Santa Rosa Rotarian delivers meals to neighbors in need

Performing didn’t always come naturally to Casey Williams, and even today he does his best to avoid the spotlight.

But the day after the countywide stay-at-home order took effect because of the coronavirus, the 43-year-old Santa Rosa native took center stage to ensure dozens of people in the local homeless population didn’t miss lunch. Williams spent $600 to buy 50 box meals from a friend’s restaurant so he could hand deliver them around Doyle Park near where he grew up, as well as Old Courthouse Square.

“So many people asked if I was with a church, and I said, no, I just live here and am buying lunch for everybody. It’s the least I can do,” Williams said. “I was born in Santa Rosa, so I feel really protective of this city. We all have to come together. I mean, this is the time.”

Ask peers and longtime friends, though, and the simple act of giving during yet another declared emergency in Sonoma County has become Williams’ signature act. The public education manager at Recology, who moonlights as the host and producer of local stand-up comedy shows, has overcome any personal reservations and made a second career out of organizing people around a single focus.

“He’s not the life of the party. He’s the person who brings everybody to the party,” said Aaron Friedman, 39, a friend of more than a decade and owner of Signarama, a custom sign shop in Santa Rosa. “I’m just looking at all the stuff he does, and I don’t think he ever sleeps. Casey’s the first one to jump on and say, ‘How can we help?’”

True to form, Williams wasted little time and came up with his next idea. Just days after the lunch giveaway, he developed another plan to provide free to-go meals for a couple of Saturdays to the area’s restaurant and service-industry workers whose tourism-dependent jobs have suddenly disappeared. The project also helps support the hard-hit local eateries that make the food.

Williams quickly raised several thousand dollars by leveraging relationships he’s made through a citywide leadership program and work with his Santa Rosa West Rotary Club. Combined with more than $3,500 in donations through a GoFundMe page, the total surpassed $7,500 in under a week, and he hopes to extend the program through at least April, if not longer.

Williams, a 1994 graduate of Montgomery High School, said his efforts are all part of a goal to remind residents of the communal ties that already exist throughout the county, especially in the most challenging of times. From wildfires, floods, power outages and now a global pandemic, the circumstances may change and repeatedly test the strength of those bonds, but they endure, he said.

“I know that this isn’t a good situation, and we’re all dealing with stuff we haven’t had to deal with before. But especially in Sonoma County, we can handle it,” he said. “Maybe this helps develop even more of a sense of community. But let’s not forget this. Let’s continue this beyond tragedy and just remember that we’re all together, we’re all Sonoma County and look out for one another.”

The values are similar to those instilled in Williams as a grade-schooler attending the Boys & Girls Club while growing up in Santa Rosa’s lower-income South Park neighborhood. After school each day, he’d split his time there playing baseball and wrestling, learning the game of bumper pool and trying his hand at trivia. Some years later, he watched his son learn karate there, too.

The center has changed over the years, including renovations such as a new rock climbing wall and a 3D printer, but Williams’ special connection to the place that helped raise him has not. It has come full circle, with him recently joining the club’s board of directors as well as putting his talents to use to host a comedy and dinner fundraiser there each year.

Still, putting himself out there was for a long time outside Williams’ comfort zone. As a teen, he’d watch his father play guitar and read poetry to audiences, and later his stepmom, a blues singer and pianist who once opened for Tom Petty in Santa Rosa, perform around the North Bay. An open-mic night eight years back eventually helped Williams find his own path, but, even today, he maintains a preference for spreading credit around rather than accepting it for himself.

“What impresses me most about Casey is that he’s not grandiose. He is very quiet about his accomplishments and he knows where to go and who to talk to,” said Rohnert Park Councilwoman Gina Belforte, who is president of her city’s Rotary club. “In some way, shape or form, that man delivers. And he does it in such a humble style.”

That doesn’t mean he’s shied away from leadership. This summer, Williams will take over as president of his Rotary club for a second stint - a rarity due to the time commitment the position entails. The international volunteer organization also isn’t known for younger members, and fellow Rotarian Kris Lepore, 48, recalls stepping up himself to become president of the Santa Rosa West Club after his longtime friend Williams kicked off a string of 30- and 40-somethings in the role the first time around.

“When someone in that age group in the organization takes charge, it’s like, ‘Well, if he can do it and it’s something he wants to do, there’s no reason why I can’t do it and do my part,’” said Lepore, a real estate agent with Sonoma Coast Living Real Estate Services in Bodega Bay.

That same line of reasoning is what Williams is banking on with his latest project serving meals to those less fortunate in this period of uncertainty. The Rotary clubs in Petaluma and Rohnert Park-Cotati already plan to follow his lead in their cities in the coming weekends.

“It’s important to show the community that people care. If you give people hope, you can inspire them to do something similar,” Williams said. “I’m really grateful just to live here. I love the Bay Area, and it’s a really great part of the world. I feel like if you live and work and eat and play here, you should look out for each other when something happens. I don’t know why everybody doesn’t think that way. It’s just sort of how it should be.”

You can reach Staff Writer Kevin Fixler at 707-521-5336 or kevin.fixler@pressdemocrat.com. On Twitter @kfixler.