Rotary’s Koroga fundraiser focuses on youth Sunday, October 5
White Salmon, Wash., Sept. 17, 2025 — Youth programs are the focus of White Salmon-Bingen Rotary Club Foundation’s fourth annual Koroga fundraiser. The event will be held on Sunday, October 5, at a private residence on top of Strawberry Mountain overlooking the Columbia River Gorge from 3:00 p.m. to 6:00 p.m. The club hopes to raise $15,000.
“We are so excited to have a match donation in place this year for up to $7,500 so a donor can quickly double their impact,” said Tammy Kaufman, chair of the club’s international service committee. Guests can register for the Koroga online at https://www.zeffy.com/en-US/ticketing/koroga.
“Our club has a very robust portfolio of local and international youth programs,” said Travis Cieloha, chair of the club’s Rotary Youth Exchange program. “This year, we have ten high school-age students involved. Two are inbound from Brazil and Austria, three are outbound now living in Thailand, South Korea, and Austria, and five are in training, preparing for long-term and short-term exchanges in 2026. It is a very busy year.”
The club supports many youth programs here and abroad, along with a variety of other work aligning with Rotary International’s Areas of Focus. In Klickitat County, the group sponsors a preschool literacy program and a third-grade dictionary project. In Guatemala, the club helped sponsor 70 cookstoves to eliminate smoke and reduce burns from open-fire cooking for mothers and children in the rural Retalhuleu region.
The club’s impact in rural Kenya has been substantial. In 2022, it secured a major Global Grant from The Rotary Foundation (TRF) to sponsor two cohorts of the Najijali Project. The program was designed to bring teen mothers, who had dropped out of school, into vocational training and provide comprehensive, wrap-around services to help them become financially independent. The grant concluded in 2024. Now, in the sustainability phase, the club is helping a third cohort in a revised two-year program.
“49 of 50 girls completed our first two classes of the Najijali Project. We monitored their progress and conducted interviews following their graduation,” Kaufman said. “Most are involved in developing their own small businesses, and all reported being in a better position than they were before being selected.”
Kaufman said beneficiaries provided valuable feedback on how to improve the program, including a recommendation to extend training from nine months to two years. Now the third cohort of 25 students is in their third term of their first year, with a targeted graduation at the end of 2026.
Koroga is a Kiswahili word meaning “mix it up” and is used to describe an inspiring community celebration. The club picked up the term during its work in Africa. Donations from members, friends of Rotary, and fundraisers like the Koroga keep these and other programs running.
This year’s event will include special guests: Lynette Kisaka, a volunteer with Grace Resources for Community Action (GRECA), which administers the Najijali Project in Kenya; Grace Kuto, the co-founder of U.S.-based Harambee Centre, which bridges cultural exchanges and supports scholarships in East Africa; Paul Kuto, who has helped manage numerous service trips to Africa for nonprofits; and Paul Moran, Rotary District 7750 Assistant Governor in South Carolina. Moran and the Kutos are members of the Lake Wylie Rotary Club. Rotary Youth Exchange students will also be in attendance to share their experiences.
“Event guests will enjoy a fantastic vista of the Columbia River Gorge, Mt. Hood, and the Hood River Valley. A program of African music will feature the Jamba Marimba band and a session with Hakim Rashad Muhammad, a master drummer, with a special Afro-Latin dance lesson from Jill Catherine of the Gorge Leadership Institute,” Kaufman said.
“We’ll have artwork and auction items with a sampling of food and beverages as you learn about the club’s many service projects,” Kaufman said. “Special thanks go to Artist Susan Winget and her team, and our friends at Yellow Rhino Ministries, Harambee Centre, AniChe Cellars, the Best Western Hood River Inn, Carolina Chocolate Company, Beneventi’s Pizza, and T-Quito El Hambre for this year’s contributions that will make the Koroga a colorful and tasty experience.”
The event’s suggested donation per person is $100, with an option to choose any comfortable donation level. The event is for adults aged 21 and over and can accommodate up to 100 guests. Kaufman says the club wants to include everyone with a passion for service. “If the suggested donation is out of reach, a guest is welcome to submit a donation at a more comfortable level,” she said. “They can even donate to a specific project they feel passionate about.”
For anyone interested in supporting the programs but is unable to attend, donations are welcome through the event link above or by check in the mail to the White Salmon Bingen Rotary Club Foundation, P.O. Box 251, White Salmon, WA 98672, with Koroga 2025 in the memo line.
White Salmon-Bingen Rotary Club meets weekly on Tuesdays at noon at the Mountain View Grange Hall at 1085 N. Main Avenue in White Salmon. Community members are invited to join a club meeting at no charge, and for $20, they can add a tasty lunch provided by Beneventi’s Pizza. More club information can be found online at https://www.whitesalmon-bingenrotary.org/. The club can also be contacted at wsbrotary@gmail.com.
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