





On Saturday, 15 April 2023 the Rotary Club of Flatonia partnered with Gardenia E. Janssen Animal Shelter of La Grange for a fun service event. GJAS brought 8 dogs to Flatonia to meet and greet prospective families for adoption. It was a beautiful day and everyone, including the dogs, enjoyed being outdoors and socializing. Rotary Club of Flatonia also donated 8 bags of dog food to the Shelter.
At PETS! PETS! PETS! There were opportunities to visit with dogs of all sizes, shapes, and colors. Families were able to pet them, hold them, and talk to them, in a fun, roundtable forum designed to get future owners and pets aquainted before adopting. Gardenia E. Janssen Animal Shelter (GJAS), a non-profit, 501(c)(3) organization, has been serving Fayette County since 1994. GJAS takes in, on average, 1,400 dogs and cats annually, many of whom are stray, abandoned, and neglected. The staff and volunteers work tirelessly to enrich the lives of those in their care, until they can find a new loving, forever home. Teresa Stanley Brown, Director of GJAS and Flatonia Rotary we are already looking forward to next year's meet and greet







(Left to right: DG-Elect, Bob Crouch; DG, Shannon Coleman; Club President, Martin Cherry; Jeff Coleman)
On Thursday, 4 August, The Flatonia Rotary Club welcomed Shannon Coleman, District 5870 Governor, her husband, Jeff Coleman and District Governor-Elect, Bob Crouch, to their meeting. Shannon and Jeff are members of the Rotary Club of Pflugerville, and Bob is a member of Rotary Club of Killeen Heights. Every year, the District Governor (DG) makes a visit to each of the 57 clubs in the distict, which gives the Governor an opportunity to communicate directly with the club members, and recognize individual Rotarians and outstanding projects.
Lieutenant Governor Carroll Sharp, a member of the Rotary Club of Yoakum, introduced District Governor Coleman, who gave an exciting and motivational presentation on her goals and projects for the coming 2022-2023 Rotary year. “This year I want to bring the Distict to our clubs, to support you and help with all your Rotary Service needs. Rotary Club of Flatonia is continually doing great service for the Flatonia community through their service projects, and by their giving to the Rotary Foundation, which gives money back to them through grants, projects, and scholarships, both locally and globally.”, said DG Coleman, “So thank you for your support of the Foundation. And thank you for your Service Above Self”.
In addition to her presentation, DG Coleman and her husband, Jeff brought supplies for a hands-on, district-wide, service project, partnering with “Backpack Friends”, a non-profit organization based in Pflugerville, Texas. The project is designed to help wipe out weekend hunger for children in communities in our District. “Did you know that one out of every four kids in Texas won't have enough food to eat this weekend? And did you know that thousands of children rely on school meals during the week, but spend the weekends in homes that are food insecure?” asked Coleman. “‘Backpack Friends’, continued Coleman, “is a way for Rotarians to more fully understand the significant impact a simple hands-on project can have on our communities.” The Rotary Club of Flatonia then packed 95 bags of food for low food-security children in just 15 minutes. President Martin Cherry added “This project tonight was an excellent and fun way to make an impact, improve community needs, and build good will. Thank you, DG Coleman for including us in the ‘Backpack Friends’ project”.
On Thursday, 7 July 2022, The Flatonia Rotary held its first meeting of the Rotary New Year under the leadership of Martin Cherry at Robert’s Steakhouse. Rotarian, Jill Walles, who introduced the program, invited Annie Waneck, a mortgage adviser with Elite Financing Group. Her presentation included the qualifications a borrower must have to become pre-approved for a mortgage, which are an approved credit score, a suitable debt to income ration, and the proper down payment and closing costs. Her talk was interesting, educational in the world of real estate and finance, and well received by the club members.
This month Rotary Clubs, worldwide, are celebrating Leadership Change with new Boards of Directors. The 2022-2023 Flatonia Rotary Board of Directors are Martin Cherry, President, Patricia Satterwhite, President Elect, Larry Haas, Treasurer, Susan Steinhauser, Secretary, Doug Mach, Membership Director, Bernie Satterwhite, Foundation Director, Patricia Satterwhite, Public Image Director, Sherry Haas, Seargent At Arms, Stu Mica, Director-at-Large, and Gerald Freytag, Immediate Past President. Rotary is an organization based on people, relationships, and action. “This will be a great year of taking “Service Above Self” action, and we look forward to acquiring new relationships and serving our community and beyond”, said President Martin Cherry.






On Saturday, 5 February 2022, the Rotary Clubs of Flatonia, Hallettsville, Shiner, and Yoakum co-sponsored a global service project, Rise Against Hunger, at the Flatonia Civic Center.
Driving Rise Against Hunger’s work, since their founding in 1998, is the recognition that ending hunger is more than just feeding people, which led Rise Against Hunger to focus its feeding programs in areas where they can have a real impact and expand its hunger-fighting programs beyond meal packaging and distribution. Because there are over 720 million people across the world that don’t receive enough nutrition to lead an active, heallthy life, Rise Against Hunger, is growing a global movement to end hunger by empowering communities, nourishing lives, and responding to emergencies. Their meal packaging program harnesses the passion of local volunteers and has impacted 2.8 million lives in 2020 alone.Since 2005, volunteer groups have packaged over 540 million meals, and each year hundreds of thousands of volunteers are engaged.
This Rise Against Hunger meal packaging event in Flatonia had 91 volunteers, young and old, from over 6 local communities, 6 Rotary Clubs, 4 Rotary Interact Clubs, and packaged 10,152 meals in less than 2 hours. It also embodies Rotary’s motto and theme, along with being able to share it with their local communities and friends. Thank you to all who volunteered to make this a successful global service project. For more information visit www.rotary.org and www.riseagainsthunger.org



On Thursday, 30 September 2021, The Flatonia High School Interact Club had a service project to clean up the frontage road north of I-10 between FM-609 and State Hwy 95 for the “Adopt-A-Highway” program. The Flatonia High School Interact Club, students ages 14-18, is sponsored by the Rotary Club of Flatonia and was chartered in February of 2003. The purpose of Interact is to provide opportunities for young people to work together in a local and world fellowship dedicated to service and international understanding. The officers for this year are Senior AnaLyn Kozelsky, President, Junior Reece Ramirez, Vice President, Junior Elizabeth Palomera, Secretary, and Junior Nayeli Rodriguez, Treasurer, and the Interact Teacher Advisor is Mrs. Lora Cherry.
Rotary members support Interact as sponsors, guides, and mentors, working alongside Interactors to serve the local schools and community. Rotarians play an active role in the Interact Club by helping Interactors develop leadership skills, build connections in the community and become a part of Rotary’s family. “These Interact students are great kids and yearn to do service projects for their community. We had fun and had a great turnout today. They worked hard to help beautify our city.”, commented Lora Cherry, Interact Advisor.
(Above) INTERACT students of Flatonia High School helped to make our community more beautiful by picking up nearly 30 bags of trash along the I-10 north frontage road. (Below) Flatonia Rotarian mentors and supervisors helped with the highway cleanup.

Service Above Self
Flatonia, TX 78941
United States of America