On a cold day in December of 2009, McKinney Rotarians Fred Bahrenburg and David Dorman began the first meeting of what would become the Melissa Rotary Club at the Melissa Fire Station. The only ones that accepted the invitation to see what Rotary was all about was Dr. Nadia Taiyari, Randy Kaiser, Johnny Maberry and J.J. Chapa.
“I remember our first meeting,” Dr. Nadia Taiyari, President of Melissa Rotary Club. “I didn’t even know what Rotary was and we were asked to come up with a president, vice-president, secretary and treasurer.” “There were only four of us in attendance so we all got a job.”
“To become an official club you have to get 20 charter members into the group,” Taiyari said. “Our first group project was to find our first 20 members so we could become an official club.”
The Melissa Rotary became a chartered Rotary Club on April 22, 2010. The group was chartered shortly after securing its 20 charter members.
In the meantime, the Melissa Rotary wasted no time in getting to work in Melissa and the surrounding area.
“Our mission is ‘service above self’”, said J.J. Chapa, Treasurer of Melissa Rotary Club. “To that end, we seek out places where we can help with our expertise, our spirit of volunteerism and our ability to help raise funds if need be.”
“When it came to finding a way to plug into Melissa, we hit the ground running,” Chapa said.
The Rotary’s first project raised $1,625 for a family who had recently experienced a house fire in Melissa. “We raised the funds in less than a month for this family and were able to help the family relocate.” Chapa said. The family’s dad was shipped to Iraq soon thereafter but left knowing that his family had a new home.
Other projects that the Rotary has been a part of was participation in both parades where they gave out American Flags (July 4th Parade) and candy canes (Christmas Parade). The Rotary also passed out candy canes at the city’s Christmas In the Park event. The Rotary also gave a $300 gift to CASA’s Capital Campaign, contributed $1,560.00 to the Melissa Boy Scouts, completely furnished a one bedroom apartment for the Samaritan Inn in McKinney for a homeless family, created the Melissa Flag Lease Program, contributed funds to Melissa High School for an after-prom party and have created a very aggressive service project menu for 2011.
The Rotary raised over $10,100 in 2010, most of which went back into the community or will go back into the community.
“The McKinney Rotary has been in existence for over 90 years,” said David Dorman, a liaison with the Rotary District Governor. “I’ve been a member there for years and they are inspired and in awe of what the Melissa Rotary Club has done.”
“For example; most Rotary Clubs don’t start an American Flag Lease program because of the tremendous amount of work required,” Dorman said. “However this club took it on before you were even one year old (or even an official club) and did a superb job.” The Melissa Rotary’s American flag lease project raised over $3,500 and covers Melissa in American flags on 6 holidays.
The good works of the Melissa Rotary Club have not gone unnoticed with the District Governor of Rotary making 3 visits to the Club in its short existence.
“This Club is not political, it’s not a social club, it’s not about anything but helping your fellow citizens and this Club is making a huge impact in Melissa and will do so for years to come,” Dorman said.
The Melissa Rotary has also announced its Rotary business Partnership Program and has secured pledges from area businesses to help support the efforts of the Rotary for 2011. This project alone has raised $3,500 to date.
Other projects for 2011 include an expansion of the American Flag Lease Program, Rotary’s Kids Our Kids Respite program for special needs children, an Interact Group partnering with high school and Junior High students, an upcoming canned food drive, a fallen soldiers monument that will be gifted to the city, continued volunteer events with various non-profit agencies including the Samaritan Inn to name just a few.
“What we have coming up in 2011 is a well rounded and well planned menu of community service projects that will continue to serve our mission of ‘service above self’” said Taiyari.
For more information about the 2011 Rotary Menu of Service, would like to become a member or a business partner with the Melissa Rotary visit www.MelissaRotary.com.
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