Bob Keely and Tina McComas discuss Rotary service projects.

April 6, 2010

Bob Keely and Tina McComas reminded Putnam Rotarians today that community service is the focus of their club, and that the Rotary community is an international one.

The local club has supported an orphanage school in Uganda, said Keely.

"How did we get involved with the school?" someone asked.

"By personal visits," Keely responded. Putnam's Chet Marshall first visited the school in February 2005, and donated 536,000 Ugandan shillings (about US $312) out of his own pocket for science books.

Putnam Rotary then endorsed a "poultry project" which provided food, shelter, and income for the school. A second grant helped install a 10,000 litre water tank to provide potable water.

Molly Tabaro, a co founder of the school, has visited with Putnam Rotary, and will return for a second visit next month. And Putnam also has a representative on site: Jeff Kayongo, a member of a Rotary Club in Entebbe, keeps the local club advised with photos and reports.

The Group Study Exchange program has also been an international program of continuing local interest with visiting groups from England, Japan and Australia. A group from India will visit in the coming year, and Putnam's Don Broyles led a group to southern Australia in 2006.

Closer to home, the local club has purchased a "shelter box" of survival equipment and food to Haiti at a cost of $1,000. Other Rotary Clubs in southern West Virginia, RI District 7550, have send thirty of the shelter boxes for disaster relief since the earthquake struck Haiti.

McComas posited several criteria for local projects. They need to serve the entire Putnam County community rather than one town or specific area. As an example, the club might help with clean-up and preparation for the county fair.

The projects should serve specific objectives.

Rotary grants in recent months have gone to fund specific ends, such as camp fees scholarships and leadership training.

And perhaps, most important of all, there should be direct, physical participation. "It's one thing to throw money at a charity," she said, "but it's another to roll up our sleeves and get hands-on."

Years ago, the club took on the cleanup of an old church camp on North Poplar Fork. The camp, repaired and retrofitted, with a bathhouse built by Rotary, now serves local youth as the Tri-County YMCA's Camp High Tor.

Ten years ago, Putnam Rotary lent a hand in the construction of a Habitat for Humanity home on Rocky Step.

The club has contributed $1,000 to "Food for Children," and in two weeks, on Saturday April 17, the club will travel to Princeton, West Virginia, to package the food and prepare it for shipment.

Hurricane High School's Twenty-Four/Seven Club, an anti-drug abuse group, is planning "Breakfast at Applebee's" as a fund-raiser. McComas suggested that Rotarians could assist both with the breakfast and in sale of tickets.

"Operation Fellowship & Fleece" was a project during the past year in which Rotarians donated personal time to a project supporting American soldiers from the area.

The club could also sponsor a blood drive for the American Red Cross. "In addition to sweat equity, Rotary could give blood," said McComas.

While the needs for community service continue to grow, the Rotary ideal of "Service Above Self" might be best realized through direct hands-on participation and sweat equity, McComas told the group.