ABOUT

 

St Helena Rotary was charted on March 8, 1926. The first meeting was held April 13, 1926 at the Native

Sons Hall in St. Helena, where we still meet today, ninety-four years later. Rotary is an organization of

business and professional leaders united worldwide, who provide humanitarian service, encourage high

ethical standards in all vocations, and help build goodwill and peace in the world. There are

approximately 1.2 million Rotarians, members of more than 29,000 Rotary clubs in 161 countries.

Rotary is a service club. Its business is mankind. Its product is service. Its motto is “Service Above Self”.

It has no secret handshake, no secret policy, no official creed, no secret meeting or ritual. It is an open

society of men and women who simply believe in helping others.

So how does St. Helena Rotary serve?..........

Before Galas and large dinner auctions became the method du jour to raise large funds, we started the

Winter Ball, whose fund-raising results continued to grow each year, so that in our peak year we raised

$500,000! Much of our funds in those years went to help build the new site for the Boys and Girls Club

of St. Helena and we continue to support the Boys and Girls club.

Our club has always supported youth activities in St. Helena and is the Charter Sponsor of Boy Scout

Troop 1. For years we sponsored Student exchange programs so that our students could experience

living abroad for a year, and we would host a student from abroad who could experience living in the

United States. We’ve sponsored the High School Interact Club and have sent students to leadership

camp each summer. Every year we distribute, partnered with the Soroptimists, dictionaries to all the

third graders in the S. Helena Unified School District. Every year we fund several scholarships to

graduating Seniors and 8 th grade students. Most recently we have raised funds for scholarships for

children, ages 3-4 for Pre School For All.

Our Centennial year project (2005-06) raised over $300,000 to create a park in front of the old St.

Helena High School. It was a massive community effort, spearheaded and organized by Rotary, and is

called Rotary Centennial Park. We have contributed funds to the Vine Trail. We lend our support with

volunteering at other community events, such as Italian Heritage Day, and the Harvest Festival. We built

the pavilion at the Bocce Courts in Crane Park. We performed restoration of the area at the Upper

Valley College Campus. We have been active in our community. Our next project is the restoration of

Scout Hall in honor of their 100 year celebration.

Internationally, our club members have also taken an active role. Every member has donated to Polio

Plus and after many long years Polio has nearly been eradicated in the world. This project was begun by

Rotary in 1985! Many club members have participated in Rotaplast trips to foreign countries to assist in

cleft palate surgeries. A few members have gone to Africa to help with polio vaccinations. We have

supported a village, in Nicaragua and some members went there to finish up houses and help the

citizens move in. We have gone to Mexico to visit schools that we have financially supported though our

district. We have donated to clean water projects in South America. And most recently are pursuing

funds for a well and sanitation project in Zimbabwe.

Rotarians are People of Action.