Meeting Location

South Hills Country Club
2655 S. Citrus Street
West Covina, CA 91791
(626)339-1231
Tuesdays @ 7:15AM

Covina Sunrise Rotary was chartered on April 2, 1982 born from the inspiration of Barney Ingram, a long time member of the Covina Rotary Club. Since its inception, Covina Sunrise Rotarians separated themselves from the crowd with their enthusiasm, entrepreneurship, and commitment to making a difference. Not unlike a fraternity / sorority that prides itself on fellowship, this club does more than most others of similar size to fight poverty, ignorance, and disease through its many charitable activities, not the least of which is Operation Santa Clothes.

 Next Fundraiser Party - Snake, Rattle & Roll!

We’ve been doing our annual fundraiser at A1 Rentals warehouse for several years - unfortunately, that facility is not available to us any more! BUT!!! We have come up with a new location and a new theme for this year: It will be held on April 27th at 6pm at the Hurst Ranch in West Covina (google it)! This year’s theme is “Snake, Rattle & Roll” (read it again) and will obviously have a western flavor to it. Still have the Big Band Theory playing plus other bands and artists, great food and drink all included in the ticket. Contact any CSR member for your ticket! Click on the image here to see the PDF flyer and watch this space for more news as it breaks!

 LA Lakers - Tickets on the Floor!

No, the tickets are not on the floor, but the SEATS are! CSR has raffled off another pair of seats to a Los Angeles Lakers game in row #1 center court (right next to Jack Nicholson)! The fundraiser is limited to 100 tickets and brings in $10,000 to our Operation Santa Clothes Project. The winning ticket was drawn at an exclusive party at Azo Vino accompanied by food, drink, and the Laker Girls. Watch for next year’s raffle!

 Interact Club - Growing Wildly!

CSR has sponsored an Interact Club at Covina High School. Launched only a few years ago, their membership has soared over 150! An Interact Club is intended to introduce high-schoolers to the tenets of Rotary. Besides exposing them to the benefits and rewards of active philanthropy, it presents many avenues to leadership training, personal development, and pride in their community. Through a variety of fundraisers, the group has raised funds to supplement their never ending enthusiasm to work on their projects. These include not only community based efforts, but International endeavors as well. Checkout their website HERE

 Texas Hold-em Tournament

in September 2012 we had another fabulous fundraising party that benefited our Operation Santa Clothes project. The Fifth Annual Texas Hold ‘em Poker Tournament was held at the A1 Party Rentals building in Covina. These Tournaments are great successes both financially and in fostering the fellowship that CSR is known for. A $100 buy in gives guests the game, fine food, fun and drink. A “learners” table is available for those that aren’t ready to jump into the fray and non-gambling guests can partake of all the food and drink for just $35. Prizes include big screen TVs and digital cameras. Watch for next year’s Tournament here.

Chili Cook-Off:

CSR had another great event to raise funds for our projects: The First Annual Chili Cook-Off was held on Sunday, July 22nd 2012 from 2:00 to 5:00pm. The big event was at Covina’s Azo Vino Gift Gallery & Wine Bar 144 W. Badillo Street. A $5.00 tasting fee entitled guests to unlimited chili tasting along with bread and salad. Drinks were available from the bar. A dozen contestants put out a great sampling for everyone and prizes were awarded in several categories. A perpetual trophy will be maintained with the grand winner’s name on it and gift certificates to Chili’s Restaurant were given to the winner of each of four categories. For more information or to register you r chili for next year, contact Shannon Hidalgo at (626)221-4486.

CSR Gets A New President:

CSR finally has a President as of July 1st - after having an extended time of problems keeping that office filled. Lone Sorensen has stepped up to the plate after serving as an outstanding member since 2009, as well as a valued member of the Board of Directors. She is a past president of the Los Angeles Chapter of the American Society of Women Accountants, current Board Member and Treasurer of Reading is Fundamental of Southern California Inc., and Treasurer of the Danish American Chamber of Commerce of Southern California. Her hobbies include music, sports, knitting, gardening and in general having a good time with friends and family. Looking forward to a great year as President.

Operation Santa Clothes:

This year, CSR has clothed another 1385 children in our flagship Operation Santa Clothes program. With this, we’ve been able to accomplish an amazing milestone of over 27,200 needy kids having been clothed at the Covina K-mart store. We have also been able to provide about $35,000 in scholarships. OSC began in 1994 serving 73 children from one Covina school. The project focuses not only on provided clothing, but given self esteem, character development, and a sense of caring to these kids. See our Santa Clothes page for more information. If you’d like to help and make a financial donation to this program, please click the DONATE button above.

 Shake Rattle and Roll - We know how to Party!

On April 28th we threw yet another spectacular party/fundraiser - Shake Rattle and Roll III! The location at A1 Party & Event Rentals in Covina held the fantastic event once again. The main room featured the incredible performance of Big Band Theory in addition to the great Rock’n’Roll stage acts on the “American Bandstand”. When you add in the auctions, Casino room, and the fine food, wine, beer, champagne and all the fun a person could handle, the night went down in history as one of the best. All was free with a paid admission! Click the flyer at left for more details and watch this space for the announcement of what we’re coming up with for next year’s monster event!

 Hands on - San Gabriel Valley Cleanup!

CSR has partnered with the San Gabriel Valley Mountains Regional Conservancy to clean up the recreation area in Santa Fe Dam park. A few dozen Rotarians and Interact Club members took a Saturday morning in March 2011 and removed huge amounts of undesirable plants and trash and replanted the area around the visitor center. The Conservancy is responsible for overseeing the protection and effective use of the San Gabriel Valley’s natural resources.

 Interact Club helps at LA Food Bank

The Covina High School Interact Club has just finished doing some volunteer work for the Los Angeles Food Bank. The Interact Club is sponsored by Covina Sunrise Rotary and has been a hugely popular organization on campus. At around 150 members, they work on philanthropic projects throughout the year and echo the tenets of Rotary. A few CSR members joined in this year at the Food Bank project and you can see a brief video clip of the action by clicking the button above. To see a big image of the Club’s current membership, click here.

Northview HS Baseball Car Raffle:

On October 19,2010, the SGV Tribune ran a front page report about an extraordinary philanthropic action. A man named Joe Hernandez (from Solo 1 Kustoms car shop on Azusa and Arrow) had decided to donate his 1966 mint Mustang (worth $40k-$50k) to the Northview High School baseball team. The team has been trying to raise funds for major improvements to their field and funds are not possible with current fiscal conditions. Joe sympathized with their plight and wanted to help them out. Covina Sunrise Rotary heard about this great gift for a good cause and honored the team, their coach, and Joe at our regular meeting on November 16 with a donation and bought a bunch of tickets too.

 Passing of a Great Man

On Monday, January 18th, 2010, Covina Sunrise Rotary, the community and the world lost a phenomenal man, Emeka Dillibe. Succumbing to cancer only two months after being diagnosed, Emeka leaves us shocked at how a person so young vital, and altruistic could be taken so quickly.
   Emeka was born in Nigeria in 1973 to a Rotarian family: his father was a District Governor. Emeka grew up and became a Rotary Interactor before moving to the US to study in New Mexico. He moved to California, married his wife, Chika, and got a degree in Criminal Justice and Computer Information Systems at Cal State LA. He started his current business, Careprovider.Org in Covina to help disadvantaged and troubled youths in the community
   He is held in the utmost admiration and respect in CSR as one our finest members and as an icon of respectability, honor, and all that we should aspire to. He will be sincerely missed as a truly great man. (photos)

 Baseball Champions of 2009!

Covina Sunrise exhibited their amazing athletic prowess in the Rotary Invitational Series - a baseball challenge versus the Covina (Noon) Rotary Club. In the end, our “Boys Of October” showed amazing skill and spirit as they ended the season undefeated. The pitching went the distance with no hitter and the team’s quality was evident with no errors recorded. The final game of the season was won when the Noon Club had to forfeit due to lack of players. In true sportsmen spirit, CSR stoically accepted the championship title! To see the winning team, click the Image for a larger view. And you’ll also want to checkout the related video, “Making of the Image”.

 CSR Gets Their Hands Dirty:

Covina Sunrise just finished working on a local community project that really was “hands on”. We spent a Saturday morning at the Rowland Convalescent Home doing a major cleanup and upgrade of the inner courtyard. Huge amounts of dead plants and tree trimmings went out, and beautiful new plants and garden decor items transformed the area into a pleasant garden. Residents and staff alike were ecstatic with the changes. Robert Avila initiated the work at the Home, and Pam Pomeroy headed up the team that did all this great work. Click on the photo to see all the Rotarians that helped out with this project.

 CSR Gets Top Award at District Conference:

Covina Sunrise co-hosted a hospitality suite with the Covina Noon Club at the District Conference this year. This has become a tradition with the Clubs and has led to a series of the most memorable and must-attend gatherings at the conference for many years now. WIth a theme of “Arabian Caravan”, Covina once again showed their hospitality with a lavish food table and extensive bar for all to share, this year adding a bit of Nubian drumming and dancing that helped the Clubs take home the coveted “Spirit Award”. Click here for some photos and a few movies of the event.

 Bootlegger’s Ball - A Wild Success!

Covina Sunrise Rotary has once again amazed the community with its wildly successful fundraiser The Bootlegger’s Ball! The fantastic party was a hit with over 600 in attendance! Held at the A1 Event & Party Rentals building, this party was themed in the 1920’s and 1930’s. Gangsters, Gun Molls, Bootleggers, and Flappers were the order of the day as guests joined in on the fun with period attire. The entertainment included the fantastic “Big Band Theory” from JPL once again (www.BigBandTheory.com), with music selections chosen for the theme. All the great food, drink, games, and auctions were there for the price of admission with a great selection of some finer items auctioned off live. The Casino Room was a big hit with a lot of happy people. It was a fantastic celebration that will help fund Operation Santa Clothes and other projects from CSR. Photos from the event will be posted here soon, so check back often.