The Annual Outstanding Phoenix Youth Leader (OPYL) of the Year program is a partnership between Phoenix Rotary 100 and the City of Phoenix. This program recognizes and honors the outstanding achievements of young people, enhances the perception of youth, and raises community awareness of the positive contributions of youth. Our own members helped throughout the judging process - both reading essays from entrants and serving as judges at the in-person panel interviews to determine this year's winners. High school students were selected as council district winners and will be recognized, along with the teacher who inspired them the most, at the awards' luncheon during our Club meeting on Friday, May 3. Each of the district winners will receive a cash award. From the city's district winners, the two overall winners will be announced and each will receive an additional cash award during the luncheon! Please join us on Friday, May 3 at the Phoenix Country Club for our Annual OPYL program.

This event will be held at the Phoenix Country Club on Friday, May 3, 2024. Registration begins at 12 noon and the luncheon will be held from 12:30 - 2 pm.

The meeting registration fee is complimentary and includes lunch.

Register by clicking the "Register NOW" button in the DACdb event calendar or by clicking here. 

Please register by 5pm on Monday, April 29th, 2024. 
No walk-ins or late registrations cannot be accepted.
Any cancelations after this time are non-refundable.

**Due to a high number of members registering and not attending in the past, if you register and do not attend, you will be charged $60 for lunch, to your Club account.

 


The Annual Outstanding Phoenix Youth Leader (OPYL) of the Year program is a partnership between Phoenix Rotary 100 and the City of Phoenix. This program recognizes and honors the outstanding achievements of young people, enhances the perception of youth, and raises community awareness of the positive contributions of youth. Our own members helped throughout the judging process - both reading essays from entrants and serving as judges at the in-person panel interviews to determine this year's winners. High school students were selected as council district winners and will be recognized, along with the teacher who inspired them the most, at the awards' luncheon during our Club meeting on Friday, May 3. Each of the district winners will receive a cash award. From the city's district winners, the two overall winners will be announced and each will receive an additional cash award during the luncheon! Please join us on Friday, May 3 at the Phoenix Country Club for our Annual OPYL program.

This event will be held at the Phoenix Country Club on Friday, May 3, 2024. Registration begins at 12 noon and the luncheon will be held from 12:30 - 2 pm.

The meeting registration fee is complimentary and includes lunch.

Register by clicking the "Register NOW" button in the DACdb event calendar or by clicking here. 

Please register by 5pm on Monday, April 29th, 2024. 
No walk-ins or late registrations cannot be accepted.
Any cancelations after this time are non-refundable.

**Due to a high number of members registering and not attending in the past, if you register and do not attend, you will be charged $60 for lunch, to your Club account.

Rotary and IRC partnered 13 years ago to help refugee farmers and our community. The project is still going strong!

In 2011, the International Refugee Committee (IRC) needed a space - 1.5 acres - for a refugee farm. IRC’s purpose is to assist refugees whose lives have been shattered by conflict and disaster. This farm would be a place where recent refugees, mainly farmers from SE Asia, could grow their own food and sell the rest to provide income for their families. A local church, Cross-Connection, was willing to lease the land adjacent to the church at 39^th Avenue and Dunlap.

Club member, Barry Shemer, heard about the need and brought it to the attention of his club, Phoenix Rotary 100. The board enthusiastically supported the project but worried over the projected cost of $83,000 and whether the farm could be sustainable. IRC committed to overseeing this program for the long haul, and they provided individual plots of land for refugee families along with tools and farming equipment.

With the financial help from IRC, Phoenix West Rotary, individual donors and several grants, the funds were secured, and the project was a “go”. The necessary civil engineering, earthwork, irrigation system, walls, and fencing projects commenced and in May 2011, the farm was completed. Now and for the past 13 years, refugees grow vegetables for their own consumption and the remainder is sold at CamelBackYard located at 17th Avenue and Camelback (where another Rotary project, the aquaponics greenhouse, is also located). Every 3rd Saturday there is a Farm Stand there and boxes of produce are sold every Wednesday on a subscription basis. All proceeds go to refugee farmers.

Sometimes it is just nice to know that something you were a part of continues to benefit our community.