The Rotary Club of Sedona celebrated its 60th birthday by hosting the February 15 Sedona Chamber of Commerce Mixer held at Sedona Arts Center. The club took this opportunity to review its history and showcase the impact it’s making locally and globally.
With the help of the Sedona Heritage Museum, club members assembled a slideshow with newspaper clippings showing early club activities documented in the Red Rock Newspaper along with more recent activities.
Historical exhibits included a plaque engraved with the names of club presidents from 1958 through 2000. Club member Gary Karademos displayed a selection of the nearly 2,000 trading banners brought to Sedona by Rotarians visiting from clubs all over the world. A timeline showed how new Rotary Clubs in Sedona were spawned from the original club, including the soon-to-be Sedona Village Club.
The Rotary Club of Sedona has been especially active in recent years. Most of the display space was taken up by three of the club’s areas of service.
Jennette Bill, chair of Youth Services, presented displays ranging from early childhood development (Imagination Library) through high school scholarships, leadership development and International Youth Exchange programs. Current inbound exchange student, Gui Garcia from Brazil, and the club’s outbound student attended to chat with people about their experiences as exchange students.
One of the greatest impact projects the club has undertaken in recent years was underwriting Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library for Sedona and the Village of Oak Creek eight years ago. Studies have determined that 90 percent of a person’s brain development is achieved before age 5. Imagination Library aids helps to develop literacy and a love of reading by sending age appropriate books to children from birth to age 5. The program has expanded to the entire Verde Valley and is now its own 501 (c) (3), the Verde Valley Imagination Library, supported by all three of the Rotary Clubs in the Verde Valley. Over 1,550 children are currently receiving free books in the mail each month.
Rotary Clubs worldwide are encouraged to work together to support projects that will have enduring results throughout the world. Dick Youngberg, Chair of International Services, displayed recent International projects that have been done in partnership with Rotary Clubs in the project country, including: providing safe water and cooking stoves in rural Guatemala, providing books for elementary school libraries in Mexican villages, collecting used textbooks from area schools to send to schools in Africa, where students have no textbooks at all. Annually, the Rotary Club of Sedona funds ShelterBoxes, providing emergency shelter to victims of natural disasters and refugees worldwide.
The Rotary Club of Sedona participates in Sedona Community Suppers, Yavapai Food Council programs such as the Green Bag program. The club funded packaging and refrigeration equipment for the Bountiful Kitchen to provide school lunches in rural schools that do not have their own kitchens. Rotary is also active in highway and creek clean-up efforts.
The primary source of funds for the various club programs is the Great Sedona Chili Cook-Off held each year at Tlaquepaque as part of the Cinco de Mayo celebration. The most consistent winner of the Cook-Off, El Rincon Restaurant, catered the event with their winning chili and other tasty treats.
About 100 people attended the mixer. Photos from the event can be seen at http://sedonarotary.org/PhotoAlbums/60th-anniversary-mixer