September 6, 2023 - The Rotary Club of Center invited all of the fire departments in the county to a luncheon at the John D. Windham Civic Center where each of the seven departments receive donations from four local organizations on Tuesday, September 5, 2023. The total donation was $29,190 with each department receiving $4,170. The seven fire departments are Center Fire Department, Huxley Volunteer Fire Department, Shelbyville Volunteer Fire Department, Joaquin Volunteer Fire Department, Tenaha Volunteer Fire Department, Timpson Volunteer Fire Department, and West Shelby County Volunteer Fire Department.
50 Women of Impact present donation to Shelby County Fire Departments. From left: (50 Women Impact members) Laura Rowe, Montie Jones, Michelle Richards, Andi Foster, Sandie Mason, Merle Howard, (firefighters) Bob Vandrovec, Jonathan Filz, Chris Koltonski, Jeremiah Huss, July Stewart, John Green, Jerryl Adams, Jeremy Boyette, Mike Stephens, Mark Odom, Chad McCormick, Waylon Griffith, (50 Women Impact members), Linda Miller, Meg Camp, Alease Copelin, Sheila Harris, and Lisa McAdams. (Click image to enlarge)
The first donation of $2,165 was presented to each fire department from the 50 Women of Impact. Linda Miller spoke on behalf of the group, “We started 50 Women Impact in 2017 and to date we have given $254,000 to various non-profits in Shelby County. And we have been blessed to see our feet go to work in the community. When the wildfires started and y’all were all out, we just knew we had to help. So, today, to every volunteer fire department in Shelby County we are donating $2,165.” She then gave thanks to all the firefighters for their work and devotion to protecting the community.
Lions Club donation was presented by (far left) Roger Doyle and (far right) Lions Club President Clay Ihlo. The Hochheim Prairie donation was presented by board member (far right) Clay Ihlo.
Also, presenting donations to the fire departments were the Center Noon Lions Club, Hochheim Prairie Farm Mutual Branch 110, and the Rotary Club of Center.
Clay Ihlo, Lions Club President, presented $1,000 donations to each department. Ihlo also serves on the Hochheim Prairie board and he then presented $500 donations from Hochheim Prairie Farm Mutual Branch 110. Ihlo added, “We appreciate y’all very much… and I hope this does a lot of good for you guys. Appreciate you very much.”
Rotary Club donation was presented by (far right) Rotary Club President Steve Waters.
The final group to present their donations was the host of the BBQ meal for the firemen - the Rotary Club of Center. Club President Steve Waters thanked all the organizations which joined in today for the benefit of the fire departments. Rotary’s motto is Service Above Self and the Rotary Club of Center was honored to host the luncheon along with presenting each department with a donation of $505 each.
Tenaha VFD Chief Mark Odom spoke words of thanks, “We want to thank everybody for this help. We all struggle trying to buy equipment and this will really help us out a lot.” Center VFD fireman Waylon Griffith said, “It’s going to help Center also, we have been very busy, we need the equipment and we definitely appreciate the help for sure.” West Shelby County VFD Chief Jerryl Adams shared, ”We appreciate everybody for donating, we appreciate all the help that we’ve had out in our area especially from all the fire departments and everybody involved.” Jeremiah Huss, Timpson VFD Chief said, “Thank you to all the community, we couldn’t have done it without y’all and everyone coming together to fight for one unified cause. Thank you.”
In closing, Steve Waters added, “I spoke to Ben Wulf [with Portacool] last Friday and I told Ben we were having this and he said, ‘Steve, I’m going to be in Dallas. Will you tell them how much we appreciate at Portacool what everybody did in this area and in surrounding areas for Portacool.’ They are continuing to move forward with Portacool and a lot of that due in part to what y’all did for them to keep them alive and viable with what was left out there. He did say just to pass that on, just a heart felt thank you to everyone.”
After the check presentations, all the firefighters were invited to stand and introduce themselves to the group.
The BBQ meal was catered by Robert Harris.
At the start of the meeting everyone stood and said the 'The Pledge of Allegiance' to the American Flag followed by reciting the Rotary Four Way Test. An invocation was given by Rotary Club President-Elect Rayford Copelin.
