Welcome to the Rotary Club of Petaluma’s web site. We are excited about sharing our ideals of service to our community and to people in need throughout the world. This year’s Rotary International theme, “Building Communities, Bridging Continents” is a succinct expression of our purpose.
Since the founding of our Petaluma club in 1923, our members have given generously of their time and resources to local projects that have had lasting benefit, including playgrounds, park improvements, and sports facilities. Every year during the holiday season we distribute gifts of clothing and toys to hundreds of children in our town who might not otherwise receive gifts.
As a part of our commitment to literacy, our club launched a program 12 years ago that has been adopted by other Rotary clubs across the country. Each year every third grade student in the Petaluma area receives a beautiful hardbound dictionary, inscribed with the student’s name and presented personally by a Rotarian.
Our international reach includes participation in the Polio Plus program, which after 25 years may be only about 2 years away from complete worldwide eradication of that horrible disease. Recent and ongoing projects of our club have provided medical equipment, school facilities, and water purification systems in other countries, including Mexico, Guatemala, Nigeria, and Thailand.
In all of our efforts to improve the lives of others, we also think it’s important to have fun and enjoy the fellowship of club members and families. Among our favorite events to which we invite our friends in the community are the Petaluma Art and Equestrian Festival in July, our annual Golf Tournament in September, the Crab Feed and Super Raffle in February, and Farmers and Merchants Night in March.
We are always happy to meet people who are interested in the Rotary philosophy of “Service Above Self.” Our weekly gatherings are from noon to 1:30 on Thursdays at Mister McGoo’s Restaurant, 1375 Petaluma Boulevard North. For more information, please contact me or our club secretary, Steve Olmsted.
