Swarthmore Charity Fun Fair

On April 29, the Rotaract Club volunteered at the Swarthmore Fun Fair. Some of us helped serve food at the barbecue, and some helped out at the two obstacle courses. A couple of us even had the chance to march in the parade. All proceeds from the event went to support different charities.

Books Through Bars!

On Sept. 17, we went to Books Through Bars in Philadelphia, one of our traditional go-to spots for volunteering. We had an awesome time reading the letters, packaging (picture to left!), and picking out books to ship out. Thank you to everyone who went!

In October, Polio Awareness Month, we're thinking of fundraising ideas to help raise money to combat polio (the global eradication of polio is one of Rotary International's main goals).

End of the Year

Thanks everyone for a great year! This picture is from this year's fun fair, which we successfully ran the obstacle course. Great job everyone, and see you next year!

Minutes, April 20

This is what we discussed today:

Tuesday- Next (last) meeting, 6 pm, Parrish Parlors, dinner from Aria. Sign up for shifts for fun fair, hang up flyers, plan transportation for getting fruit
Tuesday-Wednesday- get knives, cups, ice, soy milk, get giant poster from Lang.
Wednesday- go to BJs or genuardis or co-op or target to buy fruit, juice, yogurt
Thursday- meet at 7 at Shane lounge to start cutting up fruit in basement, parlor party at 8 *wear shirts!
Sunday- fun fair1-5 *wear shirts!

Other stuff to do:
-Everyone needs to pick up a shirt

-Pass on all Rotaract stuff to Jen and Eleanor
-plan meeting with Jen and Eleanor and Joy Charlton

Minutes, April 6

The group went to Books Through Bars last Saturday, and it was a lot of fun! There were many other students and we were kept busy with letters to read and pick books out for.

This Saturday we will be volunteering at Cradles to Crayons, where we will be collecting and packaging toys and other items for children. We will meet at Parrish Circle at 8:30 and return by 12:30.

Minutes, March 23

In today's meeting we discussed many things about the rest of the semester and the future of Rotaract.
We will not have a project this weekend, but we will be participating in the LAX Conference this weekend, Sunday, March 27. This year the topic of the conference is Social Entrepreneurship, and Rotaract has been invited to participate in the conference and in the poster session from 4-5 pm. We will meet this Saturday, March 26, to design a poster for this session, and then set up at 3:45 on Sunday for the conference.
We also discussed the Fun Fair, which is on Sunday, May 1st. We have agreed to help the Rotary of Swarthmore with one of their activities for the fair, and so we will be helping out at either the car smash or obstacle course on that day.
For the rest of this semester we have other projects that have been planned out. These include:
-Philly Clean-Up, April 2, 2011
-Cradles to Crayons with Saturdays of Service, April 9, 2011
-Baking for the Ronald McDonald House
-Teaching science and helping out with science related activities for children
-Parlor Party
It's going to be a fun semester!

Minutes, March 16

This Saturday we are helping out at the Brain Safety Fair at the Frainklin Institute Science Museum in Philadelphia. We will be volunteering by being in charge of different stations, including helmet fitting. This is an excellent opportunity for those who are pre-med, and more challenging stations can be assigned to volunteers with a stronger science background.

-breakfast/lunch will be provided
-please wear comfortable clothing as you will be squatting to fit helmets. Polo shirts, sneakers, jeans are acceptable as long as no skin is exposed when bending over.

Minutes, February 16

This Saturday we will be volunteering with Saturdays of Service and the College Democrats at the Philabundance Food Bank.
"Philabundance is the region’s largest hunger relief organization. They serve low income residents at risk of hunger and malnutrition, of which 23% are children and 16% are senior citizens. Philabundance provides a reliable source of food to 9 counties in the Delaware Valley."

Last year for this project we put together packages of different non-perishable food to be delivered to homes. It was a lot of fun! Email us if you are interested in attending. We are leaving at 8:30 from Parrish Circle and arriving back at Swarthmore at 12:45.

Minutes, February 9

This weekend we are working with Saturdays of Service at the Cupid's Chase National 5K Run. This event is being held by Community Options Inc., which is a national nonprofit that develops community based homes and employment for people with disabilities.
We will be helping with registration, water stations, and other duties for the run.

This project will be from 9 am-12 pm this Saturday, February 12th, so send us an email if you can make it. We will meet at Parrish Circle, and drive to Philadelphia from there.

We are continuing to table for the blood drive this week at Essie Mae's as well, so if anyone can donate blood, (especially in a morning time slot) sign up!

Minutes, February 2, 2011

In today's meeting we discussed getting t-shirts to wear during our projects.
Also, we are tabling for the blood drive next week, (week of February 7th) at Essie Mae's.
The blood drive this semester is Thursday, February 24th, so for everyone who can donate blood, sign up!

FIRST MEETING

Welcome Back Rotaractors!!

We will be having our first meeting of 2011 THIS WEDNESDAY JANUARY 26!!

We will be discussing our plans for this semester and new members are welcome to attend.

So join us this Wednesday at 8 pm in Kohlberg 330.

There will be food.

YAY!!!!!

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!