The following narrative is a continuation of a series of how a member was introduced to Rotary and subsequent memories. If you would like Rotary to be part of your life's story, please contact Mary Bates at marybates2020@gmail.com)
Paul Williams
Joined Rotary February 5, 2001
November, 2023
My Road to Rotary
Born and raised in beautiful Northern California, my road to Rotary tragically started with my dad’s diagnosis of bone cancer when I was a senior at Willits High School in Northern California. 
This led to tough financial times for our family of five with my Mom being the only ‘breadwinner’. During my HS Senior year, my dad passed, and with the opportunity to attend California Polytechnic State University at San Luis Obispo right around the corner, trying to find the funds to pay for my first year of college seemed insurmountable. Looking at my college expenses budget, and the funds I expected for the year, I was close but nowhere near comfortable. Discussing my financial issues with my high school advisor, she suggested that I apply for some of the local scholarships and, to my surprise, the Rotary Club of Willits CA provided me with a $1,000 scholarship! To say the least, this was HUGE and that September, on my eighteenth birthday, I was off to college.
After five years of working side jobs and getting a couple college loans to make ends meet, I graduated with a Bachelor of Science Degree in Construction Engineering. My first job was working for Santa Fe’ International supporting the fields operations for the petroleum pipeline installations in Saudi Arabia and I quickly decided that something closer to home was where I wanted to be, so I went to work for Robert Fisher Construction Company in Fresno, CA and have been based in CA since. Just after accepting my first employment, the college loan repayment notices started and that was not an easy thing to deal with. Funds were tight and to make ends meet was a challenge for me but I got through. But what remained in my mind,,,, how would I be able to repay the generous gift of the Rotary Club of Willits?
Fast forward a couple of years... I got married to my wonderful bride Debi in Carmel CA and after working on a several CA construction projects, I was hired by a Development Company based in Palo Alto. Looking at the housing location possibilities the Bay Area, it seemed like the ‘centrally located’ City of Foster City would be best. This would eliminate most ‘bridge traffic’ and put me/us in the center of where most of the company projects would be. Then one Friday, after work, Debi suggested that we go to dinner. So off we went to, I’m guessing it was Chevy’s, (old Custom House, now Sushi Warehouse) and when we arrived, Deb mentioned to me she was pretty sure the family inline in front of us, are new neighbors of ours on Grunion Court. I took that opportunity to introduce our family to our newest neighbors,,, which was the Willie McDonald family and mentioned that it would be great to have a beer with him back at Grunion Court to get to know each other.
Let’s just say it didn’t take Willie long to accept my offer to have a beer together on the court and, shortly after getting to know him, he was talking about this Foster City club he was involved with called “Rotary”. 
I was not long after that Willie was suggesting that I consider joining Rotary “It’s a great club with lots of good people”. I mentioned I need time this consider it but it does sound like fun.
After a couple of months, Willie approached me and mentioned, one of the ways our Rotary Club generates funds is to cook at different events. BTW, the Art and Wine weekend is coming up and the cooking crew could use some help. That’s when I mentioned to Willie about the generosity of the Rotary Club of Willits and I’ve been trying to figure out a way to repay my debt to Rotary. I then agreed to help the cooking crew on several events and found myself face to face with Rotary members Ollie, Rick and Greg. Of course that’s when I found out what ‘low man on the totem pole’ really meant,,, along with a few more suggestions I should join Rotary.
Also during this time, my mom (Dolores) mentioned she didn’t want to let ‘moss grow under her feet’, so she sold everything she had, signed up for a couple of Peace Corp programs and found a new home in Santa Barbara, Honduras. 
The home was called Casa Rosada and she spent her time helping those truly less fortunate families and people there. After several requests for me to come and visit her in Honduras, I took my oldest daughter on an experience that truly changed my/our lives. To see those destitute individuals being so thankful for something, that here in USA might very well discard, or to receive a sandwich bag of dried corn, beans or rice was a true eye opener for me and my daughter.
These were my crossroads for My Road to Rotary and with the encouragement of that ‘soft spoken guy with a heart of gold’ Jon B. Grant, who suggested and implemented several Grants and programs that helped support mom’s Casa Rosada efforts. Not only did these grants help her efforts, it also connected Mom with the Rotary Club of Santa Barbara Honduras which helped immensely. I also recall several occasions when Jon and other members (Craig Courtin, Gil Guerin, Jim Lousilot and Larry Zanatta) of the club made trips to Honduras to support mom’s effort. These programs/efforts in Honduras laid the groundwork for me to consider “Service Above Self” and to become a member of Rotary.
Since joining Rotary here are just a few of my achievements;
Served as Club’s International Service and Vocational Chair.
Served as President 2006 – 2007 – With the honor of being inducted by Rick King RI President
Paul Harris Fellow and Major Donor.
4 Avenues of Service Recipient. (Now 5 Avenues)
District Rotarian of the Month November 2018
District 5150 Sargent at Arms and served at the President Elect Training Events.
Participated in multiple humanitarian trips to Honduras.
Invited to participate in Wheelchair distribution events with Ken Behring and Jon B Grant along with several others arraigned through our Rotary Club. Participated in multiple humanitarian trips to Mazatlan, MX. Help start “Interact International Friendship Games” and was surprised to see a Soccer Tournament banner with my name on it.
Helped install several playgrounds in Mexico
Traveled to South Africa for water project, school project and wheelchairs.
Participated in numerous Safe Street events and Interact Halloween Floats.
Worked on several playgrounds installations for Yurok and Hoopa tribes.
Multiple Cooking Crew Assignments.
Currently assisting with the Community Garden project.
If it wasn’t for that ‘gracious gift’ from the Rotary Club of Willits Rotary, and the amazing individuals of the Rotary Club of Foster City, my road through life may have been just another road. Clearly I’ve been blessed by the challenges, opportunity and the members Rotary has given me and I hope one day, my efforts to repay for ALL of these blessings, will be fulfilled.