Past Community Service Projects
Auburn Rotary strives toward making our community a better place. Below are a list of past projects or community service ventures we have been a part of. Most of these are no longer active, but we want to maintain a record of our involvement in them.
In late 2004, Auburn Rotary established a Explorer career club. This club enables high school-aged youth to learn about different professions represented within the club, with a special emphasis on business and teaching. With Rotary's vocational focus, giving students the opportunity to take an in-depth look at these specific career opportunities is a natural fit. Explorer Scouts interact with club members who share more about their chosen vocational and professional careers.
Both the Boy Scout troop and Explorer career club are affiliated with the Chattahoochee Council's Saugahatchee District.
Fall Festival, Auburn City Schools
In the past, Rotarians have staffed booths at Auburn City Schools' Fall Festival. Funds from the festival's many booths and vendors goes to support many local K-12 educational programs.
Rotaract Club, Auburn University
In 1998, The Auburn University Chapter of Rotaract was established as a service and professional development venue for undergraduate and graduate students. The club's officers plan several professional, service and social activities for its members each month. Auburn University Rotaract has helped coordinate food-collection and clothing-collection drives, among its many worthwhile projects.
Interact Club, Auburn High School
The club has sponsored an Interact Club at Auburn High School when student interest was high and student leadership was available. Interact is a Rotary-sponsored service club for high-school-aged young people. The program gives young people an opportunity to participate in fun, meaningful service projects while developing leadership skills and meeting new friends. Through these activities, Interact Club members learn the importance of developing leadership skills and personal integrity; demonstrating helpfulness and respect for others; and advancing international understanding and goodwill.
Rotary Youth Leadership Awards (RYLA)
RYLA was officially adopted by Rotary International in 1971, and is one of the most significantly and fastest-growing programs of Rotary service. This program often helps cultivate future participation by young people in Rotary's Interact, Rotaract, Youth Exchange or Ambassadorial Scholars programs. The program also attempts to expose students to leadership principles, team building techniques, and ethics principles.
RYLA aims to:
- Demonstrate Rotary's respect and concern for youth
- Provide an effective training experience for selected youth and potential leaders
- Encourage leadership of youth by youth
- Recognize publicly young people who are rendering service to their communities
Auburn Rotary Club was instrumental in establishing the District 6880 RYLA in 1997. For the first nine years, RYLA was held at Maxwell Air Force Base in Montgomery. In recent years, RYLA has shifted venue to Camp ASCCA on Lake Martin, near Dadeville, AL. In our district, the program has traditionally been focused on students in the 11th and 12th grades, but some sophomores have been permitted to attend past events.
Rotarian Tutoring Hour
Emphasis on reading at the Boys & Girls Club
In 2004, Auburn Rotary Club adopted the after-school program at the Boys and Girls Club's Boykin Center program in Auburn as a way to expand its efforts to combat illiteracy in Lee County. The students served through this effort are primarily 8 through 12 years of age. The Boys and Girls Club reported that 22 percent of its participants came from households with annual incomes below $22,000
The Rotary Tutoring Hour project allows children who otherwise would be unable to afford tutoring services to receive educational enrichment from trained professionals. Rotarians provide assistance in remedial reading as needed on Tuesday afternoons. Typically, the volunteers work with two or three students to help reading comprehension, word recognition, pronunciation, and other literacy needs. The ultimate goal of the program is to help students improve in school with our concentration being reading.
The club's involvement combines financial support from Auburn Rotarians, as well as Rotary District 6880 and Rotary International.
