What Is the Rotary Club of Fairhope?
The Rotary Club of Fairhope, with roughly 100 members, is the oldest and largest Rotary club on the Eastern Shore, having been chartered on January 27, 1938. In the traditions of Rotary, its members represent business professionals and leaders from most every vocation. As the Eastern Shore has grown, the Fairhope club has been influential in helping “birth” additional clubs in our surrounding area. (For information on the meeting times and places of these nearby clubs, see our Makeups page.)
When And Where Does the Rotary Club of Fairhope Meet?
The Rotary Club of Fairhope meets weekly on Wednesdays at 12:30 p.m. in the Ballroom of the Homestead Village complex off Greeno Road in Fairhope, Alabama. Meetings include lunch, a program, and fraternal fellowship among club members. For more information on our meeting and directions to Homestead Village see “Where We Meet.”
What Is a Primary Goal of Our Local Rotary Club?
A primary goal of any Rotary club is to continually expand the club with committed members who have the capacity, the interest, and the ability to get involved in service to community and humanitarian projects.
What Service Projects Is Fairhope Rotary Involved In?
Each year the Rotary Club of Fairhope participates, along with other clubs in District 6880, in a project to provide a dictionary to every third-grader in our local schools. Internationally, the club recently initiated an ongoing mission in Honduras and now partners with other local clubs and the Rotary Club of San Pedro Sula, Honduras, on medical/dental mission trips and installation of water purification filters in several communities. The club has participated in numerous other local and international service projects over the years. See here for a slide show prepared for a membership recruitment social in 2018 that shows a lot of what we do and have done in the past.
What Is the Fairhope Rotary Foundation?
The Fairhope Rotary Foundation is a not-for-profit IRS 401(c)(3) corporation that promotes the concept of world understanding through international charitable giving, humanitarian service projects, and scholarships specifically on the local level for our community. Formed on October 21, 1997, the local foundation, like the Rotary Foundation of Rotary International, is also supported solely by voluntary contributions from Rotarians and others who share its vision of a better community.
The Fairhope Rotary Foundation was formed in part to award scholarships and educational grants to local students who exemplify the principles of Rotary. Since its inception the Foundation has awarded at least one per year with a goal to build an endowment that would guarantee even more such projects in the future. Currently the Foundation funds the Thomas S. Scoggins Memorial Scholarship, awarded annually to a graduating senior at Fairhope High School who is a member of the Interact Club. The scholarship provides $2,500 per year, renewable for four years, for college tuition.
Individuals and corporations wanting to help build the foundation or wanting more information may contact Fairhope Rotary. Students interested in the Scoggins Scholarship should contact the Interact Club advisor at Fairhope High School.