Back by popular demand is Folsom Lake Rotary's annual gaming night fundraiser (Friday, April 26th at 6 pm) to be held at the Empire Ranch Gold Course Clubhouse located at 1620 East Natoma St. in Folsom, CA. You won't want to miss this evening of gambling fun with good people all in the name of raising funds to help support local community projects and charities as well as Rotary International projects. Appetizers will be served as well as a no host bar. Our volunteers have secured A LOT of raffle prize items as well as live and silent auction items. The luckier you are, the greater your chances of winning some great raffle prizes. Click here for online tickets.

Ed Kaufmann came to our club today to talk about all the changes happening at the Folsom City Zoo Sanctuary.  They are in the middle of a new barn project. It's sure to add another element to our already fantastic zoo.  As funding for the zoo rely on donations please visit folsomzoofriends.org to donate today!

Marianne Oliphant of the Parkinson Association of Northern California came and spoke to our club today about the resources available to individuals and their families facing Parkinsons.  Marianne was very candid about her husband's struggles with the disease but also with all the wonderful options available now to help.

A great turn-out tonight for our 5th Wednesday meeting. Every month when there is a 5th Wednesday, our club holds a happy hour social meeting at a local restaurant in Folsom. This supports our community and creates a fun social atmosphere.  If you'd like to join us for our next 5th Wednesday, please contact Megan Ham at 916-804-5643.

We had an eye-opening frank conversation with a foster mom, Lauren, today. She has fostered many children over the years.  Some of the stories are heart breaking and some are inspirational.  A big thanks to Lauren for not only everything she does for the kids in the foster care system but also for coming to our club and providing a little insight.

We are very fortunate to have in our club the interim Fire Chief for Folsom, Dan Haverty.  We were able to get a tour of one of the fire houses and as luck would have it, a call came through at the end of our tour and we got to see our brave fire fighters in action!  Thanks Chief Haverty!

Check out this handsome bunch in our new Rotary shirts. Always proud to be Rotarians!

  

 

    

Here's our crew hard at work putting together gifts for the less fortunate elderly at that Folsom Care Center. We were able to help individuals with no families in the area have a nice surprise on Christmas!

Dr. Rachel Rosenthal, President of the Folsom Lake College spoke to our club today.  Not only did Rachel give us updates on all the new and exciting classes offered at Folsom Lake College, she talked about the expansion in Rancho Cordova.  For more information on the new campus, go to www.flc.losrios.edu.

A beautifully crisp day to honor our Veteran's!  We had a wonderful turn-out with all three of the Rotary clubs in Folsom for our Veteran's Day Parade float.  A big thank you to Micah Hayhurst for organizing our participation in the parade and driving the float again this year!

John McGinness is well known in our area.  Not only for his 31 years of service in the Sacramento County Sheriff's Department where he retired in December 2010.  John is also an Adjunct Professor of Criminal Justice, Communications, Leadership and Professional Studies with the California State University.  And you can hear John on the radio every afternoon at 3PM on New Talk Radio AM 1530. John spoke to our group today about the upcoming election.  The focus was on our community and many of the initiatives on the ballot.  Best recommendation - read thoroughly on the ballot measures to understand the exact impact before voting.  An informed vote is key!

Oscar O'con Sr is a Rotarian through and through.  He is currently a member of the Laguna Sunrise Rotary Club but is also a past President of the Elk Grove Rotary Club and involved in many other local boards and clubs to benefit not only our community but internationally.  He serves as the Chief of Operations for the El Salvador civilian Intelligence.  Oscar spoke to our club today regarding projects they have been able to implement with Rotary in El Savador for better housing.  There are still many more opportunities to help.  If you are interested, please contact our club.

Today was a real treat to have Brigadier General Clay L. Garrison speak to our group. Brigadier General Garrison serves as Assistant Adjutant General - Air, California National Guard.  He is responsible for the mission readiness and operational effectiveness across a broad spectrum of programs and activities involving five wings and over 4500 military and civilian personnel serving at the ten locations within California.  

A big thanks to Brian Rober at FIS Managed IT for talking to our club today on Cyber Security.  A good reminder that if we are not careful our business and personal information is always at risk!

Our meeting today was all about Folsom!  We were pleased to have Joe Gagliardi from the Folsom Chamber of Commerce and Mary Ann McAlea.  Both talked about everything the city is doing to attract new businesses, new families and tourism.  Check out www.visitfolsom.com today for more information!

Each year our club sends two high school students to Camp RYLA (Rotary Youth Leadership Awards). This year we sent Geneva Huynh from Folsom High School.  Geneva came to our club to tell us all about this empowering experience and the lasting impact it's had for her future.  This camp prepares students for leadership roles and based on Geneva's presentation, she's well on her way!

Kristi More handing over the Rotary Bell to Megan Ham who will now step into the President Elect position for the 2016-2017 term.

 Dan Haverty was awarded another Paul Harris pin today, his 4th Paul Harris pin.  Thanks Dan for making such a difference in the lives of others!

Join us for this seasons Concerts In The Park at the Rodeo Park off E. Natoma Street in front of the Folsom Library.  We'll have pizza, drinks and candy for sale all season long.  All proceeds go to all three Rotary clubs in Folsom (Historic, Lunch and Evening clubs).  See you there!

A big thanks to Ingrid Tung and Terri Haverty for organizing and setting up the first ever book swap at Theodore Judah Elementary School.  These ladies made for a seemless event where all the students were able to bring in books and exchange them for another book of their choice.  Kids who didn't bring books to swap still walked away with a book! A great event that was very much appreciated by the Principal and teachers alike. 

We were pleased to be joined by Dr. Bill Wittich to speak at our club today.  Dr. Wittich is an author in the field of non-profit management.  He has several books published and spoke today about his book, Stop Recruiting / Start Attracting.  A lot of great information on growing membership within our Rotary group.  If you are interested in becoming a new member, please contact us today!

      

 

Our 2nd Annual Book Swap at Blanche Sprentz Elementary School today.  All kids were able to take home a book of their own choosing.  If they brought in books to trade, they got to take as many books they brought in PLUS one more.  A huge thanks to Terri & Dan Haverty in our club for organizing the running this event.  We had several club members on hand to help setup, walk the kids through their areas to help pick a book and tear down the event.  We'll be holding another book swap at Theodore Judah school at the end of April.  Our Folsom Lake Rotary Literacy program in action - a book for every child!

 We had a great community service meeting today.  Terri Haverty has done a fantastic job collecting books through out this year.  We got some help from some young Spring Breakers to sort out all the books by reading level for our book swap coming up at Blanche Sprentz Elementary on April 8th.  These champs got to take home a book themselves for all their hard work!

 

Our club also collected full baskets for Easter to donate to the Twin Lake Food Bank.  Our Spring Break volunteers in action again helping carry out all the donations.  Thanks to Diane Keeler in our club for coordinanting this!