Rotary Celebrates 75 Years in Lincoln County

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PRESS RELEASE

Lincoln County residents are invited to the 75th Anniversary of Rotary in the county. The Rotary Club of Caliente was started by a group of businessmen and professionals during the Great Depression. Life was very difficult back then. However, over 20 people who were fortunate to be in business or have a job decided to create the Rotary Club of Caliente. The members took time from their business or job to meet on a weekly basis during a long lunch hour. During the meetings, members enjoyed uplifting camaraderie as well as planned and financed service projects such as the Lincoln County Homecoming still held on Memorial Day every year. Today the Rotary Club of Caliente needs over 20 people to breathe new life into the club. The times are not as difficult as the Great Depression. However, you can look around the community and still see needs that organized community service like Rotary can address.

The guest speaker at the event will be Dr. Sylvia Veronica Whitlock. She is currently the Rotary District Governor providing support to clubs in southern Nevada and southern California. Dr. Whitlock was the first woman president of a Rotary Club. She was born in New York City, but grew up in Kingston, Jamaica. She returned to earn a B. A. in Psychology from Hunter College, and to work at the United Nations in the Secretariat Building before moving to California to start a career in education. She went on to earn a Masters from Cal Poly Pomona, and a Ph.D. from Claremont Graduate School. Subsequently, she earned another Masters in Marriage and Family Therapy and began a new career as a licensed therapist in California.

Rotary is like life. It is what you make of it. Rotary aims to enable people who have a passion and interest to improve their community and the world beyond. Rotary International is the umbrella organization providing support for all Rotary Clubs. The Rotary Foundation provides grants to clubs to help finance projects. Club members provide the ideas, planning, organization, and financing to make the service projects go.

The anniversary celebration will begin at 6:00 PM on February 19 in the Caliente Senior Center. Please RSVP to James Gatzke at 962-3427.