Noon Rotary Works to Help Those in Need

Members of Effingham Noon Rotary Club spent time at their noon meeting on November 9 working to help those in need.

Rotarians have been collecting personal hygiene items to be place in bags to aid those who without goods or the funds to purchase them. The beneficiary is the Safe Passage program being supported by the Effingham City Police Department. Police Chief Jason McFarland has explained that when someone comes to the police and is in need of treatment for drug use or other issues, they often have no resources. Safe Passage allows emergency services agencies to transport the individuals for treatment. The packets contain the resources those individuals need.

Rotarians put together packets at their meeting and presented those to Chief McFarland to make them available to individuals in need.

Shown here is the chief with many Noon Rotarians who assembled the packets.

Rotary also saluted those members who are armed services veterans as Veterans Day is November 11. Those veterans on hand include (FRONT ROW) Carrie Crippen, and (BACK ROW, LEFT TO RIGHT) Mike Sehy, Norbert Soltwedel, Dave Ring, Larry Waldhoff and Bob Lumpp.

There were two Rotary student guests for the week. One was Brandon Hartke, son of Andrea Hartke and Shawn Hartke and a senior at St. Anthony High School. He's a fan of working on cars and going fishing. He's planning on attending Lake Land and majoring in Auto Mechanics. The other student guest was Taylor Greene, whose parents are Susan Young and Harold Young. She's a senior at Effingham High School and is involved in the 2023 CEO Program, girls basketball and track and field, and various clubs. She paints and bakes as hobbies. She's planning to attend Ozark Christian College to get a ministry degree, and plans to participate in their dual degree program to get either an Early Childhood Education degree or a Marketing and Communications degree.

(BRANDON HARTKE AND TAYLOR GREENE)