Palo Alto Rotary - Community Grants

Community grants are the largest single component of Palo Alto Rotary’s charitable budget. In recent years the amount has been $25,000 to $50,000, depending on the success of our annual fundraising event. Local non-profit and educational organizations apply from April through January of the following year. In February, these requests are carefully evaluated by a committee of Rotarians, who choose four or five of the most worthy requests. The grants are then awarded to the winning in the mid-March timeframe.

The 2011 recipients are:

California Family Foundation (Beechwood School) - $4,000 to equip the school’s 5th through 8th grade classrooms with LCD projectors in order to enable multimedia teaching methods.

East Palo Alto Youth Court - $5,000 in support of a juvenile justice diversion program in which under-age, first-time offenders of minor crimes plead guilty and are then diverted for sentencing to a mock court process conducted entirely by other young people serving as attorneys, judges and jurors.

Foothill College Book Program - $2,000 (plus what is raised at the fundraising event as a “Fund a Need” project) for textbook vouchers to disadvantaged, full-time Foothill College students needing financial assistance.

Palo Alto Art Center Foundation - $4,000 to support the Cultural Kaleidoscope Program, which partners elementary school classes in the Palo Alto and Ravenswood school districts to work with a resident artist on collaborative art projects.

Ravenswood Education Foundation - $8,700 to fund an extension of the normal school day for 3rd, 4th and 5th graders at Green Oaks Academy in East Palo Alto by one hour four days a week, with a goal of improving academic proficiency and test scores.

Vista Center for the Blind & Visually Impaired - $1,300 to purchase eight copies of OpenBook Software, which converts printed documents into electronic speech format to enable blind or visually impaired individuals to access their mail, books, bills and other documents via audio formats.

The 2010 recipients are:

Abilities United - $1,000 (plus whatever is raised as the “Fund a Need” item at the annual Rotary fundraising event) to purchase up to eight custom-designed waterproof wheelchairs allowing individuals with physical disabilities to access the pool for therapy and rehabilitation.

Adolescent Counseling Services - $10,000 in support of the On-Campus Counseling Program, which provides free individual and family counseling and crisis intervention for students at all five secondary schools in Palo Alto, plus Menlo-Atherton High School, Redwood High School in Redwood City and La Entrada Middle School in Menlo Park.

Big Brothers and Sisters - $5,000 to support the one-on-one mentoring programs at Green Oaks Academy, East Palo Alto Charter School and the 49ers Academy in East Palo Alto, in which adults and high school students work with at-risk elementary and middle school students.

Cleo Eulau Center - $7,500 to support the Collaborative Counseling Program, providing group and individual therapy for at-risk youth at the Court and Community School South in East Palo Alto, consisting of students on probation or expelled from other schools.

Lytton Gardens - $5,100 to purchase an Arjo Walker for the Lytton Gardens Health Care Center. The Arjo Walker is a hydraulic lift reduces risk of injury for both patient and therapist when lifting or lower the patient to and from a standing position.

Second Harvest Food Bank - $5,000 to provide free produce to low-income families in Palo Alto and East Palo Alto once a month through the Ecumenical Hunger Program.