Drive around Ripon.
You can see the impact the Ripon Rotary Club has on making Ripon a stronger community in both big and small ways.

*If you have browsed the Ripon Historical Museum and its collection that provides a glimpse into the community’s roots and the people who weaved Ripon’s community fabric, the Rotary played a key role in getting the historical society launched.

*When the fire department needed a new drone to help conduct search and rescues along the Stanislaus River, Rotary donated $9,000.

*Rotary covered the tab for the purchase and training of Ripon Police’s first K-9 Officer, Topper, in 2005 at a cost of $7,664. The also helped the police department with $7,540 to help purchase a drone.

*Ripon Unified needed water stations for students to have clean water to fill their water bottles. Rotary installed four water stations at a cost of more than $12,000.

*When the Ripon Library needed new carpet, $4,000 from Rotary made it possible. That’s in addition to donations to Friends of the Library to buy supplies the county doesn’t cover.

The list of physical projects completed by Rotary — or made possible at least in part by the service club’s donations — goes on and on from the Stouffer Park gazebo and the Rotary clock along Main Street to the welcome to Ripon sign off the Highway 99 Main Street exist and even restrooms at the community garden.

Then there are the “human” touches such as the annual coat drive, scholarships and much, much more that will be expanded on as you read further below.

That said, the impacts of Rotary — and other service clubs — is in serious danger of dwindling and even disappearing as the years unfold.

Club membership is down. Attendance at weekly lunch meetings that also feature a healthy serving of fellowship and informative speakers has plunged from 45 before the pandemic to 15.

But to be honest, COVID-19 just accelerated the trend.

Lifestyles change.

Commuting impacts time commitment especially given Ripon is slowly joining Manteca, Lathrop, Tracy, and Mountain House as part of the home of the fastest growing region in the country where a higher percent of the population is on the road to work 90 minutes plus a day and similar time coming home.

But while it may be next to impossible to enlist commuters unless they have flexibility on work schedules and can work from home periodically, the people who can keep service club work going are already living and working in Ripon.

And a key point is those luncheon meetings are more than a meal break, good conversation, and a chance to hear a program that enlightens you more about the community or the world.

The list of good deeds that comes out of such gatherings — whether it involves Rotarians, Kiwanians, Lions, Soroptimists, and others — is endless.

It is the norm — not the exception — that “networking” takes place at those weekly gatherings.

It’s not business networking. It’s community networking.

Someone knows of a youth group that has a need or is struggling with a project.

Someone else listens and knows of someone they know that has the expertise that might be willing to help. Or maybe the club “passes” the hat.

The wheel spoke, gear or however you perceive the Rotary logo, is a symbol of an organization that moves things. It is a cog that helps keep Ripon in motion as a community and not just a collection of homes and businesses

It is powered by a common desire to help. It is a vessel where people can climb on board and help community needs.

Often times, those needs aren’t reflected in a Rotary plaque on a gazebo, the club’s name on a scholarship check or anything that is public in nature.

It just happens. And it isn’t always an official Rotary Club act but the seeds that were planted to make a difference in the community or someone’s lives is often sown at a club meeting.

As a club, Ripon Rotary also sponsors youth sports teams, donates to the FFA Giving Tree annual to make less fortunate kids have a Christmas, underwrites academic and youth leadership scholarships for Ripon High and Ripon Christian High teens, and conducts an annual coat drive that they partner with local churches to make sure the coats donated — new and gently used — go to those in need within the community.

If you are interested in finding out more about Ripon Rotary contact a club member or reach out to John Mangelos at Barnwood Arms in downtown Ripon or call (209) 204-3462.

To contact Dennis Wyatt, email dwyatt@mantecabulletin.com