Pleasanton's Active Rotary Clubs Are Joined by Rotaract, Group for Young Professionals

By Hacienda Network Staff Writer

With the July chartering of Tri-Valley Rotaract, Pleasanton is now home to another Rotary organizations. Rotaract is distinct from the three existing adult groups - Rotary Club of Pleasanton, Pleasanton North Rotary Club, and Tri-Valley Rotary Club - in its structure and membership target, in general students and professionals aged 18 to 35. It also meets semi-monthly, instead of weekly, as do the more established clubs.

What it has in common with its "elders" is a strong focus on service, supporting the more mature organizations in their efforts. Under the leadership of President Asa Strout-Hearick, Rotaract members are pitching in on the Tri-Valley Rotary club's August barbecue and will be helping with a swim-a-thon in October. The club is also collaborating with its district-wide counterparts on a fundraiser for childhood AIDS prevention.

Rotaract meets at 7:30 pm on the first and third Thursdays every month at Handle's Gastro Pub in downtown Pleasanton. Members typically arrive early for socializing. Visit the group's Facebook site www.facebook.com/TriValleyRotaract or email trivalleyrotaract@gmail.com for more information.

With almost 100 members, Rotary Club of Pleasanton, often referred to as the Downtown club because its Thursday noon meetings are held at Hap's on Main Street, is well known for its fundraising Spirit Run, which traditionally takes place on Father's Day. Proceeds support scholarships for deserving students at local high schools and charitable giving programs.

The club is also involved in several high-impact community service projects, local and international, relates President Bob Brown. In August members will be delivering wheelchairs to mobility-challenged individuals in Puebla, Mexico, and in December will host dinner and entertainment for seniors at the Pleasanton Senior Center. Go to www.pleasantonrotary.org for more information and membership details.

Pleasanton North Rotary Club has a quarter-century of specialty-themed fundraisers to its credit. The latest, A Starry Night Annual Gala, on September 21, features dinner, dancing, and an auction with a Caribbean twist.

It has been a busy summer, says Past President Tina Case. Members helped at the American Cancer Society's Relay for Life and will prepare food for the Taylor Family Foundation's Day in the Park fundraiser at Camp Arroyo on August 25. The club has a strong commitment to Dublin's School of Imagination and to REACH, which operates group homes that enable disabled adults to live independent lives. In addition to supporting Interact, the Rotary service group for high-schoolers, and other initiatives that help create future leaders, the club holds an annual Valentine's Day dinner for seniors and has a long-standing wheelchair donation program.

Weekly meetings are on Friday at the Hilton on Owens, at 12:15 pm. For membership details, go to www.pnr-rotary.org. For Gala tickets, visit www.astarrynight.org.

Like Rotaract, the Tri-Valley Evening Rotary Club holds its meetings after work, Thursdays at 6:00 pm at Castlewood Country Club. The smallest club in the city has been growing steadily over the past few years, says President Carol Vander Meulen.

Its service initiatives assist several different constituencies. The group has already begun to collect winter coats for annual distribution to needy school-age kids and is planning a sing-along fundraiser at Livermore's Vine Theater later in the year. On August 17 members gathered at the V.A. hospital in Livermore to prepare a barbecue lunch for veterans and their families. In December it will treat a dozen seniors who have no family nearby to a celebratory holiday meal in a local restaurant. Visit www.trivalleyrotary.org for more information.

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