Christmas Project

Goals:

• Improve the Holiday season for underprivileged children.
• Take children shopping with Rotarians.
• Deliver a tree and decorations to each child's family.
• Deliver Christmas Eve meals to families, with gifts for children from the Lenoir-Rhyne College Giving Tree.

Plans:

• Work with the Salvation Army and Sweetwater Elementary School to identify the children.
• Ask each Club member to volunteer for at least one phase of this project.
• Provide our Club members with money, names, addresses, maps and specific needs of the children.
• Ask each Club member to contribute financially to the project to cover expenses.

Community Development

Goals:

• To improve the physical condition of the community and its facilities.
• To help make our community a better place to live.

Plans:

• Coordinate involvement of Rotarians with HHS Interact Club in their service projects.
• Sponsor a clean-up day at Hickory Rotary Club Park.
• Assist with the refurbishment and development of a historical marker in Robinson Park, the site of the original Hickory Tavern.

Tutoring / Mentor Program

Goals:

• Help a student build a foundation in education at an early age through one-on-one instruction.
• Provide tutors/mentors to local elementary schools.

Plans:

• Enlist volunteers who will commit to a once-a-week session for one school year.
• Train the volunteers before the school year commences.
• Work with Southwest Elementary School to establish our program.

Furniture Project

Goals:

• To achieve greater world understanding through the continued education of our youth. We will do so by developing a long-term fund-raising mechanism, namely the "Furniture Project," that will support the Scholarship Fund of the Hickory Rotary Club.

Plans:

• Continue to work with our licensed manufacturer to market furniture and other related products that use the Rotary Emblem.
• Products may include a Rotary Wing Chair, Arm Chair, Ottoman, Foot Stool and Pillow. Donate the profits to our Scholarship Fund.

For more information, see Furniture Project.

Rotary TV Auction

Goals:

• Raise funds for the Club's Charitable Donations and Scholarships. Provide a weekend of fellowship and entertainment for Club members.

Plans:

• Hold annual Education Alive TV Auction. Involve all club members in this event.
• Sell "Century Club" memberships to members of the Club and community.
• Sell food and drink at the auction site.
• Sell advertising space on the program.
• Solicit our members and local businesses, both for monetary donations and for goods and services to be auctioned.

For more information, see Education Alive

Environmental Protection

Goals:

• To develop projects which will examine and change conditions in our community which are detrimental to our environment.

Plans:

• Complete an "Environmental Education Station" at Glenn Hilton Park. The Station will be a permanent display, with information directed to educating the youth of our community.
• Provide quarterly displays on appropriate environmental subjects, such as recycling, energy conservation, etc.
• Involve Southwest Elementary and other local schools in the preparation of some of the displays.