Our most recent speaker, Mario de la Piedra, spoke of and showed many photos of his trip, with his wife, Virginia, to China. He will be returning to speak on their travels to Vietnam, Japan, Malaysia and other Southeast Asian countries. On Tuesday, February 22, the Sun Risers were shown spectacular photos by John Nehrig of his trip, with his wife, to Africa last September. The photos included every African animal you can imagine. John told the Club the only animal they wanted to see but didn’t was a rhino. The month of March is Rotary Literacy Month. Club members will be hearing from new school board members and school principals. The Club meets every Tuesday morning at 7:00 AM at El Pescador Restaurant. For more information call Irma at 794-2353.

The Sun Risers will be holding our first annual Casino Night on Friday, April 29 at El Pescador Restaurant from 6:00-9:00 PM. There will be lots of appetizers provided by El Pescador. There will be Vegas-style gaming tables - craps, black jack, roulette, poker! There will be prizes and raffles and a silent auction. No host bar. Tickets are $25 per person. This is a FUN fund raiser!! You can purchase tickets from any Sun Riser Rotarian or at El Pescador. For more information call Eric at 805-744-2967.

The Club is also sponsoring an annual 5-K Run/Fun Walk on Saturday, May 21. You can register for the run by going online – www.active.com. Registration forms will also be available this week throughout town. For more information call Joe at 524-6881.

All funds raised go to support Sun Riser Rotary projects like: Dictionaries to all 3rd grade students in FUSD (we hand them out annually); scholarships to FHS and Sierra H.S. seniors; car seat project; FHS Career Day; RYLA (Rotary Youth Leadership Awards) leadership camp; Relay for Life; Condor Track Team; FMS Youth Act Club; FHS Interact Club; Piru Elementary Leadership Camp; San Cayetano Robotics, to name a few. International Projects include water project with Camarillo Rotary Club and PolioPlus project to eradicate Polio worldwide. The 5-K Run/Walk also raises funds for FUSD fitness programs through Up for Education.

Rotary International is the world's first service club organization, with more than 1.2 million members in 33,000 clubs worldwide. Rotary club members are volunteers who work locally, regionally, and internationally to combat hunger, improve health and sanitation, provide education and job training, promote peace, and eradicate polio under the motto Service Above Self.