Ray Sanford

Ray Sanford joined the Rotary Club of Irvine in 2003, immediately focusing his efforts on International Service projects. He created a joint project with the Rotary Club of Ensenada Calafia, BC, Mexico, to provide free dental (now including vision) care for children in Ensenada elementary schools. The clinics are held twice each year with a different school selected for each clinic and continue to this day.

As International Service chair, he authored six International Matching Grants from The Rotary Foundation for a variety of projects; dental equipment for Mexico, cataract surgeries in India, StoveTeam fuel-efficient stoves for Guatemala and prosthetic limbs in Bolivia. During his tenure as International Service Chair, Irvine Rotary participated in 12 other international grants authored by other Rotary clubs.

While President of Irvine Rotary in 2006-2007, Ray was instrumental in the creation of “Snowball Express” (sponsored by the Costa Mesa, Newport-Irvine and Irvine Rotary clubs), a district-wide project to provide travel, hotel accommodations and entertainment for 900 family members of servicemen and women killed in the line of duty in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Ray has been a member of the Paul Harris Society each year since joining Rotary and is now a Rotary Foundation Major Donor Level 3 He was twice awarded Irvine Rotary’s “Rotarian of the Year” award and was his club’s 2009 “Rotarian Business Person of the Year” awardee. He was honored in 2013 with the “Dr. Michael Abdalla Humanitarian Leadership Award” for his contributions to International Service.

Now retired, Ray was the founder of a graphic production and website service company that specialized in creating online businesses for small and medium-sized companies.

His management background is varied. He’s a former Marine officer and Vietnam veteran. He spent more than 20 years in the hospitality business, rising from entry-level jobs to become President/CEO of a regional hospitality business managing and developing hotels and restaurants. He left the hospitality field to pursue real estate development and sales, eventually becoming Sr. V.P. of Merrill Lynch Realty’s auction division. He helped put together a team that marketed non-performing residential projects for lenders and developers during the S&L financial crisis.

He has been on the Board of Directors of the Irvine Sister Cities Foundation and the California Restaurant Association and currently serves as a Trustee of the November 10th Association and the Sanford Foundation.

Rotary Achievements

Rotary

  • 1981-1983 Claremont Rotary (prior to moving to Orange County)

  • 2003 (Dec) Joined Irvine Rotary

  • 2004-2005 Club International Chair

  • 2004-pres. Project leader for club's biannual Irvine Dental/Vision clinics

  • 2005-2006 Club International Chair, Club Secretary

  • 2006-2007 Club President, Snowball Express co-founder

  • 2007-2008 District Advisory Committee, Club Foundation Chair

  • 2008-2009 Assistant District Governor, Governor Selection Committee, Club International Chair

  • 2009-2010 District COAL Committee, Club International Chair

  • 2012-2013 District Advisory Committee

  • 2013-2014 District Public Image Director, District Conference Committee, Club International Chair

  • 2013-2014 District 5320 Governor Designate for 2016-2017

  • 2014-2015 District 5320 Governor Nominee

  • 2015-2016 District 5320 Governor Elect

  • 2016-2017 District 5320 Governor

  • 2017-2018 District Finance Committee, District Advisory Board, District Nominating Committee.

Awards & Recognition

  • 2003-pres. Paul Harris Society

  • 2003-pres. 100% attendance

  • 2003-04 Irvine Rotary Rotarian of the Year

  • 2004-05 Irvine Rotary Rotarian of the Year

  • 2009 Irvine Rotary Business Person of the Year

  • 2012 The Rotary Foundation Major Donor

  • 2013 Dr. Michael Abdalla Humanitarian Leadership Award

  • 2017 The Rotary Foundation Major Donor – Level 2

  • 2019 The Rotary Foundation Major Donor – Level 3

International Grants authored

  • 2005: 6 portable dental chairs and supplies - (2 Rotary Clubs, 2 Districts) $12,250

  • 2006: Avoidable Blindness - 1,465 eye surgeries (3 Rotary Clubs, 2 Districts) $27,581

  • 2007: Dental van for Dental Care for Children (6 Clubs, 2 Districts) $45,083 (Note: The van supports additional clinics each year in Mexico and locally.)

  • 2008: StoveTeam - El Salvador (project and grant was cancelled when The Rotary Foundation ran out of funds in late summer, 2008. Replaced by StoveTeam - Guatemala grant in 2009)

  • 2009: StoveTeam - Guatemala 1,156 fuel-efficient stoves (12 Rotary Clubs, 2 Districts) $46,240

  • 2011: Bolivia Prosthetics 136 prosthetic legs (6 Rotary Clubs, 5 Districts) $54,400 (Note: Irvine and Laguna clubs had previously contributed directly to this effort to build the clinic's workshop)

  • Note: Dental, StoveTeam and Prosthetics projects remain sustainable.

International Grants participated and/or assisted with

  • 2006 Katrina grant for Slidell, LA (Orange North, Taiwan, Japan clubs) 2006 India Medical Equipment

  • 2007 Colima, Mexico - Project Amigo (Laguna Beach)

  • 2007 Wanju, Korea Adult Disabled Facility (Orange North)

  • 2008 Emergency Equipment - Chile (Laguna Beach)

  • 2009 Emergency Equipment - Chile (Laguna Beach)

  • 2008 Musical Instruments - Brazil (Newport Balboa)

  • 2008 Computer equipment - Romania (Costa Mesa – Alex Ureche)

  • 2010 Ensenada Ambulance - (Orange North)

  • 2010 India Water Project - (Laguna Beach)

  • 2010 Romania Bookmobile - (Costa Mesa – Alex Ureche)

  • 2012 Brazil Orphanage Equipment (Laguna Beach)

  • Other major projects

  • 2006 Co-founder of Snowball Express (Costa Mesa, Newport Irvine, Irvine clubs sponsored) which became a district-wide effort providing travel, hotel accommodations and entertainment for 900 family members of military heroes killed in the line of duty in Iraq and Afghanistan. This project became its own non profit organization based in Dallas, Texas with major sponsors such as American Airlines. Now celebrating its 15th year, the organization recently became part the Gary Sinese Foundation.

Club International Service Projects

  • 2004-pres. Leading a Biannual Dental/Vision clinics to Ensenada, BC, Mexico, working with Club Rotario Ensenada Calafia. To date, these clinics have provided more than $1.3 million in free care to impoverished school children and adults.

  • 2004-pres. Two home building projects with Corázon in Tecate, BC, MEXICO

  • Support for District and Clubs

  • Pro-bono graphic production services to the District and clubs for promotional and collateral materials including signs, logos, banners, awards, programs, flyers, brochures and other needs.

  • Designed and maintains websites for 21 Rotary clubs on a pro-bono basis (except for a modest initial setup charge). Redesigned the District’s website maintained by an outside contractor. Designed and maintained the District’s Resources website that is used for training members and club officers.