March 9, 2007

Evergreen Rotary Club honored at State of the City event

Group honored for charitable service to children, international community

By Ali Abdollahi
Staff Writer

The Rotary Club of San Jose East/Evergreen was among the community honorees at the San Jose Community Breakfast and State of the City event held on March 7.

The Rotary Club of San Jose East/Evergreen was honored for providing community service projects of various types for the past four decades, with a special emphasis on serving youth.

Along with the District 8 office of Vice Mayor Dave Cortese, The Rotary Club co-sponsored the annual “A Day in the Park” festival in October of 2006. Twenty-one Rotarians participated during the park festivities, providing free blood tests, handing out stroke symptom alert cards, and creating awareness about their organization.

Among the Rotary Club’s activities for youth and young adults are the Early Act Club, the Interact Club, and the Rotoract Club. The club also offers career development and mentoring programs, sponsors high school speech contests and distributes dictionaries to middle school students.

Vice Mayor Dave Cortese presents representatives from the Rotary Club of San Jose East/Evergreen – Ruth Sypert Ashford and Nick Leon – with community honoree awards at the Community Breakfast and State of the City event held March 7.

One of the club’s most popular youth programs is the “Fishing in the City” activity held at Lake Cunningham.

Internationally, the Rotary Club of San Jose East/Evergreen helps eradicate polio, provides wheel chairs, supplies pumps for clean drinking water in Africa, supports a women's literacy program in India, sponsors students and young professionals in international exchange programs, and provides books and desks for students in Zimbabwe.

This year, new international projects will include establishing a clothing distribution center in Mexico, and establishing a water collection program and irrigation ponds that will enable an old-age home in Mirpur, India, to become self sufficient by raising fish and growing vegetables.