Fall 2018 Newsletter

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Members of the Month

October: Anh Ngo (Left)

November: Alan Dang (Right)

9/29: Boys and Girls Club of SD Gala

We arrived at the Mariott hotel, where the Boys and Girls Club of San Diego was holding their fundraising gala, in order to help set up for the event. Our main contribution was setting up for the silent auction as well as the outdoor recreation section. This included taking items like bikes, tents, and other outdoor equipment out of their boxes and putting them on display for the gala attendees to bid on during the auction. Since our tasks required figuring out how to put together items like Razor scooters and deciding how to arrange the various items, we had a challenging job! Overall, the event was extremely well organized and a huge success, as the Boys and Girls Club raised over $1 million! Anyone who has the opportunity should definitely attend next year.

9/29: Kawasaki Disease Symposium

While some of us were at the Boys and Girls Club of SD Fundraising Gala, some of us gave a lending hand at the Kawasaki Disease Symposium at the UCSD School of Medicine. While parents attended the symposium, we helped entertain their kids by doing arts and crafts, playing games, and watching movies with them. Although this event was mostly fun and games for us and the kids, we were sincerely thanked for our babysitting services, as this allowed the parents to focus on the presentations about Kawasaki Disease, one of the leading causes of heart disease in children.

9/29: Acai Bowl Social

To start off the exciting new year, we hosted our annual week 0 social! The social kicked off with acai bowls, as our guests built their own acai bowls complete with granola, strawberries, and bananas. To keep things fresh, each table had a card game and a mason jar center piece filled with conversation starters. While our hands were busy learning new card games, we were talking about all the fun we have in our club and learning lots about potential new members. By the time clean-up rolled around, acai was eaten, games were played, friends were made, and fun was had!

10/6: First Saturday For our first official service event of the year, we helped out at First Saturdays, a classic event in which we have participated in many times before. Usually, we head to downtown SD to sort out clothing donations and put together care packages. Then, we head over to the Childrens Park and hand out the food, clothing, and care packages to anyone who needs them. However, this time, we also made PB&J sandwiches on campus in order to hand out at the park!

10/7: 100 Waves Challenge

Starting off the school year strong, we attended our second service event of week 1! We headed out to Mission Beach for the Boys to Men 100 Waves Challenge in order to volunteer for fellow Rotarian Brett Morey’s Surfers Unite Rotarian Fellowship booth. Boys to Men is a nonprofit organization that aims to give at-risk, fatherless young men a supportive community and positive role models, and this annual fundraiser where surfers are challenged to surf 100 waves in one day, was a huge success, with about $400,000 raised in one day! Our job was to help hold down the fort at the Surfers Unite tent as well as assist with clean up. This included breaking down cardboard trash cans and helping vendors pack up and load their vehicles (Yes, we did a lot of lifting!). We arrived a little early and enjoyed some yummy (and free) tacos, burgers, and hot dogs. Towards the end of our time there, we took a little break and got our backs realigned (for free!) by the onsite chiropractor! However, the best part of the day was hearing the gong go off every time someone completed the 100 Waves Challenge and experiencing the enthusiastic energy in the air for Boys to Men.

10/13: Police Project

The La Jolla Golden Triangle Police Project was the first of many joint service project collaborations with our sponsoring La Jolla Golden Triangle Rotary Club! We were so excited to work with many of the familiar faces who have supported us for so long. Together, with SDSU, and USD Rotaract clubs, University HS Interact Club, and the LJGT Rotary Club, we were able to repair and beautify the SD Police Academy’s training facilities. We worked hard to paint walls, dust the windows, and enjoyed each other’s company with old and new friends. Stay tuned for even more joint service projects next quarter!

10/20: Juniper Canyon

At Juniper Canyon, we enjoyed a warm day of service volunteering with the San Diego County Department of Parks and Recreation. Throughout the event, volunteers were split into two groups. The first group watered native plants, many of which had been planted by Rotaractors during previous service events. We learned that on top of looking nice, these plants provide habitats and food for native birds that can’t use the invasive plants which have taken over the canyon. Meanwhile, the second group went to the edge of the canyon and cut overgrown branches which were covering unwanted litter. Under the bushes, we found everything from clothes and shoes to a Bird scooter! Our hard work helped make the canyon more inviting for the local community, human and bird alike. As a show of gratitude, all the volunteers that day were made (honorary) park rangers.

10/24: VA Hospital with LJGT

Every quarter, Alan Galgut, a supporting LJGT Rotary Club member, hosts a dinner for hospitalized veterans at the VA Medical Center here at UCSD. Alongside LJGT Rotarians, we were able to serve food and have fun conversations with many of the veterans. These kinds of service events are so meaningful to us because we were able to provide companionship to many of these veterans who are often admitted to the hospital and may not have many visitors. We are excited to head back next quarter!

10/27: PB Beach Clean Up

To put a twist on our usual beach clean up, we worked with members of Pacific Beach Rotaract to clean up and record trash that we picked up along the beach. After grouping together all the volunteers, we separated into mixed UCSD and PB groups and went to work with our trash bags, gloves, and phone app that recorded what we collected and passed on that information to environmental groups for use in their advocacy work in California. As Rotaractors from both clubs got to know each other, we were able to fill several garbage bags in just a few hours with a wide variety of trash (including, but not limited to clothes, food wrappings, and several hundred cigarettes). Although we could only clean up so much of the beach, our efforts provided information to keep beaches clean in the future! As per tradition, we headed over to Broken Yolk to enjoy brunch together.

11/3: WAPI Party

Our Rotaract club is well-known for our water pasteurization indicators (WAPIs), which help indicate when water is heated to temperatures that kill harmful bacteria. We send our WAPIs to impoverished areas lacking access to potable water and fuel resources to heat water. We worked on completing unfinished WAPIs and tested them for quality assurance. Later, we sent a total of 361 WAPIs which included some of those tested during the party, to the Université Notre Dame d’Haiti, where students involved in clean water and solar power initiatives will learn about the use of WAPIs and distribute them to needing families.

11/10: Ride the Point

For those of us who missed out on receiving cowbells from last year’s Ride the Point event, this was another chance. At our third consecutive year helping out with the annual Ride the Point bicycle ride for Pancreatic Cancer (commemorating the late Rotarian Jim Krause), we were placed at different locations along the route. Our task was to direct bikers towards the finish line as well as support them with cheers and ringing cowbells.

11/17: USS Midway

As per tradition, we headed out to the USS Midway the weekend after Veterans Day. Although we were split into two groups, both groups performed the same task: walking along the tour route and wiping down any dusty parts of the displays. Parts of the tour route that we encountered included the captain’s quarters and an animatronic captain! After polishing up our respective tour routes, we were able to have a little fun and try out the flight simulator game as well as go on a tour of the upper deck.

11/26: Tacos El Gordo Food Run

A foodie favorite: tacos and fries galore! This quarter’s food run brought us to Tacos El Gordo down in Chula Vista. Nearly thirty Rotaractors (both new and returning) came out to this quarterly social; it was a great pre-finals distress event and a valuable bonding experience between members. Thanks to all who came out to eat and connect with us. Keep an eye out for our food run in the upcoming quarter!

12/1: Toy Drive for Casas de Luz Holiday Party

During the month of November, we asked our members to collect new or lightly used toys, with intentions to hand them out at a community party for Casas de Luz in Tijuana, Mexico. For the first part of the event, we wrapped over 200 toys that we had collected. The next day, we traveled to Tijuana to attend the holiday party. For the party, we set up at a church with lots of activities for children and adults to partake in such as coloring, face painting, and wreath-making/decorating for the parents. Once the event officially began, we served a delicious lunch prepared by the cooks. We also had some awesome activities for the kids such as a donut eating contest where the kids had to eat powdered donettes from a string with their hands behind their backs. Another great game that everyone loved was hitting four different piñatas that were stuffed with candy. The kids were so excited to smash them and claim as much candy as humanly possible. After all the festivities were finished, we passed out all of the wrapped presents to the children by calling out their names. After the party was finished and everything was cleaned up, we drove to a restaurant to experience some of the most incredible shrimp tacos ever!

12/1: Buddy Reveal

One of the many perks of being a Rotaractor is getting a buddy! With our big/little system, every fall quarter new pairings are made and we have a super fun event to reveal the matches! This year, we asked the bigs to arrive early in order to prepare and set up their gifts and posters for their littles. So naturally, the littles were the ones to arrive first. When the bigs were all prepared, the doors opened, beginning the festivities! Once the littles came in, the bigs rushed into the room to find their littles and surprise them with gifts. To reveal families, the membership directors baked cake pops with colored batter so members could take a bite and see what fam they’re in. Once everyone knew their pairing and family and had some time to chat with everyone, the activities began. The mini game relay started off with a round of human knot and included a straw suction game, flip cup game, watermelon eating contest, unstuff the tissue box, high five push ups, word search, and drawing challenge. Blue family ended the night on top (with yellow close behind), but the competition is far from over as we have the whole year ahead of us!

12/3: Skype Call with Nangarhar University

Although we are on opposite sides of the world, we were able to connect with Nangarhar University students in Jalalabad, Afghanistan via Skype. At the start of the call, everyone introduced themselves, saying their name and what they study. Although our areas of study are different, as many of the Nangarhar students we spoke to are English Literature majors while the majority of us are STEM majors, we were able to find many things we have in common such as our appreciation for Breaking Bad and Walking Dead among other TV shows. The conversation led to more sensitive topics, like how we deal with stress and anxiety, which gave us opportunities to really open up to each other about our feelings and personal struggles. All in all, our first Skype call with Nangarhar University students was an enlightening experience that allowed us to get a glimpse into the lives of our peers in Afghanistan. Unfortunately, the female students of Nangarhar University were not able to join the call, but we look forward to future Skype calls so we can hear their stories and their perspectives as well. We hope that, through these Skype calls, we will foster a deeper friendship with the students of Nangarhar University as we gain a better understanding for each other’s culture and experiences.

12/8: Friends of Cats

A club-favorite event, we travelled to El Cajon for a study break before finals week in order to help out at the Friends of Cats cat shelter by washing and drying the cats’ rugs, blankets, rags, and clothing. Apart from the chores, we enjoyed spending time with the cats and snuggled with them during the downtime. Despite the power going out for a brief moment, we enjoyed the cats’ company as we brushed their fur while they sat in our laps. As always, we thoroughly enjoyed our time here and look forward to returning in the future!

Rotaract Club at UCSD

Sponsored by international service organization Rotary International, Rotaract is a service club for

young women and men ages 18+. Modeled after similar goals and standards to that of Rotary,

Rotaract brings together college students and young business professionals for the purpose of

humanitarian service, networking, building goodwill and promoting peace in the world. As one of the

fastest growing Rotary programs, Rotaract on the international scale includes more than 8,000

Rotaract clubs in some 155 countries. Each individual Rotaract club is sponsored by a local Rotary

club, and are generally either university or community based. Each chapter has its own unique

personality, sometimes with special emphases and focuses dependent upon the array of members

and their particular interests. Like Rotary, Rotaract clubs meet on a regular basis, and are nonpolitical,

nonreligious, and open to anyone interested. Rotaractors address many global and local issues

pertinent to today’s society, developing projects that promote service, building friendship and providing

a forum for cultural exchange.

Check out other Rotaract clubs in our district:

SDSU Rotaract USD Rotaract

CSU San Marcos Rotaract City Heights Rotaract San Diego Rotaract

Pacific Beach Rotaract

Check out other I-House Organizations at UCSD:

Model UN PROSPECT

Refugee Connections ISSA

Rotaract at UCSD meets every Monday night in the Asante

Rooms in I-house on UCSD’s campus from 7pm-8pm. Join

us at our meetings to learn more about what we do as well as

meet our members while enjoying some snacks!

Visit our website to find links for membership form and our Coffee with an Officer program! rotaractucsd.org Find us on Facebook: Rotaract at UCSD Check out our Instagram: rotaract_at_ucsd