Introducing the Rotary E-Club of the Carolinas, SC, USA

A great idea from the Greenwood Rotary Club -- A Foundation Minute!

The Greenwood Rotary Club had the privilege of having our District Governor, Dr. Gary Goforth, and his wife, Kathy, join us today at the American Legion in Greenwood. Our board met with DG Gary prior to the full club meeting and had a great time talking about our strengths and weaknesses, our foundation fund raising activities, and how we are addressing membership growth.  DG Gary also provided us with valuable input on ways we can improve our club.

During the full club meeting, DG Gary was kind enough to share data on our club, ways in which Rotary has helped people around the world, what his goals for the district are, recognized a notable Rotarian in our club by the name of Jon Scott and shared a number of his personal experiences worldwide in the name of Rotary.

As club President I initiated something new to us called “Foundation Minute”.  We will have one of our two foundation co-chairs do this each month so that we can educate Rotarians on what their contributions mean to helping others locally and throughout the world.  Having a periodic “Foundation Minute” may be something your club may want to consider.  Sharing information like this can only make our clubs stronger.

M. John Heydel

President of Greenwood Rotary Club
September 27, 2011

District Governor Gary Goforth Installation

The District Governor Installation for DGE Gary Goforth was a great event held at the Little River Multicultural Center in Hodges on Saturday, June 25, 2011. The Emerald City Rotary Club Planning Committee chaired by Kevin Coursey did a fabulous job in organizing the event. Many thanks go to Self Regional Healthcare's support of this event and for the fabulous catering providing by Emerald City Rotary Club President Elect Lori Kent and her Nutrition Service staff at Self Regional.


DG Becky Faulkner presented awards from the 2010-11 year. Fred Latham, Past President of the Emerald City RC and John Heydel, President Elect of the Greenwood RC delivered the invocation and Pledge of Allegiance. DGE Gary and Kathy were pleased to have nearly their entire family from Texas, Tennessee, and Florida present at the installation.  DGE Gary was honored to name his wife, Kathy, their three children (Jonathan, Michael, and Sarah), and his father, Bill, as Paul Harris Fellows. PDG Isaac Shaffer presented DGE Gary with the Cliff Dochterman Award from the International Fellowship of Scouting Rotarians. Bo Sullivan, Minister of Music at Rice Memorial Baptist Church in Greenwood, shared his powerful voice while singing several patriotic songs.We enjoyed hearing Lieutenant General Tom Owen share the values used by his command in the U.S. Air Force and their close relationship to the Rotary Four Way Test.  

What is your club's best project?

As our Club Presidens-Elect work on their plans for the 2011-12 year, I'm sure they would appreciate some ideas for service projects and fund-raising events that have worked well in the past. 

My club, the Emerald City Rotary Club in Greenwood, does a great fund-raising event on the first Tuesday in November each year that nets over $20,000 for the club to donate to local charities and grant projects. The community is aware of our Election Day BBQ and purchases 1,200+ plates of chicken and pork BBQ. Club members have a great time setting up and serving the BBQ in the parking lot behind our new county library. We also have a drawing for a new car or truck. A maximum of  300 tickets are sold for $100 per ticket for an opportunity to participate in the drawing. All the tickets sold are mixed up in a rotating cylinder, and ten tickets are then removed. After all other tickets are removed from the cylinder, the 10 drawn tickets are then put back in the cylinder and mixed up. The person donating $100 for the last ticket removed is the winner of the car or truck. We also have a bake sale and silent auction during the event to raise a few more dollars! The majority of the club's charitable funds are raised in one day! 


For more information on Emerald City Rotary Club projects, check out their web site at http://emeraldcityrotary.com/ !

Welcome to the Rotary District 7750 Blog

I have just returned from the Carolinas' President Elect Training Seminar (PETS) in Greensboro, North Carolina. We had a great group of the district's Club Presidents-Elect, Presidents-Nominee, Assistant District Governors, and Past District Governors in attendance. Several Rotarians expressed an interest in being able to share great ideas for service projects, discuss current issues, and communicate well within our rather large geographic area. I searched for a blog site, Twitter, and Facebook site for our district, and only found a rarely used Facebook site for our district.

Therefore, I have created this Google Blogger site (www.rotary7750.org/blog) with links to our group Facebook site and Twitter so we can begin to share ideas. I will use our DaCdb online database to inform our district leadership about these new sites. My hope is that this will be a great resource to share ideas and get to know each other better! Let's remember to Reach Within to Embrace Humanity as we begin the 2011-12 Rotary Year!