Rotary district governor visits NRV rotary clubs
Photo courtesy of Ernie Bentley.
Rotary District Governor Woody Sadler paid an official visit to the New River Valley this week to promote Rotary and elicit support for two district projects. Last Thursday over 100 Rotarians from the New River Valley gathered over lunch at the Blacksburg Country Club to hear him speak about plans for the Rotary district. District Governor Sadler presides over 3,700 Rotarians who are members of 83 Rotary clubs in western Virginia and northeastern Tennessee.
Local and international service projects are a hallmark of Rotary clubs throughout the world. Rotary clubs in the NRV currently have projects underway to build shelving in a local food pantry, create a baby store for CHIP program in Giles county, provide traditional instrument music education in Floyd county, work with Micah’s Backpack program in Christiansburg and perform maintenance on the Montgomery Museum in Christiansburg. There are many other ongoing projects in our communities in additional to financial support for several non-profit agencies.
Sadler called on the eight local clubs to support two district-wide programs. The first is to raise funds to purchase 1,400 wheelchairs to be shipped to the Caribbean and other countries. A very durable wheelchair suitable for harsh environments has been developed by the Wheelchair Foundation and costs $75. The wheelchairs will bring independence and hope to those who have been deprived of mobility by disease, war, accident, natural disaster or advancing age.
The second district-wide project calls for joining other Rotary clubs in the southeast to support C.A.R.T., Coins for Alzheimer’s Research Trust. Rotarians are encouraged to empty their pockets of coins at their weekly meetings in order to provide seed money for cutting edge, high impact research in hopes of finding a cure/prevention for Alzheimer’s disease. . As of May 2012, 20 grants have been made totaling $4,100,000.00. to the CART Fund Board of Directors.
The governor’s visit was hosted by the Rotary Club of Blacksburg. The New River Valley has eight Rotary clubs with two each in Blackburg, Christiansburg and Radford and a club in Giles and Floyd Counties. There is a Rotary meeting someplace in the NRV each weekday. For more information about Rotary, contact assistant district governor, Christine Smith at christine.a.smith@ampf.com.
–Submitted by Ernie Bentley
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