The Rotary Club of Hinesville was recognized recently with several elite service awards during the Rotary District 6920 Conference on Jekyll Island.
With 62 clubs in the district, Hinesville took all the district honors, including banners for New Generations/Youth Programing, Friendship Builder, Humanitarian and Public Image and Celebration Citation Service.
Eighteen individual club members received awards at the conference, which were the most individual awards given in the district. Club members earning their Celebration Citation are Brigitte Shanken, Brooke Childers, Indira Donegan, Chris Ellison, Joe Ford, Shannon Hickey, Roger Hutchinson, Hasit Pate, David Peer, Michelle Ricketson, Marcus Sack, Carla Schreihofer, Jimmy Shanken, Leigh Smiley, Barbara Martin VanDuser, Teresa Winn, Karen Bell and Jack Standard.
Top honors also were presented to the Club President Carla Schreihofer, who received the Change Maker Award. This award was in recognition of her presidential leadership and for achieving excellence in all categories of New Generations/Youth Programing, Friendship Builder, Humanitarian and Public Image Service.
Additionally, the club received the Best Facebook Award banner, as well as the Zone 34, Public Image Award and Presidential Citation. Bradwell Institute, First Presbyterian Christian Academy and Interact clubs took honors at the conference.
This year’s Rotary Club’s theme was “Making a Difference.” Twelve club members started the year and headed to Dublin for the District Assembly to learn more about Rotary and be more engaged. Membership grew by adding nine new members to the club roles for the year.
Additional programing added this year included honoring a public servant each month, providing the honoree, their family and supervisor with lunch, a certificate of appreciation and a chance to join the club in friendship and fellowship.
The club held its first STEAM event, an idea thought of by District Gov. Hamsa Thota. Thota’s vision was to identify a problem and solve it. That was the time in which Schreihofer, began to work with the clubs Interact and Rotaract clubs.
One Interact Club identified the need for more STEM/STEAM in the community. Club Chair Shannon Hickey built Hinesville’s first ever community STEAM event, hosted at the Georgia Southern Liberty Campus in February. This was a day the Rotary Club Entrepreneurs set up a booth and showcased their professions to participants that attended the event.
Another new initiative for the service club was having Interact Club members as well as past presidents run a periodic meeting to develop future and honor past leaders. Several club vocational trips were held, where the club met for a tour of a local facility, learning, interacting and experiencing Liberty County in a whole new way.
Club members also participated socially, where friends, families and club members came together for an evening event. Club participants attended the Hinesville Veteran’s Day Parade, providing snacks to participants and honoring veterans’ service.
The club hosted its fourth annual Fishing Tournament, yielding nearly $14,000. The Title Sponsor once again was Lance Mueller of Lance’s Concrete. The monies raised from the annual event have been reinvested to the local community through the STEAM Celebration, scholarships, summer camp for young people and bringing an international student to the U.S.
Club members began exploring and partnering with MAP International, a nonprofit organization providing life-changing medicines and health supplies to people in need. The club increased its awareness and dedication to the foundation by increasing pledges to the Rotary Foundation, awarding new and additional Paul Harris Fellows and Bequest members.
Bradwell Institute’s advisor Rebecca Woods hosted a Polio Pennies for polio drive, raising more than $1,250, with matching funds by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. The club also set another record by increasing CART contributions by 20 percent. CART is a weekly initiative raising coins for Alzheimer’s research. All off the funds collected go directly to the researchers and scientists.
The club also supported two grant opportunities abroad. Club member and Assistant Gov. Brigitte Shanken spent 32 days abroad in India as an international friendship ambassador for the Hinesville club experiencing the work Rotary does in immunizing children against polio, as well as the culture.
On June 26, Schreihofer will become another past president for the 41-year-old Rotary Club when she turns the reins over to Andrew Jackson Standard.
“I am thankful for the opportunity to have served and be part of an amazing team of community leaders,” she said.
She will continue to serve the club locally and lead a district membership committee for the next three years.
On June 26, Schreihofer will become another past president for the 41-year-old Rotary Club when she turns the reins over to Andrew Jackson Standard.
“I am thankful for the opportunity to have served and be part of an amazing team of community leaders,” she said.
She will continue to serve the club locally and lead a district membership committee for the next three years.