Home Page | Rotary Club of Gainesville Sunrise

Welcome! We are glad that you have stopped by! Sunrise Rotary is an active club of about 70 members who take pride in their community. Through our service projects and fellowship, we are committed to making a difference.

While you are visiting with us, look around the rest of the website and discover how we come together to create positive, lasting change, here and around the world. If you think you would like to find out more, be sure to visit our club's very active Facebook page. Perhaps you may wish to visit with us at our weekly breakfast meetings. We look forward to meeting with you!

Application period for Newberry High scholarship now open

We are pleased to announce that seniors intending to graduate from Newberry High School this year are invited to apply for one of three $1000 scholarships to support the next step in their education. Sunrise Rotary Club of Gainesville will recognize three graduating seniors from Newberry High School who are planning to continue their education at an accredited educational institution. Equal weight will be given to applicants for vocational programs (e.g., technical college) or for a community college or university. Online applications must be submitted by June 1.

If you know of students who might qualify for the scholarship, please have them visit this link on our website for complete details or to apply online.

Did you see TV 20 coverage of our Newberry High book donation?

Our good deeds are getting recognition throughout the community! At last week's book labeling party, TV 20 dropped in and did a short spot to cover the donation we cobbled together with support from the Rotaract Club of Gainesville and the District 6970 grant process. In all, we purchased nearly 250 books for about $2400, including titles like Animal Farm, I Am Malala, To Kill a Mockingbird, and The Picture of Dorian Grey. The books made their way from our meeting room into the waiting hands of students. Special thanks to NHS head librarian Susan Steele and Rotaract member Courtney Evans for organizing the grant. And to all our members, whose hard work fundraising at Mama Mia's makes this and many other community improvement projects happen.

Rory Causseaux takes the helm as new president of Sunrise Rotary for 2019-2020

Congratulations to our new president Rory Causseaux and members who have stepped forward as club officers for 2019-2020. Past District Governor John Brunner administered the oath of office to the incoming leadership during our annual transition dinner Thursday evening, June 27, at Kanapaha Botanical Gardens.

The slate of officers will be:

President: Rory Causseaux

President-Elect: David Coker

Vice President: Darleen Morgan

Membership Chair: Katie Floyd

Secretary: KC Cole

Treasurer: Darleen Morgan

Past President: Dorothy Zimmerman

Sergeant-at-Arms: Rick Medina

Board Members (Year 1 of 2)

1. Chuck Geiger 2. Bobbie Robinson 3. Chris Trowell

Board Member (Year 2 of 2)

1. Drew Boyd (Position previously filled by Rupa Lloyd) 2. Sherry Houston 3. Richard Williams

You can view lots more photos of the evening on our club's Facebook page, https://www.facebook.com/pg/gainesvillesunriserotary.

What a special experience we are helping create at Newberry High

By now we hope you've seen or heard about the great service project that Sunrise Rotary (actually, Rory Causseaux!) organized this past Saturday at Newberry High. By all accounts it was a great success! A good number of Sunrisers were joined by more than 60 students and faculty from the school to landscape the front entrance median with new plants. Thanks to the hard work of everyone involved we were all done by 11 am and enjoyed some pizza, drinks and good feelings about a job well done. (By Rory's account we consumed 5 dozen donuts, 2 cases of cokes, two cases of water, and 30 pizzas.) The rains have returned just in the nick of time too, to keep everything alive and well. If you want to see more, there are a zillion photos on our Facebook page, as well as a link to the TV 20 story that Newberry Mayor Jordan Marlowe arranged.

We need to give credit where credit is due. First of all, thanks to Rory and Terri Causseaux whose special magic made everything happen. Thanks also to Tropic Traditions/Jim Fleming, Watson Construction/Doug Dabney, Bryce Burger Landscape, LLC/Bryce Burger and CHW/EJ/Sara for all they did to make this event over-the-top successful. And thanks to the students at Newberry, who made us remember what a special thing school spirit really is, and who have given us a chance to contribute in some way to making things better. Hopefully, this is just Phase I of a larger project to make over the school's entrance. We're keeping fingers crossed that we will be funded by the district grants program, and in that case, you'll be hearing again from us!

RYLA attendees successfully complete their four-day adventure at Stetson

Look closely in this group shot -- you may be able to spot the four high school students our club sponsored to attend last week's Rotary Youth Leadership Awards experience at Stetson. It has been said that RYLA is an amazing experience of a lifetime and that it changes the lives of these young people. They participated in various community service projects, practiced the seven habits of highly effective teens, learned about public speaking and resume writing, and had a great time at a formal banquet and dance, all conducted in a positive and affirming environment.

Fortunately there were lots and lots of photos taken of the event over its four days, and they are available at the RYLA District 6970 Facebook page. We wish to extend a special thanks to Byron Lewis with the Reichert House, who drove the Reichert House van that carried the students both to and from Stetson. We hope that we can meet up with the four students at some point this summer to hear more about their RYLA experience.

Many Sunrisers turned out for Motown Memories at MK Rawlings

A big crowd of Sunrisers turned out last Thursday evening to groove along with 'Motown Memories' at MK Rawlings Elementary, and to see what a huge difference our contribution of sound and stage equipment is making to the student performers. The center's director, Sharon Kuchinski (who's directing the youngsters from just below the stage) even joined us for our social afterward at the Red Onion. Our contribution helped purchase the wireless microphones the singers used, as well as the sound board pictured above, and the spotlights. Now we get to write up the report that we'll send along to Rotary District 6970, along with a lot of pictures that tell more of this story. By the way, it all began back in the spring of 2018, when Leslie Wooten took it upon herself to write a District 6970 grant that made the contribution possible. Many thanks to Leslie, a member who has dedicated a lot of precious time and effort to MK Rawlings over the years. You've helped make the 2019 version of Motown Memories very special indeed.

Today's dedication of the BJ and Clark Hodge Playground was terrific!

The rains tried, but they could not dampen the friendly smiles and warm thoughts evident today at the dedication ceremony of the BJ and Clark Hodge children's playground at Kanapaha Botanical Gardens. A large crowd turned out to hear remarks from a number of individuals whose lives have been touched by the generosity of the Hodge family. We were especially gratified by the presence of Mrs. BJ Hodge and her children, who really seemed to enjoy the very obvious affection all of us had for Clark. We are posting lots of photos on the Sunrise Rotary FB page at https://www.facebook.com/gainesvillesunriserotary/, as well as the video that we showed at the luncheon. Of course you can also see photos on the Sunrise Flickr page at https://flic.kr/s/aHsmw3tYMU.

At this week's meeting you'll have the chance to hear all about it. Special thanks are in order here for Cleve Cooper and Rick Medina for overseeing the construction, to Bobbie Robinson who threw one terrific luncheon, to the friends of Clark who shared their precious and thoughtful memories with us, and to our friends at Kanapaha Gardens who have allowed us to share the legacy of Clark and BJ Hodge for many years to come.