 The Rotary Club of Lincoln's meetings are lively: mixed with doses
of song, communications, announcements and interesting guests. It is
at these luncheons that the members also are kept abreast of what
the next project or fundraiser is going to be.There is no need to
be concerned about enough volunteers for a task or project. They are
Rotarians, and that in itself means they are all volunteers ready
and willing to do what needs to be done for our community or a
community halfway around the world.
Several Rotarians offered their opinions on why they are proud
members of the organization. Words such as service to the community
and helping others who could use their help were in every one of
their statements.
For residents in Lincoln, the effects of the Rotary Club of
Lincoln in helping create a better way of life for us all are as
simple and inconspicuous as a water fountain in the Lincoln Public
Library to other, more noticeable improvements in our community,
such as setting up the playground equipment in Scully Park or the
picnic pavilion in Memorial Park. The garden around the Postville
Courthouse was a Rotary project. The highway cleanup of the beltline
from the fairgrounds all away around to Union Street across from
Eaton is a Rotary project as well. The club also finds time to honor
academic excellence and recognizes the top 10 percent of the LCHS
graduating class each year at their luncheons.
But actively helping in our community is not something new to
Rotary. Throughout their storied 86-year history, Rotary has given
much to this community. In 1930, Rotary donated band instruments to
Lincoln College. They co-sponsored the Abraham Lincoln statue inside
the Logan County Courthouse in 1939. During World War II, they
sponsored blood banks. In the 1960s the Rotary began sponsoring
scholarships to Lincoln College and Lincoln Christian College. In
1973, during their 50th-year celebration, they planted 200 linden
trees in the community. In 1980 they erected the bus-train shelter
near the Lincoln Depot. The list of community projects accomplished
by the Rotary Club of Lincoln both past and present goes on and on,
and it would be as difficult to name them all as it would be to
recognize every blade of grass in the community..
The membership also uses their manpower to volunteer for services
that might not leave a tangible, physical mark but still have a
lasting effect on the quality of life in the community. Volunteers
read at Lincoln grade schools twice a year; Rotary supplies drivers
for the shuttles at the Lincoln Art & Balloon Festival; and members
are yearly regulars for the Salvation Army's bell-ringing fund drive
during the Christmas season.
Rotary also carries a selfless obligation to their fellow man
wherever in the world they are needed. The club donated two
semitrailer loads of supplies for Hurricane Katrina relief. They
recently helped the Pontiac Rotary Club fill a shipping container
full of clothing and basic needs to be sent to Zambia, and they
continue to support project COPE in Kenya, which supplies food,
clothing, education, tools, Christian leadership and much more to
the people of Kenya.
Still, with all they do, they also help provide financial
assistance to many of our favorite local causes. The list of
financial donations includes Boy Scouts, YMCA, 4-H, TOUCH and the
chamber of commerce as well as their annual scholarships to Lincoln
College, Lincoln Christian College and Heartland Community College.
The Rotary earns their funds through their hard work at community
fundraisers, such as their annual garage sale, chicken dinner
fundraiser and their well-known yearly citrus sale.
There is an old adage that says, "The whole is greater than the
sum of its parts." This group of active, dedicated and
community-driven individuals gathered together in Rotary to help
their fellow man makes them more than they are individually.
It is for their active, selfless effort to improve the lives of
everyone that LDN recognizes the Rotary Club of Lincoln as our first
collective Personality of the Week.
[By
MIKE FAK]
[to top of second column] |
| The history of Rotary The idea of a club or
organization devoted to the principles of fellowship and
friendly interactions between kindred spirits in
different lines of business, which later developed into
Rotary, was first conceived in the mind of Paul Harris,
a lawyer living in Chicago. The four original members
rotated their weekly meetings at each other's
businesses, and thus the name Rotarian was created.
On April 23, 1923, the Rotary Club of Lincoln was
organized, sponsored by the Clinton Rotary Club.
Currently there are more than 32,000 clubs with 1.2
million members throughout the world. |
| Object of Rotary The object of Rotary is to
encourage and foster the ideal of service as a basis of
worthy enterprise and, in particular, to encourage and
foster:
-
The
development of acquaintance as an opportunity for
service.
-
High
ethical standards in business and professions, the
recognition of the worthiness of all occupations,
and the dignifying by all Rotarians of their
occupation as an opportunity to serve society.
-
The
application of the ideal of service by all Rotarians
to their personal, business and community life.
-
The
advancement of international understanding, good
will and peace through a world of fellowship of
business and professional people united in the ideal
of service.
(www.rotary.org) |
The 2009-2010 executive board of the Rotary Club of
Lincoln:
-
Deb
Ackerman, president
-
Don
Peasley, past president
-
Michelle Bauer, president-elect
-
Phil
Gillen, secretary
-
Dale
Meier, treasurer
-
Dave
Hoffer, director of club services
-
Kristen
Green-Morrow, director of international service
-
Marcia
Greenslate, director of club service
-
Dara Entwhistle, director
of public relations
|
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