Besides are normal community service projects such as highway litter cleanup, painting of various nonprofit structures, and lending a hand building the Veterans Village, our club has a number of fund raisers to assist our local community
Interact Club
Interact is a Rotary-sponsored club that gives young people at Summit High School an opportunity to participate in fun and meaningful service projects while developing leadership skills and meeting new friends.
Members of the club help to develop and carry out a wide variety of service projects. Raising money for worthwhile causes, working within the school, and working directly with people in the community are just a few ways Rotary Interact members are involved. Members of the club also assist the Rotary Club of Greater Bend and the District 5110 with various local community projects and events.
Annual Fund Raisers
The Great Drake Park Duck Race – started back in 1990 as a fun and quirky community event held in Drake Park, the Great Rotary Duck Race has grown to become a fixture in the community’s early Fall event schedule and includes all 4 Rotary clubs, local credit unions (and selected charities) selling $5 raffle tickets to raise funds for local nonprofits. Over the years, the Great Rotary Duck Race has generated more than $1.1 million for local charities. As the largest participant/ticket seller, Rotary Club of Greater Bend is able to directly designate $20,000-$25,000 annually to worthy non-profits. Beneficiaries over the past 6 years have included Boys and Girls Club of Bend, Healing Reins, Abilitree, Deschutes Children’s Foundation, The KIDS Center, Healing Reins, Bethlehem Inn, Cascade Youth & Family Center, Younity, Volunteers in Medicine and many others. Learn more and see photos and videos from past Duck Races here.
J.D. Davis Memorial Wine Raffle
The annual Wine Raffle is a fun and effective fundraising idea that our club has run for over 20 years. It has grown over time to where our most recent events have netted just under $25,000. Every club member is responsible for donating a bottle of wine to the event and then it is all given away at once through a raffle drawing (hence the term “instant wine cellar”) each spring.
Charter Night celebration in the Spring. Proceeds typically go to the Bill Berg Foundation (the club’s own foundation, named after a distinguished club member) as an independent 501(c)3 organization and permanent fund to support youth-related projects and scholarships. Current beneficiaries of the Bill Berg Foundation are scholarships for students at COCC, OSU-Cascades and recipients of the new Perseverance Awards.
Sports Program Ad Sales
Since 1976, RCGB has published High School Sports Programs that are distributed free-of-charge at various sporting events at Bend, Mountain View and Summit High School. Through ad sales for these Programs – sold by club members – RCGB is able to donate $15,000-$25,000 per year to the respective athletic departments (this total is allocated among the 3 high schools). Projects from which local high schools have benefitted include the purchase of an activities van, weight room remodel and equipment, fences and lighting for athletic fields, timing devices, football sod, pay to play scholarships (currently $4,500 per year), stadium seating and more. Additional revenue from these ad sales is then distributed to local charities and causes through the club’s formal donation process.
Pints for Polio
Pints for Polio is a highly successful “pub crawl” event that is held annually in downtown Bend as a fun and creative way for people to enjoy a variety of craft beers while helping in the international fight against polio. The brainstorm of Club member (and polio survivor), Cort Vaughan, the event blends one of the region’s favorite pastimes with an awareness campaign about this important issue that has afflicted millions around the globe. For only $25, participants receive a commemorative pint glass and a punch card good for six ounce beer tastes at more than a dozen downtown pubs and restaurants. All the proceeds from the event go to Polio Plus as part of Rotary’s End Polio Now campaign. This event typically raises $10,000 per year. Learn more and see photos of past events here.
The Greater Bend Rotary Club Foundation is also known as the “Bill Berg”, after a member of this club who served as district governor. The mission of the GBRC Foundation was and is: To provide a permanent fund from which “ Youth Related Projects” can be funded. Emphasis is placed on assisting students from the Bend-LaPine school district to pursue various paths of higher education, but shall not be limited to student aid.
Bill Berg Foundation Overview
The Greater Bend Rotary Club Foundation has over the years been an invaluable partner in helping the club to carry out its broad goal of providing support for youth-related projects and activities.
Origins of the Foundation: In 1994, a small committee was formed with the express purpose of pursuing “the formation of a charitable arm of the GBRC” – an endowment and tax-deductible vehicle that could supplement annual fundraising efforts. Shortly thereafter, the GBRC Foundation adopted the concept of bestowing a “Bill Berg Fellow” to those members who had donated $1,000 cumulative to the club foundation, modeling the Paul Harris Fellow relationship with Rotary International Foundation.
In 2011, the Foundation partnered with OCF and put its endowment ($263,331 at the time) into their Donor Advised Fund where it is professionally managed.The endowment with initial funding has since grown to its current level of $557,385 as of June 2021.
Distributions since 2014 have averaged between $13,000 and $17,000 per year. Annual Scholarships are divided between:
- Central Oregon Community College 3 @ $12,000
- Oregon State University Cascades 3 @ $ 4,500
- Perseverance (Pine LaPine School District 2 @ 4,000