Saratoga News Rotary Club gives $10,000 donation to support clinics By Michelle Alaimo The Saratoga Rotary Club Service Fund recently gave its largest donation ever--thanks to a successful art show in May. The club gave $10,000 to RotaCare Free Clinics to support a new pharmaceutical program for all 12 of its clinics in the San Francisco Bay Area. The money came from approximately $580,000 made at the Rotary Club's annual art show--with $103,000 in service funds cut to give away to other nonprofit agencies, Ernie Kraule, chairperson for the Saratoga Rotary Service Fund and chief of the Saratoga Fire District, said. John Fisher, president of the board at Rotacare, said the money will be a big help. Rotacare provides all-volunteer medical care to those in need and most of the clinics are open one day or night a week. "It's for the people who fall through the cracks," Fisher said. He added that the new pharmaceutical program will cut its pharmaceutical supplies costs in half. Rotacare was selected after completing a detailed grant application. The service fund policy is to only make grants to charitable, educational and other nonprofit organizations for capital needs or one-time special project expenses. The fund has given money to five other organizations so far this year and they have another 12 applications to look through, Kraule said. He added that after an organization receives a grant, the Rotary Club does a follow-up to see that the money has been spent correctly. [ Back to Contents Page | Saratoga News Home Page | Archives ] This article appeared in the Saratoga News, October 21, 1998. ©1998 Metro Publishing, Inc. All rights reserved.