Rotary is the world's oldest and most significant service organization with over 1.4 million members in more than 46,000 clubs spread across 200 countries. Rotary provides clean water to those without it, feeds the hungry, battles crippling, debilitating and disfiguring diseases and helps people learn to read and write so they can compete in the modern workplace.

 

Rotarians are business and professional leaders who aspire to the highest ethical standards in their vocations and who not only help those in need in their own communities but who also seek to advance the cause of peace, understanding and goodwill worldwide through scholarships, youth and adult exchanges and humanitarian projects.

 

I am a person who thrives when there’s a greater good to go after, a problem to solve and resources to stretch. That is why joining Rotary was so attractive. I’ve been allowed to focus on Service Above Self, with partners who also long to go after that greater good.

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I’ve belonged to several different clubs and participated in many service projects across our great state of Missouri. Rotary clubs are the ones who show up, come to serve and do what they say they are going to do. Everything is focused on our Four Way Test which begins with, “Is it the Truth.”

 

I’m proud to be a Rotarian. Proud to be connected to such a positive force for good in the world.  Proud to be the president of the Rotary Club of Fulton. 

 

Established in 1923, the Rotary Club of Fulton has a proud history of service to this community and our club supports several local, regional, and international projects.

 

This past year we:​

• Donated $2,500 to Habitat for Humanity to help build a home for an Afghan refugee family of 14. The Fulton Afghan Resettlement Project began in 2021 as a Fulton Rotary initiative and has helped settle six families in the past two years.

• Organized a food drive in partnership with Fulton Kiwanis and Fulton Breakfast Optimists that brought in two tons of food.

• Sponsored and coached 50 Special Olympics bowlers each Saturday for 10 weeks.

• Collected hundreds of jugs for Mobility Worldwide, an organization in Columbia that assembles carts to be shipped to people in developing countries who are unable to walk due to illness, disease, a birth defects or injuries, including those caused by landmines.

• Raised money and awareness to eradicate polio with the sale of Purple Pinkie Donuts

• Provided new winter coats to nearly 400 local children at SERVE’s Adopt-a-Family event, with support from the Veterans United Foundation

• Purchased equipment to help Open Table establish its soup kitchen and begin serving meals to those in need

• Donated books to the Head Start library and conducted conflict resolution activities with the children enrolled there. A Peacebuilder Club, Fulton Rotary also donated books dealing with conflict resolution to CASA (Court Appointed Special Advocates).

• Provided financial assistance to organizations including United Way, Faith Maternity, I Can Bike, Wonderland Camp, Scouts, Fulton High School Chamber Singers, and Fire Safety

• Created a literacy display at the library, read books to Head Start children, rang bells for Salvation Army, conducted mock business interviews for high school students and volunteered at the Fulton Street Fair.

• Sponsored two Rotary Youth Exchange students—a Fulton High School student to study in Spain and a student from Belgium to attend Fulton High School.

• Sponsored students to attend RYLA (Rotary Youth Leadership Awards), Boys State and Girls State.

• Awarded $1,000 college scholarships to six high school seniors.

• Presented 14 Nolin Courtesy Awards to elementary and middle school children who have demonstrated a high level of achievement in scholarship, leadership, and citizenship.

• Honored the law enforcement officer of the year with the GW Law Award and held a luncheon for representatives of the local police, sheriff’s department, and highway patrol.

• Contributed to the Rotary Foundation, which works to advance world understanding, goodwill, and peace by improving health, providing quality education, improving the environment, and alleviating poverty

• Continued to be involved in East Africa, especially with Humanity for Children’s efforts to reduce the birth mortality rate and improve lives of mothers and children in Tanzania.

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There are other projects as well … but you get the point. We are doing a lot of good, and we are having fun doing it.

This year’s Rotary International theme is “Create Hope in the World” and I have some thoughts about how we can serve our community, enrich our own spirits, and grow our club. Rotary is like any relationship between people. What each of us gets out of it will be directly proportional to what we put into it. Over the next 12 months, let’s use our collective skills, passion for service and dedication to ensuring things are good for all concerned to make Fulton an even more viable place to live and work.

 

Members of our noon Rotary club connect at weekly meetings and learn from business experts, political and civic leaders, and entrepreneurs who help us stay informed on topics relevant to our community. Please join us any Wednesday from noon to 1 p.m. at Ohana’s. We also have an evening satellite club for those unable to make meetings during the day. That group meets on the third Tuesday of each month from 6 to 7 p.m. at GoPo. For information on either group, contact us at info@fultonrotary-mo.org.

 

Having served our community for 100 years, our club is excited about our future and looks forward to many more years of adhering to the Rotary motto, “Service Above Self.” We are much more than members of a club, we are Rotarians!

 

In Service,

Stephanie Vollmer

President 2023-2024

Rotary Club of Fulton, Missouri