Stories

Happy New Year - Time to Help Others!

We hope everyone had a happy & healthy holiday season, and Welcome Back!

It's a new year, and a new opportunity to make a difference in our community, so let's get back to what we do well - SERVING!

Here is the link to our Service Projects kicking off this year!

We are supporting connection & community for senior citizens, as well as providing food to so many in need, focusing in East Plano, whether it's the Douglass Community, the neighborhoods around Barron Elementary School, or helping those experiencing homelessness and food insecurity.

We are also finishing up our Pecan Sales fundraiser for scholarships for high school seniors heading to advanced learning, as well as our highway clean-up every other month.

Please come join us!

Supporting Barron Teachers

Plano West Rotary has a long track record of supporting our teachers at Barron Elementary and the support goes both ways!! Barron teachers have had their Friday Night volunteering at our annual Plano Balloon Festival Funnel Cakes booth, which provides the majority of our club funding for donations. We would not be successful without their support! They have also allowed us to have an annual lunch meeting at their school, where the kiddos run the program and give us a tour of the school. They are great kids who are being led and taught by great teachers!

This event was a chance for us to give them our love and support during a COVID year where we did not have our last funnel cake fundraiser or annual school visit, not to mention the Color Run and Field Day events we have also helped out with - we haven't seen our friends....until this! Due to social distancing, we didn't get to give or receive hugs, but a couple of us got to see and serve our favorite teachers, providing a Taco Cabana breakfast taco breakfast (100 tacos) for 70 teachers and staff, along with 72 orange and apple juices.

We give them our love, and hope we have encouraged them through another tough week, teaching in-person! Barron Elementary has the highest percentage of in-person students in Plano ISD at 75%, so our kids and teachers are doing their best to teach & learn during these tough times. Thank you, Barron Elementary, and hang in there!!

Thanks for helping the US Census 2020

Way to go, Plano West!

Our help with the US 2020 Census, along side our club's RCC and also in partnership with the Douglass Visions Committee, has gained their recognition.

Thanks for helping make a difference!

"Your contributions can positively impact your community's healthcare services, schools, senior centers, roadways, public transportation and public libraries over the next decade. These improvements can make a difference in the lives of so many Americans."

Meals in Douglass Community

Thanks to our MANY volunteers from the community, the Douglass Visions Committee RCC, other Rotarians, friends & Plano West members! We have been providing meals in the Douglass Community every other Saturday for months now, and we are down to our last 2 meal deliveries, finishing up the 2020 year.

Come on out and help us!

Go here, to find the last two sign-ups for meal delivery (as well as many other opportunities to serve):

https://planowestrotary.com/page/service-projects

PJ's for Veterans' Kiddos

Four members and a few other volunteers donated new pajamas to support veterans' kids via a program with the American Legion and Veterans Affairs. We appreciate our veterans and the services they provide to our country, including our freedoms - THANK YOU!

Cleaning up Plano

Thanks to our members, other Rotarians, and friends who helped us with our AdoptA-Highway clean-up that we do every other month, over on Avenue K, between Spring Creek Parkway and Parker Roads. It looks "marvelous"! :)

This is one of our easiest and most-socially-distant service projects you can do, so join us sometime! It's only about 1.5 hours, you can listen to your favorite music, and help make Plano beautiful.

Inspiring Young People w/Life Skills via Jr. Achievement

Four of our members donated their time to support Junior Achievement (JA) in the mission of inspiring young people with support, and preparing them with good life skills. We were able to help JA support teachers during school by providing speakers via live stream or pre-recorded videos sharing our career journeys and providing lessons learned to these students.

Lunches for People Experiencing Food & Home Insecurity

Once a quarter, Plano West helps provide nutritious lunches to those in Plano who are currently experiencing homelessness and food insecurity. We provided 60 lunches with a hearty meat & cheese sandwich, along with bars, fruit, nuts and waters to folks who are truly grateful.

We are able to do this with the help of the non-profit Collin County Assistance Center who provides the back part of their parking lot, and to the non-profit Streetside Showers organization providing dignity through free showers, along with the add-ons from other organizations like churches and Rotary to provide the additional value of free clothing, free reader glasses and free lunches.

Thanks to all who signed up on our sign-up genius to provide these various food & toiletry items!

Shoes for Micro-Entrepreneurs Complete

Congratulations to a very successful Shoe Donation Drive, all in the name of supporting micro-entrepreneurship in developing countries, and earned funds that will support our local Douglass Community.

We collected 3,195 pairs of shoes. Our partner will ship them to developing nations, where small business owners clean the shoes to make them "like new" and sell them in their communities to help build the economy, and help families lift out of poverty! We'll receive a small amount for the shoes. The proceeds will support and build the Douglass Community in E. Plano, Texas.

Flags of Honor, supporting our Veterans

Just a shout-out to Plano East Rotary Club for a successful year at Plano Flags of Honor, honoring our veterans and first responders with a beautiful display of over 1000 flags!

Plano West Rotary is proud to support them via helping with installation and teardown of the flags. A special kudos to Fred, who has always helps them survey the land and make sure those flags are evenly spaced - beautiful job, Fred! :)

Volunteer Support for CRU Golf Tourney

Thanks to the Plano West Rotarians who helped support a dear member who is a leader in the CRU organization, by providing assistance with registration of golfers!

This annual golf tournament raises money to provide the funds Cru needs in order to scholarship students to their Summer Conference at Biola University in LaMirada, CA during June. This Camp develops leaders in a fun environment and expands the breadth of the program in the schools. The camp, speakers, activities and airfare costs $650 per student. The golfers provide a big chunk of the costs through the entry fee and by contributing scholarships during the Award Ceremony and Dinner.

Annual Halloween Fundraiser for Veterans

Plano West & North Texas Pioneers are grateful for all the wonderful donations and support of our annual Halloween Party fundraiser!

This year was VERY different with COVID to deal with; however, we still had great fellowship! (N. Texas Pioneers in the back area of Greek Isles Grille and Plano West outside in the front) And, we still grossed $2674 from proceeds from Greek Isles Grille dinner (dine in and take out) options, a (non) silent auction, a wine pull and a bake sale. We couldn't have done it without everyone contributing items to sell, and buying items!

This year, both clubs are again donating to veterans organizations - a net of $782 for each club. Plano West is donating our half of the net proceeds to provide PJ's for children of veterans, in cooperation with the American Legion and Veterans Affairs.

Thank you all for your giving hearts!

Thank you to our Plano Fire-Rescue Employees!

What a great effort by everyone to support our elite group of Plano Fire & Rescue employees who serve our community with courage...every day! We appreciate YOU!

We had 32 volunteers and 29 volunteer hours along with $1350 cash donations, plus in-kind donations near $3,000, all provided to support our 130+ Fire & Rescue employees with a fabulous lunch from Greek Isles Grille - Plano for everyone, plus a gift basket of goodies for all 14 locations!

We were all so devoted to providing these items, and keeping those lunches hot, that we forgot to take many pictures. :(

But, rest assured, everyone gave it their best!

Here is a close-up of the gift baskets with homemade fireman cookies :), hand-warmers, pain cream, breakfast/snack bars, gatorades, snack size candy bars and an appreciation note. And, the only picture (LOL) we have of volunteers loading up Greek Isles lunches to deliver.

Thanks everyone!!

Organizing Donated Shoes (through end of October)

We had another awesome group of caring volunteers come out to help process the donated shoes, so we can have them delivered internationally in support of micro-entrepreneurships, as well as some earned funds that will support local career training for the Douglass Community.

Way to go team!

If you want to help this month, here's the sign-up info:

Here's the sign-up for future donations and volunteering

Meal Delivery to Douglass Community in E. Plano

What a great day! The weather was perfect, and we had many caring volunteers help us deliver meals. :)

For this event, we had 32 volunteers helping with the process of delivering meals to 200 families in the Douglass Community. Volunteers came from Plano West Rotary, our RCC (w/Douglass Visions Committee), as well as Interactors (high school-aged version of Rotary), and some awesome new & repeat volunteers who have not yet ;) signed up to be official members of Rotary.

It was wonderful getting to know each other better while serving our community! And, one thing we ALL have in common is a serving heart. Thanks to all!

Plus, the Douglass Visions Committee was also providing Voter Registration for anyone, and continuing our joint efforts to collect gently used shoes to support both the Douglass Community and also micro-entrepreneurship in other countries (to help families create sustainable businesses).

Texas Website to GO VOTE

Sign-up for future shoe donations & volunteering

September Adopt-A-Highway Clean-Up

Plano West Rotary sponsors a stretch of Avenue K in Plano where we clean up trash every other month through the City of Plano's Adopt-A-Highway program.

We had 5 volunteers this month (only 2 Rotarians, 1 repeat volunteer, and 2 NEW volunteers!) help us clean up trash in our community. We were able to share the common Rotary theme of "Service Above Self" to our new friends! :)

Organizing Donated Shoes

A group of volunteers consisting of 4 Rotarians & 7 Interactors showed up to help bag shoes, for our 2nd organization event.

Shoes will be donated internationally, and the funds earned for the shoes will provide career training for the Douglass Community.

Here's the sign-up for future donations and volunteering

Deliver Meals to Douglass Community

Plano West Rotary, working with our RCC in the Douglass Community, delivered boxes of food to 183 families.

We are serving this community bi-weekly through December 2020.

For this event, we had 30 volunteers and provided food from Minnie's valued at $14,400

We also love having off-duty support from our local Plano Police Dept - the best there is!!

Way to go, everyone! :)

Join in at our next event Sept 19th!

Safe Places for Victims of Human Trafficking

Young Victims of Human Trafficking Need Safe Places

The average age of entry into the commercial sex industry in the U.S. is between 12 and 14 years. Texas is ranked the #2 state in the US involved in human trafficking.

Plano West Rotary already led a collection of items in partnership with Greek Isles Grille and Taverna, including $25 gift cards from Kroger & Tom Thumb, non-perishable foods, paper products (toilet paper, paper towels, etc), eating utensils (paper plates, plastic utensils & cups, etc) and small craft projects for kids ages 4-9 years old.

These items are supporting the Refuge City nonprofit that provides places of restoration and safety for domestic victims of human trafficking and/or sexual exploitation.

This cause is important to the Kostas Family & Greek Isles Grille and Taverna, the "home" of Plano West Rotary Club.

The Kostas family is very generous with their hearts & their time, so please continue to support this local family-owned business by eating at their establishment! I recommend the spanikopita :)

Greek Isles Grille and Taverna
3309 North Central Expressway, Suite 370
Plano, Texas 75023

Shoe Drive for Dual Causes: A Kick-Off

This day kicks off Plano West Rotary Club's "Shoe Drive Challenge for International micro-entrepreneurs and Douglass Community Development", which was a vision of the Douglass Community RCC, and now led by our fearless new member, Jennifer! This exciting project allows YOU to donate gently used shoes, which will be donated to international micro-entrepreneurs to help them build businesses to support their families and communities! At the same time, we will receive some funds in exchange for the shoes, which will be donated career training in the Douglass Community of Plano, Texas. This community was founded by freed slaves and is culturally and historically significant for North Texas.

A group of volunteers consisting of Rotarians, Interactors, and someone who found this opportunity on Dallas Serves' Facebook page all showed up to help bag shoes. We first organized the shoes by pairs. Then, when the plastic bags and rubber bands arrived, we tied each pair of shoes in rubber bands to bind them together, and we put 25 pairs of shoes in a bag. We completed this within an hour! Then we closed up shop and are waiting for the next delivery and bagging day. This first collection involved 15 volunteers, at least 15 hours of work, and collected 199 pairs of shoes valued at nearly $80. Thanks to all who donated shoes, or helped organize and bag them!

This Shoe Drive Challenge is still on-going through the end of October, so tell your friends, and search those closets for gently used shoes that you just don't wear anymore! :) Here's the sign-up for future donations and volunteering

Deliver Meals to Douglass Community

Plano West Rotary, worked with our RCC in the Douglass Community, to deliver meals, frozen & non-perishable, to 114 individual households in need of food donations.

We are serving this community bi-weekly through December 2020.

For this event, we had 50 volunteers and provided food from Minnie's valued at $26,280.

Way to go Plano West! :)

Nutritious Lunches for our Neighbors in Transition

During the month of August, Plano West continued our quarterly-ish service project of providing nutritious lunches to our neighbors in Plano who are experiencing homelessness.

It was a VERY HOT day, hitting 100 degrees F, so there was no surprise seeing a line for cold hearty lunches on Wednesday, August 12th at 11:15am. We had 13 volunteers who purchased and assembled 54 lunches containing 4oz-deli meat sandwiches, cold grapes, an orange, a breakfast bar, and cashews, as well as plenty of ice-cold waters to go around!

We also provided lots of supplies for the non-profit, Streetside Showers, who provides free showers at the same time as the lunches. Our volunteers provided the following types of items that were needed: razors, foot powder, deodorant, Q-tips, toothbrushes, soaps, sunglasses and wipes. Streetside Showers is always very appreciative of our supply donations, as well as the lunches.

If you want to help, we will collect food & supplies again, by November 17th, for delivery on the 18th at Streetside Showers in E. Plano on 18th street, behind the Assistance Center of Collin County, who help provide "people in crisis with information regarding agencies, non-profits and faith-based organizations to contact for assistance" and "help individuals and families with temporary financial assistance related to housing and utility payments to avoid eviction and/or utility disconnection".

Also, this lunch program was initiated and organized by Christ United Methodist Church in Plano, Texas, to serve those in need in our community.

How one pair of old shoes can change two communities

Please see the article titled "How one pair of old shoes can change two communities" in the Plano Star Courier, dated August 9, 2020, written by an upcoming prospective member of our Plano West Rotary, Carolyn Diaz. :)

https://starlocalmedia.com/planocourier/news/how-one-pair-of-old-shoes-can-change-two-communities/article_a3d76f26-d910-11ea-8f8c-37a6a4b436ac.html

A Little Fun...

Plano West Rotary has been growing by leaps & bounds, so here are a few more pictures from our back-to-school fair and meal delivery service project, focusing on pictures of our current, new and soon-to-be inducted club members! We are SO happy to have such wonderful, serving people in our club!

Our amazing president Alex & first lady Laura :) helping to share Plano West Rotary shirts with volunteers. They were also helping out all over the day's events (but this was the only time I could "catch" them to take a picture)

We now have 2 Freds in our club, and Saturday they dubbed themselves The Fred "Twins".

One of our newer members, James, shared some history with us about growing up in the Douglass Community.

Back-to-School Fair & Meal Donations

Plano West Rotary worked with PISD and Douglass Community leaders for this free community event providing Douglass Community students & their families with back-to-school resources and essentials necessary for a successful school year.

They received school supplies and information for transportation, as well as physical & mental health assistance programs, including immunizations, vision & COVID-19 tests. There were also booths available in this "drive-thru", "contactless", safe event where they could get important information about the Census 2020 and voting. Lastly, on the way out of the parking lot, they could choose to receive a box of food, with the help & partnership of Minnie's Food Pantry. Additional boxes of food were also delivered door to door to identified residents in the Douglass Community.

Now for some stats! :)

We had 48 volunteers serving a total of 136 people-hours on August 8th, providing 323 backpacks to students (a value of over $16,000) and 189 meals (valued over $11,000).

And, some great pictures of these amazing volunteers!

Plano West a Hometown Hero from Van Taylor

Congratulations to Plano West for making a difference in our community!

We have received congressional recognition by our very own United States Congressman, Van Taylor.

Keep up the good work!

Plano Magazine: Plano West Partnership Serves Douglass Community

Check out the article in Plano Magazine by Hunter Lacey on July 29th, titled:

Plano West Rotary Club Partnership Serves Douglass Community

http://planomagazine.com/plano-west-rotary-club-partnership-serves-douglass-community/

Delivering Meals to Families in Plano

After recently knocking on doors of all 225 homes in the Douglass Community to see if they wanted to fill out the Minnie's Food Pantry recipient form, this was the day that 142 boxes were delivered to over 70 households, by 23 volunteers. Meals can be delivered directly to homes when residents do not have access to transportation.

Collect Meal Delivery Forms in Douglass Community

Thanks to our 9 volunteers who worked a total of 18 hours to help collect food delivery forms in order for Douglass Community families to receive additional food from Minnie's Food Pantry.

The Douglass Community is a diverse, low-income community in Plano, TX with cultural and historical significance as a former Freedman town. Volunteers walked door-to-door to collect recipient forms from each family. The forms are necessary for delivery of meals from the food bank.

Plano West Rotary partnered with Rotary Community Corps of Plano Douglass Community, Plano Senior High School Interact Club, Plano Police Department and Minnie's Food Pantry.

July Adopt-A-Highway Clean-up

We were so lucky to get slightly cooler weather for our July trash clean-up! And, we had a great team of 8, and we were done in 1.5 hours total.

Thanks to all who signed up and helped clean up 8 bags of trash in our community!

Stuffing Backpacks for Back-to-School

Plano West Rotary Club, Rotary Community Corps of Plano Douglass Community, Plano Community Rotaract, Plano Senior High School Interact and Clark High School Interact all worked with Plano ISD Education Foundation to stuff backpacks for its Back to School Fairs.

The volunteer effort was so successful, that the program finished a week early. Now the backpacks are ready to go and many will be distributed at the Douglass Community Back-to-School Fair on August 8th, along with other assistance programs and information, to support our community of students as they head back to school!

Donated School Supplies for Douglass Community

Plano West Rotary & Rotary Community Corps (RCC) of Plano Douglass Community have partnered together to collect school supplies in partnership with Plano Independent School District Education Foundation.

Together Plano West & our partner RCC coordinated volunteers in providing 650+ backpack school supply items from 23 benefactors, totaling $4,317!

It's amazing what we can accomplish when we work together as a community!

1st Responder Rotary Blood Drive

Plano West supported our District 5810 Blood Drives the week of July 6-11 in Plano (at Harrington Library). We helped by inviting people to donate blood, assisting with any questions on-site, and/or donating blood. At least 3 Plano West members helped and at least 2 gave blood, so thank you!

Carter Blood Care is now checking for COVID-19 antibodies when you donate blood, in case donors can further support our community and save even more lives! Please go donate, if you can!!

The importance of communication in nursing homes

Please see the article titled "The importance of communication in nursing homes" in the Frisco Enterprise, dated June 26, 2020, written by an upcoming prospective member of our Plano West Rotary, Carolyn Diaz. :)

https://starlocalmedia.com/friscoenterprise/eedition/page-a03/page_c3ccc87c-975b-5605-919c-1d339c84168d.html

Gifts for Father's Day in Nursing Home

Thanks to our Plano West Members AND Community Volunteers for helping make Dad's Day special tomorrow!

Your generous donations will be given to 20 dads living alone in a nursing home in our community where there has been a strict lockdown since February. Items included, slippers, socks, chapstick, candy, potato chips, and puzzles & games.

The nursing home has the items, and will assemble goodie bags for these 20 dads! Thank you!

Teaching With Jamaica - Program & Donation

We really enjoyed seeing our friend, Donna Walsh, and her friend Patti, as they shared updates from Teaching With Jamaica this week! If you missed our meeting and are interested, the video link is below (thank you, Mr. President, Alex!)

Plano West loves supporting Teaching With Jamaica since they do a great job of teaching teachers in Jamaica and providing them with the skills, training & tools they cannot easily acquire locally, but are so helpful for teaching & learning! We were also very excited to present Teaching With Jamaica with a check for $1200, as they continue to support their teachers in Jamaica!

We learned that last year was their largest traveling team of teachers at 24! They held a 3-day conference for local Jamaican teachers, which was "sold out" at 160 registrants max - a few teachers even came each morning, hoping there would be room for them to jump in. After last year's successful trip, they came home to start preparing for this year's trip, but the pandemic threw a kink in their plans for travel. But, the good news is - they just had their first Zoom meeting with 23 Jamaican teachers last night, plus 6 US teachers, AND, they will be meeting every night this week!

Please stay tuned for more information from Teaching With Jamaica about how Plano West Rotary as well as other Rotary clubs and our community, can help support their efforts with a list of supplies they need, and a potential future service project!

And, for more information about Teaching With Jamaica, please find the link to their website on the left column of our website.

link to video of program:

https://youtu.be/BjtTltAhkkE

May Adopt-A-Highway Clean Up

Thanks to the 8 people who helped this month with Adopt-A-Highway trash pick-up! Plano West organizes this every other month, and we are assigned by the City of Plano to a stretch on Avenue K between Parker and Spring Creek Pkwy in East Plano.

We changed our path this time (for "safe distancing"), and half the team walked one direction, and the other half walked the other direction - hence two pics.

This was a great turn-out and our first clean-up during COVID-19...can you tell?

District 5810 Matching Grant for N Texas Food Bank

Thanks to matching grants from our Rotary District 5810, we were able to turn our $500 donation to North Texas Food Bank into a $1000 donation! Woohoo!

Today we delivered the 2nd half to NTFB. :)

Plano West Supports Those w Food & Homestead Insecurity (again!)

Thanks to Plano West AND our honorary members, the Wellness Center for Older Adults!

Together, we made a total of 44 lunches, and had a few extra cuties & waters that we also left with Streetside Showers. Some of our clients were there at 11:00am and thanked us for the food, as well as the Streetside Showers staff. I didn't collect detailed statistics on the supplies, but I think we donated a little bit of everything on their list. You can see their newly donated shower trailer in the background!

If you would like to know more about Streetside Showers and their mission to provide FREE showers (and lunches) to those without permanent homes, see their website:

https://streetsideshowers.com

Also, thanks again to those who also donated adult briefs to the Wellness Center for Older Adults! There are very appreciative of our donations, and 4 of their employees donated most of the sandwiches as well as other lunch items for this project, as well.

For more information on this organization that Plano West supports, please see their website and the many services they offer!

https://www.wellnesscenteronline.org

Donation to Veterans

Plano West Rotary was pleased to have Barry Jordan speak to our club this week on our Zoom meeting, sharing information about the various veterans organizations that Operation Veteran Support (OVS) researches and recommends for North Texas Rotary Clubs to donate. OVS focuses on organizations that provide at least 92 or 93% of donated funds directly to veterans (and not operations). Plano West will now research the recommended organizations, and donate $2137 in total, so STAY TUNED! Thank you, OVS!

Barron Elementary Donation

Plano West is SO pleased to donate $2700 to our favorite elementary school - Barron Elementary!

They have helped us make & serve funnel cakes at the Plano Balloon Festival for many years, so that we can earn money to donate to charities, education and other Rotary strategic focus areas. Thank you, Barron teachers!

Barron wanted to have a big check to show the school that the community (and Rotary) are supporting them, so, thanks to Steve L, we got them their own Big Check for the kids to see when they return to Barron!

Speaker Chief Stuart Blasingame from Prosper Fire & Rescue

We had an awesome Zoom turn-out (75% of our members!) to hear an amazing speaker, Chief Stuart Blasingame from Prosper Fire & Rescue, who updated us on the status of various points related to COVID-19 in Collin County and Plano, including availability of hospital beds & hospital staff (doing good here!) and other stats around cases, recoveries, etc.

He spoke very highly of our Plano Fire and Police, reminding us that they are world class. (but we knew that, right?)

We also received praises for his talk after the fact. One honorary member, Joy Hinkelman, from Wellness Center for Older Adults in Plano, said the following:

"All I can say is WOW! I have “attended” multiple Zoom sessions seeking a method of filtering and navigating the overwhelming data that is plaguing the media. The Chief’s presentation was by far the most informative and helpful session I have participated in. Chief’s message was absolutely impressive!!! I am very appreciative for the opportunity to hear his message today!"

Here is the link to the video presentation from Chief Blasingame: https://youtu.be/9V2CMcyKkUk

Also, here are some informative websites from Chief Blasingame regarding COVID-19:

https://experience.arcgis.com/experience/c00baf45f12a4899aae1c812e29d6cde
https://www.collincountytx.gov/healthcare_services/Pages/news.aspx
https://gis-covid19-dentoncounty.hub.arcgis.com/?fbclid=IwAR3sM_MTerRAVgB29OrnanK6rKrnXl9c8DMzN__HboipFrACdX3c4XtSN7I
https://gis-covid19-dentoncounty.hub.arcgis.com/pages/covid-19cases
https://coronavirus.jhu.edu/us-map

Plano West Supports ShelterBox!

Today, for our virtual Plano West Rotary Club meeting, we had Bruce Heller join us - he is a fellow Rotarian (Allen Sunrise) and a volunteer for ShelterBox.

He talked about the wonderful things ShelterBox is doing to help families when they have lost everything! They help people in areas of natural disaster as well as war zones, providing tents and other necessities for displaced families. They gave helped 3500 families worldwide this year!

Plano West is so pleased to present ShelterBox with a donation check for $2500!

Donation to N. Texas Food Bank for Food Insecurity

During this insecure time, we have neighbors who have increasing need for food. Our Plano West Benevolence Committee "met" to address an opportunity from our District 5810 for matching grants to support N. Texas Food Bank during this time, and both our Committee and our club Board approved reallocation of funding to donate $500 to the food bank, and we were also approved by the District for matching funds!! Yay!

April 27th, we gave the $500 check to N. Texas Food Bank, and next we will submit our final report to receive matching funds from the district, and then we can write ANOTHER check for $500!

Thanks to our club and to our Benevolence Committee!

Donation to N. Texas Food Bank

Congratulations, Plano West! One of our quarterly charity buckets last year for helping to address Hunger & Homelessness was recently donated to the N. Texas Food Bank (NTFB).

The amount was $236 and they told us that it would pay for over 700 meals!! The NTFB is able to take funds and get volume pricing on food, so our dollars can buy more food!

Proud to be a member of this club - serving our community weekly!

AAH Jan 2020

Great team for our January 2020 Adopt a Highway! Club members and Interacters!

Funds to Christmas Cops & Toys for Tots

This December, Plano West Rotary donated our raised funds from our funnel cake sales at the Snow Day at Willow Bend Mall. The funds were given to Christmas Cops and Toys for Tots. We raised funds totaling $1906 and split the funds evenly between the two organizations. We also had some members donate their time to Christmas Cops. Both organizations provide toys to children at Christmas time, plus Christmas Cops also provides many other household needs to families, including supplies for babies and food.

Christmas Cops:

Toys for Tots:

Adopt A Highway Clean Up

Well, we seem to be growing! :)

We had 11 volunteers this time for our highway clean-up, including lots of Interacters as well as Plano West members.

We do this every other month, so come join us next time! Thanks, everyone!

Honoring our Veterans

Plano East Rotary Club did an awesome job honoring our veterans with the Flags of Honor setup in Oak Park, and I particularly want to call out our own club member, Fred, who surveys the flags for setup every year - beautiful job, Fred! :)

Battle of the Branches

Posted on Nov 09, 2019

Funnel Cakes Fundraiser for Kids!

We did our first funnel cake fundraiser with Shops At Willow Bend's Snow Day event, and raised over $2000 to be shared between Toys for Tots and Christmas Cops for this holiday season - supporting kids at this important time of year!

Thanks to all who helped pull this event together, including our awesome volunteers!

Halloween Party & Veterans Fundraiser

Our annual Halloween Party & Fundraiser with sister-club North Texas Pioneers was a big success this year!

Thanks to everyone who donated wine, silent auction items, helped decorate, volunteered, and spent money - all to support our veterans!

We raised over $2000 combined, and each Rotary Club will donate their half to their chosen veterans organizations.

What an Awesome Plano Balloon Festival Funnel Cake Fundraiser!

Wow! So many thanks to Rotarians, Rotaract (young adults), Interact (high school), as well as some of the organizations Plano West Rotary supports including: Barron Elementary, Wellness Center for Older Adults (in Plano), and CRU, and other friends and family! It took a village to pull this together under the leadership of Mike W (thanks, Mike!) and we needed every single one of you, so THANK YOU! The proceeds will go to support charities and education, and we couldn't be happier about that! :)

Thanks Community Rotaract for helping with Adopt A Highway!

We had a great time, and helped to clean up Plano with our Adopt A Highway morning clean up. Thanks all!

All 6 Plano Rotary Clubs in the Plano July 4th Parade

We had a great turn-out of Rotary Clubs (all 6!) at the annual July 4th parade in Plano!

We gave out candy to kids, had our decorated Rotary float, a sign showing the local organizations Plano Clubs support and a bunch of corvettes, some of which had signs for the different Rotary clubs.

Plano West also had participation from the Interact and Rotaract Clubs we sponsor! Yay! We had the new president for our Clark High School Interact club - Arianna - as well as the new president - Vivi - and a couple members from our Community Rotaract Club! So glad to have the support from our young people!

Helping Allen Sunrise Sell Funnel Cakes

A core team of Plano Wester's, under the lead of Mike Walker, facilitated a Funnel Cakes fundraiser with Allen Sunrise at their annual July 4th celebration called Celebration USA. The goal was to load our equipment and consult, in exchange for some of their proceeds. Although a bad storm came through 1.5 hours into the event and lasted at a couple hours, we were STILL able to sell TONS of Funnel Cakes, with huge lines the minute we were up and running again. Although we may not make a whole lot of money from this first-time event, it was great to have some camaraderie and fellowship with another Rotary Club, led by Bruce Heller (our friend who works at ShelterBox).

Allen Sunrise's President-Elect and President, holding the tent from blowing away!

Other Allen Sunrise members, getting Funnel Cakes out the door ASAP (and still smiling!)

The Plano West team, Glen, Tim, Tim's friend Mickey, and Mike! They were cranking out lots of funnel cakes!

Makin' batter...

Making Sandwich Lunches for Homeless in Plano, again

Thank you, Plano Westers!

What a great turn-out to our club meeting where we packaged up hearty sandwiches and healthy snacks for folks in Plano who are experiencing homelessness right now. We made over 40 sandwiches - ham & turkey, with cheese - as well as bagging up some grapes, and pecans, as well as other snacks and waters. Thanks, also, to Daniel & Michelle who handed out the lunches the next day at the Assistance Center of Collin County, where we probably served over 25 people in need.

Thanks, again, to all! #PeopleOfAction

Plano Community Rotaract - In Action!

Plano West sponsors the ONLY community Rotaract Club in District 5810, and they made us proud at our recent District Assembly and Training meeting by having a table with information about their service projects, as well as a raffle to raise money for a wheelchair for a young man in Columbia with level 5 Cerebral Palsy. #PeopleOfAction

Plano West Loves Partnering with Barron Elementary!

Every year, Barron Elementary invites Plano West Rotary Club to come help them with their Field Day event for all the kids, and it's always lots of fun watching and helping the kids with their different challenge events.

Barron also invites us every year to have our lunch meeting in their library, where we sit and each with their Student Council, and get a tour of the school. These kids are SO amazing and smart, and we are excited for their futures! This year we were able to present them with some books for the kids to read over the summer and with a small financial donation ($600) to help out where they need it.

Clark HS Rocks at Interact's Spring Fling Event

Interact Spring Fling is an annual end-of-the-year celebration of what the District 5810 Interact Clubs have accomplished for the school year. The 58 Interact & 65 Rotary Clubs work together on 2 service projects while the Interact students play games and get honored for their achievements.

Clark High School won honors for both: Small Interact Club of the Year & Most Successful First Year Interact Club

There were 293 high school Interact students from all over District 5810 in attendance. The Puerto Rico School Supply Drive, that was a multi-club, multi-district International Service Project was a complete success! 500 Backpacks were collected and 2,102 pounds of school supplies! And, the Sock Drive collected 566 pairs of socks for the Samaritan Inn Homeless Shelter - What to go, Interact!!

And, we are proud of our club member, Alex Johnson, who is leading our young adults for our whole District as District Interact Chair! Way to go, Alex!

Thanks for a Successful Adoption Awareness Fair!

Our first Rotary Adoption Awareness Fair in Plano was a success - especially if you are basing it on smiles!

Thanks to our Plano West participants, as well as volunteers from Addison Rotary, Royse City Rotary, Dallas & eClub Rotary clubs, North Texas Pioneers, Plano Sunrise, Plano Club, Plano Metro, and additional friends & family members! We couldn't have done so well without all the help!

CPS invited 26 kiddos, 23 attended, and they invited 50 potential parents and about 40 attended. We will report any other statistics we may receive from CPS.

We had delicious hamburgers, hotdogs, tator tots and french fries, as well as snow cones, popcorn, waters and sodas. We also had crafts, games and virtual reality, plus candy and prizes for the kids. The pictures are limited since we cannot post pictures of any of the kiddos, but we saw many happy kids.

Here are a couple pictures with some of our Plano West'ers and some N. Texas Pioneers.

From Plano West club, we had Daniel, Rose, Don, Tom, John, Alex, Lisa, Michelle & Glen (almost 50% of our club!)

Helping Wellness Center Move In

Plano West Rotary was happy to assist our Wellness Center Honorary Members by helping them move in to their new offices this last Saturday. The new building is beautiful and their offices are right up front! Thanks to Mike, Don, Rose, Glen & Michelle from Plano West (sorry! forgot to take pictures!)

In this week's program, the Wellness Center will share about all their recent changes.

Barron Elementary - Chili Cook Off Judges

Plano West Rotary was excited to participate as some of the judges for the 2nd Annual Chili Cook-Off at Barron Elementary. There were 7 different chilis, including several beef, plus turkey, buffalo and two vegetarian chilis, one with Jack fruit! They were ALL delicious, but we could only pick one winner!

We love to support our favorite elementary school, and eating chili was just a bonus!

Valentine's Dinner & Food Donations for Cub Scouts

Thank you all for a wonderful Valentine's Dinner party! The company and the food were fabulous.

Congratulations to Diana for guessing the count & winning the jar of candy, and to Tom & Daniel for winning the Valentine's Trivia game.

Thank you, also, for all the food & monetary donations to support Cub Scout Food Donation to the North Texas Food Bank!

Daniel will be delivering the donations to our Cub Scouts ASAP.

Another Successful Adopt-A-Highway

Thank you to our Adopt-A-Hwy crew this month: Founder, Tom; friend of the Thornton's, Jeff; President's hubby, Glen; and newest member Alex, and his wonderful family! Y'all rock!

Plano West's 39th Anniversary Social

What a great time, and thanks to all who came to celebrate our 39th club anniversary, and to honor current member and founder, Tom Posey!

We had some delicious appetizers, enjoyed talking with one another, passed around some older pictures and club bulletins, and heard some stories from our club's history.

What a Great Day to be a Rotarian!

Making & Delivering Sandwiches for Homeless in Plano

Thank you, Plano Westers!

Almost the WHOLE club (17 out of 21, I think) showed up at this Tuesday's meeting to make sandwiches and pack other lunch items to help provide for those experiencing homelessness in Plano - woohoo!! I only wish we remembered to take a picture of our service together.

We made a total of 44 sandwiches (ham and turkey), bagged up 21 baggies of cashews and 19 baggies of grapes, as well as providing 35 waters (left over from Plano Balloon Festival) and also 15 bananas and 48 nutrigrain bars!

Thanks to Don and Rose who helped distribute the food at the Assistance Center of Colllin County, on 18th street, about 3 buildings down from Chuck's place. We probably served about 25 to 30 people. Another couple brought soup, and there were also some clothing items there for the taking. The recipients were very appreciative and really seemed to enjoy the food choices we brought. Thanks, again, to all!

3rd Quarter Charity Bucket donations

Our 3rd Quarter Charity Bucket donations will support Food Donations & Homelessness!

Your contributions will go to good causes.

For example, we are making & delivering sandwiches for homeless in Plano on Jan 22nd, and we will also save up to support our new Sam's Gift initiative with all Plano Rotary Clubs in June (which started last year, honoring Sam Johnson).

Holiday Blood Drive 2018

Posted on Dec 12, 2018

Our Interact Club in Service!

Our new Clark High School Interact Club is going strong!

They meet every couple of weeks (please see calendar for upcoming meetings - Plano West members can attend!) during block lunch. This week, Steve, Alex & Michelle attended the meeting where they were making school signs to sell pecans & collect coats for people in need.

They are collecting coats for the All-Plano Rotary Clubs Coat Drive where we bring them to the Christmas/Holiday Party (this year it's Dec 6th) at Haggard Party Barn, and the Christmas Cops representatives are there to collect them from Rotarians. Coats collected after Dec. 6th will be delivered to Christmas Cops organization. Thank you Clark HS Interact for your support!

Plano West's Board also offered our Interact Club (and Rotaract Club) the opportunity to sell our pecans and collect $2/bag for the charity of their own choosing (rather than the funds going to scholarships, like our pecan proceeds).

Clark HS Interact is selling pecans to support victims of hurricanes.

We are so proud of their "Service Above Self"!

Pecans Are In !!

Our pecans are in earlier this year!

Some have already been distributed to Hirsch's Meat Market in Plano, as well as Southern Maid and the Collin County Clerk's office.

We will have them next Tuesday at the meeting, so you can take some home with you, and find other places where they will help sell them for us! The 14 oz. bags are $10.00 and our profits will go to scholarships for Plano seniors in high school, same as usual.

World Polio Day, Oct 24

We had a nice cozy World Polio Day event yesterday, despite the rain!

So far, Rotary has contributed more than $1.8 billion to the Global Polio Eradication Initiative. https://www.endpolio.org

I believe we had representation from at least 4 Plano Rotary Clubs: Plano West, North Texas Pioneers, Sunrise and Plano Metro....and a couple people from a Dallas club (don't recall which one!).

And, I have to give a shout-out mainly to Vivi from our sponsored Community Rotaract Club who used her cellphone to provide sound to our live stream Polio video, but also to Daniel, Glen and John who all helped make it work, so we could watch together!

Thanks to John & Greek Isles for donating 10% of food & drink proceeds to End Polio, and for letting us "sneak peek" the Ghost - his specialty drink for our Halloween Party next week! Halloween Party Details

First Clark HS Interact Meeting!

Julia, president of Plano West's first Interact Club (at Clark HS), did a great job sharing information about Rotary and Interact to other students at Clark HS! There were up to 14 people at the meeting, as well as Mike & Michelle from Plano West. Julia had some great ideas and goals for this club, including 1 community service project each month & 1 international service project each quarter. The club expects to meet at lunch every 2 weeks.

Also, Vig, our Rotaracts Club's president, did a great job as the speaker at Julia's first club meeting. He is a former RYLA student as well as Rotary Youth Exchange (RYE) student, and that's what he talked about. He shared how RYE works as well as his experiences in Taiwan and showed off is RYE blazer with all the pins he exchanged with other RYE students.

Adopt a Highway for October

Thanks to those who were able to help us clean up our Adopt-A-Highway stretch in east Plano this past Saturday! We had three from Plano West Rotary, 1 from our new Interact Club at Clark HS, and 1 from our Rotaract Club! We really appreciate the help!

Annual Interact Summit

Interact Summit 2018

What a great Summit, totally planned by our 5810 youth!	Plano West president with the 5810 Interact Chair & Plano West's new Clark HS Interact Club president
There were various Rotary tables in the hall for Interactors to get more information. The Rotaract info table just happened to have Plano West's awesome Plano Community Rotaract Club members!	The Interactors planned a Refugee Care Package service project as well as this Peanut Butter collection for North Texas Food Bank. The goal was over 1000 pounds of peanut butter and they BEAT the goal with 1,312 pounds of peanut butter, loaded with the help of Plano West, and delivered by Glen to the NTFB Monday after the event.

Lunch & Tour with Fire Station #12 B

Our Pictures with Fire Station #12

We had a great turnout for our lunch & tour of Fire Station #12 B - Thank you to all who came!

Plano West, with great support from our sister club North Texas Pioneers, enjoyed Greek Isles lunch together with Fire Station #12 in the bay, said the pledge of allegiance, presented them with an official Texas state flag from House of Representatives rep Jeff Leach, and got a tour of the site.

About half way through our tour, they showed us a beautiful handcrafted table made from wood salvaged from various fires they fought. Right after that, about half of the on duty team was dispatched on a call. Not 10 minutes later, the rest of the team was also dispatched, and we watched them take off in the fire engine!

Our speaker from North Texas Food Bank

This week's program was Jeffrey from the North Texas Food Bank, sharing what's new and the Grand Opening of their new building in Plano on Sept 16th. Afterwards, we presented our speaker with a Certificate of Appreciation acknowledging a $10 donation in his name to the PolioPlus Fund. With the 2 to 1 matching funds from The Bill & Melinda Gate Foundation, this donation provides a Polio vaccine for about 50 children!

#EndPolio

Great time packaging food for Send Hope children

Plano West #PeopleOfAction listened to a program about Send Hope (http://www.send-hope.org) and how they are improving the lives of children in Honduras with education, medical attention and packaged nutritional food. Afterwards, we donated funds and packaged food for these children and families.

We packaged 1,080 meals in about 30-40 minutes! That will feed 3 children for 1 year!!

Successful Adopt-A-Hwy this morning!

Thanks to our team of 6 who were up and out at 7:30am on a Saturday to help make Plano, Texas beautiful!

#PeopleOfAction

Charity Bucket for July - September

Our Charity Bucket will go towards books for our sponsor school, Barron.

You may also buy and bring books - see left column for book list links, by grade.

July 4th Parade - Rotary Clubs of Plano participation

Plano West bought candy that all Rotary Clubs handed out to kids during the parade.

Here are pics of our decorated Plano Clubs float, and Plano West Rotary signage on a Corvette Club car!

Rotary International Convention in Toronto June 23-27

A princess, 3 prime ministers, and a former first lady join 25,000 in Toronto to celebrate Rotary’s good work and plan more of it!

See link for convention videos:

https://www.rotary.org/en/2018-convention-wraps#page-content

Plano West Luncheon at Barron

Plano West Rotary club had our 9th annual meeting at Barron Elementary. The 5th Grade Student Council entertained us and showed us around.

Barron Elementary - Color Run

Plano West Rotary helping out with Barron's first ever COLOR RUN!!!!

PWRC - What We Do

Adopt a Highway

Valentine Dinner 2018!

Journey of Hope - dinner

This is the Plano West crew that served dinner to Journey of Hope on Nov 7th.!!

Greek Isles for providing the meal!

The Nutts are in:

Posted by Daniel Long

As always it is time to get your 2017 Pecans for the up coming Holidays.

Two of the great location that will have a good supply are:

Greek Isle, 3309 N. Central Expwy #370, Plano, TX 75023

AND

Southern Maid Donuts, 2492 Ave. "K", Plano, TX 75074

Happy Hour 24Oct2017

PWRC - Hurricane Harvey

Plano West donated $500 for food and supplies for victims of Hurricane Harvey.

Interact / Rotoract Leadership Summit

Great turnout on Saturday, Sept 30th for this year's Interact / Rotoract Leadership summit!

Funnel Cakes 2017

The Bemenderfer Crew getting ready for the Saturday night crowd! We sold a gazillion funnel cakes! All proceeds going to our charities!

Plano clubs and Hurricane Harvey

Here is a shot of the bus that went to Houston to deliver goods to those in need after the hurricane, from the clubs in Plano Texas

PWRC - Hurricane Harvey Support

Plano West Rotary jumped in to support those in need in the Houston area. Here is a picture of the goods we purchased for $500 to go towards helping those in need after the devastation of Hurricane Harvey.

Camp RYLA 2017

This year's camp RYLA was a huge success! Plano West sponsored four great future-leaders to attend this great event. They will be speaking on October 10th at our normal club meeting to tell us all about it!

Our 2017 - 2018 Rotary Logo

Posted by Daniel Long on Jul 25, 2017

Plano Battle of the Badges Blood Drive

Posted on Jul 04, 2017

End of Rotary Year News Letter

Posted on Jul 01, 2017

https://online.flippingbook.com/view/326424/

This is the last of the Rotary District News Letters from Rotary Year 2016 - 2017

As today starts a new Rotary Year 2017 - 2018

What a great "RIDE" - Thanks to all that worked to make it GREAT

Money to help SO many

Plano West 2017 donations

CRU $1,400.00

Wellness Ctr. $1,000.00

OVS $1,000.00

Strengthening Families $1,000.00

Barron El. School $1,500.00

Total Local $5,900.00

Shelter Box $1,000.00

Teaching w/Jamaica $1,000.00

Total International $2,000.00

Club Donation PH $1,000.00

Scouts Account $250.00

GRAND Total 2017 $9,150.00

Rotary 5810 FUN photos

Photos of a FUN Rotary event.

https://goo.gl/photos/PQu98HWLteqAr8aw9

More great Photos of the past Rotary year

https://goo.gl/photos/SyFd2UFw9fCsaqa28

Barron Games

Plano West Rotary made some fun games for Barron's upcoming Carnival last Saturday! YAYY!!!

Field Trip

trip to Collin Courthouse

Road trip to Collin County Courthouse!

Valentine / Mardi Gras Dinner

Plano Community Rotaract Club

Posted by Daniel Long

The Plano West Rotary Club - Is very happy to sponsor a great group of young people, working for the good of the world. Photo taken 4Feb2017 at Rotary/S.M.U. Plano campus at the 4th Peace Symposium - this year The Human Rights Symposium with over 200 of the area young people.

Merry Christmas

Happy Thanksgiving Day

ALL 5 Rotary clubs in Plano

Posted on Nov 05, 2016

October Party Time

Plano Balloon Festival

Posted on Sep 23, 2016

Fly High at the Plano Balloon Festival – Sep. 23 – 25, 2016

September 9, 2016

This year mark’s 37 years of Ballooning in Plano, Texas. Join in the Celebration at the InTouch Credit Union Plano Balloon Festival weekend, a spectacular three-day event beginning at 4:00pm Friday, September 23rd at Oak Point Park, 2801 E. Spring Creek Parkway, Plano, TX 75074.

The weekend event offers something for everyone; entertainment on the FOX 4 community stage and KLUV main stage, Saturday evening spectacular fireworks show, special kids activities, sky divers, an enormous variety of food to tempt your taste buds, merchandise and handmade products showcased, and of course the incredible hot air balloons. The balloons will launch Friday at 6:00pm, Saturday at 7:00am and 6:00pm, and Sunday at 7:00am and 6:00pm (weather permitting).

The major draw for this Balloon Festival will be the 45 magnificent, colorful, hot air balloons. Fun for all ages, are the Special Shapes that attend the festival. The featured Special Shapes that will be participating this year include: Joelly the Baby Bee, Betty Jean the Butterfly, Flying Purple People Eater, Pepe, Baby Dino, Bimbo Bear, High Diddle Diddle, Peg Leg Pete the Pirate Parrot, and the always popular High Jack.

For the adventurous, the RE/MAX parachute team will perform Friday, Saturday, and Sunday afternoons at 5:30pm by jumping from their plane over the park and landing right in the middle of the launch field.

Saturday evening catch the BOOM, BANG, and SIGHT of the spectacular Fireworks presented by Bimbo. The Festival fireworks show is custom designed and orchestrated by Pyrotex providing an amazing array of colors in the night sky.

Enjoy the fun and interactive inflatable rides this year. Race through the obstacle courses, zip down the huge slides, ride the pirate ship or the berry-go-round. Be sure to check out the “Toddler Zone.” Designed with young toddlers in mind, they can experience the fun of inflatables that are just their size. Children can enjoy the creative make and take art activities in our FREE Kids Korner as they make their way through the different craft stations. Get your Face Painted and explore music at the Plano Symphony Orchestra Instrument Area.

Friday and Saturday evenings, some of the balloons will provide a breathtaking sight as they inflate and glow after it gets dark. The glows are a must see!

Thank a Cop

On Monday, August 8th, members of Plano West Rotary and North Texas Pioneers Rotary presented the Plano Police Department with this banner.

Send Hope packing day

Last Saturday, Plano West Rotary and Plano North Texas Pioneers Rotary met at Greek Isles to pack food for Project Send Hope. These packets will be sent to Honduras as part of the Send Hope Organization.

Kids Against Hunger!

Backing the BLUE

Posted by Past President Daniel Long for the Dallas Rotary Club

Dear Rotarians,

To say that we are saddened by the tragedy that unfolded on Thursday night does not begin to express the many emotions we are feeling today. Our thoughts and prayers are with the families of our fallen officers, the injured, the entire DPD and Chief Brown, the DART police force and DART Chief J.D. Spiller, and our entire city.

We wholeheartedly support Chief Brown and his officers. The efforts they have made in the area of community engagement are to be commended and their programs are models for other police departments. By all accounts, the protest Thursday was peaceful and our officers treated the protesters with respect and dignity, which makes the outcome all the more tragic.

If, like many in Dallas, you are wondering what you can do to help, we have some suggestions for you:

If you would like to donate to help the families of the fallen officers, the DPD has directed us to the Assist an Officer Foundation. You can mail a check to the foundation at 1412 Griffin St. East, Dallas, TX 75215 OR donate directly by going to https://atodallas.org/donate.

If you see a police officer, thank them! Buy them a meal; deliver cookies to a police substation in your neighborhood; give out Starbucks gift cards; write a supportive note or letter. We have seen how those gestures are so appreciated.

The Rotary Club of Dallas, in partnership with the police support group Safer Dallas Better Dallas, is having banners made to show visible, tangible support for our officers. This is something Chief Brown has requested from the public. The banner is shown at the top of this letter and the cost of the banner is $75/each. If you would like to order banners for display, please contact Barbara Daniel at barhdaniel@aol.com for more information. If you would like to change the Rotary logo to reflect your own personal club, there will be an additional art fee on top of the cost of the banner. We suggest that each Club purchase the banners to distribute to elementary Schools in their area.

The Rotary Club of Dallas is holding a golf tournament on Monday, September 12th, with half of the proceeds going to benefit the Dallas Police Department. If you would like information on how to participate in our golf tournament, please go to our web site to see options for sponsorship: https://www.rotary.org/golftournment.

Thank you for your continued support of the Dallas Police Department.

Yours in Service,

Michael Perry John Forest

President, The Rotary Club of Dallas Chairman, Safer Dallas Better Dallas Committee

Plano July 4th Parade

The Five Rotary Clubs of Plano participated in this year's Plano July 4th PARADE!!!!

2017 District Conf & Cruise

Rotary District 5810 Service Cruise

Posted by Happy Franklin

on Jun 05, 2016

Please make plans now to join DGE Bill Dendy and Rotarians from Texas on a 7 night Caribbean cruise!

We are already taking reservations, with the best cabins (and potential upgrades!) going to those who reserve and make full payment first.

Please invite your friends and family to join in on this once in a lifetime adventure!

Cruise Itinerary on “Liberty of the Seas” Ship

DAY	DATE	PORT	ARRIVE	DEPART
Sun	23 April 2017	Leave from Galveston, TX		4:30 PM
Mon	24 April 2017	At Sea (Conference)
Tue	25 April 2017	Cozumel, Mexico (Service Day)	7:00 AM	4:00 PM
Wed	26 April 2017	George Town, Grand Cayman	10:30 AM	6:00 PM
Thurs	27 April 2017	Falmouth, Jamaica (Service Day)	8:00 AM	5:00 PM
Fri	28 April 2017	At Sea (Conference)
Sat	29 April 2017	At Sea
Sun	30 April 2017	Galveston, TX	7:00 AM

To book a cabin, please contact Kim Montgomery at 214-239-4715 or to send her an email, please click here.

For non-booking related cruise questions, please contact District Conference Chair Happy Franklin, by clicking here.

To access the PDF registration form. Please click here.

Cabin Selections Rates are Per Person; Based on Double Occupancy Tour Rate Taxes + Fees Total Fare Opt. Insurance
Inside Cabin ( Category M)	$ 489.00 $100.40 $ 589.40 X 2 = 1178.80 $29.00 pp
Outside Cabin (Category I)	$ 569.00 $100.40 $ 669.40 X 2 = 1338.80 $59.00 pp
Outside Cabin (Category H)	$ 569.00 $100.40 $ 669.40 X 2 = 1338.80 $59.00 pp
Balcony (Category D3)	$ 799.00 $100.40 $ 899.40 X 2 = 1798.80 $59.00 pp
Suite (Category JS)	$ 1189.00 $ 100.40 $ 1289.40 X 2 = 2578.80 $89.00 pp
Reservation Deposit Amount	$ 250.00
Optional Prepaid Gratuities	$94.50 per person

- See more at:

DG Bill Dendy & Jeff Crilley

https://www.youtube.com/audio?video_referrer=watch&v=izY_mlpiw7Q

Plano West Rotary Club Party

New Rotary Theme 2016-2017

Just out at the DG training - International Assembly

Pecans

From all of us to all of you 2015

Tue. 24Nov2015

Please remember that we DO NOT have a meeting on Tue. 24Nov2015 - as that is the Thanksgiving week and many are very busy or out of town - From all of us at Plano West Rotary Club, have a safe and blessed Holliday with your love ones, and please come to the next club meeting on Thu. 01Dec2015.

End of Polio

Posted on Oct 23, 2015

Thanks to all of the friends and members of many Rotary clubs in district 5810, for Celebrating Rotary’s World Polio Health Day, with us at Plano West Rotary & Greek Isle. Thanks to the local chair of this event Lynne McNamee, PDG, Charles (Bud) McBrayer & wife Peg, DG, Larry Webb and so many other Rotary members. A percent of all money raised with this event will be given to the Rotary Foundation to help with the eradication of Polio.

Time to cook

It's time !!!

This is our time to shine!

Come out and make this year's big fundraiser the best ever!!!

ALL club Rotary Happy Hour

Rotary 4th of July

Freedom All Club Luncheon

Installation Dinner 2015

Club service

Plano West Rotary Club is now accepting donations of your old glasses, including prescription, reading, protective goggles, and sunglasses. These will be donated to a local non-profit eye clinic team where they will be given to someone who does not have access to eye care and glasses. Please bring your glasses to our meeting at Greek Isles and place them in the provided box. Thank you for leveraging this simple service to help others!

Adoption Awareness 2015

Last year many of our club members took part in the Adoption Awareness Carnival 2014. We had a FUN day and helped to get many young people adopted into a new home. We all must complete ALL of the forms for CPS or we can NOT get into the event. GO TO: Rotary5810.org (can be found bottom right of our Club Runner home page). UNDER: Up Coming Events, look for Adoption Awareness , Click on Registration and enter your information. Below the Registration link, Down Load ALL four (4) forms listed as Attachments. MUST have a set of forms for each and every person that will volunteer. Complete all of the forms and give, send, or E-mail to me OR, PDG, Linda Elliott. The dead-line for the forms is Wed. 14Jan2015 - so that we will have time to get them back to us. If you have kids or grand kids YOU will love this event.

Board Meeting this Tuesday!

PWRC,

We will be having our monthly board meeting this Tuesday, Feb 17th, at 10:30 at Greek Isles. All are welcome!

Valentine & Anniversary Dinner

Plano West Facebook

As a member of Rotary - go to https://www.facebook.com/PlanoWestRotaryClub and be a friend to all of us at Plano West Rotary in Plano, TX

Find out more about "Did You Know" ??

Did you know??...

Little known facts and tidbits about our Club.

For example:

Did you know... that we are coming up on our 35th anniversary? Yes, Jan 29th, will be 35 years since Plano West Rotary was chartered.

Holiday Rotary Party

Plano West Rotary 2014 Christmas Party

RI Polio Day

Party with Plano West

Come to a great Party with Plano West Rotary Club - on 30Oct2014, 6:30pm (see all the fun on this page) AND you can party with the kids on 31Oct2014.

Great week-end

What a GREAT Week-End and Funnel Cake Booth/s that we had - your leader will report all about it if you were not working with so many of us.

This is a note to let all of you know that we are now LIVE with the NEW Club Runner Ver-3 - If any of you have any problems with the new software, please call or E-mail me (Daniel) or Glen, and we will work with you and this new system. Hope to see all of you on Tue. 30Sep2014, when President, Glen will show all of us how to work this page & our on-line dues payments.

support

Using the funds we get from our annual Plano Balloon Festival, Plano West Rotary is Proud to Support these Organizations for 2016 - 2017

Barron Elementary School,

CRU Plano

The Wellness Center for Older Adults,

Operation Veterans Support,

Shelter Box,

Strengthening Families of North Texas,

Teaching with Jamaica,

Send Hope,

Thanks to all of the hard work from members & friends, the Plano West Rotary Club is happy to Support the names above for this Rotary year. 2016 - 2017

? are you ready ?

Posted by Daniel Long

It is time for the BIG week-end, hope to see all of you out at the great event.

Club Board meeting

Posted by Daniel Long

Plano West Rotary Club's board of directors business meeting this week Sep. 16 at 10:30am and remember it is a makeup meeting for all club members.

Balloon Time

Posted by Daniel Long

Save the dates; September 19, 20 & 21th - sign up to help our club with this years big event.

Rotarian

Posted by Daniel Long

I have often been asked - "What is Rotary" and like a lot of people I sometimes have trouble describing Rotary in a few words. A fellow Rotarian shared this with me today and I think it says it better than I ever have - "Rotary is a global service organization dedicated to improving lives and communities across the globe. Along the way, the members develop lifelong friends and social contacts."

If you aren't a Rotarian now, you should be.

The above is a copy, from PDG, Ean Sullivan on FaceBook

Honoring and Remembering - 2014

The 5 Rotary Clubs in Plano have joined forces to host the second annual Honoring and Remembering 9/11 event. Last year’s event was quiet a success with over 300 attendees and not a dry eye in the house. This year we have engaged two retired NYPD officers to be our speakers; their stories will be very interesting I am sure. The purpose of the event is multi fold: to remember and thus never forget the events of 9/11 (the speakers), to honor first responders and survivors (honor the speakers with a Paul Harris Fellow), to provide community awareness of what Rotary does for our community and to raise a little money (hopefully) for Polio Plus.

I am sure you are aware of the debilitating effects of Polio and how it attacks children. We are but a plane ride from one of the remaining epidemic countries away from an outbreak in the US. As you should know, Polio Plus is the charity of choice of our District Governor’s spouse for the second year in a row.

Payment by Sept 1 is requested. You may go to www.HonoringAndRemembering.com and pay with credit card via paypal or mail your check (preferred) to: Plano Sunrise Rotary 9/11, PO Box 861165, Plano TX 75086-1165

Plano Balloon Festival

Posted by Glen Thornton

Please mark your calendars for Sept 19 - 21 for this years Funnel Cake extravaganza

I think this year's event will take the cake, and I'm not just powered sugar coating that statement!

What, you haven't signed up yet!! Mike Walker can fix that for you

New Rotary Video

Posted by Daniel Long

https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=1410239045904673

Barron Elementary School

Plano West Rotary is PROUD to support Barron Elementary School in Plano

Plano West donated to ShelterBox

Posted by Daniel Long

Please note; below is re-posted from RI web-page

ShelterBox Response Teams delivering aid in the Philippines following major typhoon

November 14, 2013

With the help of our supporters, including Rotarians, clubs and districts, we are working to immediately assist more than 4,000 families affected by Super Typhoon Haiyan. This typhoon was the biggest storm to ever reach landfall, destroying buildings, wiping out villages, and has reportedly caused thousands of fatalities.

Our response teams were on the ground during the storm and began conducting assessments immediately following its passing. Thankfully, we had emergency supplies prepositioned in the Philippines that were utilized immediately. But now, more are needed.

Recently, warehouse volunteers rallied to our international headquarters to pack ShelterBoxes and prepare other supplies that will be sent immediately to help families displaced by the storm.

Learn more about the aid we are providing as explained on CNN.

"Every day that goes past, we realize more and more the real significance of this disaster and the areas of devastation are becoming more and more apparent," said ShelterBox Response Team volunteer, Mark Curnow.

Rotarians ... are serving on our ShelterBox Response Team on the ground. ShelterBox could not carry out this important work around the globe without the support of its donors. Watch this video to learn more about our response.

Election 2013

Posted by Daniel Long

Plano West Rotary Club meeting of 26Nov2013,

With a quorum of 10 members needed and a member count of 16, we had our officers election for the Rotary year 2014-2015. With so many qualified members in our club we are pleased to announce the officers for the next Rotary year as; President, Glen Thornton – President-Elect, Daniel Long – Secretary, Don Mellor & Treasurer, Ryan Yowell. We are also happy to have as the chairperson for the Benevolence community, Helen Macey and first member Lisa Leach. We did also have some write-ins and a member of the Executive Board will be talking to you about one of the many positions within the club, as we need for everyone to work to keep the Plano West Rotary Club the great club that it is and has been for many years.

Please remember the Holidays, be safe and have a great time with your love ones.

Please sale PECANS and let Vincent or me know if you need more.

Please check your emails this week, as I will be sending out a copy of what the Board of Directors has approved as a new Plano West Rotary Club, By-laws. Please remember that our by-laws are a work in progress and as time and the club makes any changes so will our by-laws. We will vote on the new by-laws at the next club meeting on 3Dec2013. Vote per By-laws on file as of July 1995.

https://www.facebook.com/PlanoWestRotaryClub PLEASE like us on our Face Book page.

What time is it?

It's PECAN time !!!

the pecans are HERE, the pecans are HERE, the pecans are HERE...

See Vince for details!!

Gayle Anderson and Small Miracle Foundation

Today, Plano West Rotary Club, presented a check to Gayle Anderson on behalf of Small Miracle Foundation, which helps provide child care for parents going through cancer treatment. This is a great organization and we are proud to support them!

RYLA club

Posted by Daniel Long

Plano West meeting of 16Jul2013, was honored to have our young RYLA campers, Spencer, Ben, Weston & Kayla and two of the past RYLA campers that are now counselors at RYLA Camp, Mr./Mrs. Egger (Jeff & Becca). We were given some great reports as to how RYLA has made a big impression on all of their lives for now and for their future. We were also lucky to have three visiting Plano Rotary Club members, Andy Sayers, Hubert Aaron, and Brad Keith. Thanks to all for a great meeting and please come back soon.

Our Presidents!

2012/2013 President Lisa Leach pinning 2013/2014 President John Kostas!!!

Plano Solar Advocates

See the following from Matt Lagos, of Plano Sunrise, and a member of Plano Solar Advocates

I am part of grassroots group called Plano Solar Advocates (PSA) and we just launched a new initiative called Solarize Plano. This pilot program provides group purchase discounts for Plano residents interested in adding solar for their energy needs. We are getting into the hot summer months so I know many residents will be looking for ways to save money off their high electricity bills.

Any questions can be directed to Larry Howe, PSA President, at planosolar@gmail.com or by calling 972-468-1485.

Please see more at: http://www.planosolar.org/

Help Plano West support tPwo additional RYLA students this year!

Posted by Glen Thornton

Plano West Rotary's award to Kayla Stovall,

Award given to Kayla Stovall from Plano West Rotary Club's President, Lisa Leach, for starting Plano West High School's first Interact Club. Great job!

Did You Know?

Have a question about some of the rotary terminology? check out this list... (click below)

Interact Summit 2018

Our Pictures with Fire Station #12

Rotary District 5810 Service Cruise

Cabin Selections Rates are Per Person; Based on Double Occupancy