Story reprinted from the RB News Journal of July 16, 2015
 
Alison Farrin, President 2015-16
Rancho Bernardo Sunrise Rotary
Rancho Bernardo Sunrise Rotary’s new president said the club was “highly recommended” to her when looking for a service organization to join 22 years ago.
 
“I was looking for a community association where I could give back to the community,” said Alison Farrin, who became president on July 1. “My kids were in school and I was working full time … but wanted a place that would provide service back to the community.”
 
Farrin said she liked the club’s activity level. “It has substantially younger-age members and when I visited, learned they actively do a lot of service projects, not just show up at meetings to eat breakfast. They do good things in the community.”
 
While picking a favorite project is difficult, Farrin said among notables for her is the annual house building in Tijuana, which the club has done for more than 10 years. “It’s big, almost everybody in the club is involved,” she said. “It’s hands-on and we do a lot of good.”
 
She also mentioned the club’s participation in the annual Rotarians at Work Day, held on the last Saturday in April. For the past few years, she said Sunrise Rotarians spruced up PoVa (Poway Valley Therapeutic Riding Center).
 
On the international front, Farrin said she likes how the Sunrise club works with other clubs and utilizes matching grants so its monetary contributions go farther. For example, she said they recently spent $10,000 on projects that provided a $190,000 benefit due to matching funds and working with others.
 
 
“It’s fantastic, the things we’re doing with very limited capital ourselves due to our connections and matching,” Farrin said. Endeavors included purchasing a new ambulance for people in Nigeria and getting fresh water to earthquake victims in Nepal, she said.
 
Regarding goals for the club during her yearlong presidency, Farrin said she would like to add one project to each of Rotary’s five avenues of service, which are international, vocational, community, youth and club. For the youth avenue, Sunrise Rotarians will start giving fourth graders free thesauruses, something other local clubs do. This adds to its programs for third graders (free dictionaries), fifth graders (Service Above Self awards), eighth graders (LEAD program) and high school juniors (RYLA program).
 
The club has 58 members, including honorary, with 52 of them being “active,” Farrin said. “We’re hoping to grow by five new members.”
As for other goals, Farrin mentioned starting an Interact Club at Poway High since its previous group “languished” and in addition to the five to seven scholarships given each year to Abraxas High students, starting a scholarship program at Poway High
.
“Rotary is not old guys sitting around. It’s young, vibrant professionals doing good things,” Farrin said. She is a retirement plans administrator at Innovative Pension in Poway. “It’s like a CPA for your 401K,” she said.
 
After living in Poway for many years, Farrin and her husband, Mark, moved to Ramona a few years ago to have more space for their horses and collector cars, she said. The couple has been married for 35 years, has a grown daughter and son, and almost 3-year-old granddaughter.
“I couldn’t leave this club, it has a great group of people,” Farrin said. “I love RB Sunrise Rotary.”
 
The club meets at 7:15 a.m. each Tuesday at the Country Club of Rancho Bernardo. There is a $75 initiation fee, plus an $18 weekly meeting fee. Members are also expected to do fundraising or donate the amount they could have raised.
 
“We can only get projects done if we raise money,” Farrin said. Funds raised by the club are often matched by grant for Rotary District 5340 and the Rotary Foundation.  For larger expensive international projects, RB Sunrise partners with other Rotary clubs in San Diego and around the world, who also can get matching grants from their districts and the Rotary Foundation. 
 
For membership details, go to rbsunrise.org or contact Mary Stanton at 858-449-9243 or managementservices@san.rr.com.