Rotary Club of Flatonia

The Rotary Club of Flatonia has completed its District Assisted Project (DAP) for the Rotary year,

2019-2020. Club President, Bernie Satterwhite, chose this project in early 2019, even before his year started July 1, 2019. He wanted Rotarians to create a functional kitchen in a side room, in the Combined Commuinity Action (CCA) area of the Chamber of Commerce. This project was completed on the 8th of June and a ribbon cutting ceremony was held Friday, 12 June 2020, at noon. “This project will create opportunities for our community to come together for celebrations, meetings, and fun events,” said Satterwhite.

DAP projects consists of many volunteer hours by Rotarians and this year’s project was no exception. Five members of the Rotary Club of Flatonia spent a total of 87 hours, planning, designing, shopping, and installing the new kitchen for the CCA, which included five trips to McCoys Building Supply in Weimer. McCoys, and Scott Sternadel, manager, were instrumental in helping with this project by giving Flatonia Rotary a discount on the cabinets purchased. The City of Flatonia also contributed to the project by changing the wiring and plumbing to accomodate the new kitchen plan. Patricia Satterwhite, retired Interior Designer, and Rotarian, contributed her expertise on the floor plan, design, and materials purchased.

The CCA rooms are mainly used for Meals on Wheels, which Melinda Terrell, Sight Manager for CCA, organizes for the delivery of lunch meals by volunteers five times every week. The new kitchen was mosetly an empty room before with a stove, a refrigerator and a folding table. “I am so excited to have a working kitchen for Meals on Wheels,” said Terrell. “Now my supplies can be organized, I have a new sink for cleaning up, and I have so much working space. And I look forward to offering more activities for senior citizens at the CCA, such as lunch, bingo, or cards. When groups meet here, this new kitchen will make it easier for them to have food and drinks available.”

The Flatonia Chamber of Commerce also rents out the CCA rooms for events like baby showers and birthday parties. Beverly Ponder, Executive Director for the Chamber, said, “having a functioning kitchen will make it nicer and easier for families in the community to hold events here.”

Flatonia Rotary Club members have volunteered over 1,200 hours this past Rotary year, July 1, 2019 - June 30, 2020 in community and youth projects. Globally, it is estimated that Rotary members in over 35,000 clubs around the world provide about 47 million hours of volunteer effort a year at an estimated value of $850 million, as reported by John Hopkins University for Rotary International. If you would like more information about Rotary, please go to www.flataniarotary.org or email rotaryclubofflatonia@gmail.com.