Community Service

Community Service is one of Rotary’s 5 Avenues of Service – encouraging Rotarians to offer service to their communities, and is the opportunity Rotary clubs have to implement club projects and activities that improve the quality of life and serve the public interest – in the local community. Every Rotary club and every Rotarian assumes a responsibility to find ways to improve the quality of life for those in their communities and to serve the public interest.  When Rotary is viewed as a positive force in the community, its membership strengthens and grows, adding to the organization’s ability to serve worldwide.

While this might seem a ‘normal’ function of any Service Organization, in Rotary “Service Above Self” is our principal motto.  This means that every Rotarian is responsible for finding ways to improve the quality of life in their community, and in those around the world – through personal service.  As any Rotarian why they joined Rotary and they’ll include “Service”, or “I want to be of Service” – in their answer.

Community Service:

  • Encourages and fosters the ideal of service to the personal, business and community life of every Rotarian.
  • Provides opportunities for every Rotarian to exemplify “Service Above Self”.
  • Provides a chance to respond to the needs of a local community.

    Bath Garden Peace Pole 2025

    The idea of Bath Garden Peace Pole was conceptualized in Dec 2024 after Rotary Club of Augusta donated 30 saplings of dogwood trees to Bath Gardens, Blythe, Georgia. Catherine and I discussed our vision of Peace Pole center at Bath Garden. Over last 10 months, the scope was expanded to include a wooden bench as well.

    There are more than 200,000 peace poles in 180 countries, and now we added one more. A Peace Pole is an internationally recognized symbol of the hopes and dreams of the entire human family, standing visual in silent prayer for peace on earth.

    A Peace Pole is a monument for affirmation of Peace, and its placement furthers Rotary’s Goal of building a culture of Peace throughout the world.

    The Bath Gardens team and Rotarians from the Augusta Rotary Club joined to dedicate a new peace pole at Bath Gardens and celebrate the Peace Pole installation and Rotary Garden on Tuesday, October 28. 

    Elliott and Donna Woodward donated a beautiful Peace Pole to the Augusta Rotary and Bath Gardens in appreciation for the Rotary’s donation of dogwood saplings to Bath Gardens.

    Tracy Middlebrooks, Master Gardener and Bath Gardens Board members, designed a lovely garden for the peace pole. A sign and bench were added from the Rotary and private donations.

    Approximately 40 people attended on 10/28/25. Thank you to those who were able to attend. The Rotary Garden is located by the Main Bell Tower at the top of the far hill.

    Please visit the gardens and enjoy the solitude at the peace pole and ring the bell for peace! They are open on Sundays March through December from 1-4pm for visitors.

    You make the garden Grow! Peace begins within.

     

    District Direct Funded (DDF) Project –Packing Sacs with food items for the children 

    Rotary Club of Augusta and Golden Harvest Food Ban partnered together for this project.

    Thank you to the Rotarians who joined us for our service project on Oct. 24 packing stable shelf food for kids in need. Five palettes of 1,080 meals packed by our group will be delivered on Oct. 30 to principals and social workers who discreetly give them to kids who need a meal over the weekend. Some kids in Richmond County eat free lunch on Friday and their next meal is free breakfast at school on Monday. Please consider participating in upcoming service projects; you will find the time working alongside your fellow Rotarians in a meaningful way to be very rewarding.

    Golden Harvest was grateful to host the Augusta Rotary Club at their Augusta campus, where they assisted in packing hundreds of Backpack Meals for children throughout our community.

    Amid the ongoing government shutdown, these meals are more important than ever. For many local kids, Backpack Meals ensure they have food to eat over the weekend when school meals aren’t available.

    Thank you to the Rotary Club and all of the volunteers who have stepped up during this critical time. Your service helps make sure no child goes hungry.

    Every Meal Matters.

    Dorothy Hains Elementary School’s Positive Behavioral Intervention and Supports (PBIS) help students to learn the behavior expectations for various areas of our school. The school leadership hope that these clear and concise expectations will improve the school climate and help teaching and learning for all. 

    The main objective of PBIS is to decrease behaviors that interfere with student learning and create the optimum learning environment, so that students can reach social, emotional, and academic success.  When good behavior and rigorous teaching merge together, safe and productive learning environments are created where teachers can teach, and all students can engage and excel in their learning.  

    In conjunction with the Richmond County School District Code of Conduct and the School-Wide Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports (PBIS), students at A Dorothy Hains Elementary School will use the PAWS acronym to help maintain a safe environment that fosters growth and development.

    A Dorothy Hains’ Behavioral Expectation:                          

     P- BE POSITIVE                                                                  

     A-ACT RESPECTFULLY                                                            

     W-WORK HARD                                                        

     S-STAY SAFE    

    Hains Elementary—total students 426

    Laney Mize

    Surendra Gupta

    Amanda Heath

    TR Reddy

    Samuel Beaird

    Monty Carlton

    Ian Mercier

    Haskell Toporek

     

    Pine Hill Middle—total students 776

    Brinda Balan

    Sheila Kamath (not a Rotarian, but she came with Brinda!)

     

    The Rotary District Direct Grant rewarded the Richmond County Schools to promote positive behaviors with their students through their PBIS (Positive Behavior Interventions and Supports) program. They purchased items to use for their PBIS awards and party. All supplies were delivered to the applicable schools.

    A Note of Thanks from the school system.

    On behalf of the students and staff at A. Dorothy Hains Elementary School, I want to extend our heartfelt thanks to the Rotary Club members for their time and support during our PBIS End-of-Year Celebration. Your willingness to volunteer and engage with our students truly made the event special.

    Your presence not only helped our celebration run smoothly but also demonstrated to our students the importance of community involvement and service. The positive energy and encouragement you shared contributed greatly to the success of the day and to the joyful memories our students will carry with them.

    We are grateful for your ongoing partnership and commitment to making a difference in our school community. We look forward to working with you again in the future!

    Thank you for forwarding this message to the volunteers on our behalf.

    With sincere appreciation,

    Shatara Sims
    STEM Mathematics Teacher/PBIS Coach
    A. Dorothy Hains Elementary School

    Rotary Signature Fundraising -2025

    The Rotary Club of Augusta’s Signature Fundraiser Committee was formed in 2018 under the leadership of Past President Leland Malchow.  The objective of the committee is to identify opportunities for fundraising so that the club can make a meaningful financial contribution to an organization serving critical needs in the Augusta community.  I have had the privilege of chairing or co-chairing the committee since its inception.

    In 2018, we learned that Dr. Mac Bowman and De Pierce had been raising money for the Horizon Foundation by raffling off a new vehicle.  The Horizon Foundation’s mission is to support healthy living habits and circumstances for our community and all of its citizens with educational outreach, community health screenings, encouragement and advancement of physical fitness and healthy dietary habits and all things which proactively improve health and promote healing for individuals and our community as a whole.  The mission aligned well with Rotary’s objectives, so it became obvious that our Rotary club should partner with the Horizon Foundation.  After our first year partnering with the Horizon Foundation, both Dr. Mac Bowman and De Pierce became Rotarians by joining our club in April 2019.

    Since in first raffle in February 2019, the Rotary Club of Augusta has been responsible for selling 500 raffle tickets at $100 each for a chance to win a new vehicle.  The 2025 raffle marks our seventh consecutive year partnering with the Horizon Foundation.  The vehicle value is usually between $45,000 – $50,000.  The club receives $25,000 from the ticket proceeds to gift to an organization and the remaining $25,000 is given to the Horizon Foundation to help offset the cost to purchase the vehicle.  The Horizon Foundation also sales tickets.  The maximum number of tickets that can be sold are 1,500 and the total sold is usually between 1,200-1,300.

    Here is a list of the $25,000 beneficiaries of the Rotary Club of Augusta’s signature fundraiser.

    2019 – Child Enrichment

    2020 – Christ Community Health Services of Augusta

    2021 – Augusta Locally Grown

    2022 – Hope House of Augusta

    2023 – Apparo Academy

    2024 – Hale House Foundation

    2025 – GAP Ministries of Augusta

    Dusting Young, John Whitwell, Stacy Tallent and Pam Lightsey sold the highest number of raffle tickets. They received Amazon Gifts cards worth $50, $35,$35 and $25 respectvely.

    District Grant Relief Service Project

    Seven volunteers packed 417 sacks for the backpack program at Golden Harvest Food Bank, Augusta on January 24, 2025. We know that every day, many of our kids are experiencing food insecurity. We’ve got $2500 dollars that we’ve received from District 6920 to support this program to make sure that no kid goes hungry, here, in our community.

     

               Interact Students from Richmond Academy 

    Three Richmond Academy Interact students (Cullen, Darby, and Carson) volunteered at Gap Ministries’ Thanksgiving lunch.  Gap Ministries served 124 meals.  The students reported that they really enjoyed being able to serve.

                                     Camp Tanglewood                                             Debris Removal caused by Hurricane Helene

    During the week of January 6th, the Rotarians from across the state visited Augusta, GA who are to participate in the Rotary Week of Service! Rotarians from across the state were stationed in Augusta to assist with hurricane recovery efforts.

    Here in Augusta, volunteers will be stationed at Camp Tanglewood, our local Girl Scout camp, which has experienced a massive amount of damage. Most activities will consist of debris removal.  
    The volunteer dates were Monday, January 6th through Wednesday, January 8th from 9am-4pm.

    The Rotarians from Augusta West, Augusta and Columbia County joined them also to assist in the debris removal. Each local club provided lunch or lunch box. This is an example of coordinated efforts by Kelly Knitter, AG and Brittany Burnett, Chair od Service Projects at the Rotary Club of Augusta. Surendra Gupta, President of Rotary club of Augusta and AK Gulati, ex-BOD helped them also for a limited time.

    Rotary & Rotaract Service Project at the Golden Harvest Master’s Table

    14 Rotarians and 4 Rotaract Students from Augusta University participated to “Serve Above Ourselves” at the Golden Harvest Master’s Table. The Volunteers served the food to about 150 customers, cleaned the dishes, collected the trash, moped the floor, sanitized the chairs and tables at the Golden Harvest Master’s Table on November 16, 2024

    s.

    Rotaract Service Project at the Ronald McDonalds House Services

    8 Rotaract from Augusta University and President of Rotary Club volunteered at the Ronald McDonalds House on Saturday, Oct. 26, from 10-12 am. They prepared food for the residents of the house, organizing the facility, and making grab and go bags. 

    Help at FEMA HUB Center in Augusta, GA

    American Red Cross and Rotarians partnered to help FEMA Hub Center in organizing the customers to facilitate their interviews with the FEMA Personnel efficiently. They supported FEMA daily for 2 weeks in 2 -6 hours shift daily.