It was a privilege to be welcomed as a new member of the Rotary Club of Burlingame.  Gatepath has had a long history with the Rotary Club, dating back to 1930 when Gatepath, then known as the International Society of Crippled Children, received a $500 grant from the Rotary Foundation.  This was the first grant ever awarded by the Rotary Foundation. It’s an honor to carry the torch on behalf of Gatepath and to continue cultivating a productive partnership that supports and benefits the special needs community on the Peninsula.

Gatepath and the Rotary Club are committed to making the world a better place and enriching the lives of our community members. We understand the value of working together on solving some of the most complex challenges facing nonprofits in the Bay Area.  One of the most significant challenges is the financial pressures caused by the high cost of operating a nonprofit here in the Bay Area. I believe that these pressures present opportunities for new and innovative ways to collaborate and share resources.

On April 27, which is National Rebuilding Day, we will partner with The Rotary of Burlingame and Rebuilding Together on providing important facilities improvements at Gatepath’s Learning and Employment Campus and our Learning Links Preschool, both are in Burlingame.  The volunteers will help paint, add planter boxes and build out storage space.  Having additional storage space give us the capacity to include more individuals with developmental disabilities in our adult programs at the Learning and Employment Campus.

National Rebuilding Day is a program coordinated by Rebuilding Together where numerous projects are completed by volunteers throughout the country, all taking place on the same day each year. We are extremely grateful for the National Rebuilding Together team selecting our Learning Links Preschool as one of their projects.

It’s an honor to be affiliated with Rotary Club of Burlingame, which is part of Rotary Club International, a 100-year-old organization with more than 1.2 million members in 140 countries around the world. There are currently over 32,000 active Rotary clubs in the world, including the Rotary Club of Burlingame that was chartered in 1925.  In partnership with the Rotary Club, we will help create a world where people of all abilities are fully accepted, respected and included.