A BRIEF HISTORY OF THE SANTA ROSA WEST ROTARY CLUB

The Club was chartered as the second club in Santa Rosa on April 15, 1965.

The club was sponsored by the Rotary Club of Santa Rosa, which had been organized 44 years earlier — in 1921.  The chartering District Governor was Stan McCaffrey, who would later serve as the President of Rotary International in 1981-82.

John W. (“Bill”) Fisher was installed on May 22, 1965 as the charter president with 23 other community leaders as charter members.  The club commenced meeting at the Los Robles Hotel every Monday at noon until the Los Robles ceased operations.  The club quickly became the primary service provider and source of leadership for Santa Rosa, west of highway 101.

In 1965 the club financed and installed a soccer field at Roseland elementary school.  In 1969 it established, furnished and staffed The House – a facility that provided support for young people coping with drug abuse.  The Club was at the forefront of the committee of local business leaders who established the Luther Burbank Art Center (now the Wells Fargo Center).  The club spearheaded, organized and completed the building of the Multi-Cultural Development Center, a significant community project on Stony Point Road that involved community-wide support and took over three years to complete.

The club annually recognizes individual scholastic achievement with scholarships at Piner High School.  It provides financial assistance to SRJC to graduates of Ridgeway Continuation School for attendance at Santa Rosa Junior College.  The Club was a primary partner in establishing and funding the SOS (Support our Students) program in Santa Rosa to deal both with truancy and the need for supportive family counseling.  Since its chartering the club has successfully raised over a million dollars, much of which has been used to support charities and service providers in the community in addition to directly financing Santa Rosa West Projects.
 

Santa Rosa West has looked beyond borders of the local community and provided support to other Rotary Clubs and individuals around the world as part of its commitment to international service, good will and the goal of world peace.

The Club was an early and a strong supporter of Rotary’s commitment to eradicate Polio from the face of the earth.  Additionally, the club has built water wells in Mexico and Vietnam, supported the University for Peace in Central America (Costa Rica), provided support to projects in Russia and Uganda, financed numerous projects in District 4150 through the Festival of Brotherhood  and developed an annual youth exchange program with a sister club in Holland.

The club has provided strong leadership in the club and beyond.  Our members have served at the helm of the District Membership Committee, the Group Study Exchange program, the Ambassadorial Scholarship Program, RYLA (Rotary Youth Leadership Awards), Rotaract, Interact, the District Visioning Program, the Institute for Leadership Seminar, the District Speech Contest and as Assistant Governor.  The Club has provided three District Governors to serve as the District’s officer of Rotary International:  John Withers in 1973-74, Dick Keith in 1982-83, and Mike Merrill in 1999-2000.