SOLEDAD — Soledad High School Interact Club and Rotary Club came together for the first time for a quarterly meeting at California Gourmet Pizza on Sept. 27.
The meeting was led by Rotary President Erica Padilla-Chavez and Interact President Leslie Macias. The dual meeting has both clubs speak about community events that are coming up, including Homecoming this week, and Pauline Tomasini is looking for candidates for the Snow Queen and King. The Christmas Parade is scheduled for Dec. 1.
The Soledad Homecoming events begin with the Night Rally on Thursday, Friday is the football game, and the Homecoming Parade will be the following Monday coming down Main Street.
According to Padilla-Chavez, there are 20,372 Interact Clubs throughout the world and there are 468,556 Interactors in 159 countries.
“This year we did a community clean-up, where we went around this area and cleaned up garbage that we found and put it in trash bags,” Macias said. “We’ve also planned our Krispy Kreme fundraiser, where we sell donuts.”
The Interact Club is also considering future projects they want to do this year, including a food drive, care packages for homeless and women’s shelters, the YMCA Haunted House and a shoe box drive.
“Last year we noticed that year wasn’t as great as we wanted it to be, so we want to introduce new projects this year,” Macias said.
Macias added, “One would be the food drive. We would put barrels around town and fill them up with canned food.”
The Interact Club is working on peace mural panels and are looking for businesses who would want to display the mural.
The Club has already received one offer from the Soledad-Mission Recreation District.
“I’ve never seen so many great students that jump into things and do things with their whole heart,” said Adviser and Rotarian April Liedtke. “Interact is not just about getting your community service hours, it’s about what you can do to impact our communities and the world.”
