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Get Ready for Our New Rotary Year!

Posted on Jul 06, 2025

Tuesday, July 15 - Club Meeting with guest speaker, Misty Livengood with First 5 SLO County, 7:00-8:30am at Hoagies

Tuesday, July 22 - Club Social, family and friends are invited, starting at 5:00pm at The Hub, 1701 Monterey St.

Tuesday, July 29 - Dark, no meeting

Join Our Club!

Posted on Jan 04, 2025

Do you like to have fun? Enjoy hanging out with great people? Want to serve your local and international community? Pursue your philanthropic interests? Do you enjoy the dynamic of a small club with members that like to kick off the day with laughter and friendship? Did we ask about having fun? Then come visit our club! We have a goal this year to add at least 10 new members to bring their enthusiasm for "service above self" to our efforts.

Our club meets every Tuesday from 7:00-8:30am at Hoagie's, 1234 Monterey St. in San Luis Obispo. You don't have to be invited to attend, but if you know a Rotarian in our club, reach out to them and you can be their guest. (We have great breakfast meals of your choice!). Information about our club's activities, including the weekly lineup of speakers, can be found at slodaybreak.org and if you have questions, email us at slodaybreak@gmail.com. Come check us out, we'd love to meet you!

Celebrating Our 27th Anniversary!

The Rotary Club of San Luis Obispo Daybreak is thrilled to have reached our 27th anniversary under Rotary International. These upcoming months, we will be sharing our legacy of the various service projects, fundraisers, charitable giving and fun that we have had. Chartered in 1998 thanks to the sponsorship of the Rotary Club of SLO and the Rotary Club of SLO de Tolosa, over almost three decades, we have been demonstrating "Service Above Self" throughout local and international communities. Check out our archive of photos on Facebook and Instagram.

DID YOU KNOW? SLO Daybreak has created several significant projects that have added value and charm to our community, many in collaboration with other Rotary Clubs. These include:

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)

Rotary International Appoints Its President for 2025-26

Francesco Arezzo, a member of the Rotary Club of Ragusa, Italy, has been selected by the Board of Directors to become Rotary International’s president for 2025-26. Arezzo is an orthodontist in private practice. He is active internationally as a member of the Italian, European, and American orthodontics associations. He is vice president of the National Association of Italian Dentists for the province of Ragusa and was the founder and head for seven years of the delegation for Ragusa of the National Trust for Italy. He is a Knight of Honor and Devotion in Obedience within the Sovereign Order of Malta. A Rotary member for more than 30 years, Arezzo has served as vice chair of the Joint Strategic Planning Committee and as RI director, learning facilitator, and as district conference presidential representative. Arezzo is a Major Donor and Benefactor of The Rotary Foundation. He is married to Anna Maria Criscione, an entrepreneur in the tourism field. They have two children.

Student Scholarships Awarded

Congratulations to this year's Student Scholarship recipients, each from San Luis Obispo High School, and who will be starting their jouney in higher education this fall:

Linda Aguirre Rojas - Agricultural Business, UC Davis

Liam Alsbury - Aerospace Engineering, Cal Poly SLO (STEM Award sponsored by Chevron)

Eliza Flushman -Biological Sciences, Cal Poly SLO

Roman Lowell - Enginerring, Cal Poly SLO ((STEM Award sponsored by Chevron)

Funds for our annual scholarships come from our club fundraisers and the support of the community.

Congratulations to Our RYLA Scholarship Recipients

This year, our club is again sponsoring four students from San Luis Obispo High School to attend the 2025 Rotary Youth Leadership Awards (RYLA). Each year, thousands of young people take part in this program worldwide. HIgh school students are chosen for their leadership potential to attend an all-expenses-paid weekend camp to discuss leadership skills and to learn those skills through practice. Rotary clubs within District 5240 select participants and volunteer Rotarians facilitate the event’s curriculum.

RYLA aims to:

Provide an effective training experience for selected youth and potential leaders;
Encourage leadership of youth by youth;
Encourage youth to make a difference in their communities through volunteer work and social responsibility; and
Demonstrate Rotary’s respect and concern for youth.

Congratulations to Ethan Chen, Parker Marroquin, Evan Priola and Madalyn Purdy!

2024-2025 Teacher Grant & Community Award Recipients

Each year. the Rotary Club of SLO Daybreak designates charitable funds towards supporting K-12 teachers and nonprofit programs that serve residents of the City of San Luis Obispo. We are proud to announce the following awardees - please join us in thanking them for their work that benefits our community!

Teacher Grants:

Beatriz Huizer, Hawthorne Elementary School - Wordless book for developing reading skills
Sally Lamas, Sinsheimer Elementry School - Supplies for an entry mural to be created by students
Christine Lintner, Bishop's Peak Elementary School - Special needs equipment for students
Dana McClish, Pacific Beach High School - Tools and supplies for the construction class
Robin Minkel, C.L. Smith Elementary School - Phonics based reading books
Daniela Rothberg, Bishop's Peak Elementary School - Special needs equipment

Community Awards:

Central Coast Junior Golf Inc.
French Hospital Medical Center Foundation
San Luis Obispo Botanical Garden
SLO Food Bank

Members - Get More Connected with Rotary!

Posted on Jan 04, 2025

Show your SLO Daybreak pride, share it with others and don't miss out on any Rotary news, events, recognition, photos and club meeting announcements! Not on social media? Totally fine. Just bookmark and check out our club website regularly to stay in the know and please update your information with us and Rotary International as it changes. It's an important task that helps our club run smoothly. Any questions on how to access and update your information, contact Club Administration Director, Char Rosales, she can assist you.

Is your personal/professional member profile up to date at SLODaybreak.org? Click here. Why? Your fellow members and committee chairs want to be able to contact you, your Club President wants to celebrate milestones with you and your family and your Board of Directors needs your information to be correct for quarterly reporting to our District and Rotary International.

Are you following SLO Daybreak on Instagram? Click here. Why? See what we are up to with events, speakers and community service projects.

Have you "liked" SLO Daybreak's Facebook page? Click here. Why? See what our club and other clubs in SLO and in our District are achieving and make new friends with other Rotarians.

Have you "liked" the District 5240 Facebook page? Click here. Why? Rotary is a local, regional and international service organization and our connectivity with our District leadership and the oversight of its 68 clubs brings us together with 1.4 million members in over 47,000 clubs all over the world.

Have you created a My Rotary account at Rotary.org? Click here. Why? My Rotary is where you can see your history in Rotary, your status in overall contributions to the Rotary International Foundation and how your impact is changing the world.