(This article originally appeared in the July 7, 2011 edition of the Edwardsville (Illinois) Intelligencer newspaper)
Goshen Rotary finds its missions
Last year, the Goshen Rotary Club found itself in a great
position. Because of successful fundraising efforts, it had
accumulated funds that it wanted to invest in the community.
After a needs assessment evaluation process, the group approved
three major service project commitments for 2011, which its
volunteers have been actively pursuing. (click below to read more)
The Goshen Rotary Club, which will be celebrating its 20th
anniversary in January of 2012, focuses primarily on service
projects dealing with children and/or education in the areas of
Glen Carbon, Edwardsville and Maryville.
“We went out to leaders in the community and said, ‘OK, here’s what
we can offer,'" said Kevin Doak, chairman of the group's community
service committee. "We can offer, number one, manpower. We’ve got
70 very active members who are just dying to get their hands dirty
— dig in the dirt, paint or whatever we need to do and, number
two, we also have dollars to spend.”
They asked for projects that hadn’t had enough money to get a
start. They received several good ideas and then narrowed them down
to three projects.
Constructing a pavilion on the grounds of Glen Carbon Heritage
Museum, at 124 School Street, was one of the projects
approved.
“It’s kind of a hidden gem really," Doak said. "It’s kind of
off-the-beaten-path. You wouldn’t necessarily stumble upon it if
you were driving through Glen Carbon, but it’s a wonderful resource
and wonderful museum.”
He noted that many elementary school children take field trips to
the museum and that they ”thought it would be nice if the kids
would have a place to have a picnic” when on a field trip.
Goshen Rotary donated $6,000 plus the members’ labor to build the
pavilion, which is about three-quarters complete.
The members have had volunteer workdays and are working with the
village of Glen Carbon which is also providing labor for the
project.
The Goshen Rotary also approved a $15,000 donation and members'
labor to the Watershed Nature Center. “That will really help
jump-start their capital campaign,” said Doak. “They are wanting to
redo the entrance. It needs a lot of work. We’re looking forward to
that.”
“What I like about our Rotary club is we don’t just write the
checks, we want to get out there and get involved, so we already
had one work day. We went out there and tilled up several beds and
mulched and basically did whatever they needed us to do, and we’ll
have several more of those.
"That’s kind of how we anticipate our relationship with them, to
make that really a gem for the community.”
The third project that came from the needs assessment was a $9,000
donation to the YMCA to install a sand volleyball court near its
outdoor pool. This project is almost complete.
Doak said Goshen Rotary chose to help fund the new volleyball court
so that the YMCA could continue to offer nearly $200,000 in yearly
scholarships to families who can’t afford to join the YMCA.
“We thought any dollars that we can help with the Y would be more
dollars that they could use for scholarships," he said. " We asked
them what was one of their immediate needs — it was a sand
volleyball court.”
The Goshen Rotary Club has a history of partnering with the YMCA
because of the role it plays in children’s’ lives, which is also
why it invested in sets of roller hockey equipment that children
could use for free to try out the sport.
“You’ve got the equipment, the sticks, the pads, the helmet, the
pucks, and a lot of families would like to try it but it’s so
expensive," Doak said. "It’s not like playing basketball, where you
can jump out there and play, so a lot of families were discouraged
because of the high startup costs.”
The Goshen Rotary Club also does several signature projects each
year. “Every year at Christmas time, we put together food baskets
for about 140 families in the area so that they can have a nice
holiday meal. It has a ham, potatoes and canned goods. It’s about
$40 apiece,” Doak said.
Other annual Goshen Rotary Club projects include giving two $2,000
scholarships to high school graduates each year, providing every
third grade in the district (including parochial schools) with a
dictionary, sponsoring four blood drives at the two YMCA locations,
and maintaining its Adopt-A-Highway location in front of Lincoln
Middle School.
Perhaps the organization's largest annual event is its
back-to-school program that takes place this year on Aug. 6 at
Anderson Hospital’s Outpatient Surgery Center in Maryville. The
club sponsors free immunization assistance and medical tests for
children entering grades K, 6 and 9 for families in special
need.
Doak noted that the group fulfills requests from other groups, such
as the Little Tiger program, the Girl Scouts, the EHS After Prom,
the Glen-Ed Last Night New Year’s Eve event, and the YMCA
Triathlon.
“Those are not budgeted items. We have committees that review those
requests. If there’s a need and if it’s important, we’ll consider
supporting it,” he said.
The Goshen Rotary Club meets every Wednesday at noon in the Lewis
and Clark Community College’s N.O. Nelson complex in the LeClaire
Room. Guests interested in learning more about the Goshen Rotary or
joining any Rotary Club are encouraged to attend.
No comments:
Post a Comment