Minutes, November 17th

This Saturday we will be working with Books Through Bars again with Saturdays of Service. We will be picked up from Parrish Circle at 10:00, and will be coming back at 2:30.

Also, we designed an awesome t-shirt last week that we will use when we go to projects.

Tree Planting

Minutes, October 27

We had a great meeting with a special guest, Jane Williams, this Wednesday. She gave a short presentation about Rotaract and gave us some goals to strive for and examples of projects from other local Rotaract groups. We were also presented a certificate for our contribution to Polio Plus last year, which is trying to raise money to finally eradicate polio from the world.
Collectively we decided that this Saturday, October 30, we are helping out with Tree Planting Day at the Hildacy Farm Preserve. This project is from 9-12, and we are getting there by shuttle. Let us know if you plan to attend.

Also, don't forget, we are volunteering at the fund raiser with Mick Moloney next Saturday, November 6th.

We now have a board in Parrish, make sure to check it out! (It is in the hallway across from Career Services)

Books Through Bars

Minutes, October 6

Next Week is Fall Break!

October 9th is the Rotaract Leadership Conference.

The following week we will be getting back into the swing of things and starting the second half of the semester helping out at the community center. We will be working with the Older After School Club, where we will be helping facilitate activities for middle schoolers on October 20.

Also, on November 6th, we are volunteering at the community college with the Swarthmore Literary Council for a fund raiser. Those who can help out are also welcome to the event, where Mick Moloney, Irish author and musician, who will be doing a multi-media presentation on the Irish and Jewish influences on early American show music.

Minutes, September 15

Meeting 2!

-This Saturday we will be helping out at Books Through Bars in Phladelphia from 11:00-2:00
-Next week we are tabling for the Blood Drive

Shifts so far:

Monday: Omari 1:30-2:30

Tuesday: Rebekah 12:00-1:00
Julio 1:00- 2:00

Wednesday: Omari 1:00-2:00
Renu 1:00- 2:00

Thursday: Rebekah 12:00-1:00

Friday: Omari 1:30-2:30
Renu 1:00-2:00

-Next Friday is the Silent Auction for Polio with the Rotary of Swarthmore

Minutes, September 8, 2010

So Wednesday was our first meeting, and we discussed many of our upcoming projects:

-Lobster Bake on Sunday, from 4:30- 7:00, or 6:45- 9:30.

These are the shifts we have so far:

4:30-7:00pm: Collin, Hugh, Jong, Valentina

6:45-9:30pm: Julio, Renu, Rebekah

They will be offering us food and the event is very casual, so no need to go to Sharples that night or to dress up or anything.

Please plan to meet at PARRISH CIRCLE at the beginning of your shift. We will have a driver to take us to Media (just 3 miles away) to the restaurant. Also, if you need to switch times, please let me know ASAP, and if you have friends who want to help or get free dinner or spend time outside the Swat bubble, we have room for probably one or two more people for each shift.

-Books Through Bars on Saturday, September 18th, from 11-2

-Silent Auction with the Rotary of Swarthmore on Friday, September 24th

-We will also be helping out at the Blood Drive this year, by tabling at Essie Mae's to get people to sign up for the Blood Drive, as well as helping at the Blood Drive itself (which is on Tuesday, September 28th)

First Meeting

Next Wednesday, September 8th, will be our FIRST ROTARACT MEETING OF 2010-2011!
It will be at 8 pm in Kohlberg 330.
We will be introducing new members to the group and talking about our first few events of the year:
-Helping out at the Fall Blood Drive
-Lobster Bake with the Rotary of Swarthmore:
Proceeds will benefit local educational, recreational and non-profit health and service organizations

Also in the near future we have planned:
-a Silent auction for Polio
-Books Through Bars

We hope to see you there!

Year in review: 2009 - 2010

Hey Rotaract,

Thanks so much for a great year! I'm very glad that we were able to be very active this year in participating in so many projects. Here's a summary of what we did this year:

Bike Philly
UC Green tree planting
SOS Jewish Food Agency
Ronald McDonald Baking
Little Crum Creek Park mulching
Blood drive 2x
ROtary Silent Auction
Philly Aids Thrift Store
Scrabble Competition
SHARE food warehouse
Books thru bars
Community Food Center (Philabundance)
Chester Haiti Relief (Shoes2Share)
Fun Fair Pretzels ($206)
Make-A-Smoothie Parlor Party


We are now passing off the torch to Renu and Julio as co-presidents next year.

Thanks for all of your dedication and hard work! See you next year!

Fun Fair & Parlor Party

Thanks to everyone who came out to the Fun Fair! We made $206 to give to Rotary International's PolioPlus initiative.

Please come out to the Make-A-Smoothie Parlor Party this Thursday, April 22.

Look below for the shifts. If you want to help out, email me!

All the fruit we bought at BJ's for the Parlor Party:

Sign up

Activities Fair

Friday, April 16 on Parrish Beach

Getting candy: Jong

11:30am-12:20:

12:20-1:10: Phil, Rebekah (from 1-ish)

1:10-2:00: Renu

---------------------------------------------

Fun Fair
Sunday, April 18 at the Ville

1:30 - 3:15pm: Renu, Phil, Rebekah

3:15-5:00: Jong, Theresa, Julio, Rebekah

----------------------------------------------

Parlor Party
Thursday, April 22 in Shane Lounge

7:30 - 8:30pm (shopping at BJ's): Julio, Phil, Rebekah

8:30-9:30: Phil, Theresa, Rebekah, Julio

9:30-10:30: Theresa, Renu, Rebekah

10:30-11:20: Jong

Chester Haiti Relief Day

Here are some pictures from Saturday, April 3 at the Chester Haiti Relief Day. We helped to receive and organize donations that people brought in to send to Haiti.

Minutes, April 5

We are having a movie night this friday :)

We aren't doing any projects this weekend, but this is our plan for the rest of the year:

April 16- Ride the Tide- we are going to be setting up a booth
April 18- Fun Fair
April 22- Parlor Party
May 1- Ronald McDonald House- We will be baking and bringing all the baked goods and tabs we have collected and bringing them over to the Ronald McDonald House.

Community Food Center

Here are some pictures from Saturday, March 20 at the Community Food Center.




We were helping CFC sort through produce and bread (looking out for any spoiled food).



We also helped them arrange the cans on the shelves so that it would be easier for shoppers to find the cans they were looking for.

Minutes, March 29

***This weekend's project: "Chester Haiti Relief Day"
We will be in the William Penn Community Center. This will start at around 9:45 to around 1 pm and we will be taking donations and sorting them. If you are interested, email Rebekah since we are planning on sharing a ride with the Environmental Justice group.

***Smoothies for Polio Parlor Party: Thursday April 22 (Shane Lounge is free)
-This coming Sunday we need to go to Genuardi's at 7pm to look at food prices (Renu and Julio said they could come)
-Next Monday at 10pm we need to present the proposal at the SAC meeting
-We need to make a flier about the event
-We also need to pick up food the day before or day of the party

***Ride the Tide Activities Fair: Thursday April 15
-We need to make a poster?
-We need to get candy to entice prospective students to sign our mailing list

***Fun Fair: Sunday April 18
-We need to make fliers to put around campus by the end of next week
-We might be helping the Delaware Literacy Council table at the fair

Minutes, March 22

This Saturday we are working with Philabundance. We will meet at Parrish Circle at 8am, and be back by around 11:30.

Here is more info about the Center we will be working at:

"The Community Food Center (CFC) is a choice food pantry in partnership with the Mayor’s Office of Community Service (MOCS) and St. Joe’s University. At the Community Food Center, customers choose what they like from a wide variety of (free) items, including dry goods, refrigerated and frozen items, fresh dairy, produce and bread. The Community Food Center is different from traditional food pantries; traditionally, pantries will give out prepared bags or boxes to an individual once a month. The box/bag will contain foods that are chosen by the pantry without regard for an individual’s religious or dietary concerns. Often, traditional pantries will have many restrictions on who can receive food assistance based on zip code or income requirements, requiring clients to provide documentation. We are excited to be the first choice food pantry in Philadelphia and showcase a choice model focused on customer service and providing easy access for people to receive assistance."

Books Through Bars

Here are some pictures from our Books Through Bars Activity on Saturday, March 20.
We were able to help by reading letters from prisoners and then personally picking books that matched their requests.


First we packaged books that other volunteers had already picked out:

Then we got to select books ourselves for a letter in their huge library of donated books:



All of the books that were selected and wrapped by the end of the morning!

Minutes, March 15

This Saturday we're going to be working with Books Through Bars.

We only have around three more weekends for projects, and then we have the fun fair, our polio project, and a day where we will make baked goods to take to the Ronald McDonald house.

SHARE, Feb 27

Here are some pictures from the project we did at SHARE in Philadelphia this weekend. We helped pack boxes of food that will be distributed to families later on. Sorry for the dark pictures - we were in a warehouse with tricky lighting.

Signing in

Phil working the jack lift.

Many boxes to fill.

The finished products.

Minutes, Feb 22

This Saturday we are going to be working with Philabundance.
We will meet in Parrish Circle at 8:00 am

There will be no project next weekend, but we will still meet next Monday to discuss project ideas for our Polio Awareness Day/Week

*CORRECTION*:
This Saturday we are instead going to SHARE (Self-Help and Resource Exchange), where we will help out with food distribution.
We will meet at 8:30 at Parrish Circle and return at around 11:30

Minutes, Feb 8

We are starting tabling for the blood drive this week.

This Sunday we are working with Saturdays of Service with the Jewish Relief Agency, probably from 10:30 to 1:00.

"volunteers work together to package kosher, non-perishable food in boxes. After packing, volunteers load their cars and deliver the food packages to each of the recipient families according to pre-determined delivery routes, complete with driving directions and maps."

Come up with ideas for Polio Awareness!!

Minutes, Feb. 1

This Saturday we are either:
-working with Saturdays of Service for Books through Bars
-environmental clean up work

We will be tabling in Tarble for the blood drive in a couple weeks, (a week before the blood drive)

We also need to come up with ideas for a Polio fund raising event

Minutes, Jan 23

Here is a summer of the things that we talked about during our lunch meeting:

• We decided that our weekly meetings would be held on Monday nights at 8pm this semester
• We talked about possibly being "guest chefs" for the Ronald McDonald House one weekend
• We discussed the Fun Fair a bit, but will postpone planning until spring is closer
• We talked about becoming involved again in promoting the Blood Drive on campus (Theresa and Renu said they could attend the meeting next Wednesday)