Neighbors who show up.
Thirty-six people from this city — teachers, business owners, artists, first responders — putting time and talent behind the schools, students and streets we all share.
Rotary Social #1
6:30–8:00 PM at the Tap Room Patio, The Langham. Guests welcome — no reservation, no dues, no pitch. Come see how the club actually feels.
Full calendarFour ways this club works
All our service →Local Service
Garfield Park Youth House, the South Pasadena Healing Garden, CERT emergency training, the Valentine luncheon at the Senior Center, the Fourth of July parade and the Tournament of Roses float build.
+ Read moreYouth & Scholarships
Four college scholarships each spring, the Interact Club at South Pasadena High, RYLA leadership camp, the Hensel Ethics Essay Contest and the Dan Stover Music Competition.
+ Read moreCommunity Grants
Every dollar raised at Taste of South Pasadena goes back out as grants to regional nonprofits — housing, youth services, food access and family support.
+ Read moreInternational Service
Houses built in Tecate with Corazón, 280 wheelchairs delivered in Puerto Vallarta, clean water in Haiti and Tanzania, and polio cases down 99% worldwide since 1979.
+ Read moreCome to something
View all events →South Pasadena 45 restaurants, wineries & makers
One evening. One walkable downtown.
Each spring, Mission Street and Fair Oaks come alive with neighbours strolling between local chefs, bakers and beverage makers. Every ticket funds the scholarships, youth programs and community grants on this site.
Needs copy · 2027 date, ticket price, ticket link
About the Taste Become a sponsor“Creativity for Lasting Impact”
This Rotary year, President Tom Camarda asks one question of the club: how will you show up for your community? A photo exhibition. An AI filmmaking competition. A short story contest. The Dan Stover Music Competition. Invitations for people of every age to discover and share what they know.
Become a member
Every Rotarian was once a guest. Someone welcomed them, someone invited them, someone believed they would make the club stronger. Come to a luncheon or a coffee talk and see for yourself — no obligation.
+ How to joinGive to the Foundation
The South Pasadena Rotary Foundation, Inc. is a registered 501(c)(3). Gifts are tax-deductible and stay close to home — scholarships, grants and local projects.
+ Ways to giveTaste of South Pasadena sponsors
Sponsor next year →Inspirational
Civic Champion
Good Neighbor
Good Neighbor
And 45 restaurant, winery and distributor partners — see the full list.
Club news, once a month
Meeting recaps, project updates, scholarship winners and Taste announcements. No more than one email a month.
Who we are
A united fellowship of men and women who gather in South Pasadena and contribute time, talent and leadership to enhance health, welfare and education in our community and beyond.
We are People of Action
Rotary Club of South Pasadena is a community of leaders, neighbours and changemakers united in service, friendship and purpose.
For nearly nine decades our club has been creating positive change in South Pasadena and beyond through hands-on service, leadership, friendship and collaboration — supporting local schools, investing in youth leadership, improving our community, promoting peace, protecting the environment and joining humanitarian projects around the world.
We are committed to being catalysts for effective humanitarian action and a more peaceful world. Meaningful change begins when people come together with a common purpose.
What is Rotary?
A global network of business and professional leaders — 1.2 million members in more than 35,000 clubs across 160+ countries — united by humanitarian service, ethical leadership and the pursuit of peace.
Clubs are nonpolitical, nonreligious and open to all. This one belongs to District 5300.
100% Paul Harris Fellow club
Every member of this club has been recognised by Rotary International for their contribution to The Rotary Foundation. Very few clubs can say that.
The Four-Way Test
Of the things we think, say and do:
Creativity for Lasting Impact
Tom Camarda · President 2026–2027Rotary has never been defined merely by what we do, but by how we imagine what is possible.
Service begins with compassion, but enduring service begins with creativity — the willingness to see familiar challenges through new eyes and to ask not only what is needed, but what has never been tried.
Every community possesses extraordinary gifts waiting to be shared. A photographer who can teach someone to see the world differently. A musician who can inspire confidence through song. A writer who can mentor the next generation of storytellers.
Our question this year is simple: how will you show up for your community?
This year's invitations
New ways for people of every age to discover and share their talents:
- A community photo exhibition
- An AI filmmaking competition
- A short story contest
- The Dan Stover Music Competition
Needs copy · entry dates & rules
Our history
The Rotary Club of South Pasadena is chartered. Charter members
Rotary International begins vaccinating children in the Philippines — the start of a campaign that has since cut polio cases 99% worldwide. This club has supported it throughout.
The South Pasadena Rotary Foundation, Inc. is established as a separate 501(c)(3). Confirm year
Two weeks into the pandemic, the club raises and distributes $14,000 in emergency grants to all fourteen local restaurants that applied.
$10,000 in community grants awarded to Union Station Homeless Services, Door of Hope, Hathaway-Sycamores, Ronald McDonald House and others.
36 members. A 100% Paul Harris Fellow club. Meeting where it has always met — the Woman's Club on Fremont Avenue.
Board & officers
Rotary Year 2026–2027Committee chairs
Members — 36 Rotarians
Giving starts with us
Members take on hands-on projects and support local and international programmes every year. “We make a living by what we get, but we make a life by what we give.”
Work you can walk to
Garfield Park Youth House
A $10,000 lead gift from the South Pasadena Rotary Foundation started it. The community gave over $85,000, the City added $50,000, and club members supplied the labour. The rebuilt house now hosts Scout groups and City workshops.
Emergency response
CERT training for local residents so neighbourhoods can respond in the first hours after an earthquake or fire — before anyone else arrives.
The Senior Center
The annual Valentine luncheon at the South Pasadena Senior Center — one afternoon a year that a lot of people count on.
We also turn up for
/projects-1 and /ourservice. Worse, /projects-1 does not contain projects at all — it is the President's Message. Nobody searches for “our service”; they ask what the club does here.Four scholarships, every spring
Fund a scholarship →Two recipients from South Pasadena High School, two from Wilson High School in El Sereno.
Susan Foster Award
$2,000
For community involvement.
Wagner Family Award
$1,000 ×2
For community and school service.
Wagner Family Fine Arts Scholarship
$1,000
For the fine arts.
youth@southpasadenarotary.org.
Programmes for students
Interact Club
South Pasadena High School students running their own service projects.
RYLA
Rotary Youth Leadership Awards — an annual leadership camp for high schoolers.
Hensel Ethics Essay
An annual essay contest for local high school students.
Dan Stover Music
The district-wide music competition for young performers.
Where else this club shows up
End Polio Now
Rotary and its partners have reduced polio cases by 99% worldwide since the first vaccination project in the Philippines in 1979.
Corazón · Tecate
Club members travel to Tecate, Mexico each year to build houses for eligible families.
Wheelchairs · Puerto Vallarta
280 wheelchairs delivered by hand to people with disabilities.
Flying Samaritans
Support for volunteer pilots and doctors flying to Northern Baja to staff a medical clinic.
Water & sanitation
Wells and sanitation systems in Haiti and Tanzania. Stoves for heat and cooking in Guatemala.
Medical missions
A surgical operating table donated to a low-income hospital in New Delhi. Mending Kids pediatric surgical missions to Costa Rica, Guatemala and Peru.
Community grants
Every grant the club makes is funded by Taste of South Pasadena. Nonprofits serving this region are encouraged to apply.
Past recipients: Union Station Homeless Services · Door of Hope · East Meets West Parent Education Association · The Giving Space · Hathaway-Sycamores · Ronald McDonald House Pasadena · Mending Kids International.
In April 2020, two weeks into the pandemic, the club awarded $14,000 to all fourteen local restaurants that applied — TeaMorrow, Shiro, Berry Opera, Heirloom, 2 Kids Coffee, Cos and Pi, Lost Parrot Cafe, Golden China, KJ Korean Tofu & BBQ, Señor Fish, Griffins of Kinsale, Cookies & Creme, Communal and Mike & Anne's.
service@southpasadenarotary.org as the contact.
Rotary's seven areas of focus
Seven pages merged into onePeacebuilding & conflict prevention
The club's local focus for this Rotary year.
Disease prevention & treatment
End Polio Now; Mending Kids surgical missions.
Water, sanitation & hygiene
Wells in Haiti and Tanzania.
Maternal & child health
Ronald McDonald House; Flying Samaritans clinic.
Basic education & literacy
Library book donations in lieu of speaker gifts; scholarships.
Community & economic development
Emergency restaurant grants; community grant cycle.
Environment
South Pasadena Healing Garden; clean cookstoves in Guatemala.
Why one page
Seven near-empty pages, all last edited the same January day, replaced by one page with seven anchors — each 301-redirected to its anchor.
Come to something
Luncheons, coffee talks, socials and the one night a year the whole city turns out. Guests are welcome at everything on this page.
What's coming up
Rotary Year 2026–2027How the club meets
Luncheon meetings
Woman's Club of South Pasadena, 1424 Fremont Ave. Lunch, a speaker, club business. The main gathering of the month.
Coffee talks
Jones Coffee Roasters. Informal, an hour, no agenda. The easiest first visit if you're curious about the club.
Socials
Location varies. Rotary business still gets discussed, but in a relaxed atmosphere. Partners and guests welcome.
Visiting for the first time
Email ahead so someone is watching for you at the door. You'll be introduced, you'll sit with members, and nobody will ask you to join. Lunch is covered for first-time guests.
programs@southpasadenarotary.org
Taste of South Pasadena
Sponsorship packages →There is something magical that happens when a town gathers around food.
Each spring the club turns downtown into a walkable celebration of connection, flavour and purpose. Mission Street and Fair Oaks come alive with neighbours strolling together, friends reconnecting, and families discovering new favourite dishes from the restaurants that make this city unique. Live music fills the streets; volunteers greet you at every corner.
Every ticket supports the service work on this site — youth programmes, scholarships, community grants and humanitarian efforts. When you attend, you're investing in students, supporting families, helping neighbours.
General admission
Price
Tasting passport, entry from 5:00 PM.
Early bird
Price & cutoff
Same access, lower price, limited quantity.
Patron
Price
Early entry, reserved seating, recognition in the programme.
45 restaurant, winery and distributor partners poured, plated and served last year.
Joy in the Streets
/joy-in-the-streets and /3rdedition are both live. A first-time visitor cannot tell what this is, when it happens, or whether it is still running. Needs one paragraph, a date and a photo — or a decision to retire it.
Past events
Demotion Party
Club Luncheon #1
Taste of South Pasadena
/videos section currently mixes Interact award footage with a 2021 seven-day yoga challenge and a mindfulness video, duplicated under youth services. The Rotary content moves here; the yoga content is deleted.Every Rotarian was once a guest
Someone welcomed them. Someone invited them. Someone believed they would make the club stronger. If you've ever wondered whether Rotary is for you, come and see.
What members actually get
People who care
Thirty-six neighbours who show up for each other and for this city, month after month.
Work that lands
Not fundraising in the abstract — a youth house you can walk to, a student you meet at graduation.
A global network
1.2 million People of Action in 35,000 clubs across 160+ countries. Your membership travels.
Room to lead
Chair a committee, run a project, take an officer seat. The club is small enough that you'll be asked.
What membership involves
The question every prospective member asks and no club website answers: what is this going to cost me, in money and in time?
Answering it plainly is the single biggest conversion improvement available on this site. A visitor who can't find dues assumes the worst and closes the tab.
Time
One luncheon, one coffee talk, one social — attend what fits. Confirm
Dues
Billed annually. Covers club, district and Rotary International dues. Meals billed separately.
Service
Hands-on, on a committee, or both. Confirm expectation
Visit before you decide
1 · Pick a date
A coffee talk is the lowest-commitment start — an hour at Jones Coffee Roasters. A luncheon gives you the fuller picture.
+ See the calendar2 · Tell us you're coming
Email programs@southpasadenarotary.org so a member is watching for you and lunch is arranged.
3 · Come and look
You'll be introduced, seated with members and asked nothing. Visit as many times as you like before deciding.
Tell us about you
What happens next
Your inquiry goes to membership@southpasadenarotary.org — a shared inbox the membership chair monitors, not one person's personal email. Someone replies within three business days and invites you to the next meeting that suits you.
Your gift stays close to home
The South Pasadena Rotary Foundation, Inc. is a registered 501(c)(3) nonprofit. EIN 95-4613734. Gifts are tax-deductible to the extent allowed by law.
Make a gift
$100 funds a tenth of a Wagner Family scholarship.
Where a gift lands
Every dollar given here is spent by the Foundation on scholarships for local graduates, community grants to regional nonprofits, and the club's local service projects.
donate@southpasadenarotary.org
Two entities, one club
The Rotary Club runs the meetings and the projects. The South Pasadena Rotary Foundation, Inc. is a separate 501(c)(3) that holds and grants the charitable funds. Your tax receipt comes from the Foundation.
Where your gift goes
South Pasadena Rotary Foundation, Inc.
A separate registered 501(c)(3) nonprofit organisation. EIN 95-4613734.
The Foundation exists so charitable gifts are held and granted cleanly, separately from club operating funds. Contributions are tax-deductible to the extent allowed by law. Consult your tax advisor about your own situation.
Club members are also 100% Paul Harris Fellows through The Rotary Foundation — Rotary International's global foundation, a separate organisation that funds polio eradication, peace fellowships and global grants.
Sponsor Taste of South Pasadena
sponsors@southpasadenarotary.org- Top billing on all event materials
- Named in press and on site
- Tickets included
2026: Priority One Credit Union
- Logo on event signage
- Named in the programme
- Tickets included
2026: Charity On Top
- Named on the sponsor wall
- Named in the programme
2026: Fair Oaks Cigar & Spirits · State Farm Agent David Morales
Other ways to give
Paul Harris Fellow
A recognised gift to The Rotary Foundation in your name or in honour of someone else. This club is 100% Paul Harris — you'd be in good company.
Legacy giving
Name the South Pasadena Rotary Foundation in your will or estate plan. Needs bequest language
In-kind & matching
Donate product or services to the Taste, or check whether your employer matches charitable gifts.