As the Los Gatos Rotary Club celebrates its 100th anniversary this year, it’s looking to give back to the community in a different way, with a new oak grove in Live Oak Manor park.
The project will create a “contemplative” space in the busy park with the addition of several trees, a new paved path and seating space around the trees. The group outlined its plans at a town council meeting on June 18, and the council endorsed the project at a Sept. 17 meeting.
“We figured there wasn’t really much of a place to just sit and have a quiet time in nature,” Rotarian Adam Mayer said. “So that was also what we’re trying to provide in this park, which it seemed to lack.”
The project is just one part of the Los Gatos Rotary Club’s centennial celebrations, which have included a gala at the Mountain Winery in Saratoga in May, the donation of a bus to a school in El Salvador and a fundraising effort for local high school students.
Mayer, who is also a member of the Los Gatos Rotary Club’s centennial committee, said the organization has historically been involved in global service work – projects that send resources and aid to disadvantaged groups outside of the United States. But the oak grove project, he said, is the group’s effort to give back at home.
“We also want to acknowledge, especially at the centennial, that we also care about our local community, and this project represents that – our relationship with the local community,” Mayer said.
He said the group has been working “behind the scenes” with the town’s public works department and HMH Landscape Architecture to finalize the project details. The Los Gatos Rotary Club is also covering the cost of labor, design and materials for the project, and the town will be responsible for ongoing maintenance, Mayer said.
While construction is currently set to begin this fall, Mayer said the amount of rain on the forecast this year could delay that start.
“There might be a possibility that it would have to be pushed to next year, which we’re okay with,” he said. “But it really depends on the season.”
