  February 23, 2005 marked 100 years of Rotary service that has truly helped change the world. “Salinas Valley Memorial Healthcare System is privileged to have partnered with many organizations on hundreds of healthcare and quality of life initiatives within our healthcare district and around the world,” says Bev Ranzenberger, Senior Vice President/ Operations. “We are particularly proud of our longstanding relationship with Rotary International. In fact, you could say that Rotary is a way of life for many of us who are part of Salinas Valley Memorial.”
Rotary International is an organization of business and professional leaders that provides humanitarian service, encourages high ethical standards and helps build goodwill and peace in the world. Spread throughout 166 countries, there are more than 31,000 separate clubs. There are four clubs in Salinas alone, another 12 in Monterey County and a total of 52 clubs in the Central Coast Rotary District.
 Service Above Self is the Rotary motto. And service in the community, workplace and around the world is the main objective of Rotary. Rotarians develop community service projects that address many of today’s most critical issues, such as children at risk, poverty and hunger, the environment, illiteracy and violence. They offer international exchanges for students, teachers and other professionals and support programs for youth.
Tom Mill, President of the Salinas Downtown Rotary Club and past President of the Salinas Valley Memorial Healthcare System Board of Directors joined Rotary more than 35 years ago. “Rotary Clubs or individual Rotarians are actively involved in most of the major initiatives directed at local youth and the health of the community,” says Mill. And area Rotarians have also traveled with Salinas Valley Memorial Healthcare System staff, Assist International and Rotary International in joint humanitarian medical missions around the world. “As a participant in the 1999 mission to China, I was amazed and proud of what we were able to accomplish. We are so fortunate here to have the technology and access to expert medical care, and are equally fortunate to be able to share it with communities that really need our help.”
 Nearly every year, employees, physicians and members of the community, most of whom are Rotarians, use personal vacation time and pay their own expenses to participate in medical missions. Assist International works with different groups to help coordinate the donation of outdated but perfectly usable high-tech equipment that has been replaced with advanced technology or arranges for donations through the manufacturer or supplier. The team for each mission includes specialists who install the equipment and train local medical professionals to use it in the care of their patients. “The hospitals we’ve visited in Tanzania, Cuba and China for example, have very talented and dedicated medical staffs, but they can’t afford the updated equipment they need,” says Susan Marscellas, Public Relations Committee Chair for the Central Coast Rotary District 5230 and Assistant Vice President of Marketing and Public Relations for Salinas Valley Memorial. “It’s such a joy to see the hope and promise these missions bring.”
As an advocate and sponsor of programs for individuals with learning and physical challenges, the Rotary’s choice to invite Kim Peek, the  “real Rain Man” to address their district conference in October 2004 was a natural. While Peek, his father Fran and screenwriter Barry Morrow were in the area, Tom Mill, Susan Marscellas and Sandy Whittle, Financial Service Professional with New York Life and the Central Coast Rotary District 5230 Secretary, teamed up to “share” this unique and inspiring individual with the community.
“When individuals and organizations work together toward common goals, great things can be achieved,” says Mike Hutchinson, Vice President, Professional Services. “As Rotary International celebrates its centennial this year, we want to honor and recognize the 1.2 million Rotarians around the world and the hundreds who live and work in Monterey County. I have been a Rotarian since 1997 and am honored to serve with people who truly live the Rotary motto Service Above Self. As Neighbors Who Care, we share that commitment.” |
Celebrating 100 years of service