The Rotary Club is the world’s oldest service organization going back to the beginning of the 20th century. It has endured for so long of a period of time because of its values. Generations of Rotarians continue in service to others and Rotarians are grateful for the opportunity to serve. Rotarians are grateful for others who serve and recognize those servants of our communities.
The Rotary Club of Conroe recognized the many contributions that Sylvia Wiggins has made over the year last Tuesday by providing her with a Paul Harris Award for her “Service Above Self.” She started the various Arbor Day programs in Montgomery County. I call her the “Godmother of Arbor Day in Montgomery County.” She was provided this recognition for her decades of service and is an inspiration.
Another inspiring group is the Rotary Club of The Woodlands. President Denton Florian told me, “The Rotary Club of The Woodlands is celebrating a milestone with the Gulf Coast Regional Blood Center. This year we reached a giving level of 250 gallons of blood, which is 2,000 individual donations and which the blood center tells us has saved 6,000 lives. Truly remarkable! Representatives from the Gulf Coast Regional Blood Center spoke at our meeting this Thursday and bestowed upon our club a Certificate of Excellence which was much appreciated.
We also displayed 250 one-gallon milk jugs during our meeting to illustrate how much blood our club has donated in a concrete and visual way.” Congratulations to this amazing Club as they celebrate 50 years of service to The Woodlands and surrounding communities. This Club has more high school student involved in Interact than any other Club in the USA and is second only to a Club in India. Interact Cubs are versions of Rotary on a high school basis, teaching high school students the service aspects of giving along with Rotary values. In addition, this Club has awarded over a million dollars in scholarships to high school students about to go to college. They have also donated $75,000 to build a home in the Angel Reach Village in Conroe. This Club also supports The Woodlands House which provides housing for families who come to use the world-class medical facilities in The Woodlands/Conroe area.
The Rotary Club of Lake Conroe is also providing badly needed services for our youth going to school. Deanna Voitle of the Rotary Club of Lake Conroe told me, “The Rotary Club of Lake Conroe matches a grant for a major local service project event called Clothes for Kids. Each year we take on an average of 40 school aged kids from very low-income families and foster children from to Old Navy Conroe for a shopping spree to purchase new clothes for the school year. The kids are identified and selected by the staffs at the Schools in Montgomery and Willis ISD’s. Parents are invited with their kids then are paired with Rotarian volunteers.
Rotary raises enough money each year to purchase on average $150 in clothing per child. Since 2015 our club has been awarded the service project grant match program. We have had children with no permanent home and some with only the clothing on their backs. Suffice it to say that the smiles on their faces are reward enough for us, but it deserves noting that to the extent these kids feel good about themselves and are not otherwise ostracized by their appearance and circumstance, they perform well in school.” We are grateful that our community has such wonderful servant hearts!
The Rotary Club of Conroe meets at noon Tuesdays at Honor Cafe in downtown Conroe.
Reach out to Ron Saikowski at rsaikowski@comcast.net to find out more about Rotary.
If the full content does not display, visit the article originally published on this site
