On December 10th, 2015 we had 16 Inbound Students from 13 different countries travel to Disney World! We had two vans packed full of excited Rotary Youth Exchange students. During their 6 ½ hour drive to Disney, the students participated in face painting. Each student had their country flag painted on their face. Below is a picture of all the students arriving at Disney with their faces painted! The students were able to meet other exchange students from the Florida area. They had such an amazing time in Disney meeting new exchange students. Below is a picture of all the exchange students representing their country with their own flags! If your club is interested in sponsoring an exchange student, please contact Vicki Tatum at dentistt63@gmail.com or Allison Ford at allisonh@burkettcpas.com.
News from the Bluffton Rotary
Happy Holidays!
Celebrating the success of the Happy Feet program to benefit our local Bluffton elementary schools. Bluffton Rotarians Jay Parks and Deb Boshaw give commentative shirts to each school representative.
One of the best things about our Bluffton Rotary is to lend a helping hand to our local organizations that need funding and are doing great, needed things in our community. Below, President Mike Covert presents the Director of Waddell Mariculture Center with a check for $3000
Greater Bluffton Jasper County Volunteers in Medicine receives $5000
STAR US program receives $2800 for defibrillators for Bluffton area responders.
Ringing of the Bell in true Rotarian fashion! Bluffton Rotarian Megan Mack and her husband Rodney raising money for the Salvation Army in front of Kroger.
Beaufort Rotary “Rings the Bell”
Paul Harris Fellows
The Rotary Club of the Lowcountry celebrated their annual Christmas party December 5th. President Jeff Althoff and his wife, Valerie, were the gracious hosts this year. Club members were asked to bring gift certificates to be donated to Capa. The highlight of the event was the surprise presentation of four Paul Harris Fellows.
Scott Klumb, wife, Nicole with Foundation Director, Kerry Bunton
Linda Bridges, husband, Ron with Kerry Bunton
Debbie Kidd, Interact Director at Beaufort High School, husband, Jeff
Eau Claire North Columbia Rotary Salutes Student Academic Achievement and Civic Participation at 30th Annual Thanksgiving Celebration
Excitement was in the air on November 23, as Eau Claire North Columbia Rotarians celebrated their 30th annual tribute to student achievement. More than 50 young people from Eau Claire Cluster schools entertained us, cheered in delight and proudly displayed certificates and treasured Kindle readers awarded to them for their successes in the classroom and in the community.
Joining Rotarians in the celebration were Richland One Superintendent Dr. Craig Witherspoon, Columbia City Councilman Sam Davis, business and community leaders, principals from each of the nine area schools and, of course, parents who all proudly shared in their children’s success.
The Thanksgiving tradition began in 1985 as collaboration with College Place United Methodist Church and included a dinner for residents of local community care homes who joined the students and families for fellowship and recognition. Over the years, ECNC Rotary has presented honors to two generations of area students. This year the club and its sponsors provided the Kindle Fire readers to further enrich academic involvement by students.
Many thanks to all our schools for their continued dedication to nourishing the minds and bodies of our youth, to the community for its inclusive support of our schools, to College Place UMC for its ongoing commitment to the spiritual and academic growth of area students, and to Eau Claire North Columbia Rotarians for making this historic event a success.
Edward E. Taylor Elementary School students were among nearly 50 young people to be recognized in November at ECNC Rotary’s 30th Annual Thanksgiving Celebration of Student Achievement. Pictured are (l-r, rear) Richland One Superintendent Dr. Craig Witherspoon, Eau Claire Community Council President Christie Savage, North Columbia Business Association Chairman Donald Gist, EE Taylor Principal Debbie Hunter, and Rotary President Coco Mann. Students pictured are Taijvey Wilkins, Ashleigh Williams, Trevor Johnson, Marcus Pearson, Shaniya Williams and Zanobia Richardson
See more pictures of our honorees on our Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/Eau-ClaireNorth-Columbia-Rotary-248920935132979/
World’s Greatest Meal – Rotary Club of Sumter Sunrise
On November 10, 2015, the Rotary Club of Sumter Sunrise celebrated a World’s Greatest Meal event during their breakfast meeting when the program was presented by DRFC Lou Mello. The club members contributed $370 that morning to help eradicate polio. This represents $1,100 contributed toward polio eradication after the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation match is applied. This total is enough to provide approximately 1,850 oral polio vaccines or approximately 1,000 injectable vaccines – truly a Gift to the World!
Anne Matthews Speaks to Beaufort Area Rotary Clubs
The Rotary Club of Lake Murray-Irmo hosts Riverbanks Zoo Director Satch Krantz

SC Floods- Irmo Area




Christmas Angels
The Interact Club of North Myrtle Beach High School sponsored by the Rotary Club of North Myrtle Beach is holding its 11th annual Christmas Angels Celebration.
Below is a description of the program. I have a campaign this year for the first time on gofundme to offset the cost of jackets and shoes for students. I am asking everyone to post on FB pages. The link to the gofundme page is below as well as the excerpt posted on the site.
https://www.gofundme.com/
My contact info. is 704 349 0269 or email. Please do not hesitate to contact me for more information.
Thank you.
Christmas Angels is an event we do every year here at NMB High School. Last year we adopted 204 local children!!! There is a huge need in our community. We are currently celebrating our 11th year of Christmas Angels! High School students team up and ‘adopt’ a child from one of our local three elementary schools. The children ‘adopted’ are ones whose families are having trouble and need help providing a Christmas for their children. High school students raise, as a group, $100.00 per child. The money goes to items the ‘adopted’ children need and then items they want. We send home a form to parents who qualify. The form is separated into two parts: a needs section and a wants section. If anything is listed in the needs section, itmust be purchased for the child. This is the section where parents or guadians list jackets, shoes, clothing, etc. The wants section is the wish list for the child. I decided to try gofundme this year to help students who have to buy jackets and/ or shoes for their adopted children. A jacket and a pair of shoes can easily cost close to $50.00 and after taxes little money is left for the wish list portion of the form. As this is the only Christmas our ‘adopted’ angels will receive, we want it to be extra-special. I am hoping to have all funds from gofundme by Dec. 4th, as we will shop this year as a HUGE group on Dec. 11th. After shopping together we head to one of the local elementary schools to wrap, label, and organzie all the gifts. Dec. 12th our ‘adopted’ angels come to a Christmas Celebration and open their gifts with the high school students. It is truly an amazing experience. Helping those in need at the holidays is truly the best gift. The students who participate learn the true meaning of giving and the true meaning of Christmas.