Richard Rowe
Special to the Sun

The Rotary Club of Kern River Valley hosted its annual charity golf tournament Saturday, Aug.14 at the Kern Valley Golf Course. The weekend fundraiser was for the Rotary Club of Kern River Valley’s humanitarian, intercultural and educational activities. The club’s other major fundraisers are its Car Show in Kernville every May and its food booth in Circle Park during Whiskey Flat Day in February.

Last year, the Rotary Club contributed more than $16,000 to groups and projects, mostly in the Kern River Valley, but also as far off as Haiti, Mexico, Guatemala and India. This year’s golf tournament raised more than $2,600 towards this effort. Local groups benefit most from the KRV Rotary Club’s motto “Service Above Self”; examples include BLM’s Drug Dog program, REVA, Keep Camp KEEP, KVHS ECHO & FFA, KRV Search and Rescue, KV Aquatics Program, KV Bike Park, (and more) plus many scholarships. “The proceeds from this golf tournament allow us to provide assistance to our community as well as internationally. Almost all of the proceeds today will assist the families who were displaced by the Bull Fire,” according to Rotary KRV President Paul Cromwell, who organized the golf tournament.

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The Hole-in-One car giveaway went unclaimed,but there were many other prizes to go around. Tournament Prizes: 1st, 2nd and 3rd Place Scramble teams won more than $500 in $25 off discount dining certificates. First place team included John and Greg Sayre, Lisa Yarrick and Annie Consoletti. Second place team members were Dave Dew and Brandon Phillips; 3rd Place Team was made up of KRV Rotary President Paul Cromwell, Jennifer Jones, Gunter Klase and Joe Hayes (who won the most prizes in the raffle, including the 50/50 raffle). Raffle Ticket sales topped $800 and there were many prizes all of which were donated by KRV Rotary Club Members and local businesses. Other players included Rotarians Cheryl Wright and Darlene Wolowiec as well as Colleen Dean, Eric Wisco, Luther Stephens, Maria Black, Mark Stewart, Marla Melgren, Mike Hodge, Rich Hurd, Rick Woodland, Ron Johnstone, Tom Bosman and others. The tournament was put on by volunteers Paul Cromwell, Marla Melgren, Richard Rowe and Chuck Wild.

The small, but active Rotary Club of Kern River Valley holds weekly dinner meetings every Thursday at 6:00 p.m. at the Kern Valley Golf Course. It is one of over 33,000 Rotary Clubs in more than 200 countries. Last year, the Kern River Valley Rotary Club raised close to $20,000 to support dozens of groups, projects and events in the Kern River Valley and around the world.

If you are interested in joining Rotary, call KRV President Paul Cromwell at 760-417-1008 pauljc1@mchsi.com or www.clubrunner.ca/kernrivervalley.