Home Page | Rotary Club of La Mesa Sunrise

Welcome to our Club!

Service Above Self

We meet Fridays at 7:15 AM
Marie Callender's Restaurant

6950 Alvarado Rd
San Diego, CA 92120
United States

Phone:

(858) 204-8983

Email:

howlandbetty@yahoo.com

President

President Elect

Past President

Secretary

Treasurer

Fundraising

Club Foundation Account

Community Service

TRF/Grants

Youth Service

International Service

TRF/Grants Elect

Membership

Pathways to Peace

Program Chair

Committees Update

Posted on May 05, 2018

This year, we formed new committees to enable better communication from members to the Board of Directors and back to the members. The Projects Committee has created a form that a member can fill out and submit to the committee if he/she has an idea for a project that needs funding from our club. The procedure is simple. Fill out the form as thoroughly as you can. The committee will collect the form and read it carefully. If it seems like a good project, then the committee will submit their recommendation to the Board. If the Board decided it is a good project that fits with the principles and practices of Rotary International, and it is something worthy of funding, the Board will vote to approve the project. The next step will be a presentation to the club at a meeting. The La Mesa Rotary Foundation holds donated funds on behalf our our club. Many of these funds are budgeted for specific and on-going expenses for various projects. However, some of the funding available is not budgeted, which means money is available for other projects. The LMSR Foundation also has a form so any member wishing to do so, may submit a request for funds for a project.

In an effort to make these forms available for anyone to download to their computer and print the forms, Elly Dotseth is trying very hard to get the forms onto this website! In the mean time, while she struggles to achieve this goal, please ask Elly for the Projects form, or Christine for the LMSR Foundation form.

Rotarians at Work Day 2018

Posted on May 01, 2018

Harriet Tubman Village Charter School

At the bottom of this page is a slide show of images from the event.

Holiday Party

Posted by Laurel Nishida on Dec 08, 2017

Hugo and Manuela opened their beautiful home up to host our holiday party. And what a spread we had! Good food, good company, and good cheer.

We were treated to performances by Diego Hills Charter High School students!	A true holiday miracle - men doing the dishes. Just kidding, Paulo and Aaron! Thanks to all the helping hands, cleanup was done in no time!

Strategic Planning Session

Posted by Laurel Nishida on Dec 06, 2017

Chaired by Dianne Crawford of the Southeast San Diego club, our club held a strategic planning session to make our club even better. Through brain storming and collaboration with Dianne, we came up with excellent ideas and new inspiration.

The membership group discussed ideas on how to retain members and recruit new members.	The branding group discussed how to improve our visibility to the public and how to help make members feel a part of that brand.
The projects group discussed the projects that we've done and how to get ideas for new projects.	The rest of the projects group.

30th Anniversary Picnic

Posted by Laurel Nishida on Nov 12, 2017

Happy 30th anniversary, La Mesa Sunrise Rotary! Still going strong and this close to eradicating polio!

Pumpkin Carving at Harriett Tubman

Posted by Bill Pogue, Laurel Nishida on Oct 26, 2017

We held our annual pumpkin carving event at Harriett Tubman Village Charter School on Thursday October 26. 28 wide-eyed third graders each picked out a pumpkin. Most of them were children of immigrants so this was their first Halloween pumpkin ever. Betty Howland, Clara Harris, John Stremlau, Bill Pogue, and teachers helped cut the pumpkins and scoop them out. The kids were instructed to bake the seeds with butter for a delicious snack. At the end, several kids asked in high-pitched voices "can I take the pumpkin home?" LMSR club member and principal Ryan Woodard, assistant principal Rachel McCoy, and SEI Specialist and Rotarian Elisa Williams stopped by and talked with the students while they carved. The finished pumpkins were sprayed with lavender soap to preserve them for more than three weeks. Our members felt very enriched by this activity and the kids loved it!

Flash Garage Sale

Posted by Laurel Nishida on Oct 14, 2017

Our flash garage sale raised $1,675 for La Mesa Sunrise Rotary Club's hurricane and earthquake disaster relief fund. Thanks for all who donated, shopped, and helped out! And thank you, Jeff and Fern, for hosting this once again and putting in umpteen number of hours working on this! When's the next garage sale?

What a happy energetic team!	Here were the contestants for the Most Fabulous contest. Love that hair, Fern!
Christine knows she's fabulous.	Our fabulous new member Dave!

Items were in demand. Marta and Daisy duked it out over this blouse.	If you sit on it, you pay for it, Floyd.

Tree Planting Project

Posted by Laurel Nishida on Oct 13, 2017

For this Rotary year our Rotary International President Ian Riseley has requested that every Rotarian throughout the world plant a tree. Today La Mesa Sunrise Rotary checked that request off the list. In conjunction with Groundwork San Diego Chollas Creek's EarthLab and the muscle of 80 Navy personnel and students from local schools, we planted 40 fruit trees. Thank you for the collaboration, everyone, to "make a difference" in our tiny part of the world! If you would like to learn more about Groundwork San Diego, check out http://groundworksandiego.org/

President Betty and Christine with the fine folks in uniform.
Thank you, students!	What a cheery looking team.

Students hard at work.	We could never have done it without the Navy folks.

Fab Lab at Harriet Tubman Village Charter School!

Posted by Laurel Nishida on Sep 29, 2017

On September 29, 2017, parents, students, and members of the community attended a very special ribbon cutting celebration to mark the exciting opening of Harriet Tubman Village Charter School's Fab Lab. Fab Lab is an incredible science, technology, engineering, art, and mathematics (STEAM) lab equipped with state-of-the-art learning tools and technologies. Thanks to the Northrop Grumman Foundation and the support of the students, parents, staff, community, and others, Harriet Tubman was one of five schools across the country to win the Fab School Labs contest. They were awarded a $100,000 grant to provide a rigorous learning environment that will prepare students for high demanding colleges and careers.

Third Annual Afternoon Tea Fundraiser

Posted by Laurel Nishida on Sep 09, 2017

We held our third annual afternoon tea fundraiser on Saturday September 9 at Noah Homes, honoring 4 outstanding members of our community. It’s always a heartwarming experience knowing that there are kind, generous people out there humbly serving communities here and abroad. Dr. Asa Morton leads teams of eye care specialists to Guatemala through Helps international. Jane and Ron Tomczak are the founders of Challenge Ranch, a nonprofit organization dedicated to providing horseback riding lessons, team building activities, support, and encouragement to underprivileged children throughout San Diego. Jeffrey Sitcov is the founder of Doors of Change which has helped place over 1,800 San Diego homeless youth ages 12-17 in long-term safe housing. Dr. Elizabeth Jones is the founder of Foundation for the Children of the Californias, whose goal is to improve the health and nutrition for children through the operation of Hospital Infantil de las Californias.

We are very grateful to Noah Homes for once again allowing us to use their facility to host this event. Noah Homes is itself an admirable community model, providing exceptional lifelong residential services and opportunities for adults with intellectual and developmental disabilities.

Another successful and fun event under our belts!

Click on the link in the right column of our home page for more photos.

Dr. Asa Morton, Jeffrey Sitcov, and Jane and Ron Tomczak. Due to unforeseen circumstances, Dr. Elizabeth Jones was unable to attend.	Opportunity drawing
Photo booth, complete with hats	Arguably our cutest server Oliver attending to Lady Manuela

Edda, Alix, and Elly looking fabulous	Janet, et al looking just as fabulous
A big hand to all of our servers and our incomparable inimitable Christine	Susan and Rita voted Grant as best server (but they're biased).

Books are on the way to Liberia

Posted on Aug 25, 2017

Model UN 2017

Posted by Laurel Nishida on Apr 09, 2017

Our Rotary District 5340 Model United Nations, patterned after Winnipeg Rotary’s MUN and started by our District's Pathways to Peace Committee 13 years ago, is the only one in the US. Several hundred high school students from over 59 high schools engaged in simulated United Nations activities for an entire weekend. Each school team was assigned a country to represent that was not part of their personal family heritage and issues were debated. This year we had 4 students from Peru, Honduras, and Costa Rica - Joel, Aryani, Gabriela, and Ricardo. This year's Model UN event was held on April 8 and 9 at the Joan B. Kroc Institute for Peace and Justice at the University of San Diego.

An Inspiring Senior Project

Posted by Janet Castanos on Sep 22, 2016

The Rotary Club of La Mesa Sunrise had the privilege of making a small contribution to an inspiring event that was the brainchild of a Helix Charter High School student:

Uniting for Common Ground

Police and La Mesa youth have more in common than one might think. Historically the youth have not always felt safe around law enforcement and police have not always understood the lack of respect they have observed from youth. One student remarked, “We’re afraid of the police because we don’t trust what they will do!” The police commented, “All the youth have to do is to follow our direction.” The students were not convinced the police had their best interest in mind and believed the police were there to hassle them rather than help.

A Helix Charter High School Resident Leadership Academy decided to take action to resolve these fears and address the misunderstandings between youth and law enforcement. Under the leadership of Helix High Senior Asia Duncan, the students joined together with the La Mesa Police Department (LMPD) and the National Conflict Resolution Center (NCRC) to design an opportunity for open dialogue and active listening between youth and law enforcement where both sides heard each other’s concerns and addressed fears and frustrations.

District 5340's Feeding America Project

Posted by Laurel Nishida on Aug 07, 2016

Rotarians from around the district met at the Feeding America Distribution Center to help sort food, repack bulk foods, and fill bags to help families in need