The 102 members of the San Diego Downtown Breakfast Rotary get more things done by 9 a.m. on Wednesday than most people do all week. The club meets between 7:30 and 9 a.m. at the University Club, located on the top floor of Symphony Towers at 750 B St. Last year, the group contributed more than $50,000 to local nonprofit organizations and schools. Members also provided more than 400 hours of direct community service. In addition, the organization’s annual Holes for Heroes golf event netted $64,000 for military supporting charities and Rotary Foundation humanitarian projects. Nonprofits benefitting from the club’s efforts include the USO, Veterans Village and Catholic Charities. “We don’t just give money, we do hands-on work,” said Downtown Breakfast Rotary President Karen Green. “For Catholic Charities we assembled Thanksgiving meal packages and distributed them to families ourselves.” Another of the club’s major projects is the Polio Plus Foundation, a partnership between Microsoft founder Bill Gates and Rotary International to eradicate polio throughout the world. The Rotary Club has set as its goal matching a $100 million grant by Gates over a three-year period. “Even though the economy is bad, we are way ahead of our giving,” Green said. “With our Polio Plus project, we doubled our goal in half the time.” Last month the club didn’t waste any time coming to the aid of Haitian earthquake victims. “We’ve already committed $1,000 and our members are continuing to add more,” she said. “We will be giving a total of approximately $2,000.” Rotarians represent a wide variety of professions including judges, attorneys, retail owners and realtors like Green. “What brings us together is that you want to help the local community,” she said. “We’re not a networking group, we’re a service organization.” Prospective members must actively hold or be retired from a professional, proprietary, executive or managerial position. They must have the desire and ability to attend weekly meetings and live within the territorial limits of the club or adjoining club. To join they must have a sponsor, attend a minimum of three meetings and secure approval by the board of directors. Green said members can expect to pay about $1,000 a year to belong to the club. This includes the cost of weekly breakfasts. Guests and visiting Rotarians pay $18 at the door to attend a breakfast meeting. For more information, visit www.sdrotary.org or e-mail [email protected].
