Current Projects
What we're working on right now
Through our commitment to community service we encourage every club member to find ways to improve the quality of life for people in our community and to serve the public interest. This Rotary year we averaged one service project per month, with 12 completed projects. Our goal is to provide a variety of ways for our club members to engage in activities and serve our community.
La Casita Community Learning Garden
In 2012 East Salem Rotary built a hands-on children’s learning garden at the La Casita Community Center in the Waldo/Washington neighborhood. The club continues to provide maintenance over time, such as adding irrigation lines and providing bark chips and weeding as needed.
Learning Garden at Boys & Girls Club Swegle Branch
During the 2013-14 Rotary year, East Salem Rotary worked with the Boys & Girls Club’s Swegle Branch to build a hands-on learning garden for the children in their program. The club occasionally helps maintain the garden, recently providing assistance with weeding in preparation for the upcoming planting season.
Little Libraries
East Salem Rotary has built & installed 11 Little Libraries in various locations in the east Salem area, starting in 2020. The libraries are located near multi-family housing in high-need neighborhoods, and in offices that provide services for families. Individual club members have adopted the well-used libraries and keep them stocked with children’s books. The club collects donated books on an ongoing basis.
Learn more about our libraries here.
Salvation Army Bell Ringing
The East Salem Rotary Club raises hundreds of dollars each December as they spend a day ringing the bell for the local Salvation Army. The Salvation Army serves thousands of people in Marion & Polk Counties each year. In these two counties, they operate the Lighthouse Transitional Living Shelter, Family Services (food, rental, utilities, financial assistance), and the Ray & Joan Kroc Corps Community Center. Our Rotarians consistently take part in the project annually to help meet the needs of those in our community who are struggling the most.
Market Street Clean-up
Our club has cleaned first D Street and then Market Street in east Salem for many years. We typically gather on Saturday mornings three or four times per year to collect litter and rid the neighborhood of hazardous objects such as discarded syringes and other dangerous material to ensure they are safely disposed of and inaccessible to children and pets.
Recently-Completed Projects
- Market Street Cleanup
- Hygiene supplies drive for homeless
- Cleanup of learning gardens at Boys & Girls Club and La Casita
- Clothing drive for NW Human Services Homeless Resource Center
- NW Hub Bicycle Project
- Gilbert House Children’s Museum Bench Project
- Medical and firefighting supplies sent in a heavy rescue fire truck delivered to Guaymas, Mexico with assistance at the border from the Nogales, Mexico Rotary Club, fall 2021
- Neighborhood book giveaway at Northgate Park
- Salvation Army bell ringing
- Christmas gifts for children in over 200 families in support of the Fostering Hope Initiative