At the annual club assembly to review Capital Rotary’s accomplishments for 2016-17, president Dr. Tommy Gibbons highlighted the many accomplishments our club has celebrated:
Our club is doing a great job again this year as usual. As we have for many years, we participate in Meals on Wheels, an annual Red Cross Blood Drive, an annual dictionary distribution project, Coins for Alzheimers Research Trust (CART), Polio Plus, Harvest Hope Food Bank, college scholarship fundraiser, excellent speakers, Fifth Wednesdays, and Club Socials. The Christmas social at Jay Von Kolnitz’s home is always special and the social we had at Spirit Communication Park was fun as well (Thanks Abby Naas!)
We “adopted” the Pempleton family for Christmas gifts and will be helping them get their house back in order after the flooding. We will be volunteering to help thru the Saint Bernard Project. The project officially starts February 25, 2017.
We contributed $500 to an international project this past fall. The money went towards an ophthalmic laser (mobile) for the Vincent Pescatore Clinic in Guatemala.
Catherine Glen is a Global Grant Scholar for 2016-2017 that we sponsored. The 2011 University of South Carolina graduate taught special education students in rural Japan for the past three years. Her Rotary Global Grant scholarship funds a year of graduate study at Queen’s University Belfast in Northern Ireland, hosted by the Rotary Club of Belfast. Glen is seeking a master’s degree in the psychology of childhood adversity. She formerly worked with youth in treatment for substance abuse and mood disorders at the Medical University of South Carolina and was a Big Brothers Big Sisters volunteer.
We are a 100% Sustaining Member club.
We currently have 57 members (58 July 1, 2016). Through December, 2016 our club members have contributed $5,303 to the Rotary International General Fund, plus $2,051 to Polio Plus, for a total of $7,359. We have exceeded our Polio Plus annual goal of $1,500. We currently have 55 members who have earned at least one Paul Harris Fellow status, 41 PH Benefactors (including the PH fund in your will for $1,000), 4 Bequest Society Members ($10,000 upon death), and 4 Major Donors (> $ 10,000).
Our club provided a $1,000 donation to District 6840 for flood assistance in Louisiana as well as $585 from individual members.
Our club raised $2,100 at our Lake Murray Fishing event and $18,722 through our wreath project for our college scholarship fund. This fund provides a Richland County high school graduate $5000 a year up to 4 years for their college tuition. We select a new recipient each year.
Today our club voted to approve the 2017-2018 officers and directors. Additionally we approved the revised Constitution and Bylaws.
Notable speakers at our meetings thus far this year include Ray Tanner, Mark Hammond, Pamela Lackey and Ms. Columbia Suzi Roberts. Our 5th Wednesdays are offsite from our club and are always educational and interesting.
We had 56 club members participate in distributing 936 dictionaries to third graders in 14 schools (Richland 1 and Lexington 1). This was a great community service project.
Our Club PR-Media efforts from July 2016 – February 2017:
- Total amount of new items/photos sent to media – 19
- Breakdown of new items/photos by subject:
- New members added to club – 2 releases
- Reports of member accomplishments or donations to Foundation – 7 releases
- Report of club community activities/service to others – 5 releases
- Distinguished visitor at club meetings – 5
Our club is in great financial shape with over a quarter of a million dollars in equity.
