Local Rotary Club wraps up busy year of community service

Rotarians Raising Awareness on Purple Pinky Day at the Alfond Youth Center.

The Waterville Rotary Noon club has had a busy year of putting “Service above Self”. With the new Rotary year starting in July, the club has already completed several Community Outreach and assistance projects.

Tina Chapman and Tom Longstaff, two of the 20 Waterville Rotary Club members, who rang the bell for the Salvation Army.

In June, to wrap up the previous year, Rotary District #7790 hosted its District Conference, in Waterville. Visiting many local businesses, tours, and events, Waterville saw an economic impact of over $100,000 in spending over the two-day conference. Many visitors also extended their stay in Waterville beyond the conference.

In the spring, many club members took part in a clean-up in the South End neighborhood along Carter Memorial Drive. Rotarians spent morning hours cleaning up trash along the busy road and collecting returnable bottles and cans.

The annual Online Fall Auction the Club hosts brought in over $11,000 this past November. Proceeds from this auction will be used to help the club provide resources and help with Mental Health. Many local businesses donated items to the auction, and Rotarians were responsible for soliciting items.

The club does many community service and outreach projects throughout the year. Michele Prince, who serves on the Community Service committee states “the Waterville Rotary Club provides members with a wide variety of ways to engage with and positively impact the community. It is rewarding to be involved in these projects, and it’s also a lot of fun!” Other projects worth mentioning are the volunteer and financial support of the Maine Children’s Home Christmas program, financial support of the Maine Children’s Home Winter Essentials program, Salvation Army Bell ringing, and raising awareness and funds to help Rotary International in the eradication of Polio through the Purple Pinky Polio Project.

The club takes an active role in many community projects, and always invites others with the same service mindset to join them on a project or nominate a project. The best way to be involved is to become a member of the club. For more information, please email wtvlrotaryclub@gmail.com.

Waterville Rotary South End Clean Up team.