On November 29th, 2023, Rotary Twilight welcome First 5 Executive Director Amy Travis, who are celebrating their 25th anniversary!
Amy talked about First 5, the Kern County Children and Families Commission which started as a result of Proposition 10, twenty-five years ago!
Originally established to stop smoking and increase programs for children ages 0-5, the Tobacco Tax was used to deter people from smoking, and the resulting revenues get placed into programs for children from ages 0-5, where the biggest developments for children begin.
First 5 is starting a mini-grant program to celebrate their 25th anniversary which awards twenty-five grants of $2,500 each! Funding and investments go to thirty-nine different programs, such as parenting and educational programs. Their goal is to fund twenty-five more in early childhood education programs!
We then all played a riveting game Blooket going over the history and facts about the Cacao bean! Congrats Jeremy on getting 1st place and winning a giant Hershey's Kiss!
Brad then gave us his Top 10 Thanksgiving Afterthoughts. Stuffing always has to be there!
Finally in a stroke of luck, our incoming president Margaret met someone at the Four Points who was excited about her enthusiastic presentation about Rotary and what we do, that he mentioned a fundraising opportunity in Paso Robles at their annual Sensorio lighting event! Great job Margaret!