Club members Jeanean South and Myron Pope deliver donation to the UCO Student Food Pantry on behalf the club.

The Edmond Rotary Club hosted several events over the holiday season, to exemplify the Rotary motto, “Service above self.”

In November, the club held a breakfast fund-raiser at Flatire Burgers. Flatire hosted the event, provided the food at no cost, and made big fans of the members of the Edmond Rotary Club, said club president Jay Buxton. From that event, Edmond Rotary raised several thousand dollars to fund projects.

Next, the club got word that with colder weather, many of the children attending Ida Freeman Elementary were coming to school wearing sandals. The club’s “Coats for Kids” campaign to Ida Freeman and other schools is an annual event, but with the newest need, a portion of the proceeds went to closed-toe shoes, as many of the kids still had coats from previous years’ events. Cris Price, president elect, shopped at WalMart and the store graciously donated $350 toward  the project. 

Price located several coats in several sizes with both inside and outside layers, together with 20 pairs of closed-toe shoes. “I got more out of the project than the children did because of the feelings it brought to me,” said Price 

At the same time, Jeanean South, Edmond Rotary Community Service Director, was approached to provide Thanksgiving Meals to families of students at Summit Middle School.  Twenty-seven families could not afford to purchase the groceries for a Thanksgiving Dinner.  With dollars in hand, South was able to purchase all the fixings and turkeys for the dinners, and a a gift card for each family.  After shopping, she had $600 left over, which went to Summit Middle School Food Pantry, and the University of Central Oklahoma Food Pantry. 

On Thanksgiving Morning, the club hosted the “Kids Zone” at the Edmond Turkey Trot, a fund-raising event for Turning Point Ministries, which builds affordable housing in Edmond.  Approximately 14 Edmond Rotarians arrived at 6:00 a.m., worked to set up the inflatable kids’ toys, a face-painting table, balloon booth, and hosted the children through the event.      

This month, the club took its turn ringing bells for the Salvation Army.  This was the fifth year of Edmond Rotary working the bells, with Stan Kelley heading up the project.

 “We saw some needs in our community, and our club members enjoy working on projects which spread some joy and make a difference,” said Buxton