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Welcome to Rotary!

The Rotary Club of Greenfield, Ohio meets each Thursday for a noontime luncheon meeting at the Catch 22 Sports Pub located at 250 Jefferson St., Greenfield, Ohio. 


Rotary Club of Greenfield, Ohio

Established in 1922
Charter No. 1177
District 6670

CLUB OFFICERS
2017-2018
President: Andrew Surritt
President Elect:
Secretary: Beverly Giffin
Treasurer: Wes Surritt


DIRECTORS
Club Service: Ron Coffey
Community Service: Wes Surritt
International Service: Joe Wills
Vocational Service: Chuck Miller
Immediate Past President:
Virginia Purdy

FESTIVAL CHAIRMEN
Andrew Surritt
Wes Surritt
Virginia Purdy

OFFICERS FOR RALPH W. PHILLIPS RECREATION & CIVIC CENTER
Cleve Bartley
Larry Hayes
Steve Pearce
Steve Hunter
Mike Penn

Rotary International President: Ian H.S. Riseley
www.rotary.org

District Governor: 
Marcus A. Mabelitini
www.rotary6670.org

Assistant District Governor:
Daren Donohoo


PAUL HARRIS FELLOWS
The following have been named Paul Harris Fellows to honor their contributions to Rotary. For each Paul Harris Fellowship, the Greenfield Rotary Club donated $1,000 to the Rotary International Foundation in that person's name. The money is used for humanitarian projects around the world.
George M. Waddell, 1985
Harry V. Turner, 1986
Wilson L. Moon, 1986
Charles O. Shonkwiler, 1987
Willard Anderson, 1987
Allen M. Johnson (in memory), 1988
Thomas W. Doyle, 1988
B.R. Duckworth, 1991
Ralph W. Phillips, 1991
Patrick L. Hays, 1992
Sam Daugherty, 1993
Floyd Bartley, 1994
Don Anderson, 1995
Bill Buck, 1996
Steve Hunter, 1997
Wilbur Seilkop, 1998
Dan Crusie, 1998
Ron Coffey, 1999
Steve Pearce, 2000
Jim Weller, 2001
Judy Spargur, 2002
Dean Gardner, 2002
Jack C. Weinrich, 2003
Clifford Wisecup, 2005
Larry Hayes, 2006
Dr. Rick Mizer, 2006
Peter Quance, 2007
Jackie Gardner, 2007
Barb Barton, 2008
Scott Lovett, 2008
Chuck Miller, 2009
Mike Penn, 2009
Sandra McNeil, 2010
Terry Fouch, 2011
Blain Bergstrom, 2012
David "Boonie" Brizius, 2013
Charlotte Phillips, 2013
Bernard Hester, 2014
Cleve Bartley, 2014
​Wes Surritt, 2015
​Angela Shepherd, 2016
Virginia Purdy, 2017
​Beverly Giffin, 2017


OUR CLUB
The Greenfield Rotary Club sponsors the annual Wheels of Progress Festival during the third weekend of July each year, and is involved in many community projects. On a national and international level, the club participates in many projects for the benefit of others.

PROJECTS
"He profits most who serves the best." So says the Rotary motto, and our club has fun serving the community. The Rotary Club of Greenfield owns and operates the Ralph W. Phillips Recreation and Civic Center, home of the Greenfield Head Start Program and the scene of many community activities, including basketball games, Christmas parties and the McClain High School All-Night Party. Proceeds from building rentals help pay the operating expenses, but the club supplements its income through spaghetti dinners, the Wheels of Progress Festival and other activities to keep this valuable community center operating.
 Each spring the Greenfield club joins forces with the Hillsboro Rotary Club to raise funds for the Highland County Society for Children and Adults. This organization offers assistance to Highland Countians in need without the red tape often associated with charitable organizations. The annual radio-telethon in March has raised more than a million dollars since its inception in the early 1970s. Funds are expended for wheelchairs, hearing aids, orthopedic devices, transportation vouchers and a host of other uses. In addition to the telethons there is a gospel sing. Highland County is proud of this amazingly successful program of people helping people.
 As Christmas nears, Rotarians get involved in the Needy Kids Program, which helps provide food baskets and presents for those in need. Some 400 families received assistance last year.
As fundraisers, Greenfield Rotary sponsors a pair of spaghetti dinners each year -- one during football season and one during the basketball campaign. The club also sponsors the annual Greene Countrie Towne Festival during the third weekend of July. Funds from these and other projects are returned to the community through the above activities and other projects and donations.
If you would like to know more about Rotary, contact any member of the Greenfield club.

MORE ROTARY INFO:
ROBOTICS TEAM VISITS ROTARY
Three members of the McClain High School robotics team visited the Greenfield Rotary Club on Dec. 14, 2017 to talk about the team’s activities, describe how they built a robot to use in competitive events with other schools. The students, Makayla, Natalie and Rachel, demonstrated how the robot works by having it roam around the Catch 22 Sports Pub where Rotary meets, and pick up plastic cups in a display of dexterity.
The robotics team has at least 14 members and is growing in popularity as students learn about technology and teamwork.

Rotary honors supporters,
enjoys MHS Show Choir at
​annual appreciation dinner Oct. 19
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Buyers of limited-edition prints and other supporters of Greenfield Rotary Club were honored at the club’s annual appreciation dinner Oct. 19, 2017 at Buckeye Hills Country Club.
President Andrew Surritt welcomed members and guests to the annual event, which featured a delicious meal of prime rib or chicken. The club president expressed gratitude for the excellent community support shown by the print buyers and introduced a number of special guests, including Greene Countrie Towne Festival Queen Emily Parker and Bonnie Baldridge of the Greenfield Women’s Queen Association; Tammy Wells, the artist who has produced the limited edition prints sold by Rotary at the Greene Countrie Towne Festival for many years, raising hundreds of thousands of dollars for Rotary projects; and Charles Shonkwiler and Kenny Friedman of the Greenfield Antique Car Club. Surritt also expressed thanks to the Antique Tractor Club and auctioneers Gary Binegar and Rod Halterman, who donate their services each year during the Rotary auction.
It was noted that limited edition prints have been a part of the festival auction for the past 25 years, including 10 years by artist Dan Crusie, and the past 15 years by artist Tammy Wells.
Buyers of limited-edition prints by local artist Tammy Wells were recognized for their support of Rotary. Several Rotarians commented on how the funds raised from the festival auction enable the club to do many good works in the community. The print buyers for 2017 included: Greenfield Research, Sitterle Insurance, Wooden It Be Nice, Southern Hills Community Bank, Adena Greenfield Medical Center, Dr. Richard Mizer and Cristy Hill, Murray-Fettro Funeral Home and Corner Healthmart Pharmacy, Fifth Third Bank, and Charles Shonkwiler.
A highlight of the evening was the announcement of two new Paul Harris Fellows. Ron Coffey introduced Virginia Purdy and Beverly Giffin as the newest honorees, and said that the Greenfield Rotary Club had donated $1,000 to the Rotary Foundation in the name of each of the honorees.
Virginia Purdy has been a member of Rotary since 2009 and has been served in various leadership capacities, including President, guiding the club through several Greene Countrie Towne Festivals and other events for the benefit of the community. “Virginia continues to be willing to serve whenever needed, and we appreciate her servant leadership for our club and community,” Coffey said.
Bev Giffin joined Rotary in 2003 and has served as Secretary of the club for some years now, working closely with club officers to keep accurate records and get things done. “Bev has worked closely with club Treasurers as far back as the late, great Jim Weller, and does whatever she can to see to it that club’s mission is carried out locally, regionally, and throughout the world of Rotary,” Coffey noted.
It appears that the club has now sponsored 46 Paul Harris Fellows since it made George M. Waddell the club’s first recipient in 1985.
The Paul Harris Fellowship is named after the founder of Rotary, who with three other businessmen founded the first Rotary Club in Chicago in 1905.
Entertainment for the evening was provided by the McClain Show Choir, under the direction of Miss Loretta Flora.
The club wishes to thank Jackie Gardner for organizing the program for the evening.

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SPAGHETTI DINNER SET FOR OCT. 27

Friday, Oct. 27 marks the date of the annual Spaghetti Dinner at the McClain High School Cafetorium. This event, from 4:30-7 p.m. prior to the McClain vs. Hillsboro football game, is a fundraiser that helps Rotary with various projects that benefit the community. The McClain-Hillsboro game is also known as the Rotary Bowl, showcasing the friendly rivalry between the two Highland County communities and their Rotary clubs.

District Governor Mark Mabelitini visits Greenfield club

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Rotary District 6670 Governor Mark Mabelitini (left) visited the Greenfield Rotary Club August 3 and presented President Andrew Surritt with a Rotary flag commemorating the theme, "Rotary: Making a Difference". The District Governor reported on activities within the district and in Rotary International, including efforts to eradicate polio from the face of the earth. Last year, only 8 cases were reported worldwide. DG Mabelitini is a member of the Rotary Club of Sidney. Daren Donohoo (not pictured) also attended as the Assistant Governor for Area 12, which includes Greenfield, Hillsboro and Williamsburg.
PURDY HONORED; SURRITT NEW ROTARY PRESIDENT
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Outgoing Rotary President Virginia Purdy received a plaque in appreciation of her leadership during the 2016-17 Rotary year on July 6 from the new President, Andrew Surritt. The new Rotary year began July 1 with Surritt assuming his duties on that date. Purdy will continue to be active in club leadership as one of the chairpersons of the Greene Countrie Towne Festival, scheduled July 14-16.

New festival website launched for Greene Countrie Towne Festival
Andrew Surritt III, festival chairman for the 2017 Greene Countrie Towne Festival, announced that a new website has been created to keep everyone up to date about the festival.
Some nice changes are planned to help the festival grow bigger and better than ever in 2017. Click on the link below to have a look, and visit often!
The new website can be found at: 
http://www.greenecountrietownefestival.org/

Nearly $94K pledged at telethon!

Nearly $94,000 was raised March 29, 2017 thanks to the generosity of Highland County’s people, businesses and civic organizations, during the 45th annual Ernie Blankenship Radio-Telethon to benefit the Highland County Society for Children and Adults.
The Rotary Clubs in Hillsboro and Greenfield sponsored the radio-telethon activities, at the US Bank in Hillsboro and at McClain High School in Greenfield. Read more on the HCSCA PAGE of this website.


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G3 reps present program at Rotary meeting 
Sam Bowers and Debra Crago (standing) of Greening Greater Greenfield presented the program at the Greenfield Rotary Club weekly meeting Thursday, Feb. 9, 2017. G3 has been in existence since 2010 and has done many good projects for the benefit of the Greenfield community. G3 sponsors several events during the year, including Blues, Brews & Stews in February, Paddle on Paint Creekfest in May and the Greenfield Oktoberfest in September, to name a few.
Needy Kids reorganizing
A longtime Greenfield Rotary tradition, the Needy Kids radiothon, was cancelled in 2016 -- but not because Rotary has stopped helping needy children.
Instead, the charity is reorganizing so it can do what it has done all this time, but even better.
“We just cancelled the Radiothon,” said Greenfield Rotarian and Needy Kids organizer Barb Barton. But she said the charity is still taking donations and still serving area children.
Barton said that she and the other organizers want to move forward with “a different plan, a new strategy for 2017.” Next year will be the charity’s 40th radiothon fundraiser, she said.
When Needy Kids first started nearly four decades ago, it was to give children in need a brighter Christmas. Up until last year, providing a brighter Christmas has been what the charity did, Barton said..
Through the years a lot of organizations and programs have materialized that serve that purpose of providing Christmas for needy children, Barton said. So the Needy Kids organizers have turned the focus to helping children in need throughout the year.
If a child needs shoes, a winter coat, school supplies, Needy Kids can help, she said. If a child wants to play a sport but the family cannot afford to purchase the required attire, Needy Kids can help.
“Whatever the need is, we want to be able to fulfill that,” Barton said. And that, she said, is the new focus going forward. But she said that Needy Kids will still “be there” at Christmas time, too.
The annual radiothon is the primary fundraiser for Needy Kids, and, through the generous donations from the community, typically brings in an average of $12,000 per year. Since Needy Kids began, more than $300,000 has been donated to the effort by the community, Barton said. And the money is always spent locally.
Those interested in giving to Needy Kids can still do so by dropping off donations anytime at local Greenfield banks, which include Fifth Third, Southern Hills Community Bank, Community Savings Bank and both Merchants National Bank locations. Donations can also be mailed to Needy Kids, P.O. Box 329, Greenfield, Ohio 45123.

    Contact the club!