My work at the Cupertino Rotary Club...
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My work at the Cupertino Rotary Club
POSTED BY DON SUN · JUNE 16, 2014 3:41 PM
My second community involvement in Cupertino is with the Rotary Club. The Rotary Club is a great organization to join and team up with people to serve the community. I have been with the Cupertino Rotary Club for 8 years. Mr. Ben Liao, a long term Rotarian and school board trustee for Cupertino introduced me to the club and brought me to my first function at the Quinlin Center. There I met Mr. Steve Ting. He has been a mentor in my work at the Rotary Club since then. I enjoy the Rotary Club very much. All of its members are enthusiastic in working on community work as well as international charity work. They have guided me in many ways and I have grown with the club. It has been like a family to me, kind and inclusive. The Rotary club plans cultural enrichment events for its members as well as projects in many areas to help making people's lives better.
Our annual Operation Snowflake project involves in making a man-made snow trail for children with special needs in Cupertino. Together, we transported truckloads of snow to build a snow trail to "surprise" more than 50 special needs children. One year, Steven Andrew and I carried 50 lbs of bags of snow from the truck to make the snow trail. I was covered with sweat. But Steve Andrew moved more bags than I did. He joked around with people as he was carrying the snow totally unaffected by the work. We watched the kids "ski" along the trail in Cupertino's Stevens Creek County Park, a very unlikely place to have any kind of snow ever.
In 2011, I served as the chair for Club Service when Bev Lenihan was president. She was patient with me when I made many mistakes because of my lack of knowledge. She encouraged me to do my best with pride, quality, and responsibility. Working with the school board, we raised money as mini grants to award good teachers and funded their classroom projects. I also learned from Pearl Chang on how to write proposals and appreciation letters to teachers. Every year, we paint houses for the seniors in Cupertino who could not afford to have a handyman. We spent the whole day to do the project. We enjoyed working together to help other people and were proud of our achievements. When we finished a house, we would hug and cheer each other for a job well done. Mr. Steve Ting, founder of Shin Shin Education Foundation involved us in school projects in rural China. We also donated wheelchairs with Rotary logos to disabled people in Mexico, China and India. We not only give money to those in needs but also use our work to improve other people's lives. We are proud of being Rotarians.
Cupertino's Rotary club is filled with caring people dedicated to work for the betterment of our community. We carry good will with us everywhere we go and in every project we involve in. Other visiting Rotarians around world always say that we are the best club in the world. People in the Rotary left me with deep impressions and memorable moments. I enjoyed Dick Miller's happy face and the fireside chat at his house. I cannot forget Linda Walker's smile sitting in her wheel chair while we celebrated her birthday. We have many ordinary people that do extraordinary work for the community. It's been an enlighten experience working with the Rotary.
