Since 1910, the Rotary Club has been serving the world as a service organization and has been credited with helping to end polio and doing a student exchange program for secondary education. In Rexburg, the Rotary Club is one of the oldest community organizations in the city, having been organized in 1920. Members help in different ways around the community.
“Sometimes we help with Salvation Army bell ringing,” said Brandon Tighe, president of the Rexburg chapter. “Another group we like to team up with is the Rexburg Kiwanis Club. We have some missions that overlap. So, when we're doing service projects together, we help a lot. We recently did one that helps teenage girls have access to some of the things they need for school and that was really enjoyable. We helped maybe 300 people there. It was really cool.”
Tighe also said they helped to build the Veteran’s Memorial in Smith Park from 2005 to 2011. They also built the carousel building in Porter Park in the 1980s. They also have ongoing service projects like picking up trash along the highways and giving out dictionaries to third grade children in Sugar City and Rexburg schools. This helps around 400 students in this area.
“I think it's good to have a non-screentime-type thing given to them,” he said. “It's very helpful. It's a useful beginning for them as they start to move through school and they have to write things and learn what certain words mean.”
They are looking for more people to help them in the near future. They plan to order the new dictionaries in October and will deliver them in the first two weeks of November. To volunteer or learn more about the Rotary Club of Rexburg’s message of service in the world, you can visit their website or their Facebook page.