Oceanside CA— The Oceanside Rotary Club invites the community to join them for a Perfect Pairings Evening of Wine, Cheese, Chocolate Tasting and Silent Auction on Saturday, May 8th from 5:30pm – 7:30pm. The Evening of Tasting is being hosted in partnership with The Miller’s Table of Oceanside and will be held via Zoom. All funds raised go to supporting Oceanside Rotary’s Youth Development programs in the Oceanside Unified School District. (This is a ticketed event with individually prepared tasting kits, and tickets sales will close Saturday, May 1st).
The interactive and educational wine pairing evening will be hosted by Staci Miller of The Miller’s Table and includes a delicious selection of gourmet cheese, chocolate and a carefully curated selection of four fine wines.
A virtual silent auction will be held as part of the Evening and opens for bidding on Saturday, May 1st, during which participants can bid on one-of-a-kind experiences including, but not limited to: a week-long stay at Club Tahoe Resort; A Moroccan Dinner for eight; Special Occasion Artisan Box with Wine; Sightseeing Helicopter Tour for three or a custom Sunset Vegan Dinner for four.
The Oceanside Rotary Club embarked on a multi-year youth development project to help bring meaningful, positive change to the under-resourced community Crown Heights. The Club entered a partnership with the Oceanside Unified School District and North County Lifeline to help provide services to the target area. This school year Oceanside Rotary Club donated $3000 to the Laurel Elementary, Mission Elementary and Lincoln Middle School (Title 1 low-income schools) literacy programs for library books and provided $750 to North County Lifeline for graduation lei incentives for 15 graduating seniors from Oceanside High School. Due to the COVID pandemic, there was a pause on the middle-school mentorship program which included field trips to college campuses and sporting and cultural events. These funds were redirected to Tri-City Food Pantry to assist with food insecurity.
Through these programs, the Club has developed strong partnerships with the schools and staff. “On behalf of Mission Elementary Students, I want to thank the Rotary Club for donating to our school year after year, supporting our literacy goals” said Glenda Robinson of Mission Elementary School. “Most of our students are Title 1 students, which means high poverty level, and having a book or buying a book is a luxury. The more that we can get books in kids’ hands, the more they read.”
Oceanside Rotary Club is a leadership organization made up of local business professionals and civic leaders whose motto is “Service Above Self”. Despite the struggles with Covid during 2020-2021, the Oceanside Rotary put together a plan to stay involved and serve the community. Meetings were moved to a Zoom platform and members found ways to support the community while following all safety protocols.
Some of the innovative programs were:
- Members, family, and friends assembled over 200 Paracord bracelets and held a Beef Jerky drive for Operation Gratitude, an organization that connects Americans with Military heroes.
- An ongoing effort to support the residents of two Assisted Living Communities who were not receiving visitors due to the pandemic. Oceanside Rotary partnered with Breakwater Church in Oceanside and showered the communities of Brookdale -Oceanside and Chateau Lake San Marcos with cards, plants, cupcakes, donuts, Easter Baskets, In and Out Burgers and window music therapy each month.
- Two beach clean-ups were held where members, family and friends gathered at the local Harbor beach or their local park to clean the neighborhoods.
- A fundraising drive raised over $1000 for the Oceanside Kitchen Collaborative to assist with food preparation and distribution to those struggling with food insecurity during the pandemic.
- Collection drives were held for Brother Benno’s Center to provide Thanksgiving turkeys, for the Women’s’ Resource Center to provide Christmas gifts for the children and Bread of Life for holiday food.
- As part of the world-wide Rotarians at Work Day, a food drive was held for Lived Experience and over 2,000 pounds of food was collected and immediately delivered to families in the Crown Heights neighborhood.
To purchase tickets, make a donation or bid on silent auction items, visit the event website at oceansiderotaryeveningoftasting. Ticket sales end May 1st. Silent Auction bidding opens Saturday, May 1st and closes on Saturday, May 8th during the event. For event information, please contact Fundraising Chairperson, Therese Hall at theresemaryann.hall@gmail.com.
For more information about Oceanside Rotary Club, visit our website at www.oceansidecarotary.org or visit our Facebook page rotaryclubofoceanside .