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Posted on Sep 17, 2021
For many years, Plano West Rotary Club (PWRC) member Chuck Spence has allowed our club to use his Downtown Plano property as storage space, free of rent. We store our funnel cakes trailer and supplies there, as well as utilize the property for occasional service projects, such as the organizing the shoes donated for the shoe drives. Club member Glen Thornton noticed that some minor repairs were needed at the property, so he gathered fellow Rotarians Mike Walker and Christina Todd to help tackle the problem. On a Saturday morning, the volunteers spent a total of 4.5 hours repairing a broken gate leading into Chuck’s property, as well as cutting up and moving fallen tree limbs. This donated storage space saves the club an estimated $2,000 on rent per year. This impromptu service project is just one small way our club can repay Chuck for his generosity, as well as protect our environment, which is one of Rotary’s Areas of Focus. The clean-up and repairs also allow our club to efficiently continue our shoe drive project and get ready for future funnel cake needs. “He’s one of the many unsung heroes of the club,” PWRC President Alex Johnson said of Chuck, who has provided this service behind the scenes for years with no desire for any type of recognition. “It’s a perfect example of Service Above Self,” said Alex. Once again, members of Plano West Rotary Club demonstrate that we are all in this together.
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Sept. 4 Clean-Up and Repair Project Shows Gratitude for Generous Club Member
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Jennifer Shertzer
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2021-09-17 05:00:00Z |
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Clean-Up,Funnel Cakes,Trailer |
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Posted on Sep 10, 2021
On Aug. 14, Plano West Rotary Club (PWRC) wrapped up a five-month-long project to help spread flyers with information about the COVID-19 vaccine to our Spanish-speaking neighbors in Plano. Lower vaccination rates in this underserved community led staff at the City of Plano to believe that this population was not receiving timely information in their native language, or may not have had access to the internet or other communications. Beginning April 17 and continuing twice a month for a total of 10 Saturdays, club members and non-Rotarian volunteers went out distributing flyers from door to door in neighborhoods and apartment complexes that the City of Plano had identified as having majority Hispanic families. The flyers contained helpful information about COVID-19 and the vaccine in both Spanish and English. Volunteers were not there to persuade people to become vaccinated, only to provide the resources needed to make an informed decision about getting vaccinated and helping curb the spread of the virus. This project was completed in partnership with the City of Plano, with Plano West Rotary leading the efforts to get North Texans educated about the vaccine. By the conclusion of the service project, 40 apartment complexes and three different neighborhoods had been reached, for a total of 6,570 homes to receive the flyers. The flyers donated by the City of Plano were valued at $525, and 340 hours of labor were donated by our volunteers for the betterment of the Plano community. Data provided by the City of Plano shows that in the zip codes our club targeted, vaccination rates continue to increase. Antonio Harris, Bruce Mang and Mehr Hakim were the leaders of this service project, which is remarkable as all three are young college students, while the average Rotarian is middle-aged. PWRC President Alex Johnson believes these youth are learning and applying skills they will use their entire lives by meeting and working with our civic leaders. “I think it’s important for Rotary to provide leadership opportunities for young adults. How many young adults make impactful change in the community from a leadership role?” Alex said. Helping educate citizens on how to reduce the spread of COVID-19 is part of Rotary’s Area of Focus on fighting disease. These efforts go hand-in-hand with Rotary’s decades of work to eradicate polio through vaccination. Though this project has concluded, Rotarians and non-Rotarians are invited to sign up here for future service projects to continue bettering our Plano community.
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COVID-Awareness Block-Walking Helped Increase Vaccination Rates in Plano’s Spanish-Speaking Community
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Jennifer Shertzer
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2021-09-10 05:00:00Z |
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COVID-19 |
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Posted on Aug 23, 2021
A healthier and better educated population leads to growth in local economies. And this can begin with something as simple as a free, healthy lunch. This summer Plano West Rotary Club (PWRC) was a proud to be a partner in the school district’s Summer Curbside Meals program. The program provides boxes of healthy food items, as well as nutritional information and recipes, to Plano ISD students and their siblings throughout the summer, free of charge. Plano ISD Food and Nutritional Services (FANS) works within the state of Texas Agricultural Department to provide these meals under the direction and funding of the USDA. Many students who normally rely on their campus to feed them breakfast and lunch may find themselves hungry when school is out for the summer. By providing for the nutritional needs of these students from June through August, Plano West Rotary Club and Plano ISD are helping to ensure these kids better health. Additionally, receiving these meals free of charge enables families to reallocate those dollars saved towards other living expenses. The summer project’s leads were club members James Thomas and Katherine Goodwin. James is a Plano ISD employee who has continually worked as a conduit between our club and the ISD for the past year, and he assisted this project with scheduling, campus coordination and Plano ISD-specific issues. Katherine has a strong background in PTA and took on managing the large number of volunteers needed to carry out this project. Every Tuesday of this summer, from June 1 to Aug. 3, our club members and non-Rotarian volunteers helped staff morning and afternoon meal distributions at three campuses across our city – Bowman Middle School, Clark High School and Shepton High School. That is 60 unique volunteering opportunities that the club had to recruit volunteers for and help oversee! Plano ISD provides FANS staff to distribute the meals, but during the school year, there were teachers and other school staff to assist them with the drive-through distributions. However, during the summer there were no other school personnel available to assist. Our volunteers at Summer Curbside Meals could be trusted to stand out in the hot sun and service the cars in the drive-through while FANS staff packaged meals in the kitchens where food handling certification is required. Volunteers helped package breakfast and lunch foods, including milk, produce, frozen foods and pantry staples into bundles, and place the appropriate number of bundles per child into vehicles. Bundles had enough food for seven breakfasts and lunches for each child. PWRC volunteers enabled FANS staff to more efficiently complete the distributions, so they could end their shifts more quickly. Most of these folks didn’t take any time off during the summer and have been working abnormally hard since virtual learning started in March 2020. The Curbside Summer Meals program received a number of eager volunteers through the summer, but in addition to the project leads, fellow Rotarians Jo’Anna Snowden, Erika Gebhardt, Rosolayn Johnson, Tara Bidwell and Kaitlin Jones were exceptionally helpful to this program. These club members helped greet new community volunteers and get them up to speed until Katherine or James arrived onsite for each shift at each campus. By summer’s end, the program had served a total of 95,312 meals to Plano ISD students and siblings, with 234 volunteer hours worked. Way to help make a difference, Plano West Rotary Club! The work our club did to aid Summer Curbside Meals falls under the Rotary Areas of Focus by growing local economies and supporting education. The summer partnership was just one way that PWRC has partnered with Plano ISD so far, in addition to food distributions last spring. The school district has been so impressed and positively impacted by our volunteers that PWRC has been asked to help support food pantry distributions at Armstrong Middle School, Bowman Middle School and Rowlinson Natatorium each month for the next year.
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Summer Curbside Meals Wrapped up August 3, Providing 95,312 Meals for Plano ISD Students
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Jennifer Shertzer
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2021-08-23 05:00:00Z |
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Meal Distribution,Plano ISD |
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Posted on Aug 17, 2021
As rallies for racial justice happened throughout the U.S. last summer, members of our club felt compelled to find a COVID-safe way to help create equity for the Black community as well as get more Black citizens involved in Rotary’s efforts. Our President, Alex Johnson, brought his concerns to Dollie Thomas and David Evans, community members with deep roots in the Douglass Community, Plano’s historically Black neighborhood founded in the 1800s. Working together, the Rotary Community Corps of Plano Douglass Community was formed June 26, 2020 to complete service projects in support of this underserved community. Boots on the GroundAlmost immediately after its creation, the RCC proved successful in engaging non-Rotarians in community service. A diverse group has volunteered alongside Plano West Rotary Club in at least 21 service projects so far. A total of 929 volunteer hours have been served, and $174,937 worth of in-kind goods have been distributed to neighbors in the Douglass Community. The majority of in-kind goods received were food boxes donated by Plano-area food pantries and food banks. Over seven months, PWRC and the RCC went out 11 times to deliver an approximate total of 1,500 food boxes door-to-door to needy neighbors in the community. On every delivery date, between 125 and 200 homes received boxes filled with fresh food and nonperishable items. Meals were delivered to individual homes because not all community residents had vehicles or could drive. “Some residents won’t go to a food pantry out of pride. Some are concerned with being called poor, underprivileged or impoverished. Our goal is to serve and empower,” explained PWRC President Alex Johnson. The RCC and PWRC have also partnered to collect and donate shoes for international micro-entrepreneurs and received funds to repair the roof on the home of an elderly Douglass Community resident. Volunteers also came together to help provide students in the community with critical resources, supplies and meals for the beginning of the 2020-2021 school year. All of these efforts align with Rotary’s Areas of Focus on growing local economies and supporting education. PWRC and the RCC are working to plan future projects that continue serving the residents of the Douglass Community, including a community garden, tutoring and life skills education. Service Leads to a Growing, More Diverse ClubThe aid that PWRC and the RCC provided to the Douglass Community caught the attention of many non-Rotarians. Through highly visible acts of “Service Above Self,” our club grew its membership significantly, attracting members of the RCC that wanted to be more involved on a permanent basis. In May 2020 before the formation of the RCC, Plano West Rotary Club had 21 members. In the 14 months since the RCC was formed, the club has tripled to 65 members. PWRC is actually the fastest growing of the 7,485 clubs in the U.S., according to Rotary International. The growth has also increased the diversity in the club’s membership. Fifty four percent of the club members are women, 34 percent are under 40 years of age, and 51 percent are people of color. The club includes immigrants from eight different countries, as well as members of a wide range of ages, including several college students. Alex is certain the RCC impacted the community in a way that PWRC could never have done on its own. “The need came from the community, and we focus on partnering first. We prefer to never do it alone.” Serve with us! Non-Rotarians are always invited to join our club for service projects in the Plano community. Sign up here.
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Rotary Community Corps Provides Crucial Resources to Douglass Community and Leads to Exponential Club Growth
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Jennifer Shertzer
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2021-08-17 05:00:00Z |
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Douglass,RCC |
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Posted on Aug 13, 2021
On July 31, a team of seven volunteers, led by project leader Glen Thornton, collected trash along K Avenue from Spring Creek Parkway to Parker Road in Plano. On this particular Saturday, seven 40-gallon bags were completely filled with roadside litter, but Plano West Rotary Club’s efforts in protecting our city are much larger than this, as our club has been picking up trash on Avenue K every other month for the past four years. Past-PWRC President Glen Thornton has been the Avenue K Clean-up project leader for all four years of the club’s efforts. “I was [originally] the person that started the alliance with the City of Plano's Adopt-a-Highway program and signed us up. I was looking for another service project our club could do and thought this would be a good option. I enjoy it,” said Glen. Assisting Glen for a combined total of 10.5 hours on Saturday were club members Laura Johnson, Shannon Modlin, Michelle Thornton, Erika Gebhardt and Fred Bemenderfer. High school student Lola also volunteered her time, and has volunteered with our club before. Spending just a few hours cleaning up a roadside in Plano helps our city maintain its pleasant appearance, and improves the health and quality of life for residents and travelers in that area. The year-round Avenue K Clean-up project falls in line with Rotary’s Areas of Focus: Protecting the environment. The next Avenue K Clean-up is Saturday, Sept. 25 beginning at 8:00 a.m. at Good Tree Academy on Avenue K. Invite a non-Rotarian friend to join you, and spend just two hours making a visible difference in Plano! Sign up for Sept. 25th here.
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July 31 Avenue K Clean-up Keeps Plano Clean and Beautiful
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Jennifer Shertzer
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2021-08-13 05:00:00Z |
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Avenue K,Clean-Up |
Our club member Katherine Goodwin is doing an amazing job leading our club's Summer Curbside Meals with PISD service projects! We had 15 volunteers that gave a combined total of 27 hours towards handing out meals to families in the community! They were able to distribute over $7,000 in donated goods and services. Way to go team!
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Summer Curbside Meals with PISD
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2021-06-15 05:00:00Z |
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We had another successful Summer Curbside Meals service project on June 8th. Several of our club members came out to give back, and they were joined by fellow community volunteers! Together they served a combined total of 24 volunteer hours and had a blast while they distributed nutritious breakfast and lunches to disadvantaged students.
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Summer Curbside Meals with PISD
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2021-06-08 05:00:00Z |
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Thanks to the eight volunteers who helped us support the Streetside Showers non-profit organization with donated Personal Shower Hygiene Kits! We set up the assembly line outside Greek Isles, and assembled 225 hygiene kits, containing 8 items: shampoo, conditioner, soap, toothbrush, toothpaste, razor, hand sanitizer, and some Q-tips. Streetside Showers provides free showers to those who do not have access, so they can clean up, feel good and carry on with their day refreshed!
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Personal Shower/Hygiene Kit Assembly
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2021-06-01 05:00:00Z |
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It was a great day to help educate the community around us! Several of our club members met up to increase vaccine confidence in our community. Together they served 23 hours while practicing basic Covid-19 prevention measures.
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May 15 COVID Awareness Block Walking
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2021-05-15 05:00:00Z |
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We worked with Greek Isles and Rowdy Energy Drinks in order to provide 250 meals and 250 drinks to on-duty officers working for the Plano Police Department. Our club members demonstrated the true meaning of Service Over Self as they braved the rainy weather to bring the hardworking officers lunch. An amazing total of $22,687 in donated goods and service value was collected, way to go PWRC!
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Plano Police Appreciation Lunch Delivery
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2021-05-11 05:00:00Z |
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Shout out to our club member Antonio Harris. He has been leading our club's Covid-19 block walking projects. Today he led a group of 24 volunteers who served a combined total of 54 hours distributing information about the Covid-19 vaccine. It is always great to see volunteers come together to strengthen and educate the community around us!
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May 8 COVID Awareness Block Walking
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2021-05-08 05:00:00Z |
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Thank you to the managers at Waterford on the Meadow apartments! They assisted our club's Covid-19 awareness efforts by delivering 350 door hangers with Covid-19 vaccination information for us. It is incredible what we can accomplish when we all work together!
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Waterford COVID Blockwalk
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2021-05-07 05:00:00Z |
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Kudos to one of our newer members, Antonio, for leading this important effort to distribute information to increase COVID vaccine confidence while reinforcing basic prevention measures. He and his team of 12 volunteers spent about 2 hours providing door hangars with key information to neighborhoods in Plano. Thanks to this great team, which included 6 Plano West members, but also other dedicated volunteers. :)
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COVID Awareness Block Walking
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2021-05-01 05:00:00Z |
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Plano West Rotary members and community volunteers worked together to assemble and collect donated items to create hygiene kits. The hygiene kits were then gifted to families in need and to individuals experiencing homelessness. In total, there was a value of $842.12 in donated goods and services. Way to go PWRC!
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Hygiene Kits for District Conf
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2021-04-24 05:00:00Z |
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Club members Laura Johnson and Antonio Harris teamed up with 6 other community volunteers to distribute Covid-19 vaccination information at nearby apartment complexes. The team of 8 served a combined total of 20 hours as they helped educate our community about preventing the spread of Covid-19.
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April 24 COVID Awareness Block Walking
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2021-04-24 05:00:00Z |
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Plano West Rotary Club members Katherine, Antonio, Isabel, Zain, and James assisted the staff at Armstrong Middle School by handing out meal supplies to students and their families. Together a total of goods and service value of $1,500 was donated. Thanks to all of the volunteers, students can focus on school instead of where their next meal may come from. Interested in serving and giving back to your community? Check out our upcoming service projects: https://bit.ly/planoserves
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Armstrong Middle School Pantry Drive-Thru
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2021-04-20 05:00:00Z |
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Plano West members and friends, totaling 14 people, walked through apartment communities distributing information to increase vaccine confidence while reinforcing basic prevention measures. It is important to make sure everyone in our community knows their options and opportunities to improve their health, and help prevent disease.
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April 17th COVID Awareness Block Walking
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2021-04-17 05:00:00Z |
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Three teams picked up trash for the Great American Cleanup. Fifteen volunteers from Plano West's members and friends contributed to the cause by picking up 18 bags of trash! Way to beautify our community!!
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Great American Clean-Up
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2021-04-17 05:00:00Z |
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Plano West Rotary has sponsored a piece of road in Plano for trash cleanup for a few years now when it started with former club president, Glen. Since then, we have picked up trash on Avenue K between Parker Rd and Spring Creek Pkwy every other month. Congrats to everyone who has helped because it sure looks NICE over there! :) This is a great way to serve your community and stay safely distanced during a pandemic, too. Check out our Service Projects page for the next event, or many others!
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Adopt-A-Hwy Sponsored by Plano West
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2021-03-27 05:00:00Z |
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Thanks to Katherine & James for leading this new, recurring meal distribution, helping our community! (see their pics below) Plano West Rotary and our other awesome volunteers assisted the administrators, teachers and staff of Armstrong Middle School to organize & distribute food from the North Texas Food Bank through a COVID-19 safe drive-thru to students and their families affected by food insecurity. We contributed 9 volunteers (4 PWRC members) to this effort in combination with their volunteer team, and provided a lot of nutritious food (valued at $1000) for 1.5 hours on a Tuesday afternoon.
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Armstrong Middle School Food Pantry Project
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2021-03-23 05:00:00Z |
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Thanks to Plano West members & our awesome volunteers for helping us support the list of Plano with their Clean Up Plano event. Our team had 17 volunteers and 37.5 hours of service! Way to go, y'all!
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Clean Up Plano - Oak Point
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2021-03-20 05:00:00Z |
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A newer member of our club, Jenny, led the planning and execution of our Rotary 4-Way Test Speech Contest for high school students to receive feedback on public speaking and earn scholarship money. Many of the Plano Rotary Clubs participated. Awards were valued at $500, and the winner was Julia Lin. Way to go Julia!
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All Plano 4-Way Test Speech Contest
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2021-03-20 05:00:00Z |
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Thanks to the Plano West Rotary team who worked quickly to pull this together! This group of 11 volunteers were tasked to handout 161 door hangers to residents of Stratford Estates, providing them with valuable Neighborhood Services from the City of Plano. Way to go!
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Door Hangers w/City Services Info
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2021-03-13 06:00:00Z |
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4 of our Plano West members assisted the City of Plano in coordinating efforts to staff an emergency warming center in the area. We helped volunteers sign-up for different time slots, as well as serve as points of contact. Many of us had to do this while being without various resources ourselves. Many thanks to newer member, Courtney, for leading this very important and impromptu service project, responding quickly to our community's needs. Way to go!
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Supported Emergency Warming Station
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2021-02-19 06:00:00Z |
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In this service project, lasting about 2 weeks, Rotarians and members of the Plano community came together and worked with the City of Plano to help residents experiencing homelessness. To do this, volunteers formed care packages and food packs and donated sleeping bags and socks to help those in need. As such, we hope that our service impacted those lives, and we hope to continue our drive to help others in the future. This project included 13 volunteers (4 were Plano West members) and provided donated items estimated at $500. Thanks to Taha, one of our newer members, for taking the lead to make this project happen!
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Homeless Care Package Project
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2021-02-12 06:00:00Z |
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What an amazing success we have had working with the Douglass Visions Team & RCC to provide food to those in need in the Douglass Community for MANY months! The Douglass Community leaders have SO much passion and heart for their neighbors, and even reaching to other cities. And, this specific event was no different. We had 31 volunteers providing food valued at $6,351 this time. What a blessing for all involved! Thank you to all who participated :)
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Providing Food for our Douglass Community
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2021-02-06 06:00:00Z |
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What an awesome project with an awesome turn-out! Thanks to our new member leader, Roxana (first pic), for pulling this all together with the numerous others who helped her lead and volunteer! This project had 53 volunteers for at least 2 hours, serving $90,000 worth of food to those in need during this pandemic! What a great example of Plano West Rotary leaders working with so many amazing people in our community!
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Food For Families in PISD - Barron
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2021-02-06 06:00:00Z |
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Plano West Rotary was excited to use our earned funds from our Shoe Drive last year, to further support the Douglass Community by providing a new roof to an owner who desperately needed one! She now has a safe home, and it was just in time for the 2021 winter weather. Plano West Rotary works with the Rotary Community Corps of Plano Douglass Community to support the Douglass Community in many ways.
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New Roof Provided in Douglass Community
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2021-02-05 06:00:00Z |
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Once a quarter, Plano West helps provide nutritious lunches to those in Plano who are currently experiencing homelessness and food insecurity. We provided 54 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 Rotary sign-up for this opportunity to provide lunches as well as additional needed toiletry items, like toothpaste & foot powder!
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Thanks for Providing Nutritious Lunches
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2021-02-03 06:00:00Z |
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Thanks, everyone, for helping us pick up trash on Avenue K in E. Plano! We postponed from a VERY cold morning earlier in the month to this one - sunny and mild, but VERY windy. Much better! :) We had a record turn-out of 14 volunteers - woohoo! And, some folks heard about us from our newer members, so that's awesome, too.
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A Windy Trash Pick-Up with a Record Number of Volunteers
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2021-01-30 06:00:00Z |
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Due to COVID, so many people are experiencing isolation and loneliness as they try to stay healthy & safe. Plano West Rotary partnered with the Wellness Center for Older Adults in Plano, TX to help provide fun items & friendly notes to guests of their new Front Porch Program - a program designed to bring people together for conversation and community (with safe distancing), as well as an activity and theme. Here are some comments from the first event in late January: * Definitely meeting the needs of some of our isolated seniors. * They were incredibly appreciative of the gift bags. * I really think we are making a difference in peoples lives. * One woman had said that this was a life saver to her. She lives alone, struggles with depression on and off, and is tired of the isolation. Her joy was seen throughout the event! Thanks to everyone who participated by donating requested items for the Valentine themed event. Thanks also to our Wellness Center program leaders for coordinating and attending the event!
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Addressing Loneliness in our Senior Population
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2021-01-28 06:00:00Z |
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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! 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!
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Happy New Year - Time to Help Others!
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2021-01-18 06:00:00Z |
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During December, volunteers made cards and sent them to nursing homes to help with loneliness as a result of the pandemic. For this month, 6 volunteers (including 2 members of Plano West) were involved and donated cards at this important time. This service project will be on-going through the 2021 year, so watch out for more good news! And, thank you, Carolyn, one of our newer Plano West Rotary members, for stepping up to lead this important service project!
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Cards for Nursing Homes
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2020-12-31 06:00:00Z |
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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!!
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Supporting Barron Teachers
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2020-12-08 06:00:00Z |
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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." |
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Thanks for helping the US Census 2020
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2020-12-03 06:00:00Z |
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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):
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Meals in Douglass Community
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2020-12-01 06:00:00Z |
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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!
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PJ's for Veterans' Kiddos
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2020-11-30 06:00:00Z |
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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.
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Cleaning up Plano
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2020-11-21 06:00:00Z |
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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.
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Inspiring Young People w/Life Skills via Jr. Achievement
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2020-11-19 06:00:00Z |
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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!
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Lunches for People Experiencing Food & Home Insecurity
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2020-11-10 06:00:00Z |
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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.
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Shoes for Micro-Entrepreneurs Complete
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2020-11-07 06:00:00Z |
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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! :)
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Flags of Honor, supporting our Veterans
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2020-11-05 06:00:00Z |
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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.
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Volunteer Support for CRU Golf Tourney
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2020-10-29 05:00:00Z |
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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!
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Annual Halloween Fundraiser for Veterans
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2020-10-28 05:00:00Z |
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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!!
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Thank you to our Plano Fire-Rescue Employees!
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2020-10-06 05:00:00Z |
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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:
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Organizing Donated Shoes (through end of October)
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2020-09-26 05:00:00Z |
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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).
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Meal Delivery to Douglass Community in E. Plano
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2020-09-19 05:00:00Z |
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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! :)
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September Adopt-A-Highway Clean-Up
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2020-09-12 05:00:00Z |
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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.
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Organizing Donated Shoes
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2020-09-12 05:00:00Z |
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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! :)
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Deliver Meals to Douglass Community
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2020-09-05 05:00:00Z |
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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. 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 :)
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Safe Places for Victims of Human Trafficking
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2020-09-03 05:00:00Z |
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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!
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Shoe Drive for Dual Causes: A Kick-Off
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2020-08-29 05:00:00Z |
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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! :)
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Deliver Meals to Douglass Community
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2020-08-22 05:00:00Z |
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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".
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Nutritious Lunches for our Neighbors in Transition
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2020-08-15 05:00:00Z |
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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. :)
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How one pair of old shoes can change two communities
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2020-08-09 05:00:00Z |
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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.
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A Little Fun...
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2020-08-08 05:00:00Z |
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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!
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Back-to-School Fair & Meal Donations
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2020-08-08 05:00:00Z |
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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!
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Plano West a Hometown Hero from Van Taylor
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2020-08-04 05:00:00Z |
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Check out the article in Plano Magazine by Hunter Lacey on July 29th, titled: Plano West Rotary Club Partnership Serves Douglass Community
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Plano Magazine: Plano West Partnership Serves Douglass Community
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2020-07-29 05:00:00Z |
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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.
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Delivering Meals to Families in Plano
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2020-07-25 05:00:00Z |
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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.
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Collect Meal Delivery Forms in Douglass Community
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2020-07-21 05:00:00Z |
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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! 
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July Adopt-A-Highway Clean-up
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2020-07-18 05:00:00Z |
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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!
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Stuffing Backpacks for Back-to-School
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2020-07-17 05:00:00Z |
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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!
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Donated School Supplies for Douglass Community
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2020-07-15 05:00:00Z |
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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!!
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1st Responder Rotary Blood Drive
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2020-07-11 05:00:00Z |
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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. :)
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The importance of communication in nursing homes
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2020-06-26 05:00:00Z |
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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!
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Gifts for Father's Day in Nursing Home
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2020-06-20 05:00:00Z |
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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:
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Teaching With Jamaica - Program & Donation
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2020-06-02 05:00:00Z |
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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? 
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May Adopt-A-Highway Clean Up
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2020-05-30 05:00:00Z |
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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. :)
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District 5810 Matching Grant for N Texas Food Bank
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2020-05-27 05:00:00Z |
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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:
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!
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Plano West Supports Those w Food & Homestead Insecurity (again!)
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2020-05-27 05:00:00Z |
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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!
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Donation to Veterans
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2020-05-26 05:00:00Z |
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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!
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Barron Elementary Donation
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2020-05-19 05:00:00Z |
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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!" Also, here are some informative websites from Chief Blasingame regarding COVID-19:
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Speaker Chief Stuart Blasingame from Prosper Fire & Rescue
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2020-05-12 05:00:00Z |
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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!
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Plano West Supports ShelterBox!
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2020-04-28 05:00:00Z |
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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!
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Donation to N. Texas Food Bank for Food Insecurity
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2020-04-27 05:00:00Z |
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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!
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Donation to N. Texas Food Bank
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2020-02-03 06:00:00Z |
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Great team for our January 2020 Adopt a Highway! Club members and Interacters!
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AAH Jan 2020
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2020-01-25 06:00:00Z |
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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:
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Funds to Christmas Cops & Toys for Tots
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2019-12-10 06:00:00Z |
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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!
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Adopt A Highway Clean Up
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2019-11-16 06:00:00Z |
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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! :)
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Honoring our Veterans
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2019-11-11 06:00:00Z |
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Posted on Nov 09, 2019
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Battle of the Branches
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Daniel Long
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2019-11-09 06:00:00Z |
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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!
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Funnel Cakes Fundraiser for Kids!
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2019-11-09 06:00:00Z |
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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.
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Halloween Party & Veterans Fundraiser
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2019-10-30 05:00:00Z |
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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! :)
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What an Awesome Plano Balloon Festival Funnel Cake Fundraiser!
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2019-09-23 05:00:00Z |
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We had a great time, and helped to clean up Plano with our Adopt A Highway morning clean up. Thanks all!
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Thanks Community Rotaract for helping with Adopt A Highway!
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2019-09-07 05:00:00Z |
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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!
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All 6 Plano Rotary Clubs in the Plano July 4th Parade
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2019-07-04 05:00:00Z |
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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...
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Helping Allen Sunrise Sell Funnel Cakes
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2019-06-29 05:00:00Z |
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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
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Making Sandwich Lunches for Homeless in Plano, again
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2019-06-04 05:00:00Z |
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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
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Plano Community Rotaract - In Action!
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2019-05-03 05:00:00Z |
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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.
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Plano West Loves Partnering with Barron Elementary!
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2019-05-01 05:00:00Z |
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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!
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Clark HS Rocks at Interact's Spring Fling Event
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2019-04-15 05:00:00Z |
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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!)
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Thanks for a Successful Adoption Awareness Fair!
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2019-03-31 05:00:00Z |
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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.
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Helping Wellness Center Move In
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2019-03-04 06:00:00Z |
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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!
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Barron Elementary - Chili Cook Off Judges
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2019-03-04 06:00:00Z |
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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.
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Valentine's Dinner & Food Donations for Cub Scouts
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2019-02-14 06:00:00Z |
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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!
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Another Successful Adopt-A-Highway
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2019-02-04 06:00:00Z |
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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!
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Plano West's 39th Anniversary Social
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2019-02-04 06:00:00Z |
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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!
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Making & Delivering Sandwiches for Homeless in Plano
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2019-01-23 06:00:00Z |
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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).
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3rd Quarter Charity Bucket donations
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2019-01-13 06:00:00Z |
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Posted on Dec 12, 2018
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Holiday Blood Drive 2018
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2018-12-12 06:00:00Z |
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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"!
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Our Interact Club in Service!
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2018-11-16 06:00:00Z |
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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.
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Pecans Are In !!
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2018-10-31 05:00:00Z |
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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
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World Polio Day, Oct 24
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2018-10-25 05:00:00Z |
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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.
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First Clark HS Interact Meeting!
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2018-10-22 05:00:00Z |
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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!
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Adopt a Highway for October
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2018-10-20 05:00:00Z |
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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. |
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Annual Interact Summit
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2018-10-01 05:00:00Z |
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Our Pictures with Fire Station #12We 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!
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Lunch & Tour with Fire Station #12 B
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2018-09-13 05:00:00Z |
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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
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Our speaker from North Texas Food Bank
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2018-09-04 05:00:00Z |
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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!! 
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Great time packaging food for Send Hope children
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2018-08-15 05:00:00Z |
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Thanks to our team of 6 who were up and out at 7:30am on a Saturday to help make Plano, Texas beautiful! #PeopleOfAction
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Successful Adopt-A-Hwy this morning!
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2018-07-14 05:00:00Z |
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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.
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Charity Bucket for July - September
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2018-07-08 05:00:00Z |
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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!
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July 4th Parade - Rotary Clubs of Plano participation
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2018-07-04 05:00:00Z |
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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:
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Rotary International Convention in Toronto June 23-27
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2018-06-27 05:00:00Z |
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Plano West Rotary club had our 9th annual meeting at Barron Elementary. The 5th Grade Student Council entertained us and showed us around.
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Plano West Luncheon at Barron
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2018-05-28 05:00:00Z |
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Plano West Rotary helping out with Barron's first ever COLOR RUN!!!!
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Barron Elementary - Color Run
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Glen Thornton
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2018-03-23 05:00:00Z |
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PWRC - What We Do
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2018-03-19 05:00:00Z |
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Adopt a Highway
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2018-03-12 05:00:00Z |
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Valentine Dinner 2018!
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2018-02-05 06:00:00Z |
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This is the Plano West crew that served dinner to Journey of Hope on Nov 7th.!!  Greek Isles for providing the meal!
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Journey of Hope - dinner
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2017-11-13 06:00:00Z |
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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
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The Nutts are in:
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Daniel Long
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2017-11-03 05:00:00Z |
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Happy Hour 24Oct2017
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2017-10-24 05:00:00Z |
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Plano West donated $500 for food and supplies for victims of Hurricane Harvey. 
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PWRC - Hurricane Harvey
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2017-10-16 05:00:00Z |
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Great turnout on Saturday, Sept 30th for this year's Interact / Rotoract Leadership summit! 
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Interact / Rotoract Leadership Summit
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2017-10-02 05:00:00Z |
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The Bemenderfer Crew getting ready for the Saturday night crowd! We sold a gazillion funnel cakes! All proceeds going to our charities!
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Funnel Cakes 2017
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2017-10-02 05:00:00Z |
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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
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Plano clubs and Hurricane Harvey
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2017-09-11 05:00:00Z |
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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.
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PWRC - Hurricane Harvey Support
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2017-09-11 05:00:00Z |
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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!
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Camp RYLA 2017
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2017-08-01 05:00:00Z |
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Posted by Daniel Long on Jul 25, 2017
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Our 2017 - 2018 Rotary Logo
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Daniel Long
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2017-07-25 05:00:00Z |
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Posted on Jul 04, 2017
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Plano Battle of the Badges Blood Drive
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2017-07-04 05:00:00Z |
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Posted on Jul 01, 2017
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
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End of Rotary Year News Letter
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2017-07-01 05:00:00Z |
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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
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Money to help SO many
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2017-06-05 05:00:00Z |
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Photos of a FUN Rotary event.
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Rotary 5810 FUN photos
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2017-06-05 05:00:00Z |
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Plano West Rotary made some fun games for Barron's upcoming Carnival last Saturday! YAYY!!! 
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Barron Games
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2017-05-16 05:00:00Z |
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Field Trip
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2017-03-22 05:00:00Z |
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Road trip to Collin County Courthouse! 
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trip to Collin Courthouse
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2017-02-28 06:00:00Z |
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Valentine / Mardi Gras Dinner
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2017-02-21 06:00:00Z |
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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.
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Plano Community Rotaract Club
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Daniel Long
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2017-02-07 06:00:00Z |
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Merry Christmas
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2016-12-19 06:00:00Z |
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Happy Thanksgiving Day
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2016-11-24 06:00:00Z |
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Posted on Nov 05, 2016
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ALL 5 Rotary clubs in Plano
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2016-11-05 05:00:00Z |
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October Party Time
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2016-10-09 05:00:00Z |
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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!
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Plano Balloon Festival
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2016-09-23 05:00:00Z |
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 On Monday, August 8th, members of Plano West Rotary and North Texas Pioneers Rotary presented the Plano Police Department with this banner.
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Thank a Cop
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2016-08-09 05:00:00Z |
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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!
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Send Hope packing day
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2016-07-25 05:00:00Z |
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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 C ommittee
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Backing the BLUE
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2016-07-14 05:00:00Z |
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The Five Rotary Clubs of Plano participated in this year's Plano July 4th PARADE!!!!
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Plano July 4th Parade
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2016-07-05 05:00:00Z |
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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
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DAY
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DATE
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PORT
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ARRIVE
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DEPART
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Sun
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23 April 2017
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Leave from Galveston, TX
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4:30 PM
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Mon
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24 April 2017
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At Sea (Conference)
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Tue
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25 April 2017
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Cozumel, Mexico (Service Day)
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7:00 AM
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4:00 PM
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Wed
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26 April 2017
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George Town, Grand Cayman
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10:30 AM
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6:00 PM
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Thurs
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27 April 2017
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Falmouth, Jamaica (Service Day)
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8:00 AM
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5:00 PM
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Fri
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28 April 2017
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At Sea (Conference)
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Sat
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29 April 2017
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At Sea
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Sun
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30 April 2017
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Galveston, TX
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7:00 AM
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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.
Cabin Selections Rates are Per Person; Based on Double Occupancy
Tour Rate Taxes + Fees Total Fare Opt. Insurance
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Inside Cabin ( Category M)
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$ 489.00 $100.40 $ 589.40 X 2 = 1178.80 $29.00 pp
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Outside Cabin (Category I)
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$ 569.00 $100.40 $ 669.40 X 2 = 1338.80 $59.00 pp
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Outside Cabin (Category H)
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$ 569.00 $100.40 $ 669.40 X 2 = 1338.80 $59.00 pp
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Balcony (Category D3)
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$ 799.00 $100.40 $ 899.40 X 2 = 1798.80 $59.00 pp
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Suite (Category JS)
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$ 1189.00 $ 100.40 $ 1289.40 X 2 = 2578.80 $89.00 pp
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Reservation Deposit Amount
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$ 250.00
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Optional Prepaid Gratuities
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$94.50 per person
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- See more at:
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2017 District Conf & Cruise
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2016-06-27 05:00:00Z |
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DG Bill Dendy & Jeff Crilley
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2016-06-18 05:00:00Z |
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Plano West Rotary Club Party
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2016-02-11 06:00:00Z |
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Just out at the DG training - International Assembly
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New Rotary Theme 2016-2017
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2016-01-18 06:00:00Z |
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Pecans
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2016-01-08 06:00:00Z |
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From all of us to all of you 2015
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2015-11-29 06:00:00Z |
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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.
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Tue. 24Nov2015
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2015-11-24 06:00:00Z |
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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.
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End of Polio
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2015-10-23 05:00:00Z |
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It's time !!!
This is our time to shine!
Come out and make this year's big fundraiser the best ever!!!
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Time to cook
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2015-09-14 05:00:00Z |
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ALL club Rotary Happy Hour
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2015-08-10 05:00:00Z |
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Rotary 4th of July
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2015-07-02 05:00:00Z |
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Freedom All Club Luncheon
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2015-06-08 05:00:00Z |
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Installation Dinner 2015
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2015-06-08 05:00:00Z |
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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!
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Club service
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Daniel Long
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2015-05-08 00:00:00Z |
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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.
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Adoption Awareness 2015
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2015-02-21 00:00:00Z |
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PWRC,
We will be having our monthly board meeting this Tuesday, Feb 17th, at 10:30 at Greek Isles. All are welcome!
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Board Meeting this Tuesday!
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2015-02-15 00:00:00Z |
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Valentine & Anniversary Dinner
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2015-01-24 00:00:00Z |
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Plano West Facebook
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2015-01-23 00:00:00Z |
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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.
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Find out more about "Did You Know" ??
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2015-01-20 00:00:00Z |
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Holiday Rotary Party
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2014-12-11 00:00:00Z |
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Plano West Rotary 2014 Christmas Party
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2014-12-01 00:00:00Z |
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RI Polio Day
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2014-10-31 00:00:00Z |
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 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.
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Party with Plano West
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2014-10-25 00:00:00Z |
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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.
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Great week-end
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2014-09-23 00:00:00Z |
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support
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Posted by Daniel Long
It is time for the BIG week-end, hope to see all of you out at the great event.
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? are you ready ?
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Daniel Long
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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.
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Club Board meeting
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Daniel Long
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Posted by Daniel Long
Save the dates; September 19, 20 & 21th - sign up to help our club with this years big event.
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Balloon Time
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Daniel Long
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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
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Rotarian
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Daniel Long
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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
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Honoring and Remembering - 2014
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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
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Plano Balloon Festival
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Glen Thornton
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Posted by Daniel Long
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New Rotary Video
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Daniel Long
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Plano West Rotary is PROUD to support Barron Elementary School in Plano
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Barron Elementary School
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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.
"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.
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Plano West donated to ShelterBox
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Daniel Long
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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.
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Election 2013
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Daniel Long
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It's PECAN time !!!
the pecans are HERE, the pecans are HERE, the pecans are HERE...
See Vince for details!!
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What time is it?
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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!
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Gayle Anderson and Small Miracle Foundation
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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.
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RYLA club
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Daniel Long
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2012/2013 President Lisa Leach pinning 2013/2014 President John Kostas!!!
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Our Presidents!
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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/
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Plano Solar Advocates
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Posted by Glen Thornton
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Help Plano West support tPwo additional RYLA students this year!
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Glen Thornton
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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!
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Plano West Rotary's award to Kayla Stovall,
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Have a question about some of the rotary terminology? check out this list... (click below)
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Did You Know?
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