As the Rotary Club of Bakersfield East (BERC), we have been part of the East Bakersfield community for over 50 years.  For our 2003-04 Rotary year, we made a commitment to take an active part in making this economically challenged, high crime area a better place to live for its residents and especially for the children.

To make this commitment a reality, we formed a new committee under the Community Service-Outreach Avenue of Service, called East Bakersfield Outreach Partners (EBOP).  Committee Chair Mike Henstra has been working with KCSD Sergeants Mike Dunham and Jim Craig, program administrator Emily Jimenez and East Bakersfield residents Brandi De La Garza, Marian Benner and Vicki Trevino who had started the East Bakersfield Kidz Club in 2000.

The purpose of the Kidz Club is to provide neighborhood children with a safe and nurturing place to learn and play while, at the same time, developing a positive law enforcement relationship.  It is currently a community effort involving the Bakersfield City School District, Boys & Girls Club of Bakersfield, the Kern County Sheriff’s Department, East Bakersfield Community Collaborative, the Rotary Club of Bakersfield East and community agencies and volunteers.

Serving young people from elementary through high school, the Kidz Club currently offers two programs on Mondays and Wednesdays, an after-school program from 4 PM to 6 PM and “homework club” between 4 PM and 4:30 PM to provide homework assistance to students whose parents don’t speak English.  Program Administrator Emily Jimenez is hoping to soon expand the program to three days a week.

BERC Rotarians have been able to assist the Kidz Club in many ways:

• Donated books, videos, games, other educational materials, computers, electronics, furniture and more.
• Sponsored 30 turkeys and donated over $500 cash for a neighborhood Thanksgiving dinner and collected Christmas gifts from members for the neighborhood Christmas party.  Interactors from East Bakersfield High School contributed by doing all the gift wrapping.
• Provided membership cards, club T-shirts and a club banner that feature the Kidz Club logo, designed by one of the Kidz Club members.
• Located a portable classroom to expand the learning and computer space (membership has grown from 3 at the first meeting in 2000 to over 200 at the beginning of 2004);our next project will be to refurbish it.
• Purchased a Rotary 4-Way Test banner for the meeting center so that the children will learn how this simple “test” can become a guide for ethical living.
• Made a commitment to invest in the young people’s future by establishing an academic or vocational scholarship for one or more qualified high school graduate(s) of the Kidz Club.