Paul Gullixson is Communications Manager for the County of Sonoma and has worked for more than 30 years as a journalist, including for the San Francisco Chronicle and The Press Democrat in Sonoma County where he wrote columns and oversaw the opinion pages for 20 years. As Editorial Director, his work contributed to The Press Democrat winning the Pulitzer Prize for coverage of the October 2017 wildfires. Along with Anne Belden, Paul is co-author of “Inflamed: Abandonment, Heroism, and Outrage in Wine Country's Deadliest Firestorm,” which has won multiple awards including the 2023 Book of the Year award from Investigative Reporters and Editors conference. He and his wife Tamara live in Santa Rosa where they raised two children. Their daughter Clara is a senior at the University of Oregon and their son Christopher was a Rotary Youth Exchange student to Sweden in 2016-17. A graduate of USC, he is now working as an environmental engineer in Irvine.
The Children's Museum of Sonoma County, by Founder and CEO, Collette Michaud
Our speaker for March 6, 2025, was Collette Michaud, founder and CEO of the Children’s Museum of Sonoma County. Collette has a degree in commercial art and worked in the children’s game software industry for 15 years. She founded the Children’s Museum in 2005. Collette saw the need for a children’s discovery museum when her two boys were 4 and 6 years old. She saw that there no place in Sonoma County for them to have a creative learning experience. She had an epiphany when she visited the Bar Area Discovery Museum in S.F. and decided to start something similar in Sonoma County. She started the Children’s Museum by working out of her minivan and setting up her exhibits and games at community events. Teachers showed a lot of interest in what she was doing, and they started inviting her to visit their classrooms. In 2009 she expanded to a trailer for her exhibits and increased the number of events per year from 20 to 65. In 2011 she moved into an old 5-acre church site next to Snoopy’s Ice Arena. In 2014 they opened up the outside area for visitors; the inside spaces were opened up the next year. They’ve had 70,000 visits in the 10 years since they opened! Next year they expect to host 130,000 visitors!
Places like the Children’s Museum are so important because young kids need creative, interactive opportunities to play. By age 5, 90% of a child’s brain is formed. Playing is very important because it is a way to practice what a child is going to do and be when they get older. Kids suffer cognitively without play. Playing and interacting with loved ones is especially important since it helps develop the architecture of the brain and lead to resilience and success. The Children’s Museum gives kids the opportunity to play in an entirely new and interactive space. Some of the amazing programs include Toddler Time, Big Thinker’s STEAM, Creation Station, Sewing Creations, and Sensory Friendly Afternoons. They also offer “Museum on the Go” so that children who may not get the opportunity to visit the museum itself can have a similar playful transformative experience. The Museum has 60 hands-on exhibits! 25% of visitors are charged significantly reduced entrance fees, including beneficiaries of Medi-Cal, WIC, SNAP, Free/Reduced school lunch recipients, among others.
The Museum’s interior space is limited to 5,000 square feet and they hope to add an additional 17,000 square feet to give them three times the exhibit space. The current space makes it difficult to provide exhibits for children in the 5th, 6th and 7th grades, so additional space would allow the Museum to serve that age group. Collette reminded us that there are many ways to be involved with the Children’s Museum, including donations and the volunteer program.
Thank you, Collette for the comprehensive and informative presentation. The Children’s Museum has been a Sunrise favorite for many years – and for very good reasons!
Click HERE to see a limited time recording of Collete's presentation.
Thank you for the opportunity to speak to you yesterday about the Children’s Museum of Sonoma County and our campaign to expand its internal footprint to accommodate the increasing number of attendees.
I am so grateful for the club’s generous past support, which ensures that all children can access innovative learning experiences only found at the Children’s Museum. This upstream investment significantly enhances opportunities for all children in Sonoma County, helping to establish a solid foundation early on for learning and preparing children for school readiness and future success as adults.
If you would like to learn more about the Children’s Museum, please visit our website. And if you’d like a tour, I’m happy to host you and friends any time for a back-of-the-house visit, complete with historical anecdotes about how the Museum came to be.
Thanks again for helping to transform futures and inspiring the next generation of leaders, thinkers, and dreamers.
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!
Rotarians Interact with Crowds Discovering Science!
The North Bay Science Discovery Day was a huge success. The parking lot was full and the fairgrounds were crowded with families enjoying a creative day of hands-on discovery. Interact students and Rotarians were overwhelmed with thank You's and appreciation as we asked folks to fill out exit surveys.
Yes, many were very tired, but they took the time to fill out a feedback form. We handed the kids a thank you magnifying glass and received a last smile. We were left with hope for the future scientists who will help change and improve our world!!!
Rotary Private Walk to the Sonoma Mountain Vernal Pools
On Sunday, twenty-seven Rotarians, friends and family were treated to a guided hike beyond the gates through protected lands. We saw regenerating burn scars, blooming oaks, and vistas of the Sonoma Creek Watershed along Bennett Valley Road.
Our guide brought us to the edge of vernal pools and explained how they form and the importance they serve to threatened plant species and wildlife. Betsy Sanville helped identify wildflowers along the way. Many thanks to our hike committee for putting together a beautiful and invigorating way to start the day.
“I can remember the first time I had to go to sleep. Mom said, ‘Steven, time to go to sleep.’ I said, ‘But I don’t know how.’ She said, ‘It’s real easy. Just go down to the end of tired and hang a left.’ So I went down to the end of tired, and just out of curiosity I hung a right. My mother was there, and she said, ‘I thought I told you to go to sleep.’”
March is here, and for Rotary International, that means celebrating Water, Sanitation, and Hygiene Month — a time to shine a spotlight on one of the most transformative areas of our work.
This month is an opportunity to reflect on The Magic of Rotary and the profound impact we create when we come together with determination and purpose.
Years ago, I experienced this magic firsthand in the Dominican Republic. When a group of members helped people install water filters, three children watched with amazement as dirty water entered one end of a filter and clean water emerged from the other. When we paused the demonstration, one child tugged at my sleeve and pleaded, “Show me the magic again.”
To them, it felt magical. It was also the result of countless hours of effort — planning, transporting, and installing the filters — alongside local partners who were dedicated to making clean water accessible. In that moment, I realized that what seemed like a small act could change residents’ lives. That is The Magic of Rotary.
This story is a testament to the incredible potential of our global family to create change. Water projects exemplify our reach, our partnerships, and our unwavering commitment to improving lives. Consider Rotary’s work with USAID. That partnership has enabled us to work with communities and governments to improve access to sustainable water and sanitation services for thousands of people in the Dominican Republic, Ghana, the Philippines, and Uganda.
Partnerships remind us that Rotary’s impact is amplified when we work together. Through our strategic alliance with the United Nations Environment Programme, we’re advancing the Community Action for Fresh Water initiative. This program equips Rotary members with the tools and resources to protect, restore, and sustain freshwater ecosystems.
When we make use of Rotary grants and advocate for clean water in our communities, we create a ripple effect that extends far beyond individual projects.
As we embrace the spirit of the month, I encourage every Rotary member to seek out new partnerships. Collaboration multiplies our efforts and helps us reach more people in need.
Whether it’s joining forces with local organizations, forming alliances with international agencies, or mobilizing your community, every step we take together brings us closer to a world where everyone has access to clean water and safe sanitation.
The Magic of Rotary shines brightest when we work in harmony with others to create lasting good. Together, we can turn dreams into realities that transform lives and communities. The result may feel like magic at times, but we know it’s from the power of our collective commitment and compassion. Let’s harness this magic to make a difference this month and beyond.
You can find all prior "RI President's Messages" at this LINK
After joining Rotary, you never look at a glass of water the same way again.
Holding it, you are humbled by the privilege of access to drinkable water. Then, you recall how Rotary brings communities and water experts together to deliver safe drinking water to places in need of it, transforming lives.
According to the United Nations, 2 billion people lack access to safely managed drinking water, and 3.6 billion lack safely managed sanitation. During March, we focus on our commitment to addressing water, sanitation, and hygiene challenges through our clubs and The Rotary Foundation.
District and global grants, made possible by the Foundation, provide a direct way for members to engage in water and sanitation projects. My wife, Gay, and I have seen the transformative power of these grants. Our clubs, the Rotary Clubs of Decatur and Decatur Daybreak, Alabama, partnered with the Rotary Club of Ecatepec, Mexico, to sanitize cisterns and tanks for about 300 schools.
We are also launching a new global grant to provide rainwater collection systems for 50 Indigenous families in the Sierra Madre Mountains of Chihuahua, in partnership with five organizations.
Globally, Rotary employs comprehensive approaches to these initiatives. In Mexico, the global grant-funded program Niñas Sabias, or Wise Girls, empowers girls by providing education on menstruation, building self-esteem, and purchasing reusable menstrual products.
Our partnership with USAID in Uganda has shown how small-scale piped water systems can deliver cost-effective, sustainable solutions. By investing in local governance and technical capacity, this initiative ensures long-term access to clean water for entire regions.
Rotary’s Programs of Scale also demonstrate the power of interdisciplinary strategies. In India’s water-scarce regions, Rotary promotes solutions such as rainwater harvesting and groundwater recharge, integrating water management with agricultural productivity to enhance sustainability and resilience.
Moving forward, we will continue improving how we deliver water and boost sanitation, focusing on regional planning, strengthening delivery systems, and fostering partnerships.
Be proud to be part of this meaningful work — and please consider supporting it.
When you give to The Rotary Foundation, you not only help us reach our 2024-25 fundraising goal of $500 million, you also play a role in ensuring Rotary can make clean water, effective sanitation, and hygiene accessible for generations.
You can find all prior "Messages from the Foundation Trustee Chair" at this LINK
The Rotary Club of Wellington, Florida, went the distance by staging a military-style race in which competitors wore heavy backpacks filled with donated food items. More than 100 participants, including U.S. Army and Marine Corps representatives, stepped off on 10 November during the Veterans Day weekend food drive, says club member George Kinoshita. The club modeled the event on the military endurance training known as ruck marches that involve carrying weighted backpacks. The club requested a minimum of 8 pounds of food donations, but many runners hoisted nearly double that, filling their bags with canned beans and cranberries, boxes of stuffing, and other foodstuffs. The club later handed over the Thanksgiving meal staples to the town’s seasonally operated pantry. The Wellington High School Interact club conducted a 50-50 raffle, and members hoofed it or served as course guides.
Canada
Fourteen clubs in Ontario are participating in a District 7070 initiative to sew reusable menstrual pads for girls in the Dominican Republic led by Janet Thorsteinson, a member of the Rotary Club of Whitby Sunrise. Among the most prolific is the Rotary Club of Campbellford. Since it introduced “Sewing with Janet nights” in September 2023, club members and friends have sewn more than 1,000 pads using sewing machines and fabric that Thorsteinson provided. Nearly two dozen people participate in each session. “The idea of allowing more members to be involved in an international project was very appealing,” says Rob Pope of the Campbellford club. Thorsteinson agrees. “Sewing events create opportunities for fellowship, creating a Rotary buzz and a draw for new members to get involved,” she says.
This story originally appeared in the March 2025 issue of Rotary magazine.
Rotary projects make a difference in communities around the world.
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The Rotary Club of Wellington, Florida, went the distance by staging a military-style race in which competitors wore heavy backpacks filled with donated food items. More than 100 participants, including U.S. Army and Marine Corps representatives, stepped off on 10 November during the Veterans Day weekend food drive, says club member George Kinoshita. The club modeled the event on the military endurance training known as ruck marches that involve carrying weighted backpacks. The club requested a minimum of 8 pounds of food donations, but many runners hoisted nearly double that, filling their bags with canned beans and cranberries, boxes of stuffing, and other foodstuffs. The club later handed over the Thanksgiving meal staples to the town’s seasonally operated pantry. The Wellington High School Interact club conducted a 50-50 raffle, and members hoofed it or served as course guides.
Fourteen clubs in Ontario are participating in a District 7070 initiative to sew reusable menstrual pads for girls in the Dominican Republic led by Janet Thorsteinson, a member of the Rotary Club of Whitby Sunrise. Among the most prolific is the Rotary Club of Campbellford. Since it introduced “Sewing with Janet nights” in September 2023, club members and friends have sewn more than 1,000 pads using sewing machines and fabric that Thorsteinson provided. Nearly two dozen people participate in each session. “The idea of allowing more members to be involved in an international project was very appealing,” says Rob Pope of the Campbellford club. Thorsteinson agrees. “Sewing events create opportunities for fellowship, creating a Rotary buzz and a draw for new members to get involved,” she says.