- April 19, 2024
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The Rotary Club of Downtown Ormond Beach had a busy 2018.
Members completed about 1,100 hours of community service by helping local schools with beautification projects, including power washing, painting and gardening. They also helped senior residents in moving and fixing fences. The club is small, though still growing, and most of all, the members have a lot of heart.
“We didn’t have a lot of money, but we had strong backs," Rotary Club member Alex Youngblood said.
The Rotary Club of Downtown Ormond Beach was first established in August 2015. It's the second Rotary organization in the city; the original all-male Ormond Rotary Club has been around for decades. Becky Parker, president of the Rotary Club of Downtown Ormond Beach, said the original club is often at capacity, and this Rotary Club also allows both men and women.
One of the programs the club has spearheaded this year is Downtown Ormond Beach Rotary Reads, where members help third-grade students at Ormond Beach Elementary with reading. Volunteers meet with them for an hour every other week, and read books with and to about a dozen students.
In December, the Rotary Club gave all the participating children a free book.
“We have a great time doing this," Youngblood said. "The kids are great. They read very well, and they have progressed a lot this quarter.”
The program was created after Parker, who is also the community engagement and events coordinator for Ormond MainStreet, had a conversation with third-grade OBE teacher Francesca Knutson when the Rotary Club was at the school performing an outdoor service project. The club has also set up vegetable gardens and planted a memorial tree at the school when one member died.
The next big OBE Rotary project will be to construct an outdoor teaching classroom. The club will be partnering with the Ormond Rotary Club for that one, too.
“It’s kind of fun to see all these little things that we’re doing create a picture," Parker said.
"Alex Youngblood has helped our school in so many ways. He led the rotary volunteers at our last Saturday school grounds improvement event moving several raised garden beds, power washing our front walkways, spreading mulch though out our campus... We have been blessed!"
Francesca Knutson, OBE Teacher of the Year
Whether the members are helping the PACE Center for Girls with their grounds, raising awareness for the local opioid epidemic, or raising money for Provision Packs, Youngblood, who retired from the CIA, said that what he loves about Rotary Club is being around people who are focused on doing good deeds in the community.
Parker said Rotary is fun.
“I think sometimes the image of Rotary can be old and stuffy, and it’s really not," she said.
Worldwide, the Rotary membership has grown to 1.2 million. Because of that international footprint, Parker said that eventually, when the club grows larger, they would like to get involved in a larger-scale project. For now, though, the Rotary Club will continue to focus on the immediate needs of the residents.
“I think we just feel so fortunate to live in Ormond Beach, and to be fortunate that we want to help those who are less fortunate," Parker said. "Even though we live in a beautiful community, there are those right in our neighborhoods that have needs.”
