January COG 2016 - Recapping a Successful Year of Service

Posted by Kern Lewis 
 
We had a very successful year serving our Castro Valley Area community in 2015. We ran or participated in an event in just about every month of the year. We also added special projects like renovating the local Adobe Art Center that made a material impact on improving our community. We invite you to join us in our ongoing mission to make Castro Valley one of the best places to live in the Bay Area.
 
It was a great year for being of service to our local community in 2015. A few highlights (in no particular order) were:
  • In March we held our annual Texas Hold ‘Em Poker Tournament, which raises a big chunk of our annual budget. Fifty amateur and “semi-pro” poker aficionados completed, with the amateurs taking the upper hand (it really is about which cards you get!) Our budget was successfully plumped, and everyone had a great time.
  • In May, we underwrote and ran the annual Rowell Ranch Rodeo Parade, with our traditional Chili Cook-Off held the previous evening. Close to 1,000 members of the Castro Valley community came out to enjoy everyone’s company during the Cook Off and try the chili of local businesses and community groups. Over 100 groups participated in the parade the next day.
  • We also held our family event last spring, the annual Pancake Putt-Putt, with just over 50 local families bringing their kids to enjoy the pancake breakfast (bacon!!!) and many hours of mini-golf.
Our biggest events last autumn served our community in two different ways:
  • We led a renovation project to clean up and repair a section of the Adobe Art Center near downtown, which offers multiple art classes and other enrichment courses through the local recreation district. Some of the structures were really showing their age, so a crew of Rotarians spent two Saturdays chipping away old paint, repairing and replacing tile work and giving many walls a fresh coat of paint. Walkways and railings were also repaired.
  • We held our annual Holiday Party for families in need, giving the parents and children of local shelters a full holiday meal with all the trimmings, and a gift for every child and young adult. Many local Castro Valley businesses and organizations worked with us to put this event on, especially the employees of the Castro Valley Sanitary District, who raised money to give the older kids gift cards, and did a lot of the meal preparation.
Many other events and volunteer opportunities also filled our calendars in 2015, giving us all the chance to fulfill our Rotary motto of “service above self.” We must say, though, that being of service others seems to do a lot for one’s own “self” too!