Lupe reported on his Rotary year and the events leading up to it. He discussed how he went to PETS in 2019 and came up with lots of ideas he had for the club. As he got closer to the beginning of his Rotary year, he started to try to gear up with his plans ahead of time. Unfortunately, the pandemic happened a couple of months before the beginning of his Rotary year. He continued to work to engage the club, first meeting with Frank at the restaurant and then pivoting to meetings on Zoom to keep the club engaged. Frank then reported on our projects for the year, which included turning the sunshine basket into a service project by raising funds for various local charities as follows:
August – Boy Scouts - $1,129
September – Storybook Project - $667
October – Hart Elementary School - $885
November – Rotary Foundation - $512
December – IACT Refugee Family -$1,467 ($555 was from the Sunshine Basket)
January – Bangladesh Project - $800
February – Saltillo Couple - $1,000 ($800 was from Sunshine Basket)
March – Homeless Care packages - $779
April – Helping Hand Home - $751
May – Asian American Resource Center - $642
June – Austin Sunshine Camp - $1124
The following activities also happened during Lupe’s year.
*Strong Start Books for the 2020-21 Year - donated 40+ books in honor of our speakers
*July – Installed two new members at the Installation Dinner – Lucina & Ana
*July - Contributed to the African Water Project along with several other Rotary Clubs
*October 3rd – Held a Rise Against Hunger Project along with the eClub and Northwest Austin Rotary Club packaged 10,152 meals in record time (2 hours)
*Continued to support the Early Act First Knight Program at Hart Elementary
*Held a picnic in the park and raised donations that contributed to a refugee family consisting of 2 adults and 5 children
*Ordered two new pop-up banners (delivered) and a step and repeat banner (in progress) for the meetings.
*Completed the Presidential Citation – fingers crossed we receive one
*Participated in the DAP Grant and received almost $1000 which helps the club offset the cost of the Rise Against Hunger Project
*Delivered a complete meal consisting of taco, fajitas, beans, and rice to Fire Station 8, just East of Casa Chapala during the early days of the pandemic
*In May, had a fundraiser dinner at Casa Chapala with a meal and a rowdy game of bingo to raise money to help towards the Rise Against Hunger Project.