Our Club meets each Wednesday at 7:00 A.M. The early morning meeting time is one of our greatest assets. From time to time, the club takes field trips to other establishments to learn more about their community.
Sherwood now has a satellite club for pet lovers that meets in the evenings. They serve the community by having exciting projects for pets. Their signature projects include Blessing of the Pets along with a Trunk or Treat for the pets.
For Christmas, they have a paw print ornament fundraiser. It is a fun time for everyone.
They have partnerships with animal shelters and rescue centers.
There is an Interact club for students at Sylvan Hills High school. They provide service to the community by doing various community-wide projects. The club has over 80 students. They are ready to serve.
The strength of our club may involve several factors - fun, fellowship, projects, engagement and good informative programs. Our greatest asset is the emphasis placed on the five avenues of Rotary service - Club, Vocational, Community, International, and Youth Services. We attempt to involve and enlist the participation of all of our Rotarians. Presently we have several committees, all active, which means that most of our members serve on two or more committees. We make good use of the Rotary action plan.
We have partnered with the Sherwood Chamber of Commerce to have more involvement with the community. We believe in the motto 'Service Above Self" and 'People Of Action'.
In Community Service, our local dentist provides dental education to elementary schools every winter. This includes schools for the blind and deaf. Each student receives toothbrushes and stickers. They learn all about caring for their teeth. We receive matching grants to help with the program.
In the spring we have a summer book program. We give 4th grade students advancing into 5th grade an opportunity to choose a book of their own to read over the summer.
We have a matching grant to purchase over 300 books. We give books to six local schools.
One of our more successful community efforts has been the Back-To-School project. We have matching grants to help purchase school supplies for students that need some extra help. During the fall, we have two fundraisers to support our youth programs and a scholarship program. We have a 5K Fun Run and 1k Family Run/Walk (Conquer the climb). We have a partnership with Outback to sell tickets for lunch or dinner. We keep a portion of the sales. We have given over 15,000 in scholarships in 2023 and 2024.
Our Rotary Centennial Project was the erection of a Veterans Memorial in Sherwood Forest Park at a cost of over $20,000. This memorial provides a place for people that served in the military to purchase a brick to be displayed on the wall. The club cleans the memorial twice a year. It is located at the entrance at Sherwood Forest.
We also sell bricks for Veterans as a fundraiser. These bricks are displayed on the Veteran's wall. Anyone can purchase a brick for their veteran. The wall has over 200 bricks.
n November 2024, the club presented a new project, Veterans Rock.
We invited seven local schools to paint rocks for the Veterans Memorial. The club provided the paint and the 5th grade students brought the rocks to paint. The art teachers helped the students paint their rocks. Some Rotarians placed the rocks around the memorial. They also put rocks around the POW and MIA monument.
We also give ethics awards to middle school students and high school students that are caught by their teachers doing something right. These students have demonstrated high ethical and moral conduct among their peers. They receive cash to spend on whatever they like. The students really enjoy that part.
We plan to get middle-school students involved with Rotary by engaging them in projects that will help the community and their school.
The most successful and sustainable Rotary service tends to fall within one of the seven areas of focus:
*Peace and Conflict Prevention/Resolution.
*Disease Prevention and Treatment.
*Water and Sanitation.
*Maternal and Child Health.
*Basic Education and literacy.
*Economic and Community Development
*Environment Protection and Support
* If you are interested in learning more about The Sherwood Rotary Club, contact our Club President, Lanita Daniels, at 501-350-4519
We strive to reach our community through awareness of Rotary and the good it does.