Milestones
By Miles H. Barber

This week in Santa Clara our local Rotary Club proved once again they have become the premier service club in our community.

Hosting the 2011 Santa Clara Rotary Soccer cup, over 2500 kids, coaches, parents and grandparents arrived in town for this annual event.

Originally spearheaded by Past Presidents Ken Rowell, owner of Bay Area Builders, Police Captain Stewart Cusimano, Nick Streit, Managing Partner of Delucchi-Hahn CPA firm and local Fire Captain, Marty Von Raesfeld in 2000, the tourney has grown prospered and flourished.

Last year, Von Raesfeld indicated that he would need to reduce his involvement due to increased responsibilities at the Fire Department. This put more responsibility for organization and planning on Rowell, Streit and Jan Eric Nordmo, owner of Off the Wall Soccer. However, Von Raesfeld still plays a significant roll in success of this project.

The Rotary Club, with nearly 80 members, used almost every active member in this massive volunteer project. While the actual tournament began at 9:00 AM on Saturday at four different locations on ten fields, Rotarians gathered at Curtis School at 6:45 AM to coordinate tournament assignments, then disperse to their fields and begin setting up.

Each location (some with as many as three fields) is manned by a Master Marshall and one or two assistants. While most assistants work in three hour shifts, the Master Marshalls are committed to the 7:00 AM to 7:30 PM schedule both days.

Current Club President Dan Holder, owner of Holder's Country Inn on Saratoga Avenue volunteered to head up the "rovers." These are members of the traveling team that bring supplies, food, water, ice and forgotten items to each field during the day.

Holder was assisted by retired police officer and Immediate Past President of the Club, Anton Morec along with retired police officer and President Elect Stewart Cusimano.

Each of the Master Marshalls, Rovers and Tournament Chairs are equipped with Nextel walkie-talkies to keep in touch, report up to date scores and tournament results to each field.

While the club tournament has enjoyed hosting more than 10,000 kids over the years, the major fund raising part of the project is the advertising sales which were displayed in last week's issue of the WEEKLY.

Kaiser Permanente stepped up early in the season to provide a major grant to the Rotary Club Foundation to assist in the club fund raising efforts. In addition, Lisa Jafferies, Community Relations Director for Kaiser gave each player a tote bag and also provided volunteers to assist the Rotary Club in the take down and clean up.

Rotarian Andy Ratermann and Board President of the SCUSD was this years chair for Rotary advertising sales and assisted the club in reaching a new record in sales which exceeded $65,000.

"The community has stepped up and really supported Rotary as never before", said Ratermann. "We are incredibly grateful for what our community does and what are club is able to do for our community."

This year proceeds from the tournament will assist in providing more than 500 pairs of new shoes to first and second grade children, help provide two years of tuition for Santa Clara seniors at a local community college, and allow the club to host a 150 underserved youth at Christmas for Kids in December.

In addition, funds will be allocated to provide scholarships for 60 high school juniors to attend the Rotary Enterprise Leadership Conference at Asilomar in March 2012. This program Co-Chaired by Rotarian Steve Rainboldt, Sales Representative for Waddell and Reed, introduces young men and women to the opportunities available in business, starting their own business and taking an idea to market.

Congratulations to the Rotary Club of Santa Clara. They do make a difference.

Miles H. Barber can be reached at Scweekly2011@yahoo.com