The Rotary Club of Saratoga was founded on Dec. 21, 1955, when Saratoga had yet to be incorporated as a city. As with chapters the world over, the Rotary Club of Saratoga brings together people in managerial positions in order to serve the community through volunteering and fundraising. About 120 people are members of the Saratoga chapter, including 17 women. Its members are business owners, Realtors, doctors and dentists.

"It's a very important part of the community," Gene Zambetti said. Zambetti joined the Rotary Club of Saratoga in 1974, serving as president from 1983 to 1984. His father was one of the original 25 founding members.

"What I enjoy about it is what you do for the community," Zambetti said. "I enjoy the camaraderie. There's so much that the Rotary Club does."

That includes running the annual Building Bridges cultural festival and the Saratoga Rotary Art Show. Rotarians have been involved in the beautification of the city by planting more than 240 trees. They have been active in restoring Wildwood Park, installing newspaper kiosks in the Village, purchasing signs for the Gateway Project, cleaning Highway 9, creating the Saratoga Historical Museum and purchasing park and playground equipment for the city. The club provides support for the Saratoga Sister City organization, Hakone Gardens, Montalvo and the Saratoga Library. It has also assisted the Saratoga Chamber of Commerce with the Celebrate Saratoga! street festival and the Halloween Witchy Walk-A-Bout.

The club's international projects have included eradicating polio through the Polio Plus program and providing desks, school buses and ambulances to the town of Los Algodones, Mexico. It has participated in water purification projects in Africa and provided medical care to countries around the world.

The Saratoga Rotary Art Show is the club's biggest annual fundraiser. "We've raised over $1 million and given it back to the community," Bob Barbatti said.

Barbatti, who managed a service station on Prospect Road from 1964 to 2003, joined the Rotary Club of Saratoga in 1970 when it had 32 members.

Barbatti was involved with the club's project to help Los Algodones, visiting that city more then a dozen times. "When we first went down there, it was just a dirty border town. Now it's a thriving metropolis.

"We had bathrooms with running water installed in a grammar school," he explained. "Before they just had outhouses." When the Rotarians donated a garbage truck to Los Algodones, they loaded it up with trees, which were planted along one of the city's streets. Los Algodones renamed the street Casa de Saratoga, Barbatti said.

He said membership in the Rotary Club of Saratoga has been a great experience. "It allowed me to meet a variety of business people." During an international meeting of Rotarians in Montreal, Canada, Barbatti met the CEO of a company with thousands of employees. "I was running a service station with three employees," Barbatti explained, but the CEO was just another club member. "As Rotarians, we're all equals," Barbatti said.

As club president from 1975 to 1976, Barbatti often had to speak in front of large groups, which was something he had not been good at it. "Believe it or not, it improved my public speaking."

As the club approaches its 50th year, Barbatti said that membership in the club is going strong.