International flavor highlights annual Lemoore Rotary gathering Friday night

Outgoing Rotary President Kurt Quade with incoming President Jesus Garcia.

On a surprisingly pleasant summer evening in Jesus and Mary Garcia’s back yard, following a spicy dinner of traditional tacos, rice and beans, outgoing President Kurt Quade passed the president’s gavel to the incoming president, Jesus Garcia, while a crowd of about 50 Rotarians and guests applauded between bites of tacos.

Much of of the applause came from a contingent of Ecuadorian Rotarians, who the day before hopped a flight in Tulcán, Ecuador and made the journey across half the world to applaud Garcia’s upcoming presidency.

They didn’t arrive in the United States expecting a trip to Disneyland, but rather for a chance to honor Garcia for a long-standing friendship, cemented over the past 10 years or so by a Rotary Exchange program and their joint effort to building simple water systems in South American villages.

Jesus Garcia with visiting Ecuador Rotarians (left to right) Jaime Benevides, Ignacio Villacreses, Libardo Alvarez and Carlos Tates.

The Tulcán Rotary Club, in the past decade, has forged a club-to-club friendship with Lemoore and others geared toward providing fresh, clean water to small villages and Ecuadoreans struggling with the availability of clean water.

Jesus and Mary have visited Ecuador many times in the past 10 years joining with the Ecuadorians to build several water systems. They gained solid friendships with the Tulcán Rotary Club, which began with an exchange program when the Garcia’s hosted an Ecuadoran exchange student Diana Fuertes.

The two clubs signed an agreement to continue the club-to-club partnership. In all 13 visitors were on hand from the club in Tulcán.