The 19th Annual Ducky Derby was held at Lake Redding Park on September 28, 2008. It is an event that is presented by the Redding East Rotary Club to provide funding to the non-profit foundation: The Rotary Clubs of Northern California Foundation Against Substance Abuse.
The foundation itself is not a Rotary Club, it is a non-profit 501 C-3 corporation that was incorporated in 1988 for the sole purpose of providing dollars to substance abuse prevention and youth development programs for adolescents in the northern counties of Shasta, Tehama, Butte, Trinity, Glenn and Siskiyou.
2008 Grand Prize Winner Kay Owens Results of Extreme Makeover:
2008 Race Highlights
The 19th years saw 45,808 ducks dropped on a beautiful Redding Day. The crowds were excited as they raced down the river, pausing occassionally to wave to the fans! this years sales brought the total Duck Race Revenue to $2,921,289 ince inception with over $2.4 million returned to benefit our youth
About the Derby
History
In 1987 Werner Schwartz, then District Governor of Rotary District 5160 called a meeting of North Sate Rotarians to consider forming a Not-for-profit corporation to raise money for A Substance Abuse program called Friday Night Live. There were an alarming number of deaths of teenagers following sporting events and parties on the weekends and the audio-visual program had demonstrated success in stopping that trend. The District had already formed a similar Not-for-Profit in Contra Costa County. The Foundations where also made into District committees. The Rotary Clubs of Northern California against Substance Abuse was formed in 1988 with Neal Sternberg as the founding president and 16 other Rotarians. 17 Northern California Rotary Clubs were represented. In the first year money was raised to purchase all of the equipment for the Friday Night Live program by taxing the Clubs per member. In searching for better ways to raise money to extend our influence to reduce substance abuse amongst our teens, Jim Salina saw an article about a Duck Race in Oregon and presented it as an idea to Neal as a way to raise money to meet our Mission. After a year of working to convince key Board members of the Redding Rotary Clubs that the idea could work with the Clubs to joining forces to run the race, the first Duck race was run with tremendous success.
The foundation itself is not a Rotary Club, it is a non-profit 501 C-3 corporation that was incorporated in 1988 for the sole purpose of providing dollars to substance abuse prevention programs for adolescents in the northern counties of Shasta, Tehama, Butte, Trinity, Glenn and Siskiyou.
