Community Grants & Gift Committee

The Menlo Rotary Community Foundation has made a lasting impact in our communities.  We support the following programs:
- Community Non-Profits through annual Grants
- Belle Haven Community Garden

2025 Community Grant Recipients Announced

 

 

Grant recipients include Art In Action, providing year-long art programs to 216 students; CoolineKids, offering summer programs for EPA students; and Eastside College Prep School, funding their six-week summer program. Other recipients address food insecurity through Ecumenical Hunger Program, Menlo College Food Pantry, and St. Anthony's Dining Room.

The grants also support educational initiatives through Foundation for a College Education, LifeMoves, M-A High School assistance programs, M-A Service-Learning Center, Peninsula Bridge, Ravenswood Classroom Partners, and Ravenswood Education Foundation.

These Community Gift Grants reflect the Rotary Club's commitment to addressing critical needs in Menlo Park and East Palo Alto communities while fostering educational opportunity, artistic expression, and food security for vulnerable populations.

Community Grants
Annually the Foundation donates about $50,000 to eligible not-for-profit 501(c)(3) organizations who assist underserved populations in our community. The Community Gifts Committee, which solicits grant applications, will make grant applications available February of the grant year. 
 
Belle Haven Community Garden
In 2014 our Club spearheaded the development of the Belle Haven Community Garden.  Collaborating with City of Menlo Park employees and Belle Haven neighbors, Menlo Park Rotary leaders identified a suitable garden location and coordinated initial landscape development.  Facebook and Greenhart have been major contributors to financing the garden, while the City of Menlo Park, particularly the facilities department, provided logistical support. Presently 35 garden beds, provided free of charge, are being cultivated by Belle Haven residents.  Importantly, the process has also brought neighbors out of their homes, to meet and work together in a lovely, peaceful setting embedded in their own community.
 
Interact Club
The Foundation supports a 25-student service club at Eastside College Prep, called "Interact," which annually conducts a food drive, toy drive, a Bay clean-up day, and other projects that help their community.  Annually, each Interact student attends a Menlo Park Rotary meeting and Interact officers address the club at our year-end banquet.  Full scholarships have also been awarded to five Interact students to participate in 3-day Rotary Youth Leadership camps.
 
Rotary Connects
The Foundation's periodic "Rotary Connects" programs gather non-profit, business, and community leaders to share in important discussions about our local affairs.  Recent topics include the status of water resources and the availability of non-technical jobs in Bay Area companies.  Please check back periodically for updates on the next event.