Rotary Club of Greater Corvallis
Service Above Self in Corvallis, Oregon
This past Friday we heard from Bettina Schempf, Executive Director of Old Mill Center, on how they benefited from the $1000 Special Grant our Club awarded them (sponsored by Carol Lee Woodstock). The money was used to support their new Monroe Site Relief Nursery and to purchase bilingual books for family events.
We’ve got spirit – yes we do! The Holidaze spirit, that is. The Holidaze Fundraiser for The Rotary Foundation was a HUGE success! In just 17 days 100% of our Club members were Holidazed and $21,225 was raised. We tip our Santa hats to the motivated, hard working, fun-loving, mischief making, stealthy team of elf/inflatable wranglers:lead elf Alan Underkofler, Lee Eckroth, Tiffany Bailey, Helen Higgins, Dave Henderer, Claudia Hamilton, Jeff Davis, and Mark Kalmar. Congratulations to all!
Our Club didn’t let a pandemic stop us from putting on our (covid safe) 7th Annual Children’s Holiday Craft Fair. 2020’s Drive-Thru Edition looked a bit different but the holiday spirit, smiles, community generosity, demonstration of Service Above Self, and People of Action where all out in full force! It was a great day to be a Rotarian.
The weather was beautiful – though we did experience spotty snow showers off and on throughout the event. 1000 children registered online and approximately 800 came through and picked up their goodie bags (double the amount we had attend last years in person event).
The left over goodie bags were distributed among COI, ABC House, Vina Moses, and The Boys and Girls Club.
Many thanks to all who had a hand in volunteering to bring this holiday tradition to the community at a time when we all needed a bit of holiday cheer.
“From all of us here at Eats & Treats Cafe, a tremendous thank you for spotlighting Eats & Treats in your collective gift card purchase. How wonderful to have a community that rallies around their local businesses like your club is doing.
These are roller coaster times for us all. Each day brings a new set of challenges in this Covid world of ours. The focusing of your club’s support on the local businesses is huge. It’s not only your support of a business, but it is supporting the jobs of the 23 people who work here. Further, it supports the community as a whole. For, it is said, every dollar spent within a community, is circulated 7 times within that same community.
Allow me to introduce you to our team by name, along with an attached sampling of some of the 23 faces whose lives you impacted this week:
Alek Kenton, Amanda Jacobs, Amanda Butkovich, Brandon Serrell, Benden Hepner, Candice O’Bannon, Cheryl Leckie,
Cooper Latz, Emma Hammond, Garret Harris, Hugo Marcelo-Sedano, Laura McCaughey, Lois DeGeus, Luis Abrego,
Maria Cravero, Meghan Foster, Nora O’Laughlin, Steve Magdaleno, Tucker Kirkpatrick, Zachary Mocek, Zoe Teigen
And, of course,
Sandy & Lynda McHenry
On behalf of us all, thank you, thank you, thank you!”
By Mike Corwin
Corvallis, OR – The Rotary Club of Greater Corvallis has developed alternative details to be able to host its seventh annual Children’s Holiday Craft Fair in a COVID-safe environment from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Saturday, December 5 at the Solar Building in the southwest corner of the Benton County Fairgrounds. The event is currently a go and registrations will be accepted, pending the status of the statewide restrictions not extending past the Governor’s current two-week window ending December 2.
The club has coordinated with the fairgrounds through the Governor’s statewide lockdown and is taking proper precautions toward inviting families to enjoy the festivities safely from their vehicles as they drive through the creatively decorated Christmas scenes. At the end of the display of scenes, each child will receive a bag filled with pre-packaged crafts to take home and make and treats to enjoy. There will be free admission, however registration will be mandatory so to accurately provide adequate opportunities for all youth between three and 11 years of age. Registration is available to families at https://www.eventbrite.com/e/rotary-presents-the-childrens-holiday-craft-fair-tickets-128933287935
“This Rotary club ran a very successful Halloween event of a similar nature and Benton County appreciates the thought that has been put into this event as well,” said Lynne McKee, Director of the Benton County Fairgrounds. “I know they have provided a very special opportunity for our youth in past years and we’re glad that Rotary is helping our families celebrate more safely during this exceptional year.”
The club treated local youth to a similar Halloween event in the same location on October 30 handing out 1,147 bags of candy to more than 500 vehicles that went through the trick-or-treat tunnel.
“Our Children’s Craft Fair has become a solid tradition over six years and it has served as a major highlight to the season for many families. We want to continue that by creating a safe experience where our children and neighbors can enjoy making positive memories during trying times,” said the Rotary club’s Public Image Chair Jenny Bouman.
The fairgrounds leadership is providing the site for free. Sponsors assisting Rotary with the cost of the materials, Holiday bags and the overall event set up include Benton Habitat for Humanity, Boys and Girls Club of Corvallis, Capital Mortgage Source, Central Willamette Credit Union, Citizen’s Bank, CNC Wood Cutters, Corvallis Custom, Duerksen & Associates, Gillott Home Team KW Mid-Willamette, Henderer Design, Build and Remodel, Hendrick & Kellison CPAs, Home Depot, Legend Homes, Processing for Good, Tammy Morrison of Town & Country Realty, The Corvallis Clinic, The Reynolds Law Firm, The Yarn Charmers, Ticor Title, Trader Joe’s, Washington Federal Bank, Windermere Real Estate, and Woodstock’s Pizza. There will also be a special appearance by Caesar the No Drama Llama.
The event is being designed with two goals in mind: keeping the Holiday festivities alive this season, while also keeping volunteers and guests safe. Thus, attendees through the “Holiday Craft Fair tunnel” in the fairgrounds Solar Building may not leave their vehicles at any time during the event. Face coverings must be worn when the windows of the vehicle are open, occupants of a vehicle must be members of the same household or living unit and may not change vehicles during the event, and no motorcycles and bicycles will be permitted. There will be no food or drink offered other than the bag of treats at the end, no restrooms will be available and there will be a hand sanitizing station and extra masks available.
Thank you to everyone that shared their talent, time, and energy to help create this “spooktacular”, covid-safe, free, family-friendly, fun, fellowship event – our Halloween Drive-Thru Trick-Or-Treat Tunnel. Perhaps it is our first ANNUAL??? In case you weren’t one of the lucky ones that registered for this event, following is a link to a video of the event.
Rotary Connects Community! Following are some fun facts about the event: