DG Official Club Visit #49 at the Rotary Club of Mauldin

Club president Jonathan Whitehead and the Rotary Club of Mauldin board was ready to go well before our scheduled start time! They shared the club's exciting plans for the 2011-12 year including distributing dictionaries to all 3rd graders in Mauldin, ringing the Salvation Army bell at Christmas, preparing food for the Mauldin Miracle League, working with Habitat for Humanity, arranging a meal and kickball tournament at the Generation Home, and preparing packets to prevent cholera in Haiti. The club is also actively working on increasing membership with more female and minority members. They are also doing a good job supporting The Rotary Foundation and have given generously to the PolioPlus fund. I was also very impressed by their efforts to make a real impact in the Mauldin area. We met today in the Mauldin Cultural Center, a renovated building that houses a well-equipped Rotary Room for use by the club and many other local organizations. The club contributed over $30,000 to renovate this building!

I had the privilege of recognizing Norton Cater as the club's Notable Rotarian! Norton has been a member since 1981. He now serves as the club treasurer and is a past club president and Multiple Paul Harris Fellow. He attends all club meetings and participates in nearly every community event! In addition to being a Rotarian, Norton founded and is very involved with an organization called Carolina Free Personal Computers. He and a few other guys rebuild scrap computers and donate them to people who do not have a computer in the home.
 
During the club meeting today, I also had the privilege of recognizing James Moore, the club's Membership Committee Chair, as a new Paul Harris Fellow. James, I'm excited about your commitment to The Rotary Foundation and thank you for your work in serving as a leader in growing your club's membership!