Sometimes uninformed people have the impression that weekly Rotary meetings are stodgy. Be informed that the Rotary Club of SW Wichita Falls Rotary meetings are fun.
This writer has no idea what Jack Browne is doing in the above photo. BUT it’s always a great day to be a Rotarian with Wichita Falls SW Rotary.
He brought some impressive numbers to present to our club about rewards paid out by Crime Stoppers and cases that have been solved. More than $1.15 million has been rewarded to local tipsters who pass along vital information.
This little piece of history was purchased when the Southwest Rotary Club was chartered in the spring of 1956. It had every president's name engraved on it up until 1988. It still rings beautifully today to open our weekly meetings.
WFSWRC President Penny Miller (L) & Dr. Haynie (R)
Speaking before a packed house at MPEC Ray Clymer Exhibit Hall she shared memories of building her own college fund with hard work on a farm weeding cotton and driving a tractor during baling season.
Rotarians and Judges heard some fantastic speeches at the 2024 Wichita Falls Area Four Way Test Speech Contest that took place April 4th at Edgemere Church of Christ in Wichita Falls. Our first place winner was Adrian Herico, First Wichita Christian.
2nd Place winner was Natalie Perez, Wichita Falls HS shown here flanked
byWichita Falls North Rotary Club Past President Clint Wood and
Wichita Falls Southwest Rotary Club President Penny Miller
Created in 1932, the Four Way test is one of the world’s most widely printed and quoted statements of business ethics.
What follows is the story written by Herbert J. Taylor then president of a failing business called the Club Aluminum Company. This simple philosophy was adopted by Rotary in 1943, The Four-Way Test has been translated into more than a hundred languages and published in thousands of ways. Given that members of the Wichita Falls Southwest Rotary Club, the Wichita Falls North Rotary Club and all our High School contestants are preparing for our annual 4Way Test Speech Contest on April 4th at Edgemere Church of Christ, a story on how the Rotary 4 Way Test was developed would be appreciated by our readers. It should be noted that it's author, Herbert J. Taylor served as Rotary International's president during the 1954-55 fiscal year. Thanks to our fellow Rotarians in District 5630 (Nebraska) for sharing this story on their website.
In its 15th year, the Southwest Rotary Club Sporting Clay Shoot raises money for community initiatives around education, families and the betterment of our communities. We believe education assures an individual and their family quality of life and opportunities to live to one's true potential. SW Rotarians believe Single parent families with children require basic needs. Teaming with other action-oriented community servants, SW Rotarians focus resources of time, talent, treasure and testimony in service to our communities while improving opportunities for health, safety and the well-being of all.
The 15 th annual SW Rotary Club's Clay Shoot is to take place Saturday April 27 th
We anticipate 100 shooters. Northwest Texas Field and Stream offers an outstanding shooting experience.
Our Clay Shoot raises money for community initiatives around education, families and betterment of our communities.
Rotary’s “Service Above Self” motto is the common thread as Southwest Rotarians improve the opportunities, health, safety and well-being of those around all of us.
So far this year our club has award grants to eleven Wichita Falls community service organizations.
For the Past several weeks Wichita Falls Southwest Rotary Club has been inviting some very special guests to our meeting. These guests represent community organizations throughout the Wichita Falls area that serve our community in many different ways. Our club members are proud to support these organizations through grants we are able to award as a result of our members fund raising efforts such as our Flag Program and the Clay Shoot.
Tim Sawyer was born and raised here in Wichita Falls, graduating from Rider High and MSU. He worked for Child Protective Services, investigating child abuse cases. He served as executive director at the Children’s Aid Society and ran the emergency shelter.
Michael Mitchell traces his education from Henrietta High to MSU (where he met his wife Jessie) to OSU (where he earned his bachelor’s degree) and finally to Wayland (where earned his Masters of Education).
I gave thanks this week for family, friends and the communities that welcome me, including you, my readers. God bless you and yours for these holidays. Please email me with ways volunteers can and do serve our community.
A free basic business education for small business owners and entrepreneurs.
Partnering with City of Hope Church, Sawyer Printing and Promo and Vernon College, the Rotary Club of Southwest Wichita Falls is providing membership leaders of this 9 session business course at the Vernon College Century City Plaza campus in Wichita Falls. Students are mentored by RCWFSW members and benefit from the networking opportunities the classes present.
Club President Penny Miller recognizes the great Public Image work of members Jean Hall and Mike Mitchell.
The clubs Face Book page has grown to a post reach of 700 in the last 28 days while actually engaging 254 vistors. We have 17 new page likes and 18 new followers.
2023 City of Wichita Falls General Election will be held on November 7, 2023
Candidates Tim Short, Carol Murray, Beverly Taylor Ellis and Write-In, Scott Poenitzsch all spoke at our October 23rd meeting about the challenges and priorities facing our city.
That’s our President Penny Miller, and believe or not, that T Rex is a Rotarian, too! We loved seeing so many members this morning thriving in our business community.
The Rotary Club of Wichita Falls Southwest well represented
The Rotary Club of Southwest Wichita Falls in partnership with the Wichita Falls Rotary Club North is excited to announce the 2023 Rotary Four-Way Speech Contest, and we’re inviting all high school students to participate!
Our local Rotary clubs award generous cash scholarships of $1,000 for 1st place; $500 for 2nd place; and $250 for 3rd place winners. The top three contestants also advance to regional competition, with the opportunity for additional scholarship prizes. Please help identify students who could benefit by participating in this competition.
In 2019, Grace Minter competed in our 4-Way Test Speech Contest, winning local and regionally. In 2023 Grace will be the Master of Ceremonies for our event. Listen to Grace share why this contest is important.
Grace completed her undergraduate degree in May 2022. Today, Grace is Exec Dir of a NE Oklahoma nonprofit, and working towards her graduate degrees . . . and she'll be a Rotarian soon enough!
Co-Chair of the Community DEI Initiative, Anthony Louis shares insights of Falls Future 2.0
"Work has officially begun on Falls Future 2.0, an updated community-wide strategy to build a better city". Anthony Louis, Board Member with Work Force Solutions from Pratt Whitney provided an overview of Falls Future 2.0, According to the publication Falls Future 2.0, one of the seven catalysts is creating a opportunity for a stronger workforce.
Traditions make communities stronger and connect us . . please consider volunteering for two hours as the University Kiwanis Clubs Annual Breakfast serves 1,000's of Wichitans pancakes and sausage 6am - 6pm January 28, 2023
Volunteers over 12 accompanied by parents, as appropriate. Volunteers are MOST needed from 7am to 1pm, with two-hour time slots available at VOLUNTEER CLICK HERE.
The Rotary Club of Southwest Wichita Falls will host a panel discussion at noon Monday, Oct 17th to educate and share community resources in response to our Fentanyl crisis.
Members of the media and leaders of youth oriented organizations and activities are invited to RSVP by clicking here, limited seating available. It is key for all to understand this threat and educate their circles of influence.
Meet our newest Southwest Rotarian! Last Monday Mrs. Jean Hall joined our club, and we are looking forward to the energy and vision she will bring to the club.
Jean grew up in Vernon but when it was time to attend college, she and her husband moved to Wichita Falls in 1991 so she could attend MSU. Jean graduated with a degree in English and Journalism. She has three grown kids and now she spends her energy doing projects and service to benefit our local community.
Mortgage Company owner and Bison Farmer, Michael Mitchell now adds member of the Wichita Falls Southwest Rotary Club to his list of commitments to his family and community.
Do you need to know how to raise a BISON? If so, just ask one of our newest members, Michael Mitchell. Yes, it is true. He has a herd of Bison (Buffalo) on his ranch in Henrietta.
Michael was raised in Henrietta and in 2005 he moved to Wichita Falls. He and his wife Jessica have three children.
He owns Miracle Mortgage company which specializes in mortgage origination. Michael finds mortgages at the lowest interest rates available.
Rotary District 5790 DG Dan Steele came to our club today. He spoke about the recent Vibrant Club workshop, the urgent need to do more to fight Polio, and about supporting the Rotary Foundation.
Our District Governor Dan Steele provided a graphic description of this years inspirational theme of Imagine Rotary and how the image represented members gathering together act to make their dreams become reality and they make the most of their club experiences. He shared with us the insights of Rotary International President Jennifer Jones as we work together to see a world where people unite and take action to create lasting change across the globe in our communities and in ourselves.
Rotary District 5790 Governor Dan Steel guest speaker at August 22nd Meeting
Our Rotary Club has a long history of supporting the Rotary International 35 plus year initiative to End Polio worldwide. Because of generous members like ours the CDC reports that only two polio endemic countries remain, Afghanistan and Pakistan.
During the past Rotary year of 2021-2022 our Rotary members exceeded our goal by 42% with $639 donated in support of End Polio Now.
The Southwest Wichita Falls Rotary Youth Leadership Awards recipients Andrea Granados, Francisco Aleman, Estefany Urbieta and Natalie Perez shared their RYLA experiences with club members at our August 8th meeting.
To quote President Steve, "RYLA is an educational tool that Rotary uses to instill concepts of leadership in these students". They build communication skills, introduce problem solving techniques, public speaking and leadership strategies.
Estafany, Andrea, Natalie and Francesco gave us a great presentation. They were informative and had a powerful message to deliver us about RYLA and they did it in spades, thus filling us with awe over our RYLA recipients and the power of the RYLA experience.
A meeting filled with Rotary Youth Leadership Award information
The Wichita Falls Southwest Rotary club to start a Restaurant of the Month program to recognize local establishments favored by its members.
President Steve Haviland asked all of the members to write the name of their favorite restaurant on a piece of paper. The idea was that the restaurant with the most mentions would be our first Restaurant of the Month. As it turns out, we’re a diverse group and there was no clear favorite. Apparently, we’ll eat most anything.
Katie spoke about the power of public speaking and how to deliver a killer presentation. She is a powerful speaker and an excellent presenter. Thank you Katie!
The wonderful thing about attending a Rotary meeting is that we have great speakers. Today, Katie provided some tools to help everyone that attended our luncheon meeting become great speakers themselves. Rotary members are always learning and fine tuning their skills.
Shown here in the photo is the Wichita Falls Southwest Rotary Club President Elect, Todd Harris with, Nancy Shiplet (Arts Council development coordinator and Kristen Scott(Arts Council Admin Assistant.
Kristen Shipleat and Nancy Scott of the Arts Council of Wichita Falls spoke at our noon meeting Monday, July 25th about the mission of the council and the programs they offer.
The Road to College deployment team proudly participate in community Independence Day Festivities by helping the Wichita Falls Southwest Rotary Club deploy and return over 700 flags in Wichita Falls neighborhoods.
Wichita Falls SW Rotary enjoys the strong partnership with Road to College. As tomorrow’s leaders, it is a pleasure to work with the Road to College students and mentors using the funds raised for the RTC Summer Camp @ MSU. 90 6th thru 12 graders, going to school learning STEM to better prepare for post secondary education!!
Congratulations Steve Haviland, new Club President of the Rotary Club of Wichita Falls Southwest.
Our meeting Monday June 27th meeting was dedicated to recognizing the folks that made the 21-22 Rotary Year so successful and inducting the 22-23 Rotary year Board of Directors.
Congratulations to our now Immediate Past President Bruce Gray shown here with his wife Suzanne.
Dr. Van Tassell was born in Texas but raised in Idaho. He graduated from the University of Idaho with a Bachelor of Science degree in Microbiology. When Dr. Van Tassell was completing his undergraduate studies at the University of Idaho, he was selected as one of only eight predental students from the state for the Idaho Dental Education Program. From there he earned his doctorate from Creighton University, where he was nominated into the Omicron Kappa Upsilon (OKU) Honor Society by his faculty members.
From left to right, Dr. Blaine Purcell (Sponsor) Dr. Dustin Van Tassell and Mrs. Penny Miller (Membership Chair)
New playground equipment was dedicated at Rotary Park in Wichita Falls on Sunday, May 15th.
This playground equipment was a joint project of the 3 Rotary Clubs of Wichita Falls; Wichita Falls Rotary Club, Wichita Falls North Rotary Club and Wichita Falls Southwest Rotary Club. Last fall, $53,000 project check was provided to the City of Wichita Falls Recreation Department who oversaw the purchase and installation of the playground. On May 15th the new playground was dedicated.
Joint Project of the 3 Wichita Falls Rotary Clubs provide a new playground for our kids
Thanks to Wichita Falls Parks Department for Installing Playground Equipment with Rotary donations!
Last summer, The Rotary Club of Wichita Falls began a campaign to raise funds for Playground equipment at the corner of Hughes and, by Boys and Girls Club and Cunningham Elementary. In honor of long time Rotarian Dr. Phil Stephenson who passed away in Feb 202, his family, patients and others in the community donated to this initiative.
Working through the last couple of months the City's Parks Department has installed the playground equipment. With the cyclical weather yielding a few spring like days, usage of the equipment in increasing and offers a great place for family and small group gatherings with the covered picnic tables and wonderful playground.
The Rotary donation was delivered in March as soon as funds arrived for immediate assistance so that the school could purchase lamination and other school supplies needed to complete school year.
Wichita Falls Southwest Rotary Club has scheduled a formal award presentation to take place during their April 25th their noon Rotary meeting at the MPEC Ray Clymer Exhibit Hall. Booker T. Washington Principal Angela Rooney and School Counselor William Jordan will be attending the express their appreciation
Atmos Energy, one of the many organizations that support our Rotary Club Community Service projects, provided a donation to Rotary Southwest for the purpose of Rotary’s support of Booker T. Washington Elementary.
Wichita Falls Southwest Rotary Club supports Booker T. Washington ES with funds for school supplies
Congratulations to Fain ES, winners of $1,850 grant from the RC of Wichita Falls Southwest to help fund their STEM program.
The Rotary Club of Southwest Wichita Falls has worked with Fain Elementary, Fain PTA and Fain Alumni for several years. In prior years The Dexter Lab and Outdoor Learning Area were sponsored by Rotary Grants and used by students for hands-on making and robotics. The Fain Elementary project will promote education by expanding our Learning Commons area. Originally students designed a Makerspace adjacent to the Fain Library, where they practice “Making” -- experimentation, interaction and play in applying learning to the real world.
Contestants at the 4-Way Test Speech Contest: (L to R) Luken McCullum (winner), Nicole Stancik, Angela Duron and Brandon Huynh. Our own President Bruce Gray is at the far left!
The Wichita Falls 4-Way Test Speech Contest was held 3-8-2022. It was a great time and all of the speeches were outstanding! The first place prize money was $1,000.00 and all contestants went home with money.
Congratulations to Luken McCullum. Luken will be heading to the Regional Contest in Decatur on April 2nd.
Wichita Falls North & Wichita Falls Southwest Rotary Clubs announce winner of Speech Contest
Several Wichita Falls Southwest Rorarians, friends and family met Saturday March 5th at the University United Methodist for Kids Against Hunger Project.
Ninty-nine volunteers that helped to package 22,000 meals for Kid’s Against Hunger. The boxes will be shipped along with 1450 other boxes sometime this spring through the Port of Houston. The destination is Puerto Limpera, Honduras which is on the eastern coast of Honduras.
The Rotary Club of Southwest Wichita Falls in conjunction with the Wichita Falls Rotary Club North are excited to announce the 2022 Rotary Four-Way Speech Contest.
We are inviting all high school students to participate! Our local clubs will award generous cash prize scholarship of $1,000 for 1st place; $500 for 2nd place; and $250 for 3rd place winners. The top three contestants will advance to compete at the regional level.
Introduced by Darrell Hobbs, Courtney Killian is a Camp Gladiator Personal Trainer.
Air Force veteran, pilot, mom with 4 boys and one girl! Happy franchise owner and personal trainer at Camp Gladiator in Wichita Falls. Grew up in Bellville, TX played every sport there was in school. Joined ROTC as graduated from high school and started college. Met husband in Air Force and both served at Sheppard AFB before moving back to SAFB in 2017. Her husband continues in the USAF Reserves. Courtney is also a Personal Trainer.
Partners make the world better - our appreciation to the partnership with Road to College, their help enables our funding for their great program, which is producing the next generation of community leaders. And thanks to our subscribers as we recognize our Veteran's service!
Veterans Day 2021 a Star Spangled event in Wichita Falls neighborhoods
Monday's program celebrated the fellowship of our club with a few members sharing stories about their lives that included details most of us were not unaware
The meeting started with a celebration for new Rotarian Chris Hansard; photo has Membership Chair Penny Miller presenting Chris with his Rotary badge. His sponsor is Tim Sawyer.
Growing Local Economies is one of the Rotary Foundation’s areas of focus and a priority for many Witchita Falls SW Rotarians.
Club President Elect Steve Haviland introduced our speakers Vanda Cullar, Director of the Small Business Development Center SBDC at MSU and Jeannie Hilber, i.d.e.a WF Coordinator. No stranger to WFSW Rotarians, Vanda has presented to our club over the years. In addition, SW Rotary has supported SBDC with community grants in past years. In his introductory comments, Steve shared that 25% or so of SW Rotarian’s have benefitted from consulting with Vanda’s team at the SBDC. Our own Penny Miller, was a semi-finalist in the ideaWF 2017 competition
The Wichita Falls Youth Symphony is focused this year on reinvigorating traditions of musical excellence.
After surviving a year that was neither vigorous nor traditional, YSO finds itself in a unique position to reevaluate all its traditions and ask what really hurt when we lost it last year? What makes orchestra great that we want to focus on elevating this year? At its heart, orchestra is about coming together to create beautiful music, so the education vision this year is to bring kids together with an artistic team who have both expertise and passion and support the students in performing the best of orchestra repertoire.
SW Rotary of Wichita Falls welcomed Tara Bryant, Board Chair for North Texas Veteran’s Relief Fund and Chris De La Garza, Vice Chair for the Board to our August 30th meeting.
Chris gave us an overview of Base Camp Lindsey, a holistic approach to solving homelessness. Following a model currently working in over 50 communities across the country – from New Orleans, to Kansas City – this approach targets the 70+ homeless Veterans living in Wichita county as well as surrounding counties in North Texas.
Today's program introduced Beacon Lighthouse for the Blind to members of the Wichita Falls Southwest Rotary Club.
Beacon Lighthouse for the blind enhances economic and personal independence of people who are blind and visually impaired primarily through employment in the manufacturing and sale of quality goods and services.
September 20 Service project is partnering with MSU students to package freeze-dried food for Kids Against Hunger benefiting children in Puerto Limpera, Honduras.
The 2 hour service project, will take place from 11:30 am to 1:30 pm on the campus of MSU.
Please click here to register your intention to volunteer with us.
State Representative James Frank updated Wichita Falls Southwest Rotary members on the most recent legislative session in Austin.
Hearing information from someone that was there can be an informative regardless of the politics. We in Rotary pride ourselves in being inclusive of all regardless of religion, politics, race, culture or ethnic background and that includes allowing ourselves to be informed by federal, state and local leaders when we have the opportunity. Thank you State Rep James Frank for your presentation.
Texas State Representative James Frank spoke at August 3rd Meeting
The Paul Harris Fellow recognition acknowledges individuals who contribute, or who have contributions made in their name, of $1,000 to The Rotary Foundation. At our Aug 2nd meeting, Club President Bruce Gray recognized 1st time recipients Penny Miller and Michael Tipton.
President Bruce Gray recognizes PHF recipients Penny Miller and Michael Tipton
Penny and Michael joined other notable figures that have been named Paul Harris Fellows, including U.S. President Jimmy Carter, Russian President Boris Yeltsin, U.S. astronaut James Lovell, UN Secretary-General Javier Perez de Cuellar, and polio vaccine developer Jonas Salk. The number of Paul Harris Fellows worldwide has exceeded one million since 2006. Congratulations Penny Miller and Michael Tipton.
Southwest Wichita Falls Rotary Club members Michael Tipton and Penny Miller recognized as Paul Harris Fellows
Dusty Sternadel of NSpire provided some inspirational information for running a business in todays economy.
A mother of 5 kids, and owner of 2 local businesses, one of them with an excellent 11 year financial advisor portfolio she was able to provide perspective for our members that can be applied to their businesses and their personal lives. So, what is the Trillion Dollar issue? We won't spoil it for those who have not heard Dusty speak. but just know there are a lot of zero's. For our enlightened members, they now have at least one solution.
Some excellent advice from our July 26th speaker Dusty Sternadel
The Clay County Outreach Food Pantry has been in continuous operation since 1985 serving the citizens of Clay County providing food staples for food insecure residents of Henrietta and the surrounding county.
A non-profit 501(c) (3) organization that is all-volunteer with no paid staff. All operational costs are covered by donations and grants. The need is great, Clay County has 1600 food insecure citizens including 500 children.
The club was recognized by the Partners in Education for supporting Wichita Falls ISD students in many different ways including scholarships, the Road to College program, support of Fain ES and others.
Partners in Education award RC of SW Wichita Falls as the Organization of the Year
A big thank you to Road to College and our other volunteers for the help in picking up flags Monday (July 5th)
Flag afternoon with our students!
The Road to College students helped out the Southwest Rotary Club pick flags up from Fourth of July. We are proud of our students for giving back to the community by volunteering.
We are grateful for our partnership with the Southwest Rotary Club and for our parents volunteers, Mrs.Meza and Mr.Guel!
SW Rotary is excited to hold our 2021 Sporting Clay Shoot June 12th. We expect our hosts North Texas Field and Stream Association to assemble another challenging array of bird and rabbit stations to challenge all shooters.
Raffle tickets for a Benelli Montefeltro Sporting Shotgun are available from SW Rotarians: $10 for one or $25 for 3. Need not be present to win. Message us for tickets.
Look for more information here and on our Facebook page, https://www.facebook.com/rotaryswwf. Register there now to assure your team’s place!
This fundraiser enables Southwest Rotary to support local and international projects, making our world a better place. If you are interested in sponsorship click for more information or contact us to be a sponsor. Link to download information. Link to email to be a sponsor
Rotary’s seven areas of focus, include “Disease Prevention and Treatment.” SW Rotary approached our leaders in the County and Wichita Falls government with the idea. Rotary Club of Southwest Wichita Falls Club President worked with other area Rotary Clubs and the community to implement the initiative which include a great TV interview on channel 3.
Yard Signs and Banners with the message, MASK UP Wichita County, You can Save a Life," were available from February through end of August of 2021.Orders were delivered to homes and businesses by Road to College participants with profits going towards Zavala in support of the Road to College programs.
The Rotary Club of Southwest Wichita Falls is partnering with the other Rotary and Service Clubs in Wichita County in an initiative to encourage the wearing of masks in advance of reaching vaccination levels supportive of “Herd Immunity”.
Why are we doing this project?
Citizens are getting tired of following the protective measures: wear a mask, social distance, wash hands frequently and minimize our movement in public to necessary activities. COVID-19 will continue to spread till we reach “Herd Immunity” that comes as 75% of the population has been vaccinated. If we wear a mask we can prevent, “People are going to die that don’t need to die.”
Sign up Now for the Annual Sporting Clay Shoot happening on Saturday, March, 23, 2019. Every year Southwest Rotary of Wichita Falls sponsors a sporting clay shoot to help raise funds to support charitable giving and international programs for Rotary International. Help us make the world a better place! Raffle Tickets and Registrations happening NOW!
And a thank you to ServPro of Wichita Falls, returning again this year as Door Prize Sponsor. Thanks to all of our sponsor for helping us make Wichita Falls a better place to live, work and play!
Take a look at our brochure under downloads and see what the Rotary Club of Southwest Wichita Falls is all about: Service Above Self. This brochure shows just a few of the many projects and organizations Southwest Rotary touches.
Interested in joining; come to one of our meetings at noon every Monday at Luby's Cafeteria.
Wonder what you are missing at our weekly meetings? Take a look at our photo journals of past speakers and programs.
SW Rotary is excited to hold our 2021 Sporting Clay Shoot June 12th. We expect our hosts North Texas Field and Stream Association to assemble another challenging array of bird and rabbit stations to challenge all shooters.
Rotary’s seven areas of focus, include “Disease Prevention and Treatment.” SW Rotary approached our leaders in the County and Wichita Falls government with the idea. Rotary Club of Southwest Wichita Falls Club President worked with other area Rotary Clubs and the community to implement the initiative which include a great TV interview on channel 3.
And a thank you to ServPro of Wichita Falls, returning again this year as Door Prize Sponsor. Thanks to all of our sponsor for helping us make Wichita Falls a better place to live, work and play!