MEDINA: Chapter of Rotary International meets weekly

By Nicole Coleman/colemann@gnnewspaper.com
The Journal-Register

September 14, 2007 02:37 pm

— The Medina Rotary Club is looking for a few good men and women dedicated to the spirit of service.
“It’s important to give back to your community,” said President Gary Lawton. “If you spend your whole life serving yourself, you’ve wasted a life. We get together and have some fun and hopefully make life better for the people on the planet.”
Established in Chicago in the early 1900s, Rotary is an international organization with 32,000 clubs around the world.
The Medina chapter, started in 1922, meets every Wednesday at noon in the Shirt Factory Café on West Avenue to conduct the business of “good deeds” over lunch. Together, the modest-sized group is able to accomplish much.
Each spring, they provide a $500 scholarship to a deserving Medina High School graduate who has not received any other scholarships. The club maintains a section of the Erie Canal and has adopted a highway along Route 31. In addition, they were partly responsible for the creation of Rotary Park.
Last year, they donated money to Oak Orchard Elementary so that every child in the third grade had reading material, Duda said. The group also regularly supports Medina Memorial Health Care System and donates money annually toward the Genesee Community College nursing program.
On top of all that, every Thanksgiving and Christmas, they adopt a family through the Orleans Community Action Committee. In the spring, they will host a health screening program.
“It is understood that all of our money goes back into the community,” Duda said.
On an international level, Rotary is single-handedly responsible for the eradication of polio, Lawton said. Through the program PolioPlus, oral vaccines have been provided to 210 countries, territories and areas around the world.
Next month, the Medina chapter will host “Putt-Putt Palooza” at Mr. B’s Putt-Putt on Route 104 to raise money for its annual scholarship. Tickets, $15, include golf, lunch and ice cream. Registration starts at noon.
This Saturday, the group is holding a fall mum sale on Route 31 at the State Farm Office. Cost of a plant is $5 or three for $12.
“Rotarians are neat people,” Lawton said. “We go right to the throat and take care of the problem.”
Honorary member Don Goodwin celebrated 50 years of volunteer work with the club this year, Duda said, and his close friend Ed Grinnell isn’t close behind.
For information about how to become involved, contact Membership Chairman Kathy Blackburn at 734-5801. All that is needed is a willingness to serve.
Contact reporter Nicole Coleman at 798-1400, ext. 2227.

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