I first became acquainted with the Bonita Sunrise Rotary Club through one of its charter members, Tom Miller.
Miller, at that time, was my computer guru, installing the first of perhaps a half dozen machines that I have used. He told me about the club and we started doing a yearly column on them ever since, bringing the community up to date on the doings of its members.
We have stated in the past how the Bonita club was a spin-off from the Chula Vista Rotary Club, a long, established service club in our area which many people refer to as “the mother club.”
Some in the Chula Vista club, Jerry Prior and Joe Warburton for example, thought a morning club would be the answer for some of those who found a noon-time meeting inconvenient. So, back in 1990, the Sunrise Club was born and has been in operation ever since.
Someone once told me that a club is only as good as the bulk of its members. From member Beverly Sumwalt, we find that “action” could be the middle name of the local club.
She is a long time Rotarian, joining first in La Mesa and then, in 1996, moving to the Bonita club. She is a past president of the La Mesa club and is in the process of “going through the chairs” in the Bonita club.
Her husband, Dennis, is a founding member of the club and her father, the late Dick Kau, was a lifetime Rotarian. So she came about her Rotary credentials honestly.
Sumwalt said she sees many similarities between the two clubs. The principal differences are some management methods and ways of raising funds. Regarding the latter, most clubs select those things that have worked in the past and they stay with them.
Dianna Davis, a Chula Vista attorney, is the current president, having received the mantle of office last July in a ceremony at a Coronado restaurant. She relieved Norman Vanderbilt.
Davis said that it is her intent to retain the good things of the club that were initiated by Vanderbilt and those before him, and to mix in a few new ones.
Although most service clubs are national, the local club strives to concentrate most of its efforts on those things relating to the community. For example, the Rotary Club is the major sponsor of the Bonitafest parade. If it weren’t for that club and its insurance backing, there would be no parade. This is one ongoing commitment that started some five years ago.
Jim Fergus was a longtime member of the club who was forced to take a leave of absence because of employment conflicts. The local club, he told me, is very youth oriented. This is the one of the commitments of service clubs. In conjunction with the Chula Vista Welfare Council, the Rotary Club supplies clothing and school supplies for a group of children. It also has a scholarship program in place that aids some graduating seniors on the road to higher learning.
In keeping with the custom of mingling children with seniors, club members will visit one of the senior establishments after the first of the year with a group of their own grandchildren and younger children.
The idea will be to make some days brighter for the elders, particularly around Valentine’s Day.
One positive aspect of service clubs, Rotary being one of them, is the aid they offer people at holiday time. Bags of groceries including turkeys are delivered to some of those residents who are a bit more needy than the rest of us.
Thus a bright spot is opened for some families, particularly the young.
I have assisted at such programs and it is gratifying to see the smiles and appreciation from those folks. The Sunrise Rotary Club meets at the San Diego Country Club each Thursday at 7 a.m.
