History of Our Club

In November 1999 four former Plano Rotarians, Terry Dobbins, John Findley, T.L. Morgan and Gary Basham, and one current Plano Rotarian, Tino Trujillo began talking informally about starting a 4th Rotary Club in Plano that would meet early in the morning to serve former Plano Rotarians and other interested people who were unable to regularly attend a noon meeting.

The first organizational meeting was held at 11:30 am at Tino's in Collin Creek Mall on 12/1/99, followed by another such meeting on 12/17/99. Plano Rotarian Tino Trujillo received authorization from his Board of Directors to pursue the formation of the club and received the support of the District Governor and the District Extension Chairman. Approval from Plano West Rotary and Plano Metro Rotary was obtained. The Plano Rotary Club agreed to sponsor the new Club. Tino Trujillo was appointed Governor's Rep. Communication would be by email. The Bulletins would be published on the web and not printed and mailed. Club Service projects would be done with "Sweat Equity" and not by fund raising. Emphasis will be placed on attendance with the target to be 100% every week. There will be no head table. Speakers and guests will mingle with the membership.

The first meeting of the provisional Plano Rotary Club was held on January 7, 2000 at Tino's in the Mall at 7:00 am. During January the name was changed from Plano Early to Plano Sunrise, the time was fixed at 7:00 AM; the location moved to Tino's Too on the East Side and charter application was made with 32 members, 11 who were former Plano Rotarians and 5 who were members of the parent club. The club received its charter Feb 23, 2000.

Charter Officers were:

President Terry Dobbins,
President-Elect Mike Booher,
Secretary, Sharon Lewis
Treasurer, Doug Ray
Sgt-at-Arms, Michael Dobbins

The Charter Officers agreed to serve the rest of the year plus the full Rotary year of 2000-2001.

Sweat Equity Projects have included: scraping and painting a house, helping Plano Habitat for Humanity build a house, adopting a neighborhood in East Plano and helping clean it up by weed eating alleys, picking up trash, painting house numbers on curbs and in alleys, providing manpower to Plano Rotary for the Rotary Roundup fund raiser for Plano Children's Medical Center, mentoring elementary students in reading, and numerous small bits of help to Senior Citizens.

Membership continues to grow from the original 32. In our history, only ONE person missed a meeting and failed to make-up. He has custody of a pot-bellied pig named Penelope and will pass it on to the next person who misses and doesn't make up.