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President's Message

Bakersfield East Rotary Club was established on December 23, 1952, making this our 69th year of “Service above Self”. We are a very active club and our work impacts people's lives both here in Bakersfield and worldwide. Some of our Global projects include providing water filtration systems to remote village so they can have safe, clean drinking water, and supplying medical equipment and wheelchairs where they are badly needed. Locally, we were instrumental in starting the mobile blood bank, and supplying a coffee truck to Covenant Coffee. This year we will work with other Rotary Clubs in Bakersfield to support the creation of an accessible path at Okihi, a sustainable community around the Kern River that is being restored by the White Wolf Wellness Foundation. In addition, We continue to provide thousand of dollars in scholarships to local high school students. We sponsor the Kern Community Rotaract and four Interact Clubs (the high school version of Rotary). We partner with many local organizations, such as Boys and Girls Club, CASA, Jamison Center, Ronald McDonald House and Valley Fever Americas Foundation (to name a few).

Join us for lunch most Fridays at noon for an hour of fun and fellowship.

2022-2023 President

Aaron Markovits

Annual Backpack Drive

Every year before school starts, Bakersfield East Rotary Club provides backpacks for students of several organizations such as The Boys and Girls Club, Court Appointed Special Advocates (CASA), Bakersfield Homeless Shelter, and several of our sponsored elementary schools including College Heights Elementary. Inside each backpack are pencils, erasers, notebooks and notebook papers to help the children in these programs get a good start to their school year.

This year's backpack distributions will take place as follows:

July 22, 2022 2pm-6pm

Lamont David Head Center

10300 San Diego Street

Lamont, Ca 93241

August 12, 2022

The Boys and Girls Club of Bakersfield

More information to come

Vino Amore

Bakersfield East Rotary's annual premier fund raiser, raising money for our 5 avenues of service. A marvelous sit down dinner with paired wines, this is a must for members and guests. Silent and live auction with items donated by major donors and members round out a spectacular evening.

Jamison Center

The Jamison Center is a housing/intervention program for children who have been removed from their homes and taken into protective custody by law enforcement. It is a frightening situation for these children who arrive most times with just the clothes on their back and little else. Bakersfield East Rotary Club donates clothes, especially underwear and socks for these kids. Babies are often brought to the facility without diapers or change of clothes. Rotarians from Bakersfield East donate diapers, baby clothes and blankets for the babies and their foster parents. Recently it was brought to Bakersfield East Rotarians attention that the existing barbecue was not functioning. Rotarians immediately went into action and purchased a new barbecue while repairing their existing brick barbecue, bringing it back to working order.

Boys and Girls Club of Kern County

Bakersfield East Rotary Club has had a long relationship with The Boy's and Girl's Club of Kern County. With their original site in East Bakersfield, it was a natural fit. We have provided backpacks, vans, Thanksgiving Dinner to the area citizens, scholarships, Christmas and Halloween parties and goodies, and support any time a need arises. This organization has successful programs during the summer and after school programs during the school year. It is a safe place for these area children after school. We also provide "sweat equity" when the need arises, providing graffiti removal when the building or vans get "tagged."