Kathy and I enjoyed our second visit to the Piedmont Club in Spartanburg on Tuesday, August 9th in order to meet with the East Spartanburg Rotary Club board of directors. The meal and fellowship were superb. We spent a great deal of time talking about the club's strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats. Membership growth is key to this club's success! President Elizabeth Belenchia stressed to the board the importance of team work and her desire to delegate responsibilities to each member of the club.
On Wednesday morning at 6:45 AM, we arrived at Mary Black Hospital for the club meeting. The room quickly filled with the club members, three new member prospects, and four student interns from USC Upstate who are organizing the club's World Peace Symposium to be held on September 21, 2011. The Rotary Club of East Spartanburg is off to a great start with increasing membership and diversity! My presentation went well, and several guests and Rotarians thanked me for sharing about the impact that Rotarians make around the globe. My goal is to excite Rotarians about our worldwide efforts and help them realize that we are not just donating money but changing lives! I am always thankful for positive comments after my presentation, but the real proof will be in the response to my very aggressive goals for the 2011-12 year! How close will we get to donating $150 per capita or more to The Rotary Foundation? Will we be able to grow our membership by a net 10% this year. If we meet these goals, District 7750 will make a huge impact on many lives around the world!
The Notable Rotarian for the East Spartanburg club is Henry Giles Jr. . Henry is a remarkable Rotarian who has served as a Past President, committee chair, project leader, fund raiser, and a community face of Rotary. He has been recognized as a Paul Harris Fellow and has even contributed his Rotary Foundation recognition points so others could become Paul Harris Fellows. Henry is Executive Vice President of Spartanburg Community College where he has overseen expansions for 40 years. The college strongly supports Rotary, and Henry represents them well!
The signature project for the East Spartanburg Rotary Club is the USC Upstate Rotary International Peace Park located on the campus of USC Upstate.
The USC Upstate Rotary International Peace Park is a beautiful six-acre park taking shape on the campus of the University of South Carolina Upstate. Once completed, this park will be a place to relax, contemplate, watch, wish and pray for peace and understanding.
The Upstate Rotary Peace Park is made possible by a unique partnership between USC Upstate and four Spartanburg area Rotary Clubs (North Spartanburg, Spartanburg West, Inman and East Spartanburg) and was officially dedicated on April 17, 2008. The park already boasts nearly 400 newly-planted trees, a seeded lawn with sprinklers, various gardens, park benches, walking paths an outdoor classroom ampitheatre, a conifer collection, shrub roses, ornamental grasses, two boardwalk/bridges and a fountain in the small lake.
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