Sponsor a Scholar


The Rotary Club of Menlo Park, through our non-profit charitable Foundation, annually provides need-based scholarships to local students. We have a rigorous review process and award approximately $150,000 total in a typical year. You can help a local high school student attend college by giving through our Sponsor a Scholar program

The Tour de Menlo is the major annual fundraiser for the Menlo Rotary Community Foundation.  
 
The Tour de Menlo offers three Peninsula routes for cyclists of all abilities, plus an additional new family route, along with good weather, great food, and plenty of SAG support for those who need it.
 
Riders have their choice of 33-, 43- and 63-mile routes, plus a new 16-mile family ride.  All routes are well-marked and begin at the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints at 1105 Valparaiso Avenue in Menlo Park. After taking different routes from the start, all riders eventually will head south on Stevens Canyon Road to the final rest stop at Madrone Park. Riders can rest and enjoy refreshments along the way before heading back to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints for a relaxing lunch in the courtyard. The family ride is 16 miles and takes the same route as the 33-mile ride except the family ride participants turn around at the Los Altos rest stop.   

The ride is sponsored by the Menlo Rotary Community Foundation and the Almanac. All proceeds are used to support need-based Rotary scholarships, numerous other Rotary Foundation projects and the Almanac's Holiday Fund, which contributes to ten local nonprofits.  Second Harvest Food Bank, Life Moves (formerly Innvision-Shelter Network) and St. Anthony's Dining Room have been beneficiaries of the Holiday Fund.

The 63-mile route is by far the most popular, taking riders up to Belmont and the first rest stop on Polhemus Road. Then, after climbing up to the bike bridge, riders head south to CaƱada Road in Woodside and then to the second rest stop at the Portola Road firehouse near Alpine Road. 

Riders on the 43-mile route also stop at the firehouse and then both routes circle around to Page Mill Road, with the longer route climbing up to Altamont Road and the others over to Arastradero Road and Los Altos. All riders meet south of Los Altos as they roll out Stevens Creek Road to the final rest stop at Madrone Park, before heading back to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints via Foothill Expressway. 
After riders on the 33-mile route turn south on the Alameda de las Pulgas and Santa Cruz Avenue, they ultimately use Foothill Boulevard and then Stevens Creek Road to reach the Madrone Park rest stop, where the route makes a 180-degree turn to return to The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints for lunch. The 33-mile route is virtually flat, but gives riders a good workout.  
 
As mentioned above, the 16-mile family route takes the same route as the 33-mile route but turns around at the Los Altos rest stop.
 
The Los Altos rest stop is located on Foothill Boulevard at the Los Altos Chamber of Commerce office and also is a rest stop for riders returning from the Madrone Park rest stop.