Del Amigo High School should have a newly landscaped quad by the fall, thanks to the hard work of students and volunteers from Danville/Sycamore Valley Rotary.

"Our members have contributed a lot to this," said Jim Coleman, the club's current president."Our club is committed to this school."

The quad project started fall 2009, from an idea that Del Amigo's office manager, Cammie Clowdsley, and Coleman had about beautifying the district's continuation high school.

"It's a project we've been talking about for a long time," said Clowdsley who has worked at Del Amigo for three years. "I think it will just be a happier, prettier environment for everybody."

Coleman said a project like this—planting trees, rototilling, landscaping and adding tiled walkways—could have cost $30,000, if not for the huge volunteer effort. With the help of Rotarians, the student-body, teachers and others in the community, the project is costing just $5,000 from Rotary's funds.

In addition to the quad project, Rotary gives scholarships to a few Del Amigo students each year to put toward college tuition.

Coleman also tutors students at Del Amigo, which has a student body of about 70 in grades 10 to 12.  Students come to the Danville school from San Ramon Valley High, Monte Vista High, California High, Dougherty Valley High and other high schools, when they aren't succeeding in the bigger schools.

"We're looking at this project as something to say: 'you're not forgotten,'" said Coleman.

Rotary also works on other local projects throughout the year, such as donating books to elementary school libraries and giving dictionaries to third graders in the fall, said Melanie Prole, the rotary club's incoming president. In April, Rotarians replaced the batteries in smoke detectors for seniors.

In August, Rotarians will volunteer at the East Bay Stand Down in Pleasanton, a biennial, three-day event August 5-8 this year, where homeless and displaced Veterans and their families are given food and other services at the Alameda County Fairgrounds.

These projects and the one at Del Amigo are just a few of the many ways the 48-member Danville/Sycamore Valley Rotary club, whose members live or work in Alamo, Danville or San Ramon, is helping the local community and organizations worldwide.

Prole, who takes over the presidency in July, said her local rotary club has worked on projects with other Rotary clubs in India, Mexico, El Salvador and other countries. Those projects have included funding cleft palate and cleft lip surgeries for kids in El Salvador.

Much of Rotary's funding for both local and worldwide projects comes from its annual fund-raiser, the Blackhawk Art, Wine and Film Festival, which drew about 500 people and is expected to raise close to $60,000 after everything is tallied.

The club, which meets every Tuesday at 7 a.m. at the Crow Canyon Country Club, is part of the 1.2 million member Rotary International Foundation that has over 33,000 clubs in more than 200 countries. Members work to fulfill the foundation's motto, "service above self."

To learn more about Rotary or to become a member, visit the website for the local district.