The West Olympia Rotary Club has focused on the children of our community and the world throughout its history.  Among the many contributions are scholarships for both needy and outstanding students that include higher education and technical school assistance.  In the past year we gave more than $6,000 in scholarships.  The club continues to have a lively student exchange program and has been enriched by its growing knowledge of the world through the experience of the youth involved.   More recent efforts include Law Day (for budding lawyers); Habitat for Humanity efforts for the less fortunate, the Yauger Park Skateboard Park and Sunrise Park.  Ongoing Centennial efforts are underway to paint stencils of United States maps at nine of the local elementary schools.  In each school, the teachers are provided with a curriculum that allows children to use the maps as a teaching aid.   We have developed a program called Kid Care whereby we provide parents with a set of identification papers including photos and fingerprints to assist in case the child goes missing.  We have collaborated with other clubs through the Dick Nichols Awards for outstanding youth and Wheelchairs for Africa project. 

Fundraising:

In earlier days of the Club raffles for hardware, sporting goods and more recently a PT Cruiser were held to raise funds. Today the Club’s main fundraisers are through the Lakefair Golf Island (try your hand at a drive to a floating island hole in beautiful Capital Lake); the Spaghetti Bowl (held at the annual football rivalry between Capital and Olympia High Schools); Kid Care (providing fingerprint and photograph ID’s for kids).

Club Activities

Club Activities have included events to increase fellowship and provide opportunities for spouses to attend.  Our club is actively engaged in providing food for the less fortunate through the Capital High School food drive and through direct contributions to the Thurston County Food Bank.  Literacy issues have been addressed through work with Capital High School student’s annual book drive.  Each Christmas our club actively participates in Bell Ringing project for the Salvation Army.

            Vocational Activities

Club members are active participants in the job shadowing for Junior Achievement during Career Day activities.  Members enjoy acting as coaches and judges for DECCA and FBLA students who are preparing for regional and national competitions. 

Community Activities

The West Olympia Charities Board receives many worthy requests each year to assist local non-profits and community groups.  Over the years our Club has assisted many new and innovative projects that benefit the community.  In the past year over $3,000 was awarded.  The recipients have included Junior Achievement, the Little Red School house project, the Family Support Center and programs Parent to Parent and Crisis Nursery.  Funds were awarded to Providence St. Peter Hospital for the new emergency room project. 

World (International) Activities

The West Olympia Club participates with other local clubs in the annual Jazz Festival.  A portion of the funds raised assist youth to purchase musical instruments while other funds are sent to the African country of Malawi for clean water infrastructure and wells. 

West Olympia has engaged in an active Rotary Youth Exchange program for most of its history.   This year, Capital Hight School student Sammi Boyd is spending her school year in Sweden, and Abby Lane is spending the year in Austria. Our club is hosting two inbound students this year: Maria Laura Vaca Paz from Bolivia and Per Wettergren from Sweden. We recently said goodby to Louise Petersen who returned to her home in  Denmark and Martin Horvath who returned to his home in Prague,  Czech Republic.  

Today

As befitting a club on Washington’s beautiful Puget Sound we have found a new and permanent home for the club at the West Bay Marina’s Viewpoint Room overlooking Budd Inlet.  We are very proud of our new Website and now have our weekly newsletter on line.  The newsletter provides many services to both members and the community.  Today, the Olympia Rotary Club is alive and well with over 90 members, including several new members this year.  In ceremonies on June 29, 2004 the Club welcomed its first woman president Shelly Foltz.  Shelley presided over both the Rotary Centennial Year and the 30^th Anniversary of the West Olympia Club on May 25, 2005. This year, Dr. Dirk Havlak has taken over as our club president.