The Rotary Club of SLO Daybreak held our Annual Drive-Thru BBQ Fundraiser on Friday, September 25th and we thank everyone who purchased and donated a meal to support our efforts. We thank the Rotarians and former club members that volunteered in advance and on the day of the event to help raise funds for our year round charitable giving towards programs and projects.

Special thanks to Kevin Owens of The Sanctuary Tobacco Shop and the barbecuing team, as well as this year's sponsors and Rotarians. Join us in appreciating them:

• American Riviera Bank (Dustin Reese),
• Carmel & Naccasha LLP (Victor Herrera)
• Covelop Collaborative Development (Pat Arnold)
• Mustang Private Wealth (Ryan Olson)
• Obispo Wealth Management (Dave Nilsen)
• Richardson Sotheby's International Realty (Linda Wilson)
• The Sanctuary Tobacco Shop (Kevin Owens)
• Shalimar Restaurant (Aasim Sajjad)

Olayinka H. Babalola, President 2026-27

Rotary Club of Trans Amadi, Rivers State, Nigeria

Rotary has always been about people. Not projects. Not numbers. People. Our goal of reaching 1.25 million Rotarians and 125,000 Rotaractors by our 125th anniversary in 2030 is also about people.

I bring up this goal again not because I expect the number itself to move you. Numbers rarely do. I bring it up because I worry that a goal this large can begin to feel abstract, distant from the everyday work of our clubs. I do not want that to happen. So let us talk, once more, about what is truly behind it.

I want to offer your club a simple exercise. Look back over the last five to seven years and find your best year. Maybe it was a year new members arrived and, more meaningfully, stayed. Maybe it was a year your meetings became something members looked forward to, rather than another obligation on a crowded calendar. Find that year. Then I ask you to do better than your best.This is not a call to outpace the club across town or the district next door. It is never meant to be a competition between Rotary members. It is, instead, an invitation to hold ourselves to our own highest standard — and to rise to meet it again.

Why does this 2030 membership goal matter enough to me that I keep returning to it? Because behind every one of those numbers is a person whose life could be changed by this organization, just as mine and yours have been changed by it. Rotary has given me friendships that have lasted decades, a sense of purpose I did not know I was searching for, and something that, in time, came to feel like an extension of my family. I suspect many of you understand this in your own lives, in your own way. That life-changing experience is what we offer when we invite someone to join us. There are people in your communities right now who would find real meaning here if only someone thought to ask them. So tell them your story. Tell them honestly how Rotary changed you, not just about the projects you led or the funds you raised but about the person you became along the way. Those stories have a way of reaching people when little else does.

If we hope to Create Lasting Impact, the kind that resounds for generations, we will need more people standing beside us to help carry our work forward. Let us come together, not only this month but every month of every year, to make Rotary stronger, more joyful, and more like the family it has always been to me.

Find your best year. Then let us be better than our best, together.

We are proud to award this year's scholarships to the following students from San Luis Obispo High School:

Science, Technology, Engineering & Mathematics (STEM) Awards:

• Wesley Bisheff - Cal Poly State University
• Gabriel Jantos - Colorado School of Mines
• Mila Shih - Harvard University

Scholarship Awards:

• Ruby Blackburn - Northwest Nazarene University
• Jennifer Cabrera - Fresno State University
• Ruby Gonzalez Torres - California State University Channel Islands

Rotary Youth Leadership Awards (RYLA) Sponsorships:

• Lucy Beck
• Christopher Estrada
• Tina Gonzalez
• Nyla Huebler
• Noah Jones
• Seth Jose

Supporting the education of youth has been a hallmark of ours since we chartered our club in1996. We raise resources through our annual fundraisers, including our Drive-Thru BBQ every September. Funds go to support grants to K-12 teachers, graduating high school students, the Interact Club at SLOHS, and to sponsor high school students to attend a four day leadership camp every April.

Congratulations to the recipients of our annual grant funding. These dedicated teachers are launching amazing programs and activities with their students, in part with the assistance of our support. Our thanks to these dedicated professionals that are creating the next generation of thoughful leaders.

Bishop's Peak Elementary

• Maya Lord, TK classroom supplies
• Kiley MacLeod, Communication/Social Skills Learning Stations
• Marifrances Williams, Play, Talk, Know - TK Science and Literacy Starter Kit

Hawthorne  Elementary School

• Fiona Lloyd-Moffett, Reflections of Us: Nurturing Identity, Caring Connections Through Dolls

Sinsheimer Elementary

• Juanita Canales, Phonemic awareness, reading and alphabet sound teaching tub supplies
• Jill Laursen, Build a Business

• The Water Wheel at the SLO Children's Museum
• The Bandstand at Mitchell Park (2000)
• The Community Garden at Meadow Park (2010)
• The Landscaping Projects at the SLO Botanical Garden (2013) and SLO County YMCA (2012)
• The Exercise Course at Laguna Lake Park (2013)
• The "Make Change Count" donation meters (2014)
• The Viewing Platform at the SLO Regional Airport (2015)
• The Amphitheater at the County Office of Education's Rancho El Chorro site (2017)
• The Playground at 40 Prado Homeless Services Center (2018)
• The Courtyard at the Octagon Barn (2019)
• The Commemorative Green Benches at the Rotary Community Garden (in memory of Rotarian Brian Conroy, 2019) and Laguna Lake Golf Course (SLO Daybreak, 2023)
• The Disc Golf Course at Sinsheimer Park (2021)
• The Painting and Repair of the Jack House and Gardens fencing (2022)
• The Mural at Restorative Partners' Bridge Cafe' (2023)
• The Neighborhood Pantry on Ferrini Road, hosted by Honorary Rotarian, Nancy Beighley (2023)
• The Born Learning Trail at De Vaul Park (2023)
• The Two Pergolas at Woods Humane Society (2025)
• The Refurbishing of the Rotary Pavillion at Laguna Lake (2026)
• The Peace Pole Installation in Mission Plaza (2026)