Flag lease brochure for 2011

Melissa Rotary Flag Program Brochure

Melissa Rotary Recognizes First Paul Harris Fellow

The Melissa Rotary Club recognized its first Paul Harris Fellow on December 9, 2010 at its 7:30 a.m. meeting. Julie Anderson of Melissa receieved recognition from Rotary International for her contribution of over $1,000 to Rotary Internationals Annual Programs Fund, Polio Plus/PolioPlus Partners or the Humanitarian Grants Program.

The Paul Harris Fellow is named after Paul Harris who formed the world's first service club, the Rotary Club of Chicago on February 23, 1905. Today, the Paul Harris Society contributions to the Rotary Foundation support a wide range of Humanitarian grants and educational programs that enable Rotarians to bring hope and promote international understanding throughout the world (Paul Harris Society Brochure).

For more inforation regarding the Paul Harris Society click link ( link ).

Thanks to Julie Anderson from the Melissa Rotary Club.

Melissa Rotary Inducts Three Members

The Melissa Rotary Club is proud to announce the addition of three new members.

• Tim Anderson, operations director with Pat Lobb Toyota
• Randy Robnet, retired Air Force Chaplain
• Lisa Cantrel, Insurance Agent

Thank you for your committment to serving our community through your involvement in Rotary.

Rotary District 5810 Governor Visits Melissa Rotary

The Melissa Rotary Chapter hosted the Rotary District 5810 District Governor Linda Elliot, and other Rotary dignataries, at the latest chapter meeting on 10/14/2010.

District Governor Elliot presented a state of the district presenation to the Melissa Rotary and highlighted several service projects that the district as a whole is participating in.

One project in particular is the World Polio Day that is coming up on Sunday October 24, 2010. The Rotary Foundation is looking for contributions during the days of October 18-24th to support World Polio Day and to continue the quest to eradicate polio worldwide. http://www.rotary5810.org/ (for more information on Rotary District 5810)

The Melissa Rotary Chapter is in Rotary District 5810 which runs from the Oklahoma border to Ellis County and the East boundary of Texas to back to the West just outisde of Tarrant and Denton Counties.

Locally, the Melissa Rotary Chapter has only been in existence for less than a year but has made a huge positive impact in several families lives through donations for families that are struggling through fires or military deployments.

The Melissa Rotary has also contributed more than $1600 to the Boy Scouts through their Flag Lease Program which met with tremendous success by running out of flags to sell. Most recently, the Melissa Rotary furninshed an apartment for the Samaritain Inn in McKinney.

Join the Melissa Rotary this next Thursday (details on the right side of this website) To learn more about the great service opportunities that the Melissa Rotary is working on.

The Melissa Rotary is also seeking donations to continue their "Service Above Self" mission in Melissa. See the dontate button on the right side of this website to give a gift of cash that will be passed forward back into our local community.

Rotarians to celebrate with Charter Banquet

Members of Melissa Rotary are invited to attend the Charter Banquet to celebrate our official recogintion of April 22, 2010 as an officially Chartered Rotary Chapter. The banquet will be June 17 at 8 Shadywood Circle, Melissa, Texas 75454.

The Charter Banquet begins at 7 p.m. and will cost $30 per person if paid at the meeting. $32 per person if paid via pay pal (below). To pay by paypal, simply click the donate button below.

Rotary Decorates City for Holiday

The Memorial Day weekend ushered in a new era for Melissa residents anxious to display their patriotism. Over 100 new American flags were placed throughout the Liberty subdivision and other local sites as a show of patriotic unity.

The Melissa Rotary canvassed Melissa and sold the flags to Melissa Residents as part of the 1st Annual Melissa Flag Lease program. For a $30 donation, a resident or business owner leases a flag that will be placed at their home or business on five holidays in 2010.

The Rotarians have partnered with Boy Scout Troop 413 as a fundraiser for both local non-profit agencies. The program is administered and managed by the Melissa Rotary.

“The Flag Lease program is a Rotarian tradition,” said J.J. Chapa, Melissa Rotary Member. “Chapters all over the country implement this unique program as a way to raise funds and display a sense of community and national pride.”

The Melissa Rotary received its charter in April 2010 and is in its infancy as a chapter. To date, the chapter has given out over $1,700 in cash gifts to families and groups that have requested or needed donations. The group plans to do much more and the Flag Lease Fundraiser will serve as the springboard.

“We had discussions early on if this Flag Lease Program was too ambitious for our first major fundraiser,” said Don Nicolini, Melissa Rotary member. “However, our group took the bull by the horns and made it happen.”

The Flag Lease program’s first year was limited to mostly Liberty Subdivision participation. Over the next couple of years, the program will expand to the rest of Melissa.

“We needed to start out with a small first step,” said Don Nicloini, Melissa Rotary Member.

Randy Kaiser, Don Nicolini and J.J. Chapa served as Flag Lease chairs for 2010. Albert Cervantes, Randy Kaiser, Danielle Aldridge and Julie Anderson paved the way for soliciting for the most donations. All Rotarians committed to sell two flags. The Boy Scouts went door to door to round out the sales.

“Our first attempt at sponsorships for our program lead to over 100 flags being installed for Memorial Day Weekend,” Nicolini said. “We actually ran out of flags.”
To find out more information about Melissa’s Flag Lease program, call J.J. Chapa at 972-254-2011 or visit www.MelissaRotary.com.

Melissa Rotary Chapter Officially Chartered

Dear Governor Dave and Rotarian Don,

Greetings from Evanston! I am writing to inform you that your Rotary Club of Melissa, Texas, USA was chartered on 22 April and the certificate and congratulatory letters are in the mail.

If I can further assist you in any way, please do not hesitate to contact me directly by phone or email.

Best wishes to you and your new Rotary club!

All the best,
Jennifer Sewell
Coordinator, Club and District Support
Central Pan America