The Morgan Hill Rotary Club has two personas. We are a
fellowship club that meets weekly for lunch and an entertaining
program, and we have other regular social events. We fund
operations of this facet of our club through dues and collections
from our membership.
The Morgan Hill Rotary Club has two personas. We are a fellowship club that meets weekly for lunch and an entertaining program, and we have other regular social events. We fund operations of this facet of our club through dues and collections from our membership.
The second and more important face of our club to the Morgan Hill community is as a service organization that supports a plethora of charitable causes in the community through donations and labor.
Our endowment funds scholarships for graduating high school seniors, our Student of the Month program, our annual senior dinner, the “Young at Heart” concerts for seniors and our community improvement projects like the Rose Garden fence at the Community Center and the tables, benches and drinking fountain at Paradise Park. It also funds our donations to worthy causes like the YMCA, Magic Ship of Christmas, El Toro Youth Center, Community Solutions, RotaCare and Relay for Life.
Finally, it supports our overseas projects such as our recent aid to Sri Lanka’s tsunami relief efforts by sending them water purification equipment.
Funding of our charitable operations is through our Morgan Hill Rotary Endowment. The objective of an endowment fund is to have enough capital invested in a manner that it generates operational funding through interest, dividends and capital appreciation.
Our endowment has not yet reached the self-sustaining point, so we augment it with income from fundraising events. Our annual golf tournament in early October is our major fundraiser, and the April 16th Sock Hop event at the Community Center will not only help us celebrate 100 years of Rotary (50 in Morgan Hill), but also bolster our endowment fund.
There is one other source of funding for our endowment – donations! In our Sri Lanka tsunami relief efforts, we asked for donations not just from our membership, but from the general public. In about two weeks, we collected $11,500 – enough to fund the purchase of five purification systems, a phenomenal result that demonstrates the generosity and support of our great community.
While this recent fundraising effort was targeted for the Sri Lanka effort, our endowment is open to general contributions to help us fund the many worthwhile events, resources and supporting contributions that make our community “tick”.
One of those events is coming up this Saturday, Feb. 12 – our annual Senior Dinner event at the Buddhist Hall. This noontime dinner is put on at absolutely no cost to the attendees, who will also enjoy a Young at Heart concert, and have a chance to win one of many, many great raffle prizes. We will accept contributions to the endowment at the dinner.
Donating to the Morgan Hill Rotary Endowment is a great way to make a charitable contribution that will have a great deal of direct benefit to Morgan Hill, our own community and not be spread around the greater Silicon Valley.
The funds we do invest in overseas projects are almost always done in conjunction with Rotary Clubs in the receiving community, people we get to know and that can assure us that the funds are being spent only as specifically intended, with a known benefit.
If you are interested in making a contribution to the Morgan Hill Rotary Endowment or have any questions or comments, please contact me – st*******@*****er.net or 621-7377.
Steve Tate is immediate past president of Morgan Hill Rotary.
