Scheduled from 6 to 10 p.m. on Saturday, May 10, the “Rotary by the Sea” 2008 fundraiser takes place at the Oceano Hotel & Spa at the new Harbor Village development in Princeton. As in its previous incarnation, Rotary at the Ritz, it will blend festivity, refreshment, prizes and celebration with Rotary’s local and global humanitarian work.
“This is the one major fundraiser that the Rotary Club does every year, and proceeds from it will fund all the things we do, both internationally and in the community throughout the year,” said seven-year Rotarian and current Half Moon Bay club President Charles Nelson.
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The fundraiser will feature a reception with substantial hors d’oeuvres, wine and champagne. Topping off the evening will be dancing to a deejay and a raffle.
In between, a special presentation is scheduled by past Rotary International president and powerful inspirational speaker Cliff Dochterman.
Items up for raffle include a third prize of four tickets to a San Francisco Giants game along with a visit to the broadcast booth, a second prize of a two-night stay at the Ritz-Carlton, Half Moon Bay, including brunch for two, and a first prize of a Caribbean cruise for two, including airfare.
Throughout the evening there will be chances to get acquainted with Half Moon Bay Rotary and the causes the event supports.
Close to home, the Half Moon Bay Rotary Club Foundation provides $10,000 annually to the RotaCare Coastside Clinic for free, urgent medical care to uninsured and underinsured Coastsiders. It sponsors the activities of the Half Moon Bay High School Interact Club, an offshoot of Rotary for service-minded teens. Also locally, the club supports youth programs including its Laws of Life ethics-based teen essay contest and providing third-graders with illustrated dictionaries.
Farther away, the local club awarded $12,000 to G.R.A.C.E. USA, founded by former Rotarian Natasha Martin of Half Moon Bay, which provides tuition for teens orphaned by AIDS in Africa.
And the club continues to support projects to bring potable water to communities in Ecuador, with which the club has established ties over several years. In the wake of unseasonable, lethal flooding there, the club is bringing water purification systems, pumps and piping to serve hundreds of families in poverty-stricken Bahia de Caraquez (site of Half Moon Bay Rotary’s sister club) and the Amazon basin. A fourth international project is bringing potable water into an area in Nepal.
Space is limited for Rotary by the Sea. For further information and for event and raffle tickets, call (650) 240-1818.
