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But just because the club is small doesn't
mean they don't do a great deal of good for
their community as well as fulfilling the
Rotary mission to the world.
Established Oct. 22, 1936, the club has a
storied past and present as an active Rotary
Club.
The group meets on Thursdays at noon at
Buff's Restaurant on the square, and with
such a small group, the members are able to
sit together at one long table in a back
room.
Mount Pulaski Rotary consists of a
diverse group of professionals, meeting
together weekly to improve their corner of
the world. While all Rotarians around the
world share a common bond, another unique
characteristic, which occurs only in small
towns, can be found in the Mount Pulaski
brotherhood. From the oldest member to the
youngest, most of these folks have lived in
Mount Pulaski the majority of their lives.
Knowing the same people and each other
for years, if not decades, forms a bond that
is difficult to attain by clubs in larger
communities. This bond is what makes them
all work well together to continue the club
and its legacy of service.
For the few newer citizens (less than 25
years in residency), Rotary meetings
sometimes develop into fascinating history
lessons. And with the 175th anniversary of
Mount Pulaski coming up in 2011, the history
lessons at the table are flying more often
than ever.
Many groups this small would just
consider themselves a club that gathers once
a week and perhaps becomes involved with one
project over the year, but that isn't what
this small group is all about.
Recently Rotary International became
involved in the disaster relief efforts in
Haiti. The organization collected funds
worldwide to purchase $1,000 shelter boxes
for Haitian refugees. The shelter boxes
contained a tent as well as foods and
necessary supplies to help those made
homeless by the terrible quake.
The Mount Pulaski club collected and
donated a full $1,000 to purchase one such
shelter box, with 75 percent of the funds
coming from the membership themselves.
This week, the Mount Pulaski High School
will have honors and graduation ceremonies,
and the Mount Pulaski Rotary will be
involved. The club will be giving out four
$250 scholarships to students to help with
their continuing education. The club has
been giving out yearly scholarships since
the early 1950s.
The club also contributes to the Mount
Pulaski Library's Summer Reading Program and
the Mount Pulaski Community Pride Fall
Festival.
That would be plenty of service for many
clubs, but not so for this group. They also
contribute to the Logan County Food Pantry,
the Mount Pulaski Athletic Boosters and the
Heart of Illinois Workcamp.
The club also meets its obligations of
being a Rotarian organization that takes a
worldview and contributes to help other
peoples in other lands.
Besides the Haitian shelter box, the club
has contributed for several years to
PolioPlus, which focuses on global
immunization efforts and has played a
leadership role with the World Health
Organization, CDC and UNICEF in bringing the
world to the brink of polio eradication.
In addition to their own personal
generosity, the club has two main sources of
collecting funds: the annual Rotary
Christmas citrus drive and the Illinois
State Fair tram service.
The small band works hard at selling the
popular citrus. This past season the club
sold three pallets (135 cases) of the
grapefruit and oranges to help raise funds.
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They also help at the Illinois State Fair
with the tram service. Mount Pulaski
literally took over the entire tram service
for the state fair about 25 years ago. Tom
Cross volunteers his tractors to pull the
state-owned trams, with the staffing
provided by school boosters, church groups,
American Legion members and Rotarians as
well as many other Mount Pulaski citizens.
There are two shifts each day for the
tram, requiring about 75 or so people. That
makes around 750 staff positions for the 10
days of the fair that the tram is operated,
and the Rotarians pitch in a much as
possible. They receive credit for the amount
of man-hours, and this also gives them funds
to use for grants.
The Rotary Club of Mount Pulaski might be
short on numbers, but they all take being a
Rotarian to heart and can stand proud with
service organizations far larger than they.
Service to community and to their
fellowman makes this small but dedicated
service organization a worthy recipient of
our Personality of the Week.
[By
MIKE FAK: Jo Hilliard and Phil Bertoni
contributed to this story]
To learn more
about this active community organization,
you can visit them at:
http://www.mtpulaskiil.com/
mtpulaskiilWEBsite/Rotary/index.htm
http://www.mtpulaskiil.com/
mtpulaskiilWEBsite/Rotary/OurHeritage.htm
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Current membership
President: Phil Bertoni, retired
secondary teacher, adjunct
instructor at Lincoln Land
Community College
Secretary-treasurer: Doug
Johnson, owner of Mount Pulaski
True Value Hardware
Adviser: Waldo Bertoni, retired
U.S. Air Force colonel; Lincoln
College trustee
Rebecca Drake, retired from the
Illinois Employee Assistance
office
Jo Hilliard, director of
Vonderlieth Living Center
Darrell Knauer, retired from
hotel management
Tom Martin, farmer, Springfield
Looking for Lincoln director
Jerry Maxheimer, farmer
Pat Pryzkopanski, DPCM Insurance
Tom Romer, retired from
Illlinois state government
Kevin Treptow, pastor of United
Methodist Church |
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