Rotarians around the world carry out service projects in their local communities and abroad that address critical issues such as peace, poverty, childhood mortality, hunger, illiteracy, disease, and environmental concerns. The Encinitas Rotary Club continues to focus on youth in our community, encouraging students at all grade levels to become leaders. Each year our club provides dictionaries to all 3rd grade classrooms in the Encinitas school district. Last year our club sponsored an elementary classroom to attend BizTown. BizTown is an indoor center that contains a mini city with 19 public and private businesses. The students participate in job interviews and experience the working world for the first time. Our club sponsors multiple students each year to attend RotaryYouthLeadershipAcademy. This Academy equips high school students with valuable leadership skills and teaches them the importance of service above self. For several years the Rotary Club of Encinitas has Made Dreams Real for high school seniors in our community through a generous contribution of $10,000 per school year for college scholarships. The end result of these programs is that each child begins to dream big about their education and future goals.

The Encinitas Rotary Club continues to participate in diverse International projects as well. These projects range from hands on projects such as building homes in Mexico through Project Mercy, the donation of sewing machines to a refugee camp in Africa, providing wheelchairs to a village in Malawi, continuing support of the IREE school in Mexico, sponsoring multiple matching grant projects, housing long and short term exchange students from all parts of the world, assisting the Lost Boys of Sudan and other refugees to be comfortable in the United States and supporting the work and goals of Rotary International through generous giving to the Rotary Foundation. This is just a small list of the many International projects that have Made Dreams Real for families across the globe.

Where does the money come from? The people in our club put on two unique fundraisers that have been very successful. The first is the Encinitas Rotary Cup Soccer tournament. We put on a tournament every August where up to 250 youth teams come and compete for the Championship in their age bracket. The second is the Encinitas Rotary Club's Wine Festival held at the beautiful Quail Botanical Gardens. It takes all of our club members to help put these events on and the rewards are satisfying in that our hard work gives us the opportunity to help so many.

Membership in a Rotary club is an enjoyable and satisfying way for men and women to "give back" to their community, their country, and their world for the advantages they enjoy. Rotary clubs are open to every race, religion, and culture, and it is this diversity that makes being a Rotarian such an amazing experience. To be a Rotarian takes some commitment. We meet every Wednesday at the Encinitas Elks lodge at 1693 Windsor Road in the Cardiff-By-the-Sea section of Encinitas. Every Rotarian in our club is also asked to help out on our two big fundraisers and on Rotarians at Work Day. Many come in order to network with our club members. They stay because by giving of themselves, they develop life long friendships, help many and ultimately made their business more successful in the process.

Rotary was founded in 1905 by Paul Harris in Chicago, Illinois, with four original members. Today, we celebrate Rotary as the first, the largest, and the most prestigious international service organization in the world. Rotary has over 1.2 million business and professional leaders in some 31,000 Rotary clubs in more than 167 countries. Did you know that Rotary is responsible for almost eradicating Polio from the face of the earth? There are now less than 500 cases reported annually worldwide.

To learn more about the Encinitas Rotary Club or Rotary International, please feel free to call me at 760-889-0958, email me at kristin_gaspar@hotmail.com, visit the Rotary International Website at www.rotary.org, or visit Rotary District 5340's Website at www.rotary5340.org.

Thank you for visiting the Website of the Encinitas Rotary Club.