Nine charities received checks from the Rotary Club of Brandon thanks to money raised during the club’s two signature fundraisers, its historic Wild Game Night in February and its golf tournament a month earlier.
At the club’s June 11 meeting, checks amounting to $111,538 were distributed to High 5 Inc. ($21,129), the Emergency Care Help Organization ($17,287) and Rotary’s Camp Florida ($14,406). Both Hope for Her and the Outreach Clinic received $13,445. Receiving $5,000 checks were the Angel Foundation FL and the Greater Tampa Bay Area Council, Boy Scouts of America.
Representatives from the nonprofits were on hand to receive their checks. Rotarians set aside $5,500 for the Guatemala Aid Fund and $16,326 for the Brandon Rotary Club Charity Scholarship Fund. Eight graduating high school seniors were to receive scholarship checks at the club’s June 18 meeting.
According to officials, since its founding in 1961 the club has donated more than $3 million to area charities.
“That’s the impact we’re having on the community, to be able to give back not just $1,000 but sometimes as much as $20,000 to an organization,” said club President Patrick W. Skidmore II. Giving back a sizeable sum “can really change an organization, and to me that’s the key, to be able to make an impact right here in Brandon.”
Giving out checks “is the highlight of the year,” said past President Todd Owen, who noted that last year, with three fundraisers, the club wrote charity checks amounting to roughly $135,000.
“We’re a club that’s giving, and we keep giving, and that’s why we have our fundraisers,” President-elect Tim Ryan said. He added that Rotarians participate in four of five service projects annually, including Backpack Heroes and bringing lunch to the teachers at Kingswood Elementary School, which sits across the street from the Rivard-Simmons Rotary Event Center.
Club members in 2017, after meeting for nearly six decades in various locations, opened a space of their own after raising $290,000 to purchase and convert the unoccupied home into a clubhouse at 3007 S. Kings Ave. Cash and in-kind donations included construction services, materials and labor at minimal or no cost, as well as $50,000 each from Roger and Kimberly Rivard and from the Simmons Family Foundation, on behalf of Rotarian George Simmons, who died in 2018.
The club meets on Tuesdays at 12 Noon at the clubhouse, which is available for event rentals, including for conferences, parties and club meetings.
For more on the club, membership and rentals, visit www.brandonrotary.org or call Larry Fassett at 813-767-5803.
