Rotarians at Work Day brings together Del Mar-Solana Beach and Oceanside Rotarians to help nonprofit Lived Experiences

Rotarians at Work Day takes place the last Saturday in April every year since its inception in 2006 by two Rotary districts (one in the U.S. and one in Mexico). Rotary clubs throughout the world identify hands-on projects to help in their local communities on this day. This year the Del Mar-Solana Beach Rotary held its second blood drive a week earlier in honor of RAW Day and then on April 24 helped at the Oceanside Rotary’s Food Drive and Bingo to gather food and cash donations for Lived Experiences.

Oscar Ortega formed Lived Experiences in 2018 as a nonprofit to help at-risk and disconnected youth and adults to overcome emotional and physical trauma so they can live rewarding, productive lives and build healthy, supportive communities. One of their outreach projects is a Food Pantry that provides healthy food and fresh produce within their own communities to overcome food insecurity and present a healthy family environment. They currently have five locations, help more than 75 families per location, and have provided more than 500,000 pounds of food.

DMSB Rotary Blood Drive: Rotarians Suzanne Sutton, Lou Oberman, Bill Sutton, and Jon Fish

(Courtesy)

Recently, over 2,350 pounds of food was collected that was used by Lived Experiences to feed 47 local families. Volunteers were able to purchase a box lunch provided by the Oceanside Kitchen Collaborative and a great time was had by all. New DMSB Rotarian Diana Shimkus was the big winner at bingo and graciously donated all her winnings to Lived Experiences.

To learn more about Rotary in San Diego and the good they are doing in the world, visit rotary5340.org