With the holidays just around the corner, we enter the season of giving. From Turkey giveaways to holiday toy drives local service clubs are already in holiday mode.
The Rotary Club of Chula Vista is one of those clubs already in the holiday giving spirit. While the club gives all-year round, the holidays is when they are the busiest, said Carmen Sandoval Fernandez, president of the Rotary Club of Chula Vista.
“Our motto is service above self, Sandoval Fernandez said. “It’s in our DNA to help others. We feel when you help others, you’re helping yourself.”
Founded in 1926, the Rotary Club of Chula Vista is s part of a worldwide network of professionals, leaders, neighbors and friends who work together to make positive ,lasting change in the communities they serve.
The Rotary Club of Chula Vista is a separate organization from the Chula Vista Sunrise Rotary Club but both focus on giving back.
The Rotary Club of Chula Vista’s holiday giving started last month with Christmas in October, a program designed to clean up and refurbish homes for low-income families in Chula Vista.
Rotary Club members volunteered and helped with the landscaping on a Christmas in October home.
The Rotary Club, which has about 80 members, this month is helping the Lawyers Club of San Diego collect new and gentle used clothing for women who have been human trafficking victims. The clothing collected will serve as clothing to wear for job interviews as these women try to start new lives. In addition to the clothing, the Rotary is also collecting makeup, purses and accessories for sex trafficking victims.
In December, Rotary Club of Chula Vista will participate in a program for Ronald McDonald House Charities. They help families of seriously ill children by paying for their dinner and bring in the Southwestern College choir to sing for an hour.
“It gives them a nice break from the stress of their situation and help spread some holiday cheer to them as well,” Sandoval Fernandez said.
In addition to the Ronald McDonald’s House Charities, the Rotary Club of Chula Vista will deck out a housing unit in the Chula Vista Veterans Home. To spread the holiday cheer the club hands out retail gift cards to residents at the home so they can get something for themselves.
Their biggest event is their bike giveaway. This year, the service club plans to distribute 250 bicyles for the holidays. Rotary Club assembles the bicycles then gives them to other nonprofits like the Salvation Army, South Bay Family YMCA, and the Ronald McDonald House. Charities for distribution.
