Rotary Club of Brandon donates nine charity checks

Nine charities received checks from the Rotary Club of Brandon thanks to money raised during the club’s two major fundraisers, its historic Wild Game Night in February and its golf tournament a month earlier.

At the June 11 club meeting, checks totaling $111,538 were distributed to High 5 Inc. ($21,129), Emergency Care Help Organization ($17,287) and Rotary’s Camp Florida ($14,406). Both Hope for Her and the Outreach Clinic received $13,445. Checks totaling $5,000 were given to Angel Foundation FL and Greater Tampa Bay Area Council, Boy Scouts of America.

Representatives of the nonprofit organizations were present 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 high school seniors were scheduled to receive their scholarship checks at the club’s June 18 meeting.

According to officials, the club has donated more than $3 million to local charities since its founding in 1961.

“This is the impact we have on the community when we can give back to an organization not just $1,000, but sometimes up to $20,000,” said club president Patrick W. Skidmore II. Giving back a significant amount “can really change an organization, and to me that’s the key to being able to make a difference here in Brandon.”

Handing out the checks “is the highlight of the year,” said former president Todd Owen, who noted that the club wrote checks totaling about $135,000 at three fundraisers last year.

“We are a club that gives and we keep giving, and that’s why we have our fundraisers,” said President-elect Tim Ryan, adding that Rotarians participate in four out of five service projects annually, including Backpack Heroes and delivering lunch to teachers at Kingswood Elementary School, which is across the street from the Rivard-Simmons Rotary Event Center.

After meeting in various locations for nearly sixty years, club members opened their own space in 2017 after raising $290,000 to purchase and convert the vacant house at 3007 S. Kings Ave. into a clubhouse. Cash and in-kind donations included construction, 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 passed away in 2018.

The club meets on Tuesdays at 12 noon in the clubhouse, which can be hired for events such as conferences, parties and club meetings.

For more information about the club, membership and rentals, visit www.brandonrotary.org or call Larry Fassett at 813-767-5803.