Chronology Rotary club of Norfolk 2004-present

 

Since the start of its 90^th year in 2004, the Rotary Club of Norfolk has built on its long tradition of community service and fellowship. A $50,000 check the club presented to the Virginia Zoo in 2004 led to a renovation of the zoo’s popular barnyard exhibit still enjoyed today by children and families.

 

Also, in 2004, the club sent representatives to Tema, Ghana to meet with World Health Organization representatives and other Rotary Clubs to support malaria vaccine development in rural areas of Ghana where there is great need. Over the years, the club has supported a variety of Rotary International programs that include helping eradicate polio in Afghanistan and Pakistan and supporting relief efforts in Haiti after devastating earthquakes and other disasters.

 

Closer to home, the club established a relationship with Reading is Fundamental in 2006 that sent volunteers into Title I elementary schools in Norfolk several times a year to read to children from lower-income families. The club then purchased books and its volunteers staffed free book fair where children selected new books to take home. The reading program ran for five years with the club donating more than $45,000 a year in books plus many hours of volunteer time.

 

The club continued its literacy focus for at least 15 years by honoring luncheon speakers with a book donated in their names to Norfolk Public Schools elementary and middle schools. Each book had a special Rotary book plate with the honorees’ name and was delivered to the schools by Rotarian volunteers.

 

While the club periodically shifts its programs to reflect changing community needs and interests, several long-standing programs endure, including  the summer Tiel, Netherlands Youth Exchange and the spring Career Day Program for high school seniors.

 

Since the 1970s, the club has partnered with Rotary Tiel Club for an annual youth exchange by sending high school students from our region to live with Rotary families in Tiel for several weeks in a summer. The following summer, Norfolk Rotarians return the favor by welcoming Tiel youth into their homes for a two-week visit. The program has led to lifelong friendships and broadened world understanding as the youth present programs to club members about their homes.

 

Rotary Career Day started in the early 1980s with Norfolk Public School continues to match high school seniors with Rotarians who help them explore specific careers from engineering to medicine. The students shadow the Rotarians for a day and then write essays about their experiences and attend a club meeting where their essays are highlighted. Rotarians judge the essays, and the students writing the winning ones are awarded money for college.

 

Proceeds from Norfolk Rotary Charities, the club’s charitable endowment started in 1992, enable it to award significant annual grants to nonprofits doing significant work in Norfolk and Hampton Roads. The club’s endowment continues to grow and has provided funding for more than 100 nonprofits – ranging from the Foodbank of Southeastern Virginia and Eastern Shore to the Ability Center of Hampton Roads and Norfolk SPCA.

 

For its 100^th anniversary in 2014, the Rotary Club raised $100,000 to benefit our community. The money helped establish technology and learning centers in two Norfolk Title 1 elementary schools, support the Calvert Square Boys & Girls Club and through a new Rotary Smiles program provided dentures for low-income Norfolk residents who had lost their teeth. During its anniversary year, club members learned about their club’s history through highlights shared at meetings and an updated club history. The celebrated the anniversary at a gala that attracted more than 300 guests. 

 

In 2015 and 2016, the club debuted two popular fundraising events that continue today: Suds & Buds and Growlfest. Suds & Buds started in 2015 as a spring party at Norfolk Botanical Garden that benefits  Norfolk Rotary Charities, the garden and a third charity that rotates each year. Partners have included PrimePlus Norfolk Senior Center, Arts for Learning Virginia, and Children’s Hospital of The King’s Daughters.

 

Growlfest, which started in 2016, is an autumn party at Virginia Zoo in partnership with the Norfolk Rotary Sunrise Club and the zoo. Proceeds are divided among the three organizations.

 

Both Suds & Buds and Growlfest attract hundreds of people each year who come for fun and learn about Rotary in the process while supporting worthy causes. Proceeds from these events augment grants the Rotary Club of Norfolk awards to nonprofits each year.

 

In recent years, the club has partnered with other area Rotary Clubs and won multiple $25,000 district grants for nonprofits that include the Elizabeth River Project for its environmental education programs,  REACH (Reading is Fundamental) for its literacy programs and the Virginia Zoo for a children’s natural play area.

 

In 2020, the Rotary Club of Norfolk won District 7600’s Rotary Connects the World award for its work at the Hunton YMCA in Norfolk. This award highlighted our club’s collaborations with others to maximize the impact of Rotary. Hunton is a social service Y that provides early education and care and before- and after-school care for children living in an economically challenged neighborhoods where family incomes hover around $12,000 annually. The Y also provides programs for older adults living in nearby neighborhoods.

 

In 2019, Hunton was one of 49 area nonprofits applying for Rotary Club grants. The Y requested funds to buy 60 cots and 120 blankets for preschoolers to use at nap time. Three Rotarians who came to deliver a $2,000 grant check immediately knew there was great need and that the club could do more. Learning that the Y’s chef was preparing 160 meals a day on a small stove and having to buy ice twice daily at a convenience store due to lack of a freezer sparked the Rotary Club’s interest.

 

Two members volunteered to oversee a major upgrade to the Hunton kitchen. Rotary Club of Norfolk recruited four other area clubs and won a $25,000 district grant and added to it with $12,500 in donations plus volunteer time and donations of furnishings and supplies.  The club’s efforts turned a storage room into a cheerful early readers’ library stocked with new books. Rotarians painted rooms, laid new carpeting, added shelves and child-sized furniture, bought a bounce house and other equipment for the gym, and laid mulch on the Y’s outdoor playground.

 

The new kitchen and library were dedicated in March 2020 just days before the Covid-19 pandemic led to the Y providing an additional 250 grab-and-go breakfasts and lunches for area residents. The Y stayed open during the pandemic when public schools closed and became a distance learning center for students in addition to caring for preschoolers. With the new kitchen, the Y’s chef was able to meet increased demand for meals.

 

As times have changed, the Rotary Club of Norfolk has kept pace. In 2015 it was selected for Rotary International’s Innovative and Flexible Pilot Program. Rather than meeting every Tuesday for lunch and a speaker as was the tradition for 100 years, the club opted to meet three Tuesdays a month and offer an array of alternative programs at other times. These included site visits to nonprofits funded by the club, tours of members’ businesses, behind-the-scenes looks at area museums and government operations as well as community service projects and socials.

 

Today, club members continue to learn from an array of speakers at three monthly lunch meetings but they also learn about our community at outside gatherings and service projects that also are opportunities for members get to know each other better.

 

The Rotary Club of Norfolk strives to introduce Rotary to new generations. In 2014 it sponsored  a local college graduate as a Rotary Peace Fellow who earned a master’s degree in conflict resolution in Great Britain.  In 2019 the club started a satellite club for young professionals. It has long supported a Rotaract Club for area college students and an Interact Club for high school students. Each year the club sends high school students for annual Rotary Youth Leadership Award training.

 

In March 2020, when the Covid-19 pandemic made in-person meetings impossible, the club quickly adapted to Zoom meetings that kept its members connected. One tech-savvy member taught those reluctant to embrace Zoom how to use it. The technology also let the club hear from speakers as far away as Florida, Ethiopia and the Philippines until the club could start meeting in person again in 2021.

 

Long-standing Rotary traditions endure at the club such as reciting the Four-Way Test at lunch meetings and encouraging members to support The Rotary Foundation and efforts to eradicate polio. Each spring, club members attend special Polio Plus baseball games at Harbor Park along to raise funds to eradicate polio. In 2022,  the club turned a long-time Rotary golf outing into  an event that raised several thousand dollars for PolioPlus.

 

Also, in 2022 the club raised its profile by sponsoring a float in Norfolk’s annual December holiday lights parade. Several dozen Rotarians and family members donned Rotary attire and marched beside a giant, Rotary International symbol to show their enthusiasm for Rotary.

 

In 2023, the club awarded a record number of Paul Harris Fellows to 14 generous club members who reach milestone donation levels through The Rotary Foundation.