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Photograph by Kathy De La Torre
Saratoga Rotarian Fred Petersen sets out washed table legs to dry in the sun when the club got together for a work party recently.
School kids sitting pretty thanks to Rotary Club
By Jason Baker
Paul Kelker has never been one to shy away from a hard day's work. As a developer and general contractor, Kelker learned that to do good work, you sometimes have to get a little dirty. He also learned the philosophy of conservation, or in more simple terms, that one man's trash can become another man's treasure.
And it's that very philosophy that Kelker and other members of the Saratoga Rotary Club have employed in helping improve the lives of residents in countries less fortunate than ours.
While looking for supplies for a recent art show, Kelker stumbled upon a pile of about 200 chairs the Saratoga Union School District was planning to throw out. Kelker contacted district facilities director Paul Tipton, who said Kelker was welcome to the furniture.
Rotary members refurbished and painted the chairs and donated the finished product to schools in Puerto Vallarta and other Mexican cities in desperate need of supplies. The U.S. Navy's Helping Hand program, based in San Diego, delivered the equipment to the schools, Kelker said.
Kelker, who has a home in Puerto Vallarta, said on a scale of one to 10, schools in the region rate about a three. "Some are so bad that the students sit outside without desks," he said. "Children are the most precious commodity you can imagine. Of course they realize they're poor, but they are always greatly appreciative."
Rotary members followed the first shipment of chairs with a shipment of refurbished adult-size chairs obtained from West Valley College to the Oakland School District. The refurbishing projects continued during the weekend of Sept. 11 as about 28 Rotarians and volunteers from the Saratoga Fire Department cleaned and refinished an additional 100 desks and 135 chairs obtained from the SUSD, a project Kelker called a "great community effort." The latest batch of equipment also will be shipped to Mexico.
"I've been in liaison with the Mexican consulate about the possibility of shipping the desks in a produce truck on its way back to Mexico," Kelker said.
Kelker said the school equipment represents just a small part of the Rotary Club's efforts to help countries in need. Plans are in the works to deliver seven much-needed dialysis machines to Turkish earthquake victims and emergency vehicles to India.
"We work on a number of things as the need comes along," he said. "What one person has, another can always use."
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Saratoga, California Since 1955
