Brunswick Rotary Club: Helping People Around Our County and Beyond
By Jack Wilmot, BEAT reporter
BRUNSWICK, OH- The Brunswick Rotary Club is a service organization based in Brunswick, Ohio. The club carries out service projects throughout the community throughout each year to make a lasting, positive difference for the people it serves. It also hosts events and fundraisers to support other organizations.
The club gets together every Thursday at Brunswick City Hall at 7:30am to meet with members and plan upcoming activities. Although the meeting begins at 7:30am, breakfast is available at 7:15am. The club works to build friendships and strengthen the community throughout the town.
The Rotary's main goal is to make a positive difference in people's lives. Members deliver meals around the holidays to families in need. The club also has four major events each year that support Rotary efforts and bring enjoyment to the community. One of these is the Dictionary Project, through which members give hard-copy dictionaries to third graders throughout the city and teach them the importance of community service. Over 10,000 dictionaries have been given out to date. A key motivation for members is knowing that they are helping create a better future for these children and encouraging them to be their best selves.
Josh the Water Otter is another of the club's major projects. Over the past 12 years, members have visited elementary schools shortly before summer and spoken to kindergarteners about water safety, such as swimming when adults are not around, and advising them to never swim during storms. The Rotary has also begun funding the fire department's new program, which teaches people what to do in an emergency between the time 911 is called and first responders arrive.
Finally, the Brunswick Rotary is part of a district project embracing the United States of Kindness’ goal to complete 250 million acts of kindness (https://www.usofkindness.org/). Members spend their time performing acts of kindness to help reach that goal.
Serving the community takes financial resources, so the Brunswick Rotary engages in several fundraisers throughout the year. Their largest one is “Night at the Races”, which took place in September at St. Ambrose Parish, and featured horse races, wagers, and a $250 lottery basket with raffle tickets sold for $2. Over $21,000 was raised this year.
Upcoming Rotary events over the next couple of months will focus on feeding the less fortunate. The club is currently working to begin a project that will provide food to the homeless throughout Medina County. Another project during one of the meetings involves making 200 peanut butter and jelly sandwiches within an hour and distributing them throughout Medina County.
The Rotary Club does many great things for the county, and greatly appreciates the support it receives from the community. “The more support we have from the community, the more we can do. There is no limit,” said Debbie Kubena-Yatsko, the president of the Rotary Club.
Jack Wilmot, Brunswick Middle School, is one of over fifty student “backpack journalists” (grades 6-12) in the award-winning BEAT Video Program. The program, celebrating its 25th year, is sponsored by Donut Land, Plum Creek Assisted Living Community, MODA Gifts, Scripps Howard Foundation and the Brunswick Rotary Club. Go to https://www.bcsoh.org/community/new-beat-site to learn more about the Program, or visit https://thebeat.viebit.com/?folder=ALL to view videos produced by the students.
PHOTOS: Brunswick Rotary work on a Habitat for Humanity project in Brunswick; Josh the Water Otter; Brunswick Rotary receive support from Meijers