Community Service
Community Service is one of Rotary’s 5 Avenues of Service – encouraging Rotarians to offer service to their communities, and is the opportunity Rotary clubs have to implement club projects and activities that improve the quality of life and serve the public interest – in the local community. Every Rotary club and every Rotarian assumes a responsibility to find ways to improve the quality of life for those in their communities and to serve the public interest. When Rotary is viewed as a positive force in the community, its membership strengthens and grows, adding to the organization’s ability to serve worldwide.
While this might seem a ‘normal’ function of any Service Organization, in Rotary “Service Above Self” is our principal motto. This means that every Rotarian is responsible for finding ways to improve the quality of life in their community, and in those around the world – through personal service. As any Rotarian why they joined Rotary and they’ll include “Service”, or “I want to be of Service” – in their answer.
Community Service:
- Encourages and fosters the ideal of service to the personal, business and community life of every Rotarian.
- Provides opportunities for every Rotarian to exemplify “Service Above Self”.
- Provides a chance to respond to the needs of a local community.
Before, During and After every Community Service Project, the Rotary Club of St Simons Island uses the guidelines below to ensure a well-organized and executed endeavor:
Effective Community Service projects:
- Are relevant to the community
- Serve as a learning experience for Rotarians
- Help identify a Rotary club’s role in its community
- Respond to real issues
- Offer more than a “quick fix”
- Improve community members’ lives
- Incorporate the abilities of those who are served
- Recognize the contributions of all participants
- Are supported by members of the Club
Second Harvest Food Distribution
Our club participates quarterly as volunteers in this community food give-away. This event lasts for several hours while people drive through and we load food in their trunks. We usually serve about 800 families in this much needed project.
Salvation Army Bell Ringing
Each year during “bell ringing time” our club staffs the buckets at a local store for a week. This is a fun challenge to see who can be the most outrageous as a fund raiser.
Taps at Twilight Memorial Day Service
TAPS is a major local community event arranged by the St. Simons Rotary Club to honor the men and women who have fallen in the service of our country, those who have valiantly served and returned, and those who are serving today. The tribute was begun in 1991 as an annual observance of Memorial Day.
The 30th Annual Taps at Twilight was held on Memorial Day evening in Neptune Park. Lt Col. Steve Bolton, Garrison Commander of Hunter Army Airfield offered the Address. Maestro Luis Haza performed the National Anthem (violin), The USMC JROTC Glynn Academy posted & retired the Colors, Additional Music was provided by the Coastal Brass Chair and Leslie Mattingly joined by the audience. The invocation was offered by Committee Chair Susan Imhoff.
Golden Isles Veterans Village Initiative
In conjunction with the other Golden Isles Area clubs and District 6920 we are active in this worthy project providing for homeless veterans.
The village is a transitional community of 30 tiny homes, where veterans can reside, and also enjoy comraderie in the village community center, while receiving the counseling, physical and mental health support and job training necessary to help them heal and become ready to reintegrate into society. We are doing much more than providing counseling – we are helping them heal; providing job training and getting them the emotional, physical and mental health support they need.
Charitable Giving to Community Non-profits
2020 Charitable Grant Recipients
Our club funded projects in 2020 for:
Morningstar CFS, Christ Church Frederica Backpack Buddies, House of Hope, Refuge of Love, Inc, Safe Harbor Center, America’s Second Harvest, Golden Isles Arts & Humanities, Coastal Coalition for Children, The Remedy Project, STAR Foundation of Coastal Georgia, Inc, Glynn County Ext/4-H, Hope 1312 Collective, St Marks Giving Garden
Applications for grants will open around the first of the year
Rotary Partners with MAP International to Support Local Communities - Saving Lives with Medicine
Rotary Clubs across Southeast Georgia are partnering with MAP International to provide medical relief to local citizens who have fallen through the cracks of the healthcare system.
MAP will partner with Rotary District 6920 to provide free medicines for qualified patients in Brunswick and Valdosta. The free medications will be available at two volunteer community clinics in these cities and will focus on four classes of disease: hypertension, diabetes, cholesterol, and asthma.
Participation in the program is only available through the cooperating clinics. The program will provide medicines for approximately 1,500 uninsured or underinsured low-income adults, families, and pregnant women in Brunswick and Valdosta.
“Through this partnership, Rotary and MAP will help prevent hospitalizations and help people better manage chronic illness which will lead to a better a quality of life for them,” says Dr. Hamsa Thota, 2017-18 Governor of Rotary District 6920.
The Coastal Medical Access Project (CMAP) clinic, a part of Southeast Georgia Health System, will supply the medications at its Brunswick clinic to adults living in Camden, Glynn, and McIntosh counties. In Valdosta, patients can visit the Partnership Health Center, a free primary healthcare facility staffed by volunteer physicians, nurse practitioners, nurses and administrative staff who serve the healthcare needs of the working uninsured in Lowndes County.
“This community partnership (Rotary and MAP) will help provide a sustainable solution, to meet the healthcare needs of people falling through the cracks of the current health system,” says MAP International CEO, Steve Stirling.
Check out the March Update Powerpoint