Glenwood Rotary Club Marks 100 Years
Glenwood Rotary celebrated its 100th anniversary as a club last month during its annual fundraising spaghetti dinner.
Glenwood Rotary presidents from 1922 - 1933 are pictured here. Front row (from left): Bert French, Dr. George Mogridge, Wayne Choate, Will Rathke. Middle row: Leo Hollingshead, Floyd McCluskey, Scott Robinson. Back row: Clyde Genung, Dr. Thomas Lacey, Frank Raynor, Dr. Will Plimpton and Ed Hoctor. The photo was previously published in The Opinion-Tribune’s 1996 book “A Glimpse Of The Past - A Pictorial History Of Mills County, Iowa.”
A Glenwood service club recently celebrated its 100th anniversary.
The Glenwood Rotary Club was chartered on Nov. 4, 1922. The club was founded under the sponsorship of the Council Bluffs Rotary Club.
Last month, Glenwood Rotarians marked the occasion with a 100th anniversary celebration held in conjunction with the club’s fall spaghetti dinner at the Mills County Museum Annex. The club’s spaghetti dinner is an annual community fundraising event.
“Over $6,000 was raised by soliciting area businesses and individuals for donations and of course, a very delicious spaghetti dinner brought many to the Mills County Museum annex, specially decorated for the event,” Glenwood Rotary President Dennis Kelly stated. “Earlier in the year, the Rotary sponsored the circus in town and made another $3,000 to distribute to local charities.”
Kelly said Rotary “is a fixture” among service organizations in Glenwood, noting the club is known for supporting projects and causes both locally and internationally.
“Rotarian world-wide focus has been on eradicating the scourge of Polio and in the time since the conflict in Ukraine has broken out, in assisting over 4,000,000 Ukrainian refugees who are now temporarily living primarily in Poland,” he said. “Locally, the Glenwood
Rotary assists the Love Tree, Storehouse, fire and police departments, youth league projects, Glenwood schools, and many, many other worthy endeavors.”
Kelly also pointed out that each year over 200 dictionaries are distributed by the club to all third graders in Mills County schools. Eighth graders receive a personal copy of the U.S. Constitution, courtesy of the Rotarians. Also, there are scholarships presented to seniors at area high schools and specific grant projects are selected and funded with assistance of matching funds from the Rotary District to make permanent improvements in the area.
Also, each year local high school juniors are chosen to attend the Rotary Youth Leadership Academy (RYLA).
Kelly added, “Local civic minded individuals and businesses are welcome to join in the work of the Glenwood Rotary to better help them do more for the betterment of Mills County.”