 children and their parents have  attended the party over the years.

Rotary local grants give us the opportunity to invest in organizations that support our under-resourced population. AXIS Community Health received nearly $10,000 to purchase equipment for their free dental clinic in 2019.

In 2020, Stanford Valley Care received $10000 to provide support for conversion of regular hospital beds to COVID support. Our club membership matched that grant.

Also in 2020, our club was one of leads in obtaining a nearly $100,000 for COVID response  assistance to community health systems throughout our area.

2022-23 Recipients!

For 15 years we have honored our  Livermore teachers for all they do for our children. This  year, the Rotary Club of Livermore honored nineteen teachers from the Livermore Valley Joint Unified School District for their service. The Principals and staff at each school choose their recipients. The Superintendent of Schools selects the Administrator.

The Rotarian Foundation of Livermore was formed  so Rotary clubs could have a bigger impact in the community. This year the Rotarian Foundation of Livermore (RFL) awarded grants totaling  $45,203 to eleven community organizations at the Rotary Club of Livermore meeting. For more information visit the Foundation’s website.

Pictured here are John Shirley and Leo Croce, both long time Rotarians and WWII Veterans.  Sadly we lost Leo early in 2020.

Rotarians Assisting Veterans Education (RAVE) is a much needed charitable program to assist our military veterans attain their educational goals by way of the G.I. Bill of Rights. It is a 501(c)(3)approved non-profit tax deductible program that is spear-headed by the Livermore Rotary Club.

For more than 50 years our club has partnered with International House  at UC Berkeley to provide the opportunity for international students to experience small town California and stay with a typical American family. Students visit landmark institutions in the community and are treated to an old fashioned “Pot Luck” dinner party.

Students from our local high schools spend a morning job-shadowing local government staff and first-responders to get a first hand look into the City Government operations. They are then invited to our luncheon, where they introduce themselves to the club and are treated to a State of the City program presented by the City Manager.

Sunflower Hill is an organization which focuses on children and adults with special needs, primarily on the autism spectrum. There is a community garden where participants plant and harvest vegetables for their own consumption and which are also sold to the public. Our club built picnic tables for them and helped build a new greenhouse last year.

For 20 years we have provided scholarships to music students in 8th -12th grade for lessons, camp, instrument rentals, and more. For 2020, The Music Scholarship committee received applications from 24 Livermore applicants from 6^th through 12^th grades.  The committee members met via Zoom last Wednesday and awarded fifteen scholarships.  Because we had fewer applicants than usual, and a higher percentage were really excellent, we granted scholarships to a higher than usual percentage of the students.

The Club usually gives a special scholarship to an outstanding high school senior.  This year we had two amazing senior musicians, Austin Weinshelbaum on cello and Morgan Rogge, voice.

Livermore, Del Valle, and Vineyard high schools’ staffs select outstanding students to be honored at a luncheon each month. The students receive a plaque and gifts from local businesses. Pictured is India D’Souza, Outstanding Student in October of this year, with LHS Principal Vicky Skudder.

Rotary International Youth Exchange encourages students to study abroad for one year. Our club has hosting many students from all over the world and this year our student was Elisa PeLince from Brussels, Belgium.  For Elisa, the year turned into quite the adventure, with COVID-19 turning the experience into something quite unique. She returned home a few months early and needed to quarantine for two weeks. She joined out club meetings via Zoom to keep us up to date.

When you participate in the Youth Exchange it is expected that there will be an outbound students as well. Even though we don’t always have a student from our own community, we support students from other Rotary club communities.

Rotary’s RYLA program encourages high school students to take on leaderships opportunities in their school and community. This week long camp uses team building and other tools to develop leadership skills in the students who participate. Each club in our District can send three students, with our club sometimes sending four. The students attend a Rotary meeting after they come back from camp, to tell us about their experiences. For many of them it is life changer!

Picture here are Gino Barbalinardo and Sarah Ansell, in the yellow RYLA shirts, from Livermore High School.

Don Wentz

Kathy Coyle