Memories from Janet Napier's successful year as president included her frog collection.
 
As we approach the 40th anniversary of our club, excitement builds for a celebration of service and lasting friendships! Our anniversary celebration will be held on March 6, 2025. Mark your calendar and make plans to attend.
 
Take a look back at some photos from Janet Napier's presidential year (2002-03), reflecting on the memories and milestones we’ve shared together.
 
  
Left: Camp Whittier Work Day volunteers
Right: Celaya Nat-Tha-Hi Rotarians visit Santa Barbara 
    
Left: ROSE award given to Dave Jochman 
Middle: Bill Abel's weight loss challenge with DG Marc Vertin, a fundraiser for polio
Right: Karen Kawaguchi with patient at Celaya cataract clinic
 
  
Left: Our annual fundraiser, Fiddler's Festival
Right: Michael Paveloff and Judith Cook McCaffrey at Celaya cataract clinic
 
Sunrise Rotarians serving at the Salvation Army Red Kettle at Nordstrom
 
In preparation for our 25th Anniversary celebration, I was asked to make a few comments about my year as Club President.  So, I went back and took a quick look at the articles I had written for our weekly newsletter, the Early Bird Bugle, to remind me what we had done during the year.   
 
Of course, the year started off with attendance at the RI Convention in Barcelona.  Wow!  It was my first ever Convention and I remember it well.  Incoming DG Marc Vertin told his incoming presidents to enjoy the visit, mix and mingle with visitors from around the world but don’t worry about attending every single workshop.  I followed his advice but did attend every plenary session, the highlight of which was a presentation by former Soviet premier, Mikhail Gorbachev. 
 
Another highlight of the year was a trip we made in March 2003 to Salamanca and Celaya, Mexico, to visit the City of the Children orphanage, where we had recently upgraded their kitchen, and to assist with the Eye Surgery Clinic, along with Dr. Mike Paveloff.  We’ll be repeating this trip this year, seven years later.  While there, we had the honor of presenting Padre Pedro with a Paul Harris Fellow award.
 
Fundraising for the Polio Eradication Program was a major push.  DG Marc and our own Bill Abel agreed to lose weight during the year and we pledged dollars based on their weight loss.  In April 2003, Marc had lost 30-40 lbs and Bill had lost 15 lbs.  However, the weight loss didn’t last.  I’m not sure that this proved to be the most successful fundraiser!
 
Can you believe, under immediate Past President Jim Moore’s leadership, we started working on a revision of our bylaws.  Now, seven years later, we actually have completed this task.  And, our own Colin Stephens led the GSE team to Brazil.  Again, seven years later a group of us will be making a Friendship visit to Brazil in November this year.
 
During the year, I presented many ROSE (Recognition of Service Excellence) awards.  Yes, real roses to the many club members who went above and beyond to carry out our many community and international projects.  At the end of the year our club received the Governor’s Citation at the awards ceremony.  
 
(Excerpt from 25th Anniversary program)