The Starkville Rotary Club has a long and distinguished history of service. Here are just a few highlights.
- Chartered in April 1924 with 18 members, membership now numbers more than 150, making our club the second largest in Mississippi.
- The club has supported Boy Scout Troup 14 continuously since 1925. It is the oldest continuous Scout Troop in its 10-county Pushmataha Area Council.
- To allow younger children to participate in club-supported youth baseball programs, two Starkville Rotarians, Clyde Muse and W. W. Littlejohn, devised the game of tee ball that is now played throughout the United States and overseas.
- The club has actively participated in the Rotary Youth Exchange, Ambassadorial Scholars, Group Study Exchanges, and World Community Service projects over a period of many years to foster international understanding.
- With assistance from the club, Starkville Rotarian Martha Wells, accompanied by Mikell Vance, wife of Past District Governor Stuart Vance, traveled to India to administer polio immunizations in support of Rotary International’s Polio Plus, program, which has been instrumental in nearly eradicating polio from the world.
- Every year, the club’s new Rotarians prepare the final float in the Starkville Christmas parade, the one on which Santa Claus rides.
- The Starkville Sportsplex has benefited from the many contributions of the Starkville Rotary Club toward expanded facilities.
- The club-sponsored Rotary Classic Rodeo raises around $20,000 annually for community service projects.
- For the community’s youth, the club is the charter organization for BSA Troops 14 and 142, and Cub Scout Pack 14, the Youth Baseball Association, the Boys and Girls Club, and the Starkville Youth Soccer Organization. It conducts an Adopt-A-School program, provides a Rotary Scholarship and gives an Excellence in Education Award. As part of the literacy program the club gives dictionaries to all 3rd grades in both city and county schools.
Honors
Each year, the Starkville Rotary Club recognizes members and non-Rotarian community leaders with service awards.