Red Bluff stocks two Rotary clubs

Article Last Updated: Friday, May 16, 2003 - 9:02:24 AM PST Red Bluff Daily News By CHERYL BRINKLEY-DN Staff Writer Fri May 16 09:05:05 2003 -- Many small towns have a Rotary club, but Red Bluff has two.

Sunrise Rotary meets at 7 a.m. every Friday at the Red Rock Cafe, while Red Bluff Rotary meets at noon on Tuesdays at the Elks Lodge.

As one of the oldest international service organizations, Rotary was started in 1905 in Chicago by a man named Paul Harris.

He began Rotary for "humanitarian service and peace in the world" by business and professional persons. The Rotary motto is: "He profits most who serves most."

Cathy Patterson of Northwest Training Institute is the president, by default, of Sunrise Rotary and will continue in the position for the following year.

Don Jones of Morgan Stanley is the president of Red Bluff Rotary.

Red Bluff Rotary was established May 13, 1924. It currently has 94 members. Red Bluff Rotary helped establish the morning club, which at this time has 17 members.

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"When you are a Rotarian, you belong to all clubs worldwide," Patterson said. "The organization really pushes for 100 percent attendance and all members to be involved."

As many organizations that began in the early 1900s, Rotary has only allowed women to be members since 1989.

As an international service organization, Rotary members are involved in good causes - worldwide and local.

Local youth benefit with scholarships to assist with furthering their education. This year, the Sunrise Rotary will hand out five $500 scholarships, while Red Bluff Rotary will present 14 graduating teens with $1,000 scholarships. Funding for the scholarships comes from fund-raisers such as the February crab feed, and this year for the first time, a soup and salad event that is coming up.

"We are working with a potter who is making bowls that can be taken home as souvenirs," Patterson said. "A family of four can get a complete set."

Red Bluff Rotary holds internal fund-raisers as well as the Halloween party at the community center, and the beer booths at the Red Bluff Round-Up Rodeo.

"What most people don't know is that Red Bluff Rotary is the owner of the Cone and Kimball Plaza," Jones said. "We got tired of looking at that fence and got together with the Historic Red Bluff Association to see what we could do. We collect and distribute the money collected in conjunction with HRBA. They have been a huge help in putting things together for reconstruction."

A major project for Rotary International is the eradication of polio worldwide in conjunction with the World Health Organization.

"Polio has been eradicated in approximately 98 percent of the world," Jones said. "Reaching the more remote areas of the world is very expensive. Red Bluff has already raised more than $9,000 specifically for this purpose."

The organization now has a three-year program to finish the eradication of polio.

Sunrise Rotary is involved with a literacy program each year.

"Last year, we made sure every third-grader had a personal dictionary," Patterson said.

Proceeds from this year's Roving Jail during Round-Up Week went to the wheelchair foundation "to make sure that all those who had a need could receive a wheelchair."

They sponsor a youth service club at Red Bluff Union High School called Interact, and they sponsor foreign exchange students. During an international project last year, Sunrise Rotary drilled a well in Venezuela for a community that had no water.

They are also involved with a group called Roto-plast. Members of Rotary who are plastic surgeons go into Third World countries and perform plastic surgery, especially facial disfigurements.

Two leadership-type camps are held for youth. They are called Camp Venture and Camp Royale.

Red Bluff Rotary works with the Tehama County Special Olympics with funding and manpower.

"We served almost 500 athletes and their helpers with lunch this year," Jones said.

The club also provides manpower for the Community Career Day and help judge at the annual 4-H Field Day, as well as sponsoring one of Red Bluff's Boy Scout troops.

Another source of funding for scholarships for the club is the annual Chili Cook-off where they sell tasting kits for the People's Choice chili contest. The advertising signs at the Pauline Davis Pavilion at the Tehama District Fairground, in conjunction with the Tehama County Fair Board, are sold by Rotary and they collect the money.

"Ninety percent of the proceeds go into a Pauline Davis Pavilion improvement fund," Jones said.

Red Bluff Rotary members sponsor foreign exchange students from UC Davis for four days each year. The students stay with Rotarian families and are shown rural living.

"We take them on trips to Mt. Lassen, for rides on the river in the Sheriff's boats, a tour a Bell Carter Olives and Pactiv, as well as showing them the different types of agriculture we have in Tehama County," Jones said.

Barbecues are held and there is a lot of community involvement, Jones added.

"We keep them busy, but it works out very well."