Woodland Rotary - The Rotary Club of Woodland Website

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.

Frits van der Hoek, Deputy District Attorney in the Yolo County DA's office, was installed as a new member of the Club on September 20, 2022 by President Shawn Seyk and sponsor Tom Schwarzgruber. At our request, Frits provided us the following bio. If you haven't already done so, take a moment to introduce yourself to Frits when you meet and welcome him to the Club.

Frits grew up in Kern County and attended SJSU after high school. Frits obtained his bachelor's degree in criminal justice and worked as a police officer at San Jose State University for ten years. While working as police officer Frits attended law school at Santa Clara University and after graduating was hired by the Yolo County District Attorney's Office.

Frits has worked at the Yolo County District Attorney's Office for over seven years and as a team lead he prosecutes all types of cases, from driving under the influence to murder. He is the current president of the Yolo County Deputy District Attorney's Association.

In 2019 Frits joined the US Army Reserves as a Judge Advocate and in 2020 he served at the Special Victims Trial Counsel at Fort Sill. Frits still serves as a reservist and is currently an embedded Judge Advocate with the 311th Sustainment Command.

Frits and his wife have three children. The family spends most free time attending the children's sporting events and caring for their 17 chickens, 5 cats, 4 rats, and 1 dog.

Our Rotary Club assisted in AARP California's Document Shredding event also sponsored by the Yolo County District Attorney's office and the City of Woodland at the Woodland Senior Center on September 28. Brian Dwyer, Tom Schwarzgruber, Gary Wirth, Eric Zane, Frits van der Hoek, and Dan Stroski participated.

President Shawn Seyk was happy to have safely flown back yesterday from Tampa Bay FL before Hurricane Ian arrived there. President Shawn & Kris Kristensen reported the Club received some bad news last week as Woodland Community College has taken steps to replace the Community Marquee located in front of the college. Our Club had contributed $30,000 in proceeds from our 2015 Dinner Auction to the College's Foundation for the purchase and installation of the marquee. According to College President Art Pimentel, the College has had trouble keeping the marquee operational since its installation. The marquee's warranty expired two years ago and, now, needed replacement parts are no longer available. The College had no choice but to remove the old marquee last week and plans to install a new marquee in the near future. The original marquee as it was installed in 2015 is pictured above.

We had several visiting Rotarians and guests with us today. Yvette Roy introduced her guest, husband Craig Roy. Woodland Sunrise Rotarian Don Sharp joined us again today. Our old friend and former member Mahlon Whittle came over for a visit from Hawaii and joined us today. Wendy Casas introduced her guest, husband Joe Raviotta.

Christian Sherrill was happy about the success his children were having in local youth sports. Brian Dwyer received the $314 check for winning the raffle last week...and was promptly fined $5 by today's Recognition lead Don Huff III. Dan Stroski was sad at the passing of a cousin of his who had struggled with drug abuse. President Shawn was happy his father was doing better following emergency heart surgery. Jayne Williams was happy to invite members and guests to attend All Leaders Must Serve's Annual Dinner on November 3. More information about the ALMS Dinner and sponsorship opportunities are available in the Special Events Calendar of this website, as well as on the ALMS website: allleadersmustserve.org

Our own Wendy Casas-Raviota, a local criminal defense attorney, was our program speaker today. Wendy gave us an indepth look at different kinds of Restraining Orders available.

The three Woodland Rotary Clubs held a social at Blue Note Brewery on Wednesday, September 21, 2023. A good turnout!

Frits van der Hoek, Deputy District Attorney with the Yolo County District Attorney's office, was inducted as a new member of the Club this afternoon. Sponsor Tom Schwarzgruber introduced Frits to the Club. WELCOME FRITs!

Woodland Sunrise Rotarians Don Sharp and Charles Mack visited us today. Jayne Williams introduced her guest and prospective new Club member, Robert Beggs, Chief Engineer of Brown & Caldwell, Davis.

Under the direction of Bob Nakken, the Club voted unanimously today to elect the following members to the Woodland Rotary Endowment Board of Directors:

(Term ending 6/30/23) - Yvette Roy, Carl Rodegerdts, Tabb Randolph and Bob Nakken

(Term ending 6/30/24) - Clyde Brooker, Nick Roncoroni, Lisa Martinez Dunham,

Yvette Roy admitted to wearing a Seattle Seahawks jersey recently. Mark Ullrich was happy about the SF 49ers victory over Seattle last Sunday despite the major injury suffered by starting quarterback Trey Lance. Derrek Kaff reported that his mother-in-law, who he and wife Patty have been caring for, recently passed away. Derrek enjoys his relationship with his father-in-law, who was also a Rotarian. Don Huff III was happy (we think!) to have returned from his summer residence at Lake Tahoe and away from the wildfire smoke there.

Kara Hunter, Executive Director, Yolo Conflict Resolution Center, was our guest speaker today, giving us a review of the Center's overall mission as well as its work in Restorative Justice. Thanks to Derrek Kaff for arranging for and introducing our speaker.

After a two-year absence, the Rotary Beer Booth at the Yolo County Fair was active again, August 17-21. Our Club participates with 9 other Yolo County Rotary Clubs in staffing 152 shift slots over the four day run. The Beer Booth generated $69,970 in revenue this year; down from $72,438 in 2019. 85 kegs of beer were tapped this year; down from 90 in 2019. Coors Light was the best selling beer. Also, 109 bottles of wine and 30 cases of hard seltzer cans were also sold.

While final figures are pending review, net profits this year are projected at $27,178; down from $28,917 in 2019. It is anticipated each of the 10 participating clubs will get $2,700.

Eric Zane, Fire Chief, City of Woodland, was installed as a new member of the Club on April 26, 2022 by President Dan Stroski and Membership Chair David Pinto. At our request, Eric provided us the following bio. If you haven't already done so, take a moment to introduce yourself to Eric when you meet and welcome him to the Club.

Eric is the 5th generation Woodlander, graduating from Woodland High School in 1997. Soon after graduation, Eric attended the Butte College Fire Academy and began his fire service career with Cal-Fire in Butte County. While working as a firefighter, Eric obtained his Associates Degree in Fire Science and transferred to CSU-Chico where he graduated with a Bachelors in Public Administration. Upon graduation, Eric was hired by the City of Folsom Fire Department, as a firefighter.

In 2005, Eric saw an opportunity to work for the Woodland Fire Department, was hired by, then Fire Chief Carl Diekman (Rotarian). Eric served in the rank of Firefighter, Engineer, Captain, and Battalion Chief before his appointment to Fire Chief in 2020. Eric is proud of that fact that he is the first home-grown fire chief the City has had in over 100 years.

Eric and his wife Jennifer have two boys, Carter, and Trevor. When not working or attending the boys sporting events, Eric and his family enjoy fly fishing.

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.

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.

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

Youth, or New Generations, is one of Rotary's areas of focus. Camp Royal is an annual leadership development program by District 5160 where individual clubs sponsor ($950 per camper) 130 high school juniors to attend a 6 day, 5 night summer camp just prior to starting their senior year. This year the District 5160 Camp Royal took place in late July at Grizzly Creek Ranch Camp outside of Portola CA. The camp program is run by Lain Hensley and Odyssey Teams. Unable to find a local student, our Club sponsored Andrew King, a student at Durham High School in Durham CA to attend. Andrew attended a recent Club meeting to thank the Club and to give us a report on what he did and learned at camp. Our own Gary Wegener is a member of the District's Camp Royal Committee.

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

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