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
The Rotary Club of Flatonia sponsors the Flatonia High School Interact Club, who volunteered at the 2023 Texas Independence Relay on Saturday, 25 March. Interacters and Rotarians together put in over 130 hours during the 8 hours out on the course. The FHS Interact Club has been volunteering to check in each team as they come through the 4 exchanges in the Flatonia area for the last five races. It is their main fundraiser for the year, and this year raised over $1,000. Rotarians attend the event to help guide the runners, the traffic, and to cheer everyone on to the finish. The race is a 2-day event starting in Gonzalez and ending in Downtown Houston with 134 teams participating this year. Go Team!!!
tonia hosted a Pints For Polio Pub Walk Fundraiser at Wine Haus, Henry K’s, and Red Vault Bistro in Downtown Flatonia, Texas.
All proceeds from the
During our November 3rd, 2022 Rotary Meeting, Rotarian Pat Nickerson (left), was recognized by Club President Martin Cherry (right) for earning his first Paul Harris Fellow award. Congratulations Pat!
(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 Rotar
y 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.
At our regular meeting on May 19th, the Rotary Club of Flatonia recognized volunteers that have played an integral part in making Flags Over Flatonia a successful project. Shown from left to right are Pat Nickerson, Jay Roberts, Bob Roberts, Robert Cunningham, Theresa Pavlica, Michael Pavlica and Flags Over Flatonia chair Gerald Freytag. Rotary thanks these individuals who, though not Rotarians, have helped set out and retrieve some 250 American flags on each of six holidays every year. 
After a two-year hiatus due to Covid-19, the Rotary Club of Flatonia hosted members of the Flatonia High School Junior Class on a field trip to the USS Lexington Museum in Corpus Christi. The trip was part of the club's Heritage Pride Program, designed to give the students a feel for what past Americans have done to preserve and protect our freedoms. Pictured left to right are Rotarian Gerald Freytag, Khristopher Toran, Tadan Alvarado, Joaquin Vazquez, Chase O’Reilly, Aidan Miksch, Camden Bosl, Reese Ramirez, Quade Gillum, Elizabeth Palomera, Amaya Tovar, Stephanie Guerrero, Nancy Torres, Celeste Quijas, Katelyn Croyle, Miguel Corral, Nayeli Rodriguez, Augustin Olivares, Valeria Perez, Fernando Guerrero, Kirsten Olmos, Elizabeth Samaniego, Mariela Manzano, Ezequiel Rodriguez, Shenann Kahlich (FISD) Oscar Guerrero, Colt Freytag, Rotarian Martin Cherry, Adolfo Guerrero and Stephanie Delgado (FISD). Not shown is FISD History Teacher Todd Law. 
Rotarian Pat Satterwhite was inducted into the District 5870 Roll of Fame during the Annual District Conference of Clubs held May 6-8 in Waco, Texas. Formally established during the District's 1957-58 Rotary year, the Roll of Fame is the highest award conferred by District 5870 and is intended to recognize Rotarians who have distinguished themselves by outstanding service to their clubs. Each honoree is nominated by the president of his or her club and must meet, at a minimum, specific criteria for membership in the Roll of Fame. For over 21 years, first as a spouse of a Rotarian and, for the past 7 plus years as a member of the Rotary Club of Flatonia, Pat has consistently served Rotary in numerous and varied capacities. Currently, the Flatonia Rotary Club's vice-president, Pat served as president in 2017-18 and is slated to serve as president again in 2023-24. For the past three years, she served as the District 5870 Membership Chair and as such has given membership presentations to clubs throughout the District as well as at District training events and conferences. Pat has continually dedicated herself to the Object of Rotary and its mission. Pat is the 16th Flatonia Rotarian to be inducted into the Roll of Fame, and the first female to be inducted from Flatonia. Shown from left to right are District Governor Beverly Luedke, Pat Satterwhite, Bernie Satterwhite.
l-r: DGE Shannon Coleman, DG Beverly Luedke, Bernie and Pat Satterwhite, David C. ForwardOn 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
Flatonia Rotarians gathered at the Flatonia Gazebo on January 11, 2022 at 12:15 PM wearing blue in support of Rotary's efforts to raise awareness of Human Trafficking. 
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.
.JPG)
.png)
Service Above Self
Flatonia, TX 78941
United States of America