Serving Today’s Communities for Tomorrow’s Future



   Our February issue “from the heart” pays tribute to area civic organizations along and beyond the Mississippi whose yearly schedule of meetings, activities, and fund-raisers call members to their mission of service.
   Rotary International reflects communities’ professional and business leaders without regard to gender, age, religion, and ethnicity; and its members, who represent high ethical standards, view their various occupations as sources of opportunities to serve others.
With Kiwanis, the mission is to respond to the needs of the community and to pool their resources to address worldwide issues. By changing the world one child and one community at a time, the Kiwanians of 96 countries throughout the world make a global impact.
   The Lions Clubs International, inspired by their motto, “We Serve,” focuses on programs that fund such efforts as sight conservation, hearing and speech conservation, diabetes awareness, youth outreach, international relations, and environmental issues.
   The Exchange Club, the oldest service club in the country, offers multiple services but members center their energies on their national project, prevention of child abuse.
   While these clubs began over a half century ago exclusively for men, today they have male and female members, all offering their professional and personal skills to enhance their organizations and communities alike.

Brookhaven Rotary
   The Brookhaven-Lincoln County Rotary Club with its 16 current members was chartered just two years ago in 2010 as part of Rotary International, established in 1905. The club’s main fund-raising activity to date has been a golf tournament held last fall at the Brookhaven Country Club. Moving forward, the club anticipates expanding their fund-raising activities by having a booth at some of the local fairs in the area. In addition, a portion of the club’s member dues is contributed to Worldwide Polio Eradication, the main project of Rotary International.
A summary of the projects, programs, and people who have benefited from the donation and funding efforts of the Brookhaven-Lincoln County Rotary Club during its first two years includes the following:
•Worldwide Eradication of Polio
•Holiday Food Pantry
•Lincoln-Franklin-Lawrence County Regional Library
•“Rotary Club” little league baseball team
•Lincoln County Historical and Genealogy Society & Museum
•Water well mission trip to Haiti
•Rotary International Shelter Box project
•Japanese tsunami victims
•Humanitarian mission to Peru
•Dictionary Project (distributing free dictionaries to local third-graders)

McComb Rotary
   The McComb Rotary Club was chartered on March 22, 1932, and current membership is one hundred eleven. The major fund-raisers in this community is the radio auction held each spring. Money raised from the benefits of this and additional projects goes toward hundreds of care packages prepared for local nursing home residents, the survivor’s tent at Relay for Life, PALS animal shelter and Keep Pike County Beautiful.

Natchez Rotary
   The Natchez Chapter of Rotary International was formed in 1919 and today has 123 members. The Natchez Chapter conducts various fund-raisers throughout the year for local and international causes. The Chili Cook-off, held the end of October, brings out eager community tasters and avid competitors alike to earn boasting rites for the best chili while raising much needed funds that support local organizations. They also sponsor a Chili Cook-off team for Natchez High School and conduct a Christmas Auction, their main, annual fund-raising project.
Natchez Rotary’s main service projects include hosting the Group Study Exchange Team and donating a Shelter Box through an international disaster relief charity that delivers emergency shelter, warmth, and dignity to people made homeless by disaster worldwide. Locally, the club purchased and donated a dictionary to every third-grader in Adams County and participates each year in a work-day at Habitat for Humanity.
   During the past year, this group distributed $15,000 throughout the community to the following local organizations: Boys & Girls Club, Catholic Charities, Children’s Christmas Tree Fund, Natchez Children’s Home, Children’s Home Services, Pleasant Acre Day School, Relay for Life, Habitat for Humanity, Senior Citizen Center, American Red Cross, Sunshine Shelter, Stew Pot, Natchez Literary Festival, Natchez Opera Festival, Natchez Little Theatre, Friends of the Library, and Boy Scout and Cub Scout troops. In addition, Natchez Rotary offers four $2000 scholarships, one to each of the four high schools in Natchez. Currently, Hayden Kaiser serves as President.

Summit Rotary
   Founded in 1938, the Summit Rotary Club serves its Summit, Mississippi, community through the efforts of its twelve active members, led by Percy Robinson as President. The Summit Rotary fund-raisers include Fish Plate sales in February and a Pancake Breakfast in October. The club also supports the local basketball program for youth ages 7 to 12 and awards one annual college scholarship.

Vicksburg Rotary
   In Vicksburg, Mississippi, Rotary International supports international, community, vocational, and club concerns. Vocational highlights for the past year include $2,000 in scholarships awarded to students attending state universities or vocational training schools, dictionaries provided for every third-grader in Warren County, and participation in career fairs and educational mentoring programs.
   Work on international projects resulted in Vicksburg Rotarians generating $5,500 in aid for medication to third-world countries; funding two wheelchairs for third-world persons; contributing to Japanese earthquake relief, and hosting a Group Study Exchange group sponsored by Rotary International in South Korea. The group, history and music buffs, absorbed Vicksburg history with an emphasis on its blues connection. One of the Koreans was a huge blues fan and actually had a jam session with a performing artist at notorious Michele’s Music store.
   The Vicksburg Rotary Club contributed over $8,700 to Rotary Foundation which strives to eradicate Polio and provide clean water to third-world countries. “We expect to exceed $10,000 this year!” predicted President Blake Teller.
   This club’s community service includes participation in the State Public Broadcasting program “Between the Lions” by sending numerous members to the Good Shepherd Learning Center to read to preschool students. They also collected canned goods for local needs and contributed thousands of dollars to local charities, sending $5,000 to Salvation Army this past Christmas which was matched by a local business resulting in over $10,000 for the Salvation Army. They also sent bug spray to victims of the 2011 flood.
   For club service, this group sent a bus load of Rotarians to the Mississippi Braves game, an event captured through photos in Bluffs and Bayous; and they hosted a fish fry typically attended by Rotary’s Regional Governor. They also honor the Miss Mississippi contestants at a luncheon during their week of competition to provide a little relief from their hectic schedule and stressful competition.

Lt. Governor for Division 1
   Lt. Governor for Division 1 Frances Cothren, whose father was a Natchez Kiwanian as far back as the 1940s and whose brother has been a member of the Natchez Kiwanis for over twenty-five years, is the Lieutenant Governor for Division 15 that consists of Natchez, Brookhaven, and Vicksburg, Mississippi. The Lieutenant Governor acts as the contact person among the local clubs and the district that covers Louisiana, Mississippi, and West Tennessee. She has served on the Board of Directors for the Natchez Kiwanis Club and has also served as President twice. Cothren joined Kiwanis in 1990, three years after Kiwanis opened its membership to women; and in 1996, she was elected the club’s first woman president. At the International Convention in New Orleans this summer, Kiwanis plans a special recognition of the twenty-fifth anniversary of having women as members.

Brookhaven Kiwanis
   The Brookhaven Chapter was formed in 1921 and today has 55 members.
   Cameron Smith is the president, and Dustin Walker is president elect. The club has two major fund-raising events: Pancake Day and Red Beans & Rice Day.
   The club awards three academic scholarships each year. They also contribute to numerous other community causes and needs.

Natchez Kiwanis
   The Natchez Trace Kiwanis Club in Natchez, Mississippi, lives the club’s philosophy that money raised through service projects is given back to the community. Natchez Kiwanians have donated automated external defibrillators to many Natchez area schools and have awarded scholarships yearly to each area high school’s Outstanding Key Club Member, a student who exhibits leadership, responsibility, and community stewardship. The Natchez Kiwanis Club sponsors Key Clubs in four area high schools—Vidalia High School in Vidalia, Louisiana; and Cathedral High School, Trinity Episcopal High School, and Adams County Christian School (ACCS), all in Natchez. Natchez Kiwanis also supports these Key Club chapters through donations to fray the student-members’ expenses to attend regional conventions and officer training sessions. In addition, at Co-Lin Community College in Natchez, the club sponsors Circle K, the college level group associated with Kiwanis.
   Kiwanis, aided by Key Club members, built bridges on the nature trail at Historic Jefferson College. John R. Junkin Drive, an approximate three-mile stretch of highway running east to west through Natchez, has been adopted by the Natchez Trace Kiwanis, and trash along this throughway is picked up at least quarterly by the members. The club also donated life-enhancing equipment to the family of a special-needs child; and at Christmas, Natchez Kiwanians adopted a family through Catholic Charities to insure this family’s merry Christmas.
   Major fund-raisers of the Natchez Trace Kiwanis Club include a pancake breakfast, spaghetti dinner, bowling tournament, and Christmas auction. Officers this year are Ryan Wingfield, President; John Leckie, Secretary; Ginga MacLaughlin, Treasurer; Tina Kaho, President Elect; Stuart Heflin, Immediate Past President; and Board Members Patricia Anderson, Tim Byrd, Tammy Rouse, Jannifer Robinson, and Donna Sessions.

Vicksburg Kiwanis
  The Kiwanis Club of Vicksburg with a current membership of 50 was chartered on December 14, 1934; and its members join more than 600,000 Kiwanis family members in 96 countries in making their mark by responding to the needs of their communities and pooling their resources to address worldwide issues. Kiwanis is a global organization of volunteers, dedicated to changing the world one child and one community at a time.
   Among their many service projects over the past years, Vicksburg Kiwanis Club has supported Ring the Bell for the Salvation Army, assisted with Area 10 Special Olympics Track & Field and bowling events, and sponsored Clergy Appreciation Day. Other club projects have focused on cleaning up and repairing Hopping H Ranch; conducting Read and Succeed Projects for local youth; and rehabilitating and cleaning up at Good Shepherd Community Center, Haven House Family Shelter, and the Watersville Estates Project.
   In 2011, club members restored a 12,500-square-foot playground destroyed by the historic 2011 Mississippi River flood. Kiwanians, Key Clubbers, and Team (Home) Depot, along with generous support and donations from local businesses worked to restore the property with 700 yards of mulch and 680 feet of borders. A total of $19,000 was realized from grants, contributions, and in-kind donations to complete this project.
   The club provides Key Club scholarships each year and holds many fund-raisers, including Golf Ball Drops, annual Chili Feasts, and Gumball Machines, raising approximately $22,000 in 2011 from these fund-raisers
   Current officers are Ryan Lee, President; Wesley Jones, Vice President; Georgia Grodowitz, First Vice President; Charlie McKinnie, Secretary/Treasurer;  and Lee Thames, Ex Officio Member. Board Members are JR Armstrong, Katie Feibelman, Sam Porter, Geni Fulcher, Katie Ferrell, Forbes Grogran, Tom Osborn, and Dan Muirhead.

Brookhaven Lions Club
   The Brookhaven Lions Club was founded in 1936 and the organization currently has 49 members. Fund-raising efforts include the Annual “Water Carnival” Beauty Pageant and a Pecan Sale. The Beauty Pageant awards scholarship money to college-aged contestants, but participants begin as one-year olds. The “Water Carnival” is a long standing tradition in Brookhaven and takes place during the first part of August each year. More than 100 contestants in various age groups compete and there is standing room only from attending family and friends. The Pecan Sale happens in time for holiday baking in the Fall/early Winter. Bags of whole or chopped Pecans are sold around town.

McComb Lions Club
   Chartered in 1938, the McComb Lions Club serves the city of McComb, Mississippi, with forty-nine members. Their benefit events include the McComb Lions Club Heart O’Dixie Championship Walking & Racking Horse Shot, held the first Saturday in October. 
   The McComb Lions Club supports sight programs such as the Eye Bank in Jackson, Mississippi, eye surgical procedures, eye exams, diabetes education, and prescription eye glasses for those in need. In addition, they assist with the Seeing Eye Dog program and have purchased and supplied reading machines for the sight impaired.

Monticello Lions Club
   The Monticello Lions Club Chapter was founded in 1940 in Monticello, Mississippi. It has a current membership of twelve, and George Carpenter serves as President. The club’s fund-raising activities include Pancake Day on the first Saturday in March and Baked Chicken Plates in October and November. The funds raised support eye exams and purchasing of glasses for those in need who complete an application process. They also conduct vision screens in school for fourth- and fifth-graders.

Natchez Lions Club
   Lions Sight Foundation of Mississippi is the fund-raising arm for statewide projects of the Lions of Mississippi. The Natchez Lions Club, organized in 1942, donates to the Lions Sight Foundation of Mississippi to help support the various state programs that include (1) The Mississippi Lions Eye Bank founded in 1971 for the recovery and distribution of corneal tissue vital in sight-saving transplants. Former Natchez Lion, the late Dr. Avery McKinley, was instrumental in founding the Lions Eye Bank. The MS Lions Eye Bank is a member of the Eye Bank Association of America; (2) The Hearing Impaired Program that enables Lions to provide hearing aids for the indigent. This program also sponsors a summer camp on the Mississippi Gulf Coast each May/June for hearing-impaired children; (3) The Sea & Sun Camp that is held each summer on the Gulf Coast to educate and challenge blind and visually impaired children.
   With its 31 members, the Natchez chapter sponsors an annual bowling tournament to fund its Sight Foundation contribution, its four annual $500 scholarships to area graduating seniors; its donations to Natchez Stew Pot, Children Home, Sunshine Shelter, and Pleasant Acres; and its assisting those needing eyeglasses and hearing aids. Secretary Betty Jeane Smith explained, “One of our most outstanding services was getting the first cochlear implant in Mississippi to someone from our area who had never heard birds sing or a diesel truck.” Other officers include President Cathey Kennon, First Vice President Brian Fisher, Second Vice President Angela Bland, and Treasurer John Mark Williams; and Steve Smith has served as District Governor.

Brookhaven Exchange Club
   The Brookhaven Exchange Club chapter was formed in 1947 and has sixty-three active members today. One of the club’s main activities is hosting the Exchange Club Fair, which typically is held the week prior to the beginning of school. It is a partnership between the Exchange Club and the community as the Fair would not be possible without the volunteer support to work the booths and run the rides. The revenue realized from the event funds various local organizations that support the prevention of child abuse and also funds scholarships for area graduates.
   During the 2011 holiday season, the club provided over five hundred fruit bags for the elderly in the community; and Exchange Club members set out flags throughout the town on selected holidays.

Monticello Exchange Club
   The Monticello Exchange Club has a membership of fifteen with John Fuller serving as President. Some of the organization’s projects include selling food items at Monticello Marketplace in November and sponsoring the Chili Cook-off in December. Proceeds from these events helped support two needy families this past Christmas. The club also sponsors a Canned Food Drive each February to fill food pantries at local churches.