Our hike for April will be at Glen Oaks Ranch in Glen Ellen. This is very special hike on land owned by the Sonoma Land Trust and not open to the public. A Sonoma Land Trust staff member will be guiding us through the mid-19th Century history of the property and on the hike to a dramatic vista point overlooking the Sonoma Valley. Also, we will tour some of the work projects done by our Club. Details are below.
Rating
This is a MODERATE walk on an established trail. We gain 400 feet in elevation over two miles to a dramatic vista point for views of a wide swath of the Sonoma Valley. Total hike length is about four miles up and down.
Dog Friendly
No. Because this is a wildlife corridor, no dogs are allowed.
Organizer
Marty Behr -- 206-391-3427 for more information
Date, Time & Directions: Sunday, April 19 9a-Noon.
13255 Sonoma Hwy. From Santa Rosa, turn left into the ranch road just past the stoplight at Glen Ellen. Optional lunch at local Kenwood Restaurant afterward.
Bring
Good walking shoes. Water. Walking sticks. Hat and sunblock. Invite family, friends and prospective members to this special hike.
Volunteer opportunities are available for Levi's Gran Fondo, a large organized bike ride. The main one we like to do as a group is "Bag Check Dropoff" from 6-9am, and details for that are below. "Event Tear Down @ Start Line" (8:30-10:30am) is another one we have done as a group (don't worry about the time overlap - you can easily do both!). This year I personally have signed up for bothe the "Bag Check Dropoff" and the "Finish Line Traffic Control @ Windsor Rd." (9-11am) which gave me a good dose of adrelaline last year and I am excited to try it again. So...
If you want to join, sign up for the following:
(required) "Bag Check Dropoff" (6-9am)
(optional) "Event Tear Down @ Start Line" (8:30-10:30am)
(optional) "Finish Line Traffic Control @ Windsor Rd." (9-11am)
To register and sign up for these and many more please click HERE. You will need a login, but it is pretty straightforward, even if you forgot your password from last time (like I did!)
Thanks and hope to see you there!
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DETAILS for "Bag Check Dropoff" (6-9am)
Shift Location: Please report to volunteer central right outside the Huerta Gym, facing the office door. Huerta Gymnasium | 9291 Old Redwood Hwy Suite 200, Windsor, CA 95492
Shift Description: Volunteers will assist with checking in and out riders' bags. Drop-off and Pick-up occur inside the Huerta Gymnasium. Volunteers for this position need to be able to lift and carry 20 pounds.
PARKING: A separate parking area designated for volunteers and staff will be located in the northwest corner above the Town Green, near the Sheriff's Office.
DO NOT PARK ON SHERIFF MARKED SPOTS (shown in red on the map). No pass needed, but make sure you move the barricades back after you pull in. This is Staff, Volunteer, VIP parking, NO PARTICIPANTS.
Rachel grew up in the Midwest before moving with her family to the Los Angeles area at age 7. That move sparked a lifelong love of travel and nature, which eventually brought her to Sonoma County to attend SSU.
With a background in hospitality, Rachel spent eight years in the wine industry, most recently as Senior Hospitality Manager for an independent winery brand in Sonoma. She then made a career pivot in August 2025 into the nonprofit sector, diving headfirst into work that combines her passion for people and processes.
As Development & Grants Manager at Habitat for Humanity of Sonoma County, Rachel loves that she gets to follow her passion: helping people succeed while ensuring all the pieces come together to create the best version of a project, a team, and a community.
Canine Companions, Presented by Kristen Dambrowski, with Live Demonstrations by Marissa and Puppy Trainee Rayne!
Our meeting for April 9, 2026 was a field trip to Canine Companions on Dutton Avenue. Kristen Dambrowski, Northwest Regional Executive Director, was our tour guide. Kristen joined Canine Companions in July 2022. Her past experience includes 21 years with the YMCA of San Francisco. We also received a live demonstration of what Canine Companions dogs can do from Marissa, Training Manager, and the remarkable Rayne, a canine trainee! The trip also allowed Santa Rosa Sunrise Rotary to deliver a donation to Canine Companions in person.
Canine Companions was founded in Santa Rosa almost 50 years ago. Its founder recognized that dogs can support people with disabilities in a variety of ways. Kristen mentioned that there are 70 million people with disabilities in the U.S., including 4.7 million with service-connected disabilities. 8% of U.S. children have disabilities. C.C. is a national organization headquartered in Santa Rosa with 6 campuses throughout the U.S. It provides service dogs to adults, children, and veterans with disabilities, and facility dogs to professionals working in healthcare, criminal justice and educational settings. It has placed over 8,500 dogs since 1975 and currently has 6,000 volunteers and 320 employees. All of its dogs are scientifically bred in the Santa Rosa area. The dogs are labradors and golden retrievers. The training cycle starts with birth at a Canine Companions facility. The dogs then live with and are trained and cared for by volunteers for about 18 months. C.C. has about 1,300 volunteer puppy raisers, including 25 prison puppy raising programs and 39 college programs. The trainees then go to C.C. training centers for another 6 to 9 months of training. After training the dogs are assigned to their new owners. During their training the dogs learn 45 tasks. There is no charge to the clients for these dogs! It costs about $50,000 to breed, raise and train each of these service dogs.
Well trained companion dogs can assist their owners in variety of ways. They can assist people with PTSD by waking them or pulling bed covers away during nightmares, creating space for them in crowds, and providing them with deep pressure. Hearing dogs can save lives by alerting people to sounds. Marissa and Rayne demonstrated a variety of techniques used to retrieve fallen items, including the methods of delivering items to people in wheelchairs. Additional skills include tugging doors and drawers open, pushing them closed, turning lights on and off, and nudging people to interrupt their behavior. Rayne is a very relaxing, loving dog and will be a good fit for many adults. More active dogs might be assigned as hearing dogs (to be available and on alert all the time). The training is very rigorous and only about 50% of the dogs are ultimately assigned to persons with disabilities. The dogs that don’t make it through the training typically become therapy dogs, work in search and rescue, or become privately owned and valued pets. Dogs that are assigned to persons with disabilities have an average working life of 10 years.
Kristin also provided Sunrisers with a tour of the newly completed state-of-the-art facility.
Thank you, Kristen, Marissa, and Rayne for the great and highly informative tour. This is such an amazing program! Keep up the great work!
Ambassadors of Goodwill, Friendship and International understanding, Rotary Youth Exchange Students bring together an exuberant blend of creative hope,
Next month on Saturday May 16 in Petaluma, our District cohort is presenting us their vision of a more peace filled world.
District Youth Exchange Chair Klark Swan and District 5130 Governor Kristine Redko arer eager to introduce tstudents and award recognition ro their commitment and service.
Accept their invitation , come support and find inspiration in their Rotary adventure! Use the QR code in the above flyer to RSVP as space is limited.
On a regular basis, our resident photo pro Warren Smith, submits pictures of what is going on at the weekly meetings. You can always find the most recent pictures at the websites photo journal called "Meeting Sighting" Please note that all the meeting photos for the entire Rotary year are at this location with the most recent on the last page.
Thanks for all the great pictures Warren!Link to Meeting Sightings. The most recent are on the last page!
The monthly soup kitchen at Saint Saviour’s Anglican Church has been a mainstay in Latvia’s capital since 2001. For the past several years, the Rotaract Club of Riga International and, more recently, its sponsor Rotary club have supported the initiative, which serves as many as 60 visitors per session. “One shift prepares large pots of soup, porridge, and warm tea while another welcomes and serves guests when they arrive,” says Kim Leandersson, a past president of the Rotary Club of Riga International. “Ingredients are planned and purchased by our members, with our club covering the modest costs and occasional donated products from bakeries adding something extra. It’s regular, hands-on service where you see the impact immediately. Cooking, serving, and sharing a meal may sound small, but for many of our guests it means warmth, dignity, and being seen.”
India
The city of Thane, northeast of Mumbai, is recognized for its arts and culture scene. It’s home to drama troupes, an art expo, international film festivals, and comedy venues. What it was lacking, says Atul Bhide, of the Rotary Club of Thane Hills, was a large showcase for aficionados of the written word. To amend that, the club (which also sponsors a book-reading initiative for youth) launched the Thane Literature Festival. Over two days in November, bibliophiles toasted 22 authors and poets who read from their work and participated in panel discussions. The event honored journalist and writing coach Bachi Karkaria with the Thane Literature Festival lifetime achievement award, and judges critiqued entries in a short-story contest. “Encouraging reading habits and love for literature for Gen-Next is also our motive behind this literature festival,” says Bhide.
This story originally appeared in the April 2026 issue of Rotary magazine.
Rotary projects make a difference in communities around the world.
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Glen Oaks Ranch
The monthly soup kitchen at Saint Saviour’s Anglican Church has been a mainstay in Latvia’s capital since 2001. For the past several years, the Rotaract Club of Riga International and, more recently, its sponsor Rotary club have supported the initiative, which serves as many as 60 visitors per session. “One shift prepares large pots of soup, porridge, and warm tea while another welcomes and serves guests when they arrive,” says Kim Leandersson, a past president of the Rotary Club of Riga International. “Ingredients are planned and purchased by our members, with our club covering the modest costs and occasional donated products from bakeries adding something extra. It’s regular, hands-on service where you see the impact immediately. Cooking, serving, and sharing a meal may sound small, but for many of our guests it means warmth, dignity, and being seen.”
The city of Thane, northeast of Mumbai, is recognized for its arts and culture scene. It’s home to drama troupes, an art expo, international film festivals, and comedy venues. What it was lacking, says Atul Bhide, of the Rotary Club of Thane Hills, was a large showcase for aficionados of the written word. To amend that, the club (which also sponsors a book-reading initiative for youth) launched the Thane Literature Festival. Over two days in November, bibliophiles toasted 22 authors and poets who read from their work and participated in panel discussions. The event honored journalist and writing coach Bachi Karkaria with the Thane Literature Festival lifetime achievement award, and judges critiqued entries in a short-story contest. “Encouraging reading habits and love for literature for Gen-Next is also our motive behind this literature festival,” says Bhide.