RB SunRise Rotary Volunteers for 2 Work Projects

Posted 
on May 02, 2016
 
Saturday April 30, 2016 marked the 10th anniversary of Rotarians at Work.  This Rotary Hands On Event was inspired by the late Bob Watson who was the District Governor in 2005-2006.  His dream was that on one day, Rotarians in clubs around the world would all do volunteer projects.  The first year, District 5340 was joined by District 4100 (Tijuana, Mexico).  Since then, this idea has grown and has been adopted by many districts and Rotary International.
 
 
RB Sunrise Rotary Club had 2 volunteer crews working on April 30 2916.  The first was a crew that was volunteering at the Poway Valley Therapeutic Riding Center (PoVA).  PoVA is a charity that was launched several years ago after the Executive Director, Ingrid Mourey spoke to RB Sunrise about starting a therapy riding center in the area.  RB Sunrise has done multiple RAW projects at PoVA. Here is this years project report:

 
 
Saturday morning started with cloudy skies and a light rain. Anyone else might have given up, but Rancho Bernardo Sunrise Rotary  committed volunteers did not give up!  We managed to assemble and construct a 12’ by 12’ shade structure in one day!
 
The foundation was poured in advance of the event. Mark Berdan and Jay Riordan were the two master builders who led us! We always enjoy volunteering for different projects, but this one is specially wonderful because it is something we put together with our hands (and using power tools!) and as a structure, it will provide shade for PoVa Volunteers for years to come.
 
In addition to the shade structure, a group of us helped with major weeding and clean up in the ranch, as well as paining four storage sheds. We call it Rotarians At Work day, but for us it is really “Rotarian Having Fun day”, because we enjoy so much giving back to our community.
 
The second volunteer crew traveled to the Ronald McDonald House located behind Rady Children's Hospital in Kearney Mesa. 
 
l to r: Rob Weinberg (with hat), Jim Dunny, Kim Musluskey, Michael Rennie, Jeanne MacLaren, Karen Mortimer, Bob Davie, Jean Russo
We arrived at Ronald McDonald House prepared to paint and do cleaning. Because of the rain, we could not do painting, but we tackled a large project in their storeroom.  The back portion of a storeroom on the street level contained toys and gifts such as puzzles and games.  The storage area was filled to the ceiling with gifts that included large boxes of stuffed animals. All of these toys were placed in this storeroom as they came in and were stacked with no semblance of order.
 
toy storage - before toy storage - after 
We set to work and took all of the large boxes of plush toys out and repackaged them into the boxes - this time in a large plastic bag to protect them.  Games and other toys were removed, sorted and then placed by age groups on shelves. After several hours of sorting and filling boxes, the toys were all back in the storeroom.  Now they were ready for the events in the future when they will be distributed to children in San Diego and at the Ronald McDonald House in Tijuana.  In past volunteer projects RB Sunrise has gained the reputation for working hard and doing a lot of work.  This time was no different.  The staff there was very grateful for our work.