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Sunrise Rotary partners with teens to raise $30k for local causes at annual dinner

Published 1:30 am Wednesday, May 16, 2018

By Sequim Gazette staff

Sunrise Rotary partners with teens to raise $30k for local causes at annual dinner
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Sunrise Rotary partners with teens to raise $30k for local causes at annual dinner
Judy Rantz Wellman speaks to a crowd about her father Joe Rantz and his time in Sequim and he overcame poverty to become a US Olympian. Photo by Ernst-Ulrich Schafer
Teens, from left, Austin Henning, Sydney Swansen, Devin Anderson, Caleb DeMott, David Simonson and Samantha White in Sequim High School’s Culinary Arts class helped prepare and serve the meal at the Sequim Sunrise Rotary’s annual dinner. Photo by Ernst-Ulrich Schafer
The Sequim Sunrise Rotary’s annual dinner raised more than $30,000 for local causes. Photo by Ernst-Ulrich Schafer

Last month, Sequim Sunrise Rotary’s event “Today’s Youth, Tomorrow’s Future” was a hit among Rotarians and local teens.

The silent and live auction on April 28 in the Guy Cole Events Center brought in more than $30,000 for several projects including clean water projects and Sequim Little League.

For the meal, Sequim High School students in the culinary arts program partnered with professional staff with the Cedars at Dungeness for the evening with mentorship by banquet manager Heather Croot and Head Chef Richard White.

Julia McKenna-Blessing, Co-chair of this year’s event, said “the students prepared and then served appetizers and seemed very at ease, friendly and were totally professional as they made their way through the crowd of 144 people.”

Culinary Arts teacher Dana Minard first prepared the students for the evening having them help with a meal fundraiser at Sequim Community Church late last year, McKenna-Blessing said.

Students from the high school’s AgroScience class also created centerpieces for the event.

The dinner’s “Raise the Paddle” also supported the newly-formed Joe Rantz Youth Fund to help identify and provide assistance to students who find themselves in homeless situations, such as the estimated 130 students identified as homeless in Sequim School District this year.

The fund, conceptualized by Pat McCauley, is named after the late Joe Rantz, a former Sequim resident who overcame challenging childhood situations to succeed in life and earned acclaim as one of the 1936 Olympic Games U.S. eight-man crew gold medalists and primary subject of “The Boys in the Boat” best-seller.

His daughter Judy Rantz Wellman spoke at the dinner about her father’s time as a teen growing up in Sequim.

All funds raised will be distributed through the Boys & Girls Club, the McKinney Vento program via the Sequim School District, and the Rotary group.

For the evening, McKenna-Blessing worked with Club President Jim McEntire to organize the event, and Eric Maynerd served as master of ceremonies while Charlie Johnson offered his services as auctioneer to bring in record donations for the annual dinner.

For more about the Sequim Sunrise Rotary, visit https://portal.clubrunner.ca/727.

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