OUR INVOLVEMENT
Holiday Giving Trees
Every Christmas, the Rotary Club of Edmonds manages four gift-giving trees to support the Snohomish County CASA (Court-Appointed Special Advocates for Children) and the Volunteer Guardian ad Litem program. This long-standing Rotary project allows CASA advocates the ability to provide gifts for infants, children, or teens who are victims of alleged sexual abuse, physical abuse, or neglect.
CASA-Rotary Literacy Project
Sharing books and literature has always been a part of the CASA volunteers’ method of helping the foster child acclimate to the foster home, but up until now the supply of books was limited which meant that the volunteer could not leave the books behind.
In honor of Black History Month, the Edmonds Rotary and the Edmonds Bookshop once again joined hands with the Snohomish County CASA (Court-Appointed Special Advocate) program to provide 175 Black history-themed books for direct distribution to at-risk youths served by CASA. Thank you to Michelle Bear, Edmonds Bookshop owner for your support.
Bridge to Success – The Gambia Project
Four members of Rotary Club of Edmonds traveled to Gambia in February 2019 and conducted a needs assessment in nine Senior Secondary Schools. From that, the Bridge to Success project was born, which will bring science education to provincial students in The Gambia. In rural Gambia, science education enrollment is significantly low and not offered in many high schools.
MRC Holland Foundation, Edmonds Rotary Club and Brusubi Rotary Club are bridging this gap by building a standard science lab at Kaur Senior Secondary School and refurbish and convert three existing classrooms in Niani Senior Secondary school into a functional science lab.
YWCA Trinity Place
The Rotary Club of Edmonds selected Trinity Place for its Centennial Community Service Project and we continue to support the program and families.
Trinity Place is a YWCA residential site that provides permanent supportive housing for families experiencing homelessness and in treatment for addiction, so they can reunite with children who were temporarily removed from their custody.
Beautification – We visit the complex regularly for seasonal landscaping and maintenance. The club raised $30,000 to build a playground structure for the children to enjoy.
Basics – The resident families often need, but cannot afford, basic items of daily living. An onsite Pantry serves to assist families with personal hygiene products, household supplies from forks, to furniture, to infant formula and linens. The YWCA has a constant flow of donated items arriving and we provide the ongoing inventory management for the pantry.
Backpacks & Baskets – We focus on the children twice each year with Spring baskets and school backpacks to get them started in the new school year.