CARLSBAD — More than a hand-out, the Carlsbad Hi-Noon Rotary Club continues to offer a hand up to those in need the community.In the last six months, the Carlsbad Hi-Noon Rotary Club has hosted its annual golf tournament and joined forces with its sister Carlsbad Rotary Club to host the annual Carlsbad Oktoberfest. As a result, Hi-Noon Rotarians have raised more than $50,000 for scholarships for teens and Marines, hosted a Jefferson Elementary School Christmas party, provided Christmas gifts to 10 Jefferson families in need and given financial support to the Carlsbad Police and Fire Explorers’ program and the Agua Hedionda Lagoon Foundation.
Since July 1, almost $7,500 has been distributed to the Carlsbad Education Foundation, La Posada, La Costa Youth Organization, Trauma Intervention Program (TIP), the Veterans Association of North County, Carlsbad Music Foundation and the Carlsbad High Music Festival.
“Since 1980, Carlsbad Hi-Noon Rotarians have provided community service to the city, the region and internationally,” said club president Yvonne Finocchiaro. “Margaret Mead had it right when she said, ‘Never doubt that a small group of committed citizens can change the world; indeed, it is the only thing that ever has.’ Rotarians strive to improve their communities and the world every day. The Rotary motto of ‘Service Above Self’ is a work in progress, not a simple slogan.”
Beyond funds, she said, the Hi-Noon Rotarians have provided hands-on assistance by helping the city with its Batiquitos Lagoon Trail clean-up, the Pendleton Military Outreach Ministries (MOM) with a loading dock repair, and the Carlsbad Christmas Bureau with volunteers and by providing food and gifts for some of the more than 500 families served by the bureau last December.
Club members have put on a book fair at Jefferson Elementary School and distributed dictionaries to every third-grade student in the Carlsbad school district.
Carlsbad Hi-Noon Rotary is part of Rotary International, a worldwide service organization of men and women that has tackled such massive projects as eradicating polio worldwide and bringing water to Third-World communities.
For more information on Hi-Noon Rotary, go to carlasbadhinoonrotary.org.
