Annual Report
2024 ANNUAL REPORT
The Rotary International year runs from June 30 through July 1. Through the leadership of our Club President Ted Morris and the hard work and generosity of our members, The Rotary Club of Clearwater accomplished so much this past year.
Some of the accomplishments were:
- Providing college scholarships to 5 students from Clearwater High School. We also sponsored two other students to attend the weeklong seminar for leaders of tomorrow in Lakeland.
- Providing school supplies for the Homeless Alliance for Pinellas County schools and for students in Eisenhower Elementary school – valued at over $600.
- Partnering with Habitat for Humanity in providing a grant of $100,000 to assist them with infrastructure costs related to building Lake Belleview Townhomes which will be used for qualifying families
- All Happy Dollars collected last month were earmarked for a grant to PolioPlus in honor of Herb Brown. At this month’s board meeting, it was decided that funds will be added to this from our General Funds – so that a grant of $5,000 can be presented in his honor.
- The board also approved a grant to the Rotary Foundation of $10,000 and $2,000 to CART (Coins for Alzheimer’s Research Trust).
- The Rotary Club of Clearwater became an active district member of the Rotary Action Group for Peace.
Annual events we have continued and expanded:
- The annual Police and Firefighter recognition program – truly a highlight! In conjunction with this, a grant of $350 was provided to the police department to help offset the costs of items such as food, diapers, and gas for homeless families they are assisting with placement.
- Providing decorations for the Rotary Tree at the Festival of Trees – to support Arc Tampa Bay.
- Standing at The Salvation Army Christmas kettle, and in doing so, providing thousands of dollars to assist those in need in our community.
A new program that was inaugurated this past year was the Veterans’ recognition program, with over 20 veterans who were individually recognized for their service to our country. We heard recently from one of our members about her husband’s grandfather the only World War 2 veteran of 102 years young, who was among those who were honored that day. Although he passed just a few weeks ago, even in his final days, he mentioned this event, and how much it meant to him. Another recipient noted that this is the very first time that he had been individually recognized for his service in Vietnam.
We partnered with other Rotary clubs by:
- Providing a $500 grant for the inauguration of the Nature Coast Club
- By sending a $2,000 grant to the Wesley Chapel Club, in honor of Dewey Williams, to help them in building a home for former victims of Human Trafficking
- We gave a $1,000 grant to help to establish the North Pinellas Rotaract Club – which is currently moving forward – Angelika Voss-Quinn is our club liaison with this Rotaract club.
- And $3,000 was provided for the Honduras Water Project, in partnership with the Rotary Club of Dunedin.
Overall, with the partnership of the Club’s foundation, Charities Inc, approximately $150,000 has been provided for the betterment of our community and the world this past year!
The District Governor has presented each club with a list of various criteria that serve as goals to be achieved. These are in a variety of areas such as:
- Involvement in a certain number of service projects
- Enrollment of new members
- Support of the Rotary Foundation
- Leadership Development
- Service to the community
- Youth Services
- Public Image
There is a minimum of 250 points needed to achieve the Governor’s Citation and our club exceeded this figure by 70 points!
As we approach the new Rotary year and our Club centennial, all of us can be proud of The Rotary Club of Clearwater – and for our continued support to our community.