Welcome
History of Our Club
The Rotary Club of Plano East was chartered by Rotary International on March 30, 2017, during the RI Presidency of John Germ and District 5810 Governor William Dendy. The original 25 members included 10 members from the Plano Rotary Club, 9 former Rotarians from several different clubs and 6 members new to Rotary. There were 19 males and 6 females.
The Rotary Club of Plano East was originally organized as a satellite of the Rotary Club of Dallas-Uptown for a brief period until the charter paperwork could be filed. Dallas-Uptown then became the sponsor club. PDG Ean Sullivan served as the organizing club president and was succeeded by Jan Sullivan as the first club president.
Seeking to accommodate the evolving demands of business and professional leaders, Plano East adopted a non-traditional meeting structure in that the meeting time was set after the normal business day at 5:30 pm. Instead of meeting at a restaurant or bar like other clubs, Plano East met in the community room of a local business – Escape Experts. The meeting calendar was also different in that the club meets for “regular” club meetings only twice a month on the 2nd and 4th Thursdays of the month. The first Thursday was reserved for a club social and the third Thursday was reserved for service projects.
From the beginning, The Rotary Club of Plano East has been committed to the Rotary ideal of “Service Above Self” and have served our community and the world. We have conducted a wide variety of service projects such as –
- Landscaping at the Plano Children’s Medical Clinic
- Remodeling a local Food Pantry
- Participating in a mission trip to Cuba to help in hurricane relief.
- Supporting an international Global Grant project in Kenya for AIDS education.
- Supporting the local Salvation Army in a variety of roles including packaging food for distribution, manning the Plano Overnight Warming Station and ringing bells at local businesses to raise funds at Christmas time.
In the first year of the club’s existence, we made a major commitment in the creation of the Plano Flags of Honor which celebrates all Military Veterans and First Responders around the annual US Veterans Day on November 11th. The Flags of Honor features 1,111 full size U.S. flags on 8’ flag poles spaced with military precision at 10’ spacing. The resultant display is awe inspiring at all times of the day and night as thousands of visitors wander the field and read the stories of Veterans and First Responders that are featured on the flags. The Flags of Honor project has grown every year and now enjoys the support of the City of Plano and many other Rotary Clubs in District 5810.