Lake Wylie Rotary celebrated their 10th Anniversary in June. The group wanted to celebrate this milestone, even though they are not able to meet as a group at their regular meeting location due to Covid-19 restrictions. They secured an outdoor pavilion and had everyone bring their own food and beverages. A beautiful cake was made for the occasion by Rotarian Mark Wilson’s wife, Barbara.
The Lake Wylie Rotary Club was Chartered in June, 2010 and sponsored by the Clover Rotary Club. The Charter Members still remaining are Chad Bordeaux, Allan Gregory, David McClure, Mary Sieck and Rob Watson. Many service projects over the years include; Little Free Libraries, food drives, KIVA loans, and Josh the Otter water safety program. The Lake Wylie Rotary Club looks forward to many more years of fun and fellowship!
Here are the results of the recent Green with Rotary Raffle. Congratulations to Rich Bender, the winner of the Grand Prize of $5,000! Thanks to all that participated and helping us raise nearly $10,000 for local community projects!
Our regular weekly meetings have been suspended due to the Coronavirus outbreak. We will let everyone know once we are able to resume meeting.
Since we are unable to meet in a live setting, we have also delayed the Raffle Drawing until further notice. As of right now, we plan to do it at our next live meeting. We are unable to determine when that will be at this time. If we determine it to be appropriate to do the drawing sooner, we will update everyone via this page and via our Facebook page.
Lake Wylie Rotarian, Ed Lindsey, was recently honored as the 2019 Lake Wylie Chamber of Commerce Citizen of the Year!
Ed Lindsey, the 2019 Lake Wylie Chamber of Commerce Citizen of the Year
Ed was born in Brooklyn, earned a BBA and MBA at Pace University, and enjoyed a career as a Data Quality and Sales Engineer. His career included positions at Univac, Harris Data Communications, A T & T Bell Labs, NCR, Evoke Software, IBM and Informatica. Ed retired after a fulfilling career and now volunteers his time and talents for the greater good of the Lake Wylie community.
Ed is Past President of the Lake Wylie Rotary Club and was awarded Rotarian of the Year in 2017. In his nine years of Rotary, Ed has made many contributions. He continues to organize many efforts such as Adopt a Stream and the Thanksgiving turkey delivery for the less fortunate. He has introduced and spearheaded the creation of Little Libraries that he maintains on behalf of the Lake Wylie Rotary Club. Ed has organized and lead efforts to raise funds to build a covered shelter and picnic areas at the Clover Central School District YMCA and Aquatic Center. Ed also enthusiastically volunteers for Rotary activities organized by his fellow Rotarians. Throughout the Lake Wylie community, Ed is known for his humble, dedicated volunteerism. He has served on the Bethel Fire District Advisory Board. Ed currently serves of the Lake Wylie Park Advisory Board working with York County to oversee the creation and plan to build a community sports park where kids of all ages can participate in ball games, walking trails, pickleball, community gatherings, and recreational opportunities. The park is slated to open in the spring of 2020. In Ed’s spare time, he works with AARP to prepare taxes for seniors at no cost. He also serves on the Lake Wylie Chamber of Commerce Board of Directors where he volunteers for a full variety of events and activities presented annually by the Chamber. In addition to his other accomplishments, Ed wrote a book on Data Profiling entitled “Three-Dimensional Analysis – Data Profiling Techniques.”
Ed is married to Kathy and has two daughters, Deana and Lynn, and one son, Tim. He also has seven grandchildren, Michael, Carly, Tim, Allison, Kim, Cayden, and Kaia. Always the organizer and community-minded person, Ed encourages his family members to assist with projects to help the Lake Wylie Rotary Club and the community. Thank you to the Lindsey Family for sharing this amazing man with us!
On Wednesday October 23rd, more than 150 Rotarians, community leaders and citizens met up at Dust Off Brewing in Rock Hill to enjoy great fellowship, great local craft beer, and to raise awareness and critically-needed funds to fight the crippling disease of Polio, with their Pints for Polio Fundraiser. The event was a joint effort from the Rotary Club of Rock Hill, the Rotary Club of Lake Wylie, the Rotary Club of Indian Land – Lunch, the Rotary Club of Fort Mill, and the Rotary Club of Indian Land (Breakfast).
The effort raised over $2,000 for Rotary International, the
volunteer fundraising arm of the Global Polio Eradication Initiative—a
public-private partnership that also includes the World Health Organization,
the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and UNICEF. In addition, the Bill & Melinda Gates
Foundation agreed to a 2:1 match which will provide a total of more than $6,000
for the eradication of the disease.
Pints for Polio comes at an
important time in the fight to eradicate polio, which will be only the second
human disease to be eradicated. Case numbers of the disease have never been
lower, and only three countries (Nigeria, Afghanistan and Pakistan) have never
stopped transmission of the wild poliovirus.
However, a funding gap means
immunization campaigns are being cut in high-risk countries, leaving children
more vulnerable to polio. If polio isn’t stopped now, the disease could stage a
comeback, affecting an estimated 200,000 children every year.
Rotary, a humanitarian service organization with nearly 34,000
clubs in more than 200 countries and geographical areas, made polio eradication
its top priority in 1985. Rotary has
since contributed $1.2 billion, and its members have logged countless volunteer
hours to help immunize more than two billion children in 122 countries.
Overall, remarkable progress has been achieved in the fight against polio. Since 1988, Rotary has worked to reduce the number of wild polio cases by over 99%, from 350,000 a year to just 33 cases in 2018 and 96 to date in 2019. The Americas were declared free from polio in 1994, the Western Pacific region in 2000, and Europe in 2002. A highly infectious disease, polio still strikes children mainly under the age of five in parts of Africa and South Asia. Polio can cause paralysis and sometimes death. There is no cure for polio, but for as little as 60 cents worth of oral vaccine, a child can be protected from the disease for life.
As golfers approached the 12th hole, they were greeted by wonderful smells and happy Rotarians. Chad Bordeaux grilled fresh shrimp with his special secret seasoning and Amy Gulig Strong served her world famous peach cobbler. The golfers enjoyed fun, fellowship and great food with their local Rotarians.
The Lake Wylie Rotary Club was a sponsor at the recent Lake Wylie Chamber of Commerce Golf Classic. This annual event is a great way to connect with the community and “strut your stuff!”
Last week, the Sweet Repeat Charitable Foundation which runs a local thrift store in Lake Wylie, issued its 2018-2019 Grants to 27 local non-profits for the outstanding work they do in our community. The Lake Wylie Rotary Club Foundation was a proud recipient of one of the generous grants which will be used to complete local community projects, including the Josh the Baby Otter project which focuses on water safety and literacy project.
While we are thankful to be the recipient of one of these grants, we are even more thankful that we have organizations such as Sweet Repeat in our community, and grateful of the work that all of their volunteers do on a daily basis to make their operation run.
We urge our friends and neighbors to support the Sweet Repeat Charitable Foundation by contributing their unwanted items and shopping at their store. All of the funds that they raise goes right back into improving our community.
Join us for a fun evening of fellowship and fun as we raise money to eradicate polio!
When: Wednesday, October 23rd from 5:30pm – 7:30pm
Where: Dust Off Brewing Company, 130 W. White Street, Rock Hill SC 29730
Cost: $30 includes up to three pints of craft beer and a souvenir pint glass. (Advanced ticket pricing of $25 has ended.)
Tickets are available at the door or online at the below link.
When buying tickets, selecting a particular Rotary Club will ensure that club gets credit for the ticket sale. You may also select Regular and all clubs will share credit for the ticket sale.
If you’re in Lake Wylie and you spot an otter, look a little closer, it just may be Josh the Baby Otter and he’s here helping local children learn about water safety.
In the last week, the Rotary Club of Lake Wylie once again brought the Josh the Baby Otter water safety and literacy program to the Kindergarten classes at three area schools -Oakridge Elementary, Crowders Creek Elementary, and Bethel Elementary.
The Rotarians talked to the children about what water safety means and read the book Josh the Baby Otter. The book delivers the message of the importance of learning how to float and never going near the water without an adult in a fun and age-appropriate way.
Then a special guest stopped by, Josh the Otter, to dance with the Kindergarteners to the song “Learn to Float.” Josh gave all the children hugs and high fives before each child received their own copy of Josh the Baby Otter, a coloring book, and sticker.
Ten Rotarians participated in the programs, but the entire club raised funds and put the book packets together. Matt McGarity, who wore the Josh costume, said, “I’m happy to be part of a program that teaches kids about an important and life-saving topic in an engaging and exciting way.”
Janet Gaglione, expressed at a Club meeting that, “this is one of the most rewarding things we get to do as Rotarians.”
Josh the Baby Otter was created by Blake and Kathy Collingsworth in memory of their son Joshua who passed away in a pool drowning incident in June 2008. Their goal is to prevent future drowning tragedies through early childhood education and water safety courses.
According to the CDC, drowning is the number one cause of accidental death for children ages 1-4. And the second leading cause of accidental death for children ages 1-14. The month of May is National Water Safety Month.
For more information on the Josh the Otter program visit joshtheotter.org.
