Liberty Lake Crime Statistics Comparison

• SCRAPS was requested to respond to 79 calls for service in Liberty Lake. They impounded 44 animals, conducted 7 investigations, and responded to 4 emergency calls. They trapped 0 additional animals for a total of 56 responses to 79 calls for service. Totaling 66% for calls for service.

About and for Liberty Lake seniors

Sunrise Rotary shines as local, international steward

By Craig Howard Splash Contributing Editor

Considering the group’s farmworker-like meeting time of 7 a.m. weekly, there may be no service club more aptly named than Spokane Valley Sunrise Rotary.

Along with the robust wakeup call, the long-established organization continues to boldly exemplify Rotary International’s motto of “Service Above Self” through a variety of community service projects and programs emphasizing the well-being of youth.

“I enjoy being part of Sunrise Rotary because it’s a group of downto-earth people who come together to make the world a better place,” said Karen Toreson, club chair and former teacher and principal in the Central Valley School District. “Educational programs and aid to families and students are some of my favorite projects.”

One such undertaking is a vocational scholarship program open to graduating seniors from Spokane Valley and Freeman public high schools. The club distributed three, two-year scholarships last year valued at $3,600 each and will provide three more this year. Application deadline is March 31.

Sunrise Rotary collaborates with the Robert B. Pendleton Scholarship Foundation on the program which focuses on career training in fields like cosmetology, carpentry, EMT, welding, auto repair, nursing, culinary arts and more.

“The kids going to four-year schools are going to get their help,” said Chuck Stocker, a Sunrise charter member and former superintendent in East Valley and Freeman school districts. “We need to invest in opportunities for vocational students.”

Toreson said the scholarships have served as catalysts for young people finding direction and purpose.

“We’ve had amazing stories of things these kids have overcome and fought through,” she said. “This has made a difference in their lives.”

Sunrise Rotary’s impact extends beyond the U.S. into places like Honduras where the club has established educational access for kids through Internet access and computer labs. Another project provided a boiler to a previously unheated orphanage in the Republic of Georgia while yet another campaign years ago gifted a wheat combine to farmers in Russia.

George Schneider, another charter member, led a campaign for AIDS/HIV awareness in Africa.

“Rotary is such a close-knit community worldwide,” said Sandy Wade, a Sunrise member since 1995 who has visited Central America seven times to coordinate assistance for kids and families in Honduras. “We go to these conventions and we see international projects we can help with.”

Sunrise Rotary also supports local efforts like the CVSD P.A.C.E. program, book drives for East Farms Elementary and the West Valley Robotics program. Mix in reinforcement of Rotary International’s End Polio Now campaign and energy vouchers for local families and it’s no wonder members like Toreson call Sunrise “a wonderful place to work together for the betterment of others.”

The club will host its biggest fundraiser – a dinner and silent auction – on April 29 at 5:30 p.m. at the Mirabeau Park Hotel where the weekly meetings are held. Tickets are $80 per person. For more information, visit www. spokanevalleysunriserotary.com.