The Marysville Rotary Foundation has announced $150,000 in donations to support four community projects out of 11 suggested by Marysville Rotary Club members in 2022.Foundation Board member Jack Williams provided the following summary of the process and the projects selected:
Important considerations were that members propose and actively sponsor projects even if the beneficiary was an outside agency and that the projects align with Club goals.
Photo: The Tidal Wave is a balance beam that students can climb, walk, crawl, or jump from, to be installed at the Virginia School playground.
A request for project concepts was circulated to our Club membership and resulted in eleven project ideas for consideration. The Club Board considered all the projects and individually ranked them for merit and forwarded the rankings to the Foundation Board for tabulation of results and decision on which to fund. The Foundation was not bound by the Club rankings but considered them in their deliberations.
Five proposals were selected for further review after requesting additional input from their sponsors. Three projects were selected for immediate funding, one for near term funding, and one was not funded. We hope to make formal check presentations at future club meetings.
Here are the projects to be funded:
1. Virginia School playground equipment (Mike Cowley/Courtney Coburn). $18,885 for a free standing Tidal Wave. A recent renovation of the playground at Virginia School was to ensure all special education students have access to some type of playground equipment. The Tidal Wave is a balance beam that students can climb, walk, crawl or jump from that will help with balance and sensory needs for students of all ages, and make working on gross motor skills a fun, safe, and engaging activity.
2. SayLove dump box and loader arm (Matt Peyret/Jeff Stevens). $50,000. SayLove is a volunteer organization that does cleanup work in the area. This trailer/arm equipment can pick up objects that are too heavy to lift or in an unaccessible location, such as a ditch. The arm can reach up to 19’ and lift up to 3000 lbs and comes with a clamshell attachment. This device can be used throughout the month as dumping is spotted since it can be operated by one person and can be used in more remote areas.Photo: A dump box with loader arm that can reach up to 19 feet and lift up to 3000 pounds, with a clamshell attachment, will be purchased for SayLove, which organizes volunteer community cleanups.
3. Yuba-Sutter Mini Maker Faire (Tawny Dotson/Yuba Community College) $10,000. This event will be a test to determine if there is a local appetite for an annual Maker Faire designed to bring attention to career and technical education, innovation, and creativity in our community. People and organizations can showcase what they do, providing opportunities for attendees to learn and connect through displays and demonstrations. Participants are broad from electricians to scientists to artists. The Faire will be in the fall at Yuba College and the college will contribute staff time and facilities. Partners include Wide Awake Geek, Yuba College Office of Education and its schools, and local businesses.
4. Youth Baseball Field Refurbishment (Jan Rockwell/Matt Recardy). $75,000 in reserve. This project proposes to refurbish a youth baseball field at the Tri-County Youth Rehabilitation Campus. “Chiono Field” has not been maintained for ten years and has gone into disrepair. Marysville Little League and Paragon Collegiate Academy have expressed a desire to use the field. These organizations and Camp Singer youth will maintain the field once completed. Needs include leveling, seed or sod, sprinkler system, dugouts, fencing, bleachers and scoreboard. Currently, a use agreement with the City of Marysville is being developed to allow long term, low cost use of the facility. Once this agreement is executed, funds will be released.
What about the projects that did not get funding? Williams said the door is always open to funding requests that meet our Club guidelines—benefit to youth, the indigent, and community—but there is a process. All requests should first go to the Club Board. That board has a budget for community service and donates roughly $9,000 annually to a host of non-profit organizations. Larger requests that the Club Board supports can be forwarded to the Foundation Board for consideration. Of the unfunded projects, if additional information or new developments may move the needle, they can always be submitted for consideration. Currently, the Foundation is not planning another round of formal proposal requests, although we do have a system in place now when we are financially able to spend more money.