Woodland Rotary - The Rotary Club of Woodland Website

Help us make this the 'go to place' for all your Rotary information. Text, email or call Kris Kristensen at 530 304-5641 with comments and suggestions.

Rotary Theme 2022-23

Jennifer Jones, 2022-23 Rotary International President

Suzanne Bragdon, 2022-23 Governor, Rotary District 5160

What is Rotary?

We improve people's lives, locally and globally, through service.

View Full Size Video

Worth a look: 2 minute video showing where we've come from

and what we do.

Seeking 2023 Dinner Auction

Beneficiary Ideas

The Rotary Club of Woodland and Woodland Rotary Endowment are accepting applications for Community Based Projects to be funded by proceeds from our 2023 Dinner Auction taking place Saturday, April 22, 2023 in Woodland CA. If you are involved with an organization or group that could benefit from this fundraiser, please fill out the Donation Request Form linked below and email the completed form to Yvette Roy at myroyalpics@gmail.com. Completed donation forms will be accepted through December 1, 2022. Selection of the 2023 Dinner Auction beneficiary/beneficiaries is anticipated in early January 2023.

Donation Request Form

Rest In Peace - Gary Wirth

1939-2022

Long time Club member Gary Wirth passed away at his home November 23, 2022 with family by his side. Gary, a Paul Harris Fellow, served as the Club's President in 1987-88 and was the current Club Polio Plus 'Warrior'. Nicknamed 'the Kahuna', Gary was a good friend to many of us. Our thoughts are with his daughter Carrie, his son Court, and their family.

Happy Thanksgiving!

November 22nd Meeting

President Shawn Seyk's Inspirational Quote of the Day was from President John F. Kennedy. Steve Venables was all on his own leading today's Rotary Grace.

Jayne Williams was in charge of Recognition today. When asked what was the best thing that ever happened to her, Ann Taylor said it was marrying her husband Jim, leading to more than 60 years together. When asked his best personal attribute, Eric Zane thought it might be his ability to emphathize with others. Mark Ullrich was happy his SF 49ers won again this week.

Christian Sherrill was happy for the athletic success his kids were currently attaining in school. Lori Ross was happy she has been offered a position as Development Manager for Special Olympics in Northern California. Don Huff III enjoyed a recent trip to Maryland to visit with his son and his son's family there.

Our guest speaker today was Ahna Suleiman, DrPhD, Assistant Professor, Department of Public Health, Sacramento State University, who provided us a look at "Adolescent Development and COVID - A Little Bit Heartbreaking". Thanks for President Shawn for arranging and introducing this important program.

November 15th Meeting

President Shawn Seyk was sporting a little face fuzz today in honor of Men's Cancer Screening Awareness Month. Foundation Chair Tom Schwarzgruber presented Tim Pettit with his 7th Paul Harris pin today in recognition of Tim's significant financial support of the Rotary Foundation. With 20 cards remaining, Splinter writer Lisa Martinez Dunham drew the joker to win the raffle's $389 prize today!

President Shawn's Inspirational Quote today was actually his own, something Shawn has shared with us in the past. Above, President Shawn is seen with his son Nick and daughter Claire. Don Sharp (pictured) was one of our visiting Rotarians today, along with Wayne Ginsburg, both from Woodland Sunrise. Yvette Roy also brought husband Craig along as her guest today.

Jim McGibbon attended Woodland's Veterans Day Ceremony, and 'rang the bell' as he remembered his father's service in the Royal Canadian Army. Kris Kristensen led today's Recognition by asking our own veterans to stand and be thanked for their service. Next Kris asked questions from the 75th Anniversary of the Rotary Club of Woodland's history booklet, authored by Steve Venables. President Shawn Seyk 'rang the bell' in honor of the U16 girls soccer team he coaches which just completed its second consecutive undefeated season.

John Hodgson, Founder and President of The Hodgson Company in Sacramento was our guest speaker today providing us with an update to the proposed Woodland Research and Technology Park currently under review by the City of Woodland. John originally gave us a program on the Park on February 16, 2021 when we were meeting only on Zoom. Covering 350 acres located east of SR 113 and north of CR 25A, the proposed City's Specific Plan anticipates a mixed use of 2.2 million square feet of office/research space; 1600 new residential units (mostly single family homes); and an 11 acre linear park.

WHS Interact Pads Shipped

to Kenya

Members of the Woodland High School Interact Club, under the guidance of Rotary advisors Jayne Williams and Marie Galbo donated their time after school, on weekends, and over the summer this year to create 150 reusable sanitary pads for female junior high school students in Karen, Kenya (Africa) who may lack the resources for the purchase of such items. With Dan Stroski's help, the pads were packed and shipped to Kenya this week where they will be distributed to students by local school officials. Club President Shawn Seyk says 'This is an example of how Rotary helps to create compassion for others and future leaders of our community.' View the press release.

Meet our New Member -

Ann Taylor

Ann Taylor, was installed as a new member of the Club on October 4, 2022 by President Shawn Seyk and sponsor Steve Venables. At our request, Ann has provided us the following bio. If you haven't already done so, take a moment to introduce yourself to Ann when you meet and welcome her to the Club.

Ann Potter Taylor was born in San Francisco in 1933; attended University of Arizona 1951-1953; met Jim Taylor in February 1954, and married him in August of the same year – a marriage of almost 69 years. We were stationed at Carswell AFB, Fort Worth, Texas where Jim was assigned as a navigator-bombadier to Strategic Air Command. We returned to Sacramento in 1958.

I became involved in the Sacramento community, serving on eleven boards and commissions. I was asked by community leaders to run for the Sacramento Municipal Utility Board who owned Rancho Seco, an operating nuclear plant. Nuclear power was very controversial. After a very difficult campaign, I was elected by 2% of the vote, the first woman elected to the Board. I served two four year terms, two as president of the Board. I also was elected to the American Public Power Board a national organization. I testified in front of Congress for the right to continuing to license eleven dams and power plants that provided the hydro power to SMUD.

In 1980 I started construction of Woodland Stallion Station, opened it in 1982 and operated the facility until sold in 2018.

Kevin Haarberg Honored by Forbes

Congratulations to our own Kevin Haarberg who was recently recognized by Forbes as one of the Best-In-State Wealth Advisors

in Northern California for 2022.

Kenya WASH Phase Two

The Rotary Club of Woodland has been participating in the Kenya WASH project since October ’20 to improve water supply, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) at two schools in Karen, Kenya (Africa). This is a Rotary Global Grant effort sponsored by the Rotary Club of Karen. The project is a coordinated effort to make needed improvements at the Karen C Primary School, serving 1300 students, 50 teachers (established in 1958), and the adjacent Karen C Girls Secondary (high school) school (established in 2011) with enrollment of 600 students. Phase One of the project, which installed two large capacity water tanks and hand washing stations for students, was completed in August ’21 at a cost of $40,000. Our Club contributed $5,000 toward Phase One.

Photos from Phase One of the project can be viewed in our Photo Gallery.

Kenya is located on the east coast of Africa. Karen, Kenya is a suburb of Kenya’s capitol city Nairobi. Photos below show children from both Karen schools.

Sanitation conditions at the Karen C schools today are terrible, and would be considered unacceptable for any similar facilities in the United States. As photos below show, pit latrines are in use.

Our Club's Kenya WASH Chair Blair Voelz reports Phase Two of the project is moving foward. Phase Two seeks to build a new, modern 1700sf bathroom for faculty, boys and girls at the Karen C Elementary School. These improvements will be a major step forward in sanitation for the children and staff of both schools.

The Phase Two Rotary grant total budget is $76,190 which includes $27,835 raised from our Club, other local Rotary clubs, and the Karen Kenya Rotary Club; $27,600 in District 5160 matching grant funds; and $20,755 from the Rotary Foundation World Fund. These funds have been deposited in a Nairobi bank account specifically set up for this project. The project is currently out for bid. Construction is scheduled to begin in 4-6 weeks and will take 6-8 weeks to build. Phase Two should be complete by Summer 2023.

Our Club's contribution to Phase Two totals $12,685, which includes $10,850 in personal donations from Club members (Brooker, Chandler, Delevati, Diekman, Engelmann, Faye, Galbo, Haarberg, Hodges, Huff III, LaBrie, Lawrence, Maltese, Martinez, Moore, Nakken, Pettit, Pinto, Randolph, Roy, Schwarzgruber, Sonin, Stroski, Ullrich, Voelz, Wegener, Williams, and Wirth). We also have $500 each from Luna Vista Rotary, Davis Sunrise Rotary and Winters Rotary.

VIEW APPROVED DRAWINGS OF WASHROOM

TO BE BUILT IN PHASE TWO

Photos shown below show facilities similar to the ones to be built in Phase Two. They were built for another WASH Project in Nairobi.

2022 Woodland Rotary

Dinner Auction

Under the leadership of President-elect Shawn Seyk, we enjoyed a very successful 2022 Dinner Auction on Saturday, April 23 at the California Agricultural Museum raising funds for

Woodland Girls Fastpitch Softball. We had 226 paid guests attending.

FINANCIAL SUMMARY

2022 Dinner Auction

SPONSORS

SILVER ($1,000)

SB Voelz Farming - Blair & Jan Voelz

Matchbook Wine Co - John& Lane Giguerre

Wilkinson International - Terry Wilkinson

Edward Jones - Jen Ward, Craig Miyamoto, Mike Russell, Brian Dwyer & Kevin Haarberg

Van Beurden Insurance Services - Aniek Pflager

Wraith, Scarlett & Randolph Insurance Services, Inc - Tabb Randolph

Yolo Federal Credit Union - Jenee Rawlings