The Rotary Youth Leadership Awards (RYLA) is an intensive 4-day workshop for youth ages 14 to 17 in grades 9-11. These young adults are chosen for their leadership potential to attend an all-expense paid training program designed to build, strengthen, and exercise leadership skills used in all aspects of business, community, school and life. RYLA includes recreational and cultural activities, which emphasize individual and team development.
The Coolidge Rotary Club is Accepting Scholarship Applications!
Deadline is April 22, 2022.
If you are a senior who attends a Coolidge school or live in Coolidge (this includes home-schooled students) and will be graduating this year, applications are available for $500 scholarships! The application can be downloaded in the download section at the upper right.
The Coolidge Rotary Club is Accepting Scholarship Applications!
Deadline is April 12, 2021.
If you are a senior who attends a Coolidge school or live in Coolidge (this includes home-schooled students) and will be graduating this year, applications are available for $500 scholarships! The application can be downloaded in the download section at the upper right.
CHS Principal Dawn Dee Hodge, Stephanie Fairchild CHS RYLA student, Daisy Gerkin CHS November Student Rotarian, Connor Turner Imagine Prep RYLA student, President Pat Abiles, Student Rotarian Marcos Lopez CHS December
Breakfast with Student Rotarians & RYLA Students, FUN, FUN, FUN
Stephanie Fairchild of Coolidge High School & Connor Turner of Imagine Prep
I had the most amazing weekend attending the 2014 RYLA Leadership Camp. It was the best experience I ever had and I truly miss being in that atmosphere with all my friends who became like family. In addition to having fun, I learned the aspects of being a true leader and that one cannot do things alone. It is absolutely okay to ask for help. Moreover, after coming home from camp, many have noticed an improvement in my character and leadership skills. Point in fact, this camp was the best. I enjoyed every second of the camp and I just want thank RYLA for everything! Stephanie Fairchild.
Breana is a student at Imagine Prep Coolidge, where she is on the cheerleading squad, a member of the student council and a volunteer at most school functions. Breana also volunteers with her church and with Vacation Bible School for two years. She is hoping to attend a four-year university, and has already starter her application to Harvard. She would one day like to become president of the United States.
James Michael Brown, 17
James is a student at Coolidge High School, where he participates in sports such as football, basketball and baseball. He stays active in school all year round, participating in many community basketball tournaments as well as coaching a little league team and youth basketball team. He hopes to get a scholarship to play football in college. Then he wants to get into business, learning about how construction works, and also wants to be an electrician.
Discussion on educational needs , helping family unit, youth, parents, discipline, head start. We also discussed ways to handle these issues through our Peace Forum.
July 17, 2013 Rick Miller gave Coolidge Rotary Club an update on the City of Coolidge General Plan which will be ready for the voters this next November 2014 Election
Left to right President Pat Abiles, Rick Miller, Director of Growth Management, Bob Flatley, Manager of City of Coolidge
After a year that has seen the Rotary Club continue to make its philanthropic impact on the city of Coolidge, President Bonnie Palmer passed on leadership to Pat Abiles during the club’s annual installation ceremony.
Palmer first spoke to the Rotarians, expressing her satisfaction in the club’s ability to meet the goals she set when she became president a year ago. Those goals were to get the house in order, recruit new members while retaining the current ones, accomplish goals that this club has set for itself in the community and have fun.
“I have thoroughly enjoyed this year,” Palmer said. “We’ve really done a lot this year, and that’s all because you all were willing to do that. And I know under Pat’s leadership, we’re going to maintain that momentum and even reach greater heights.”
The Rotary Club is a philanthropic organization with branches across the county. The Coolidge club raises money for purchasing books for schools, providing scholarships to students wishing to enter vocational schools, sending kids to leadership camps and participating in a student exchange program.
On Wednesday, November 7, 2012 , the combined Rotary Clubs from Casa Grande, Coolidge and Florence held a dinner and meeting at Eva's Mexican Restaurant in Casa Grande in honor of the Group Study Exchange District 4540 from Brazil.
The Coolidge Rotary Club held its annual workshop at the regular morning meeting on Wednesday July 11th.
The purpose of the workshop is to organize and discuss the Clubs goals and aspirations for the coming new Rotary year.
Coolidge Rotary is celebrating our 75th years of service at its Annual Dinner Auction Saturday March 24, 6-9pm at the Elks Club in Coolidge. Great fun is to be had by all – Scrambling to be the “ Fastest to bid “ in the silent auction; buying the “ Lucky number” balloon or out bidding your friends on that special live audience items (All proceeds go to the High School vocational scholarship fund.) Come take a leisurely tour of the beautiful Casa Grande Ruins in the afternoon, join us for a steak or chicken dinner at 6pm and “bid your little hearts out” to benefit our youth. We are still excepting donations for the auction.
We’d love to see you!
Tickets are $30/ person; $55/couple or $ 225.00 for a table for 8.
Call for tickets in advance to avoid the extra charge at the door.
Tickets available at Coolidge Chamber office 520.723.3009
Coolidge Rotary Annual Auction Dinner for our Youth
Coolidge Rotary Members Ray Murrieta, Julie Leonard, Karl Cordova and Lynn Parsons distributed Dictionaries to the 3rd graders at Imagine School, West School, Santan School and Academy of Excellence. The Coolidge Rotary handed out 496 dictionaries to the 3rd graders.
Rotary club is a “Service” organization that does many projects for its community as well as international, this is one of the many projects they do throughout the year.
COOLIDGE ROTARY DISTRIBUTES DICTIONARIES TO 3RD GRADERS
You will see a number of interesting outcomes related to the banking operations:
19 borrowing groups were established, serving 192 new borrowers.
386 loans were made with these funds in the first year, July 2010-August 2011.
The microcredit institution contractor, EnComun de la Frontera, collected 98% of the funds and re loaned the money again promptly;
85% borrowers were very poor women whose income at the initial borrowing was less than $2700 a year;
A number of the borrowing groups continued to stay together and function and by now all members of those original 19 borrowing groups are eligible to borrow $800 in the current four month cycle.
The fact that borrowing has been repaid and larger loans are requested is evidence that the loans are making money for the borrowers because they could not have repaid the loans any other way.
There are very few international service projects that can provide the kinds of returns for donations and borrowers that microcredit does when the process is well managed.
They are in the process of building a new Microcredit Matching Grant for Nogales Mexico this Rotary year and invite you to again join us in a project that will provide high returns for your Rotary investment as well as the positive impact for the borrowers who are only hours away in Nogales Mexico. Recall that the Rotary Foundation will match your club contribution $0.50 per dollar and provide Paul Harris Credits dollar for dollar for your contributions. Our promise regarding the bank operation is that it will train new borrowers in good business skills before the money is dispersed, conduct productive business review meetings every two weeks with the borrowers during the lending cycle, collect at least 98% of the loans, and offer a $200 larger loan to all borrowers in the group when all loans in the group have been repaid at the end of the loan cycle. For more information please contact;
Wayne Rish Rotarian Microcredit Mexican Border Project Leader Rotary Club of Fountain Hills 480 664 4820 nwrish@gmail.com
Final report on the first microcredit matching grant project in Nogales Mexico where our club contributed $100
October 28-30th 2011 I attended the Rotary International District 5500 Annual Conference in Tucson as the President-Elect of our Coolidge Club. I had not attended for several years, and (as most of us do before making a commitment for three days of our time) drove to Tucson, thinking of all the things I should be doing with the weekend.
Folks – it was so worth it! I know we are all very familiar with what we do as Rotarians in and around Coolidge but I think we lose sight of what Rotary is and does nationally and internationally to make it the Greatest Service Club in the World!!! Going to a workshop or conference – outside of our county – gets your attention quickly to reaffirm what an incredible organization we are all part of. There is so much more within Rotary for us to take advantage of and participate in – but first we have to expose ourselves to it by increasing our own involvement at different levels.
I came back really revived! Perhaps it’s because I’m now retired and have the time to explore new ways to be of service or my personal “hamster wheel” isn’t turning quite so fast with daily deadlines. Whatever the reason – I listened and actually “heard” new ideas for invigorating local clubs; fresh ideas for involving young members; changing ideas about membership, meeting times, Rotary rules, and public image. I learned of an incredible international project a small neighboring club did in Egypt during the turmoil---------we could have been a part of that! And, I learned of dozens of projects being conducted by clubs with Simplified and Matching Grants.
Of course there were mixers, networking times, workshops and speeches, recognitions of current and upcoming District officers as well as an appeal to attend the International Convention in Thailand. There were presentations by the Group Study Exchange Team and the Youth Exchange Students – including our own Koen.
Coolidge was given a special recognition for its 75th Birthday February 2012 and upcoming involvement opportunities were noted:
o November 19, Rotary Tour de Tucson for Polio Plus
o January 28, Casa Grande, Leadership Conference
o April 28, District Rotarians at Work Day
o May 3-5, Rotary Convention, Bangkok, Thailand
o October 26-27, 2012 District Conference, Tucson
o 2013 – RI Convention, Lisbon, Portugal
The three days flew by and I drove home (with Koen) excited about new possibilities for Coolidge Rotary. My thanks to Coolidge Rotary for sponsoring my attendance. It was awesome!
Osmara Favela, 16, is the daughter is the daughter of Mario Favela and Maria Marmolejo. She is an honor roll student ranked 17th in a class of 203, plays soccer, is in the school’s leadership program, has done mentoring and was invited to join the National Junior Honor Society.
Outside of school, Osmara does volunteer work, creative writing, drawing, karate and hiking. She plans to attend college where she will study, journalism, architecture or travel. She would like to remain involved in soccer.
Harry Grizzle, 16, is the son of Harry Grizzle and Lisa Gonzales. A junior football player and wrestler, Harry enjoys 4-H, hunting and fishing. His goal beyond high school is to get a master’s degree in criminal justice and become a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent.
For More information please contact Bonnie Palmer at (520) 723-3128.
Food Boxes are Located at:
Coolidge Chamber of Commerce, Coolidge Library, City Hall, Coolidge Headstart, Bank of the West, State Farm, Pinal County Federal Credit Union, Curves of Coolidge, BBV Compass Bank, Coolidge Post Office Heritage Coolidge Funeral Home and Hohokam Mobile Village.
All donations are given to local families of Coolidge, we are doing Thanksgiving and Christmas Food Drives.
It will be the 3rd Annual Destination Vocation: College and Career Fair at Coolidge High School on Feb 12th from 8am-2:45pm. Coolidge Rotary Club Members will join other members from the community in representing their respective career fields. All grades 9-12 will have the opportunity to learn about careers they may have never even dreamed about! It is a great way to invest in the young people in our community. If you are interested contact Polly Abraham at Coolidge High School at pabraham@coolidgeschools.net.
Destination Vocation at Coolidge High School on Feb 12th
We will be continuing to participate in the Shoebox project for Nogales families in conjunction with the Pantano Rotary Club from Tucson. On Tuesday, November 15th we will meet at Julie Leonard's house for fun and fellowship time to pack our boxes. Please bring your items for ages infant to 12 plus on that night. It is a great way to kickoff the holiday season. Some items that you can include are: warm clothes, gloves, hats, hard candy, socks, underwear, small toys, school supplies, hygiene items. Be creative and get out there shop for those less fortunate than us!
Rick Miller, Induction to Coolidge Rotary Club
Rick Miller, talks to Coolidge Rotary Club about What is PhoenixMart ?
On Wednesday, November 7, 2012 , the combined Rotary Clubs from Casa Grande, Coolidge and Florence held a dinner and meeting at Eva's Mexican Restaurant in Casa Grande in honor of the Group Study Exchange District 4540 from Brazil. 
The Coolidge Rotary Club held its annual workshop at the regular morning meeting on Wednesday July 11th.
The purpose of the workshop is to organize and discuss the Clubs goals and aspirations for the coming new Rotary year. Much progress was accomplished.
Coolidge Rotary Members Ray Murrieta, Julie Leonard, Karl Cordova and Lynn Parsons distributed Dictionaries to the 3rd graders at Imagine School, West School, Santan School and Academy of Excellence. The Coolidge Rotary handed out 496 dictionaries to the 3rd graders.
Osmara Favela, 16, is the daughter is the daughter of Mario Favela and Maria Marmolejo. She is an honor roll student ranked 17th in a class of 203, plays soccer, is in the school’s leadership program, has done mentoring and was invited to join the National Junior Honor Society.
Harry Grizzle, 16, is the son of Harry Grizzle and Lisa Gonzales. A junior football player and wrestler, Harry enjoys 4-H, hunting and fishing. His goal beyond high school is to get a master’s degree in criminal justice and become a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent.
