It was a very hot day! But that didn’t deter Plano West Rotary Club (PWRC) from supporting the Collin County Juneteenth Celebration in Plano’s Haggard Park on Saturday, June 18. Juneteenth is a federal U.S. holiday commemorating the emancipation of enslaved African Americans.
Rotarians David Evans and Tamara Thomas co-organize the annual Juneteenth event through their own nonprofit organization, Douglass Visions Committee (DVC). PWRC was proud to support club members David and Tamara as well as the Black community by lending many hands on Saturday.
PWRC sent 23 volunteers to help set up and break down the event. Volunteers also ran kids’ activities and made sure everyone was supplied with cold drinks throughout the day. Altogether the club’s volunteers served a total of 65.5 hours over four shifts during the day. Service project organizer Laura Johnson led fellow Rotarians Katherine Goodwin, Jennifer Shertzer, Brett Moore, Rosolayn Johnson, John Stafford and Michael Casavant. Additional enthusiastic community volunteers also answered the club’s call to serve.
Several Rotarians brought along their children as volunteers. PWRC is lucky to have many service projects where kids can learn firsthand the value of serving their community.
By supporting the Juneteenth event, Plano West impacted Rotary’s focus on promoting peace and supporting education. The nonprofit DVC relies on volunteers to donate their time. By supplying enough volunteers to make a successful event, PWRC helped attendees learn the historical importance of Juneteenth and its continued significance in our community. Supporting the event also allowed visitors to be educated on city and nonprofit services that included resources for education, health, Autism, COVID-19 and more.
Visitors also shopped from booths owned by local businesses. This supports Rotary’s focus on fighting disease and growing local economies. Way to serve, Plano West!