Several local Rotarians were honored Monday, June 9 at a regional Rotary awards and recognition event held in Sacramento. 
Rotary District 5180 consists of 36 clubs in the Sacramento area, stretching from the Oroville Dam to the Delta. The district awards clubs and individual members each year for achievement in public service. At this year’s awards ceremony, the following local Rotarians and clubs were honored.
The District 5180 Hall of Fame has a new member. David Tarke, of the Rotary Club of Marysville, who has been a Rotarian for 29 years, is a past president of the Marysville Club, served as assistant governor for the area clubs several times, and has been very active in both the club and the district for many years, most recently serving as the youth protection officer. To qualify for the Hall of Fame, members must have been a Rotarian for at least 20 years and be nominated by their clubs for outstanding service.
Finally, the Rotary Club of Marysville received the distinct honor of being named the Gold Club of 2025 for Area 3, which consists of the clubs in Oroville, Gridley, Yuba City, Marysville and South Yuba County, as well as the Yuba-Sutter Night Club. The Marysville club was awarded this honor because of its outstanding service to the community during the past year, which included:
participating in a backpack and school supplies giveaway; holding its annual holiday party for 180 special needs students; supporting SoYouCan’s annual Christmas deliveries and donating more than $17,000 to support future SoYouCan efforts; and purchasing 9 automated external defibrillators, or AEDs, for area schools (an AED is a portable medical device used to analyze the heart rhythm of someone experiencing cardiac arrest, and then shock the heart to restore a normal heart beat).
We also want to offer a huge congratulations to our friend from Yuba City. The Rotarian of the Year Award went to Bill Highland of the Rotary Club of Yuba City who has overseen the district’s annual speech contest for the last several years, and most recently helped push through a renovation of the event center at the Yuba-Sutter Fairgrounds.
