Saturday, February 3, 2024
The Rotary Club of Gig Harbor is currently accepting applications for the Mildred McColl Scholarship, a scholarship fund established to assist deserving students to achieve a post-secondary education.
The fund was established by a generous gift from the estate of Mildred McColl, a local resident and nurse anesthesiologist who lived on Hale’s Passage. To date, the fund has awarded over $1.2 million to deserving graduates of the Peninsula School District.
To be eligible, applicants must be enrolled seniors or graduates of the Peninsula School District; plan to enroll as full-time students in an accredited college, university or technical college; be United States citizens; and have a minimum 2.0 GPA. Scholarships range in value from $1,000 to $5,000 annually. Recipients can reapply up to three additional years after the initial award for a four-year maximum of $20,000.
The application deadline is March 15. 
“We are excited to share this tremendous resource with our students in their ongoing pursuit of academic and vocational training. We’re hoping to assist as many students as possible as they prepare themselves for the next chapter in their lives,” said Jeanie Simmons, chairperson of the Rotary Club of Gig Harbor Scholarship Committee. “Our goal is to assist graduates regardless of their choice of vocation, hoping that we can help them improve their lives and community through continued ‘service above self,’ which is at the heart of Rotary.”
To apply, See scholarships under Ongoing Programs on the main menu bar above.
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Due to the ongoing war the health care infrastructure of many communities in Ukrane has been destroyed. This leaves citizens without basic health services or facilities. Rotary is helping solve this humanitarian crisis thru a program to supply Mobile Emergency clinics to areas most impact by the war.
The Rotary club of Gig Harbor is proud to be part of it, partnering with a Rotary club in Dnipro Ukraine to build and deploy a clinic to the Sivesk area which is near the front lines of the war. Through the power of the Rotary Foundation the club was able to secure a grant of $30,000 towards the cost of the $42,500 clinic. The club and the Olson foundation funding the remainder.
Units Deployed to areas where the war has destroyed the basic health care
infrastructure care for 30 to 80 patients a day.
The units are fully stocked and personnel to support them is provided by
the Ministry of Health in Ukraine
Rotary International and its partners are close to eradicating Polio, a disease that at its peak saw over 300,000 cases a year causing permanent paralysis of the arms, legs and breathing muscles. Only one other disease in the world has been successfully eradicated throughout world history; Smallpox
To celebrate this progress and to raise awareness, Rotarians around the world, including our Rotary club celebrate World Polio Day. Why is high awareness and further support of this cause important? Until the recorded cases of Polio are zero, the disease is not eradicated and can come back. There is no cure for Polio, only prevention thru vaccination.Polio impacted many lives in the United States, including three members of our Club, John Lantz, Gary Pellet and Mark Jorgenson, who shared their story of the impact it had on them and their families at our Polio Day meeting. It only takes two drops of a polio vaccination to protect a child and prevent future generations from going through what John, Gary and Mark experienced
The club is proud to raise an average of $10,000 for this continuing effort each year.
If you would like to be a part of history please consider donating at https://www.endpolio.org/
Rotarians know that eradication polio is not easy, but making history never is.
Read More Wednesday, September 20, 2023
By: Tom Borgen.jpg)
The newly refreshed Rotary Aviation Zone, a site to view airplanes and learn about aviation, at the Tacoma Narrows Airport was a hub of activity at the recent Tacoma Narrows Airport Aviation Day, sponsored by Pierce County.
The county invited the community to experience the operations and activities supported by the airport. A fun day and educational day was had by everyone, including touring the Antique Aircraft Museum, participating in educational activities put on by the school District, free flights for students and, of course, viewing a variety of aircraft.
The Rotary Aviation zone was built several years ago by the club in partnership with the airport as a place to view airplanes and learn about aviation.
It includes a viewing platform with a telescope, speakers with live tower communications and even a QR code to an app that shows all airplane traffic in the area! The educational signage covers information ranging from flight to careers in aviation.
The site also features a covered picnic area where people can enjoy a meal or relax while watching and hearing all the sounds of a working airport.
Thanks to the hard work of Rotarians, the zone looks great and, with new signage, will be easy for people to locate when driving into the main airport area.
Take a trip to the airport and enjoy this community gem!
Read More Monday, August 21, 2023
By: Tom Borgen
Dolly Parton came and conquered the State of Washington last week. By proclamation from Governor Jay Inslee, August 15 was declared Dolly Parton Imagination Library Day. This program had delivered over 200 million books to children worldwide since it began in 1995 and gives over 2 million books each month!
Dolly dazzled an invitation-only audience of enthusiastic supporters of the Dolly Parton Imagination Library to celebrate the day. These supporters have worked diligently to bring the program to every zip code in the state of Washington. - 715 zip codes and 65,000 potential readers from ages 0 to 5! A goal that was achieved this year.
In Pierce County The Rotary Club of Gig Harbor and our partner, the Altrusa Club of Gig Harbor, lead the way, being the first Dolly Parton affiliate in the county and signing up 1117 children under the age of 5 In the first year of participation. Each child will receive a free book every month in the mail, with their name on it, at no cost to their parents! Isn’t that amazing!
Why is this important? Because 90% of a child’s brain development occurs by the time, they are 5. Reading books to them stimulates their imaginations and expands their understanding as well as shapes language and listening skills to prepare them for kindergarten.
Around Gig Harbor, you can see Dolly Parton Imagination Library tent at kid-friendly events, working to get the remaining 2000 eligible children in the area signed up.
Thanks to Penny and Rand Wilhelmsen for leading this project and to all of their team for
working so hard to make this program such a success in its first year.
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