Interact Students Rack Up Their Service Hours and Make an Impact!
Our Elsie Allen Interact Club has been very active this year. To date, there have been 12 service events Interact was involved in, with 26 total students participating, and 351 total service hours.
Listed below is each event, the date, and a brief description of the services students provided
Santa Rosa Rural Cemetery Clean Up 10/19/24
Students assisted with cleaning/refurbishment of gravestones and maintenance and vegetation overgrowth removal at this historic cemetery in Santa Rosa.
Elsie Allen Foundation Fiesta 11/2/24
Students provided volunteer services at the Elsie Allen Foundation’s annual fundraising event.
Santa Rosa Place to Play Clean Up 11/9/25
Students assisted with refurbishing and improving an existing dog park and baseball fields at the Santa Rosa Place to Play Park.
Redwood Gospel Mission Thanksgiving 11/24/24
Students provided a variety of dinner service tasks during the Redwood Gospel Mission’s Thanksgiving Banquet at the Sonoma County Fairgrounds. Plating and serving of food, prepping and clearing tables as bussers, and serving as banquet hosts to coordinate sitting of guests were all services provide by the students. It is estimated that the approximately 2,000 individuals were served during the service window that the students participated in.
Secret Santa Bike Build 12/7/24
Students joined our fellow Rotarians in assembling an estimated 300 bicycles for the Sonoma County Secret Santa non-profit gift giving program. The bicycles were to be provided locally to those less fortunate for Christmas.
Secret Santa Gift Wrapping 12/14/24
Students assisted in wrapping some of the 13,000 gifts coordinated and processed by the Secret Santa program for gifting to those less fortunate during Christmas.
Valley of the Moon Children’s Xmas Shopping 12/19/24
Students shopped for various Christmas gifts for the Valley of the Moon Children’s Center. The VMCC serves youths aged 0-17 that have experienced physical, sexual, or emotional abuse, abandonment, or neglect at home by providing a safe place to go. The VMCC youths provide Christmas wish lists, and our Interact students, utilizing funds raised through our Interact and Rotary clubs, perform a shopping spree to several stores to address as many of the wish list items as possible. This annual event is one of our Interact student’s favorites.
Santa Rosa Coffey Park Clean Up 1/8/25
Students assisted with improving landscaping and refurbishing another dog park at this popular Santa Rosa park.
Rotary Meeting Takeover 2/20/25
Our Interact Club students “took over” our weekly Rotary meeting, with the Interact officers actually running the meeting. Interact President Maria Ramirez ran the meeting in place of our Rotary Club President Cindy Gillespie, while the other Interact officers coordinated the Pledge, provided the thought of the day, and served as Greeter. Several of the non-officer Interact students attended the meeting as well and sat and visited with our Rotary club members.
Rotary Roseland Walk 2/22/25
Several students joined in on our Rotary club’s monthly walk. This walk was through the historic Roseland neighborhood in south Santa Rosa, which is within the Elsie Allen High School area, and likely home of several Elsie Allen students. The walk was a great success, and had the most participants of any of our Rotary Club’s walks or hikes over the last 10 years.
Active 20/30 Club Crab Feed 3/1/25
Students provided volunteer services at the Santa Rosa Active 20/30 Club’s annual fundraising event.
Science Discovery Day 3/1/25
Students donned lab coats and provided several volunteer services at this free community science festival at the Sonoma County Fairgrounds. The event has 100+ exhibitors and approximately 10,000 attendees. The Interact students assisted with set up, walking the event grounds to answer questions and provide event maps, and assist attendees with exit surveys when leaving the event.
