Members of the Rotary Club of Morgan Hill couldn’t contain their excitement at presenting the City of Morgan Hill with the largest gift they have made since the local chapter of the nonprofit service organization was founded in 1955.
At the Sept. 27 city council meeting, the club gave the city a check for $100,000, to be spent on features for two new public parks under construction in downtown Morgan Hill. The gift—the result of four years of fundraising—is specifically designated for a 56-foot “Rotary Slide” on the Hilltop Park at the top of West Third Street; and for a 30-foot “Rotary Peace Bridge” crossing West Little Llagas Creek, located between West Second and Third streets in the downtown Creek Park, according to Rotary Club of Morgan Hill members.
“We’re ecstatic, we are thrilled, we are jumping out of our skin because we are so happy to make a donation to you,” Rotary Club of Morgan Hill Past President Theresa Kiernan told the council as she was surrounded by her fellow club members.
The enthusiasm infected Mayor Steve Tate as well. “On behalf of the city and the council, we joyfully, and gladly, and wholeheartedly accept this donation. It’s outstanding,” Tate said upon receiving a poster-sized mockup of the $100,000 check in front of a crowded audience at the Sept. 27 meeting.
Kiernan noted the club performed “due diligence” to determine who should receive the $100,000 donation and how it should be spent.
“We decided on this project because when we looked at the benefit it would have to so many people in this community, and to people who come to this community in order to visit and support (Morgan Hill), this was the best place to land with our major gift,” Kiernan said.
Randy Toch, the Rotary Club of Morgan Hill current president, noted that the effort to raise funds for the $100,000 has spanned the terms of four club presidents. He specifically identified club members John McKay and Jeff Perkins for their “leadership role in…dealing with the city” to identify possible ways to spend the donation.
“The new parks will change the already evolving character of downtown Morgan Hill,” Toch said in a press release. “We wanted to make a substantial contribution and create a regional attraction that would make the downtown especially vibrant for children and the young at heart.”
The city is in the process of building three new parks downtown—the Hilltop Park, the Creek Park and the Railroad Park (on Depot Street just south of the train station building). City staff said these parks are expected to be completed and open to the public by the end of November.
The Rotary Slide will descend the eastern face of downtown’s Nob Hill, below the city’s giant green water tank, the press release continues. The recreational slide will be built in two segments: the upper 21-foot “slower” slide, and a lower 35-foot segment that will offer faster speeds.
The Rotary Peace Bridge, just down the hill from the slide and located between a residential and a commercial property, will “ease access for people coming from the west side of Monterey Road,” the press release states. The bridge and connected walkway will lead to a small park with benches, tables, playground features and other pathways.
The bridge is already mostly built, but not open for public use. A “Rotary International” emblem is embedded into the bridge’s walking surface.
The $100,000 gift was made possible by the Rotary Club of Morgan Hill Endowment, a nonprofit charitable organization, according to the press release.
Rotary Club of Morgan Hill is a service organization that is part of Rotary International, a worldwide organization of business and professional leaders that “provides humanitarian service, encourages high ethical standards in all vocations, and helps build goodwill and peace in the world.”
Kiernan listed other ways Rotary Club of Morgan Hill has recently spent its “charitable giving” at the Sept. 27 council meeting: $35,000 for local nonprofits, $20,000 for high school students heading to college, $10,000 for literacy programs and $40,000 for “world community service projects that support women, children and seniors in places like Mexico and Nigeria” and other countries.
For more information about Rotary Club of Morgan Hill, visit the club’s website at morganhillrotary.org or on Facebook.
