Coordinated by the Escalon Sunrise Rotary Club and hosted in cooperation with local churches, dozens of area seniors were treated to a special holiday treat on Friday night.
The Dec. 6 gathering at Escalon United Methodist Church featured entertainment, a lasagna dinner, prize drawings and gift bag giveaways for all those in attendance, along with the opportunity to sing Christmas carols and enjoy some good conversation.
“Really good turnout, looking like everyone is having a good time, we have a lot of returning individuals so that’s fun to see,” said Rotary Club member Dave Mantooth, one of the organizers, adding that they typically plan for about 60 diners.
A longtime Escalon Unified School District administrator, now retired, Mantooth said he was especially pleased to connect with one of those on hand for the dinner and festivities.
“My original secretary at Escalon High School, Pat Reichmuth, was here tonight so that’s a real special treat,” Mantooth said.
A crew of volunteers helped serve up the dinner, while others organized the prize table and helped with the announcing of the winning numbers. Sisters Cora, 12, and Sophie Jefferson, 10, helped out at the prize table, offering smiles to attendees along with presenting the gifts.
The take home bags had a little bit of everything, from a 2025 calendar to toiletries, almond snack bags, pens and pencils, note paper, candy, fruit cups and more.
A special guest in attendance was Rotary District 5220 Governor Jane Winning, who made the drive from Chowchilla to share the evening with Escalon Rotarians and local seniors.
“It has been a great event, to be able to see what different clubs do and all events are different, no matter which club I go to,” Winning said, noting that she likes to see how the community interacts with the Rotarians and vice versa.
The District she covers ranges from Galt on the north to Madera on the south, Sonora/Murphys on the east to I-5 on the west.
“There’s 52 clubs,” Winning said of her District. “I see all of them and some of them twice (in a year) if I can make a club meeting and then an event.”
She sees her role as one primarily of support for the clubs throughout the district.
“To help support them, provide them information that might be new, help them to see maybe how they might inspire their new members,” Winning said.
She stressed that no two clubs are the same and each can decide whether to do local projects, international projects or a combination of both.
She is in the midst of her one-year term, which runs from July 1 through June 30.
“I’ve been in Rotary for 34 years, I joined Rotary the year after women could be in Rotary,” she explained. “My current home club is Madera … Rotary opened doors for me that I never would have envisioned or thought of. I am a nurse by profession and I’ve been involved in international projects around the world. Before I joined Rotary I’d never been out of the U.S. and today I’ve been in 34 countries.”
From serving on wheelchair teams and immunization teams, to painting walls and murals … Winning said Rotary members do “whatever needs to be done” to benefit their communities or the world at large.
She was pleased with the Escalon event and the smiles it brought to the faces of attendees and the club members.
“To be able to do things for the community is what we like to do,” Winning said.
