 But just because the club is small doesn't mean they don't do a
great deal of good for their community as well as fulfilling the
Rotary mission to the world.Established Oct. 22, 1936, the club
has a storied past and present as an active Rotary Club.
The group meets on Thursdays at noon at Buff's Restaurant on the
square, and with such a small group, the members are able to sit
together at one long table in a back room.
Mount Pulaski Rotary consists of a diverse group of
professionals, meeting together weekly to improve their corner of
the world. While all Rotarians around the world share a common bond,
another unique characteristic, which occurs only in small towns, can
be found in the Mount Pulaski brotherhood. From the oldest member to
the youngest, most of these folks have lived in Mount Pulaski the
majority of their lives.
Knowing the same people and each other for years, if not decades,
forms a bond that is difficult to attain by clubs in larger
communities. This bond is what makes them all work well together to
continue the club and its legacy of service.
For the few newer citizens (less than 25 years in residency),
Rotary meetings sometimes develop into fascinating history lessons.
And with the 175th anniversary of Mount Pulaski coming up in 2011,
the history lessons at the table are flying more often than ever.
Many groups this small would just consider themselves a club that
gathers once a week and perhaps becomes involved with one project
over the year, but that isn't what this small group is all about.
Recently Rotary International became involved in the disaster
relief efforts in Haiti. The organization collected funds worldwide
to purchase $1,000 shelter boxes for Haitian refugees. The shelter
boxes contained a tent as well as foods and necessary supplies to
help those made homeless by the terrible quake.
The Mount Pulaski club collected and donated a full $1,000 to
purchase one such shelter box, with 75 percent of the funds coming
from the membership themselves.
This week, the Mount Pulaski High School will have honors and
graduation ceremonies, and the Mount Pulaski Rotary will be
involved. The club will be giving out four $250 scholarships to
students to help with their continuing education. The club has been
giving out yearly scholarships since the early 1950s.
The club also contributes to the Mount Pulaski Library's Summer
Reading Program and the Mount Pulaski Community Pride Fall Festival.
That would be plenty of service for many clubs, but not so for
this group. They also contribute to the Logan County Food Pantry,
the Mount Pulaski Athletic Boosters and the Heart of Illinois
Workcamp.
The club also meets its obligations of being a Rotarian
organization that takes a worldview and contributes to help other
peoples in other lands.
Besides the Haitian shelter box, the club has contributed for
several years to PolioPlus, which focuses on global immunization
efforts and has played a leadership role with the World Health
Organization, CDC and UNICEF in bringing the world to the brink of
polio eradication.
In addition to their own personal generosity, the club has two
main sources of collecting funds: the annual Rotary Christmas citrus
drive and the Illinois State Fair tram service.
The small band works hard at selling the popular citrus. This
past season the club sold three pallets (135 cases) of the
grapefruit and oranges to help raise funds.
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They also help at the Illinois State Fair with the tram service.
Mount Pulaski literally took over the entire tram service for the
state fair about 25 years ago. Tom Cross volunteers his tractors to
pull the state-owned trams, with the staffing provided by school
boosters, church groups, American Legion members and Rotarians as
well as many other Mount Pulaski citizens.
There are two shifts each day for the tram, requiring about 75 or
so people. That makes around 750 staff positions for the 10 days of
the fair that the tram is operated, and the Rotarians pitch in a
much as possible. They receive credit for the amount of man-hours,
and this also gives them funds to use for grants.
The Rotary Club of Mount Pulaski might be short on numbers, but
they all take being a Rotarian to heart and can stand proud with
service organizations far larger than they.
Service to community and to their fellowman makes this small but
dedicated service organization a worthy recipient of our Personality
of the Week.
[By
MIKE FAK: Jo Hilliard and Phil Bertoni contributed to this story]
To learn
more about this active community organization, you can visit them
at:
http://www.mtpulaskiil.com/
mtpulaskiilWEBsite/Rotary/index.htm
http://www.mtpulaskiil.com/
mtpulaskiilWEBsite/Rotary/OurHeritage.htm
|
Current membership
President: Phil Bertoni,
retired secondary teacher, adjunct instructor at Lincoln
Land Community College
Secretary-treasurer: Doug
Johnson, owner of Mount Pulaski True Value Hardware
Adviser: Waldo Bertoni,
retired U.S. Air Force colonel; Lincoln College trustee
Rebecca Drake, retired
from the Illinois Employee Assistance office
Jo Hilliard, director of
Vonderlieth Living Center
Darrell Knauer, retired
from hotel management
Tom Martin, farmer,
Springfield Looking for Lincoln director
Jerry Maxheimer, farmer
Pat Pryzkopanski, DPCM
Insurance
Tom Romer, retired from
Illlinois state government
Kevin Treptow, pastor of
United Methodist Church |
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