Rick Sharp, Galveston County Constable Pct. 1, Dr. Courtni Tello, TelloSmiles & behind her, Karen McWhorter, Family Service Center of Galveston County, Carol Etheredge, Etheredge Property Management, and Membership Committee members Emken Linton and Doreen Hughes and Nathanael Doria, Salvation Army of Galveston County.
Rotary attracts a remarkably divers group of people looking to be of service to their community. This last Tuesday, six new members were inducted into the Rotary of Texas City and this week, all but one went through a fact filled orientation presented by Mr. Emken Linton, who rumor has it , will be appearing at the Houston Improve next week, honing his stand up skills.
Linton also shared the rich history of Rotary with the new members. The world’s first service club was founded on 23 February 1905 when lawyer Paul Harris and three friends met in a small office in downtown Chicago. These men wanted to rekindle in the turn-of-the-century city the spirit of friendliness they had known in their hometowns. Word of the club soon spread, and others were invited to join. They named their new club “Rotary” to describe the practice of meeting in rotation at the members’ various places of business.
As Rotary grew, so did its scope of activities. During World War I, Rotary discovered new outlets for service — in war relief and peace fund drives at home and in emergency efforts abroad. In 1917, outgoing RI President Arch Klumph proposed the establishment of an endowment fund, which in 1928 became The Rotary Foundation. The Foundation awarded its first humanitarian grant (US$500) in 1930 to the International Society for Crippled Children. After World War II, many clubs that had been disbanded during the conflict were re-established and initiated new service projects, including relief efforts for refugees and prisoners of war.
Rotary’s most ambitious undertaking, announced in 1985, is the PolioPlus program — a massive campaign to eradicate polio by the year 2005. Conducted with the cooperation of national governments and intergovernmental agencies such as the World Health Organization (WHO) and the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), PolioPlus is a paradigm for public/private sector collaboration in the fight against disease. PolioPlus helps support national and regional polio eradication programs by providing vaccine, surveillance support and social mobilization. By the year 2005 – the target date for certification of a polio-free world – Rotarian contributions to the global polio eradication effort will reach a half billion US dollar
These new members come from all walks of life and for a variety of reasons. Carol Etheredge is a returning Rotarian and was actually one of the first female Rotarians in Texas City. Dr. Tello is new to the area and felt Rotary was her best shot at finding ways to give back to the community. Rick Sharp is a native Texas Citian who spent much of his career in Houston, is and now back, he felt the pull of service at this time in his life, while although she doesn’t reside in Texas City proper, Karen McWhorter works in Texas City and fell “in love” with the area. And our new Captain replacing our friend Patrick from the Salvation Army, was originally from Acapulco and was called here to assist with the new children’s program now located out on EF Lowry.
It has been some time since this rotary has acquired so many new members at one time. Rotary is designed to attract members from all kinds of work and life experience. Current members must invite new members and vouch for the integrity of those they propose. The opportunities for service are many and varied and the people who participate in Rotary are some of the most wonderful people you could ever know. Begun in 1927, the impact of Rotarians can be seen all over Texas City. One example was a project many years ago was a tree planting drive for Nessler Park and the success of that project is evident today.
The programs for the next few weeks are: August 20 – Leland Surovik – TCISD Athletics, August 27 – Amanda Groller – Gulf Coast Centers, September 3 – Luke Alvey-Henderson – Moore Memorial Library Renovations
