Rotary Club of Morgan Hill has granted $10,000 to local organizations for wide-ranging local needs that include hot meals, music, fingerprinting, sheep scales, lab stools, therapy toys, kitchen cabinets and raptor enclosures.
The club offers its grants to area philanthropic organizations for projects and activities that benefit many people within the community over an extended period of time, according to Rotarian Rosy Bergin, who chaired the effort.
“Our club reaches out to help complete deserving projects that might never find funding,” said Bergin. “This year we had to choose from among $60,000 in requests, which shows there is a definite need for assistance in our community.”
This year’s Rotary Club of Morgan Hill community grants recipients are:
Charter School of Morgan Hill – The Science Alive! Program will receive a grant to purchase science kits for 120 upper grade students to receive hands-on learning experiences in Earth Science and Physical Sciences. The project exposes students to experiments, labs and scientific process activities.
Community Law Enforcement Foundation (CLEF) – The club will give a grant to help purchase fingerprint cards for children. These cards allow parents to provide their children’s fingerprints to law enforcement in the event of a missing or abducted child. The kits will be given out free at major community events.
Community Solutions – The club grant will replace or purchase new play therapy toys and supplies that will aid licensed therapists to teach children to recognize and manage emotions. Toys will include play kitchen utensils, dress-up clothing, baby dolls and doll houses, power/action toys such as bop bags and art supplies. The grant will also buy books for children, some of whom have never owned a book.
El Toro Elementary –The club’s grant will help purchase 40 stools for the new Science Lab in this public school. Currently the lab has no seating for students to work at lab tables.
El Toro Elementary and P.A. Walsh Elementary – A club grant will purchase woodwind musical recorders for all 5th and 6th grade students in the two schools. The students will learn to read music and play the instrument in the classroom. Rotarians will be invited to a school performance some time in the future.
Learning and Loving Education Center – A club grant will provide nine months of weekly, affordable, culturally appropriate, hands-on computer and literacy education to more than 200 low-income, immigrant women with limited English skills. Technology activities will focus on beginner learners who are touching a computer for the first time. Literacy and consumer education activities will focus on limited English-speaking women who have little experience with a classroom setting. Free child care is available for participants.
Martha’s Kitchen – A grant will purchase pots, pans and a food warmer to support the hot meal program for seniors, homeless and low-income families in Morgan Hill s. The hot meals are served at least three times per week in local churches of various denominations on a rotating basis.
Morgan Hill Historical Society – The club will help fund the kitchen renovation at the Hiram Morgan Hill House, including cabinetry, sink and plumbing. The improvements will aid the society’s education program which hosts more than 400 students per year.
Morgan Hill Recreation Preschool – The club will purchase a permanent, child-sized picnic table in the playground outside the Children’s Pavilion at the Morgan Hill Community & Cultural Center. The table will be used daily by the preschool for art and science projects, and will be open for public use.
P.A. Walsh Elementary Home & School Club – The club will help fund a school fruit and vegetable garden for each K-6 grade, in a school where 70% are socio-economically disadvantaged. The program will be paired with science and health education and teach healthy eating habits, physical activity, responsible caretaking and land cultivation.
San Martin 4-H Beef Project – The club will purchase a portable animal scale so members do not have to risk transporting their calves to monitor healthy weight gain. The project teaches about raising beef cattle and helps members who want to show and sell their animals at the Santa Clara County fair.
San Martin 4-H Sheep Project – The club will purchase an animal scale for students to regularly weigh their sheep to ensure good health. The project teaches members about wool and meat-producing sheep, offering them opportunity to display their animals at the Santa Clara County Fair.
St. Catherine School – A grant has been awarded by the club to purchase a bicycle rack. Presently, students must lock their bikes in front of the church and then walk through a busy parking lot to the school. The new rack will be located behind the school where it is less visible and more closely monitored, and will also encourage biking for a greener planet.
Wildlife Education and Rehabilitation Center (WERC) – The club will help purchase the materials needed to repair their two largest raptor enclosures, one 50’ and the other 100’. Repairs will give raptors safer and more secure “homes”, and volunteers with easier and safer means to feed and care for the large birds. All work will be done by unpaid volunteers.
These awards do not include the club’s $17,000 in college scholarships that will be announced in the spring, or its $80,000 in service projects and other philanthropic giving this year.
Rotary’s service projects and charitable giving are funded by events such as the Dazzle luncheon April 26 at Clos La Chance Winery, and the Rotary Golf Classic set for Sept. 27. Funding also comes from the Rotary Club of Morgan Hill Endowment which was established and is in part maintained by gifts and bequests from members of the community.
