OUR CLUB'S LEGACY OF GIVING
 

Since its founding in 1914, our club has donated to or volunteered for: 

— Saginaw United High School Marching Band. 2024 (golf, delayed)

— Saginaw Youth Protection Council for mental health programs. 2024 (SOS)

— “Shine Bright” silo mural project donation. 2023

— Purchase of two benches for Saginaw River Headwaters Rec Area.  2023 (with a District grant)

—  Restoration Community Outreach shelter for homeless men, operational funds. 2023 (SOS)

— Friends of Hoyt Park, seed money for construction of a pavilion. 2023 (SOS)

— The Well of Saginaw shelter for homeless men, funded development of outside area for recreation and to relax. 2023 (SOS)

— City of Saginaw Fire Department, purchase of 20 protective hoods for firefighters. 2022 (raffle)

— Purchase of five ShelterBoxes for displaced Ukrainians, with the assistance of donations from a gardening club and former members of our club. 2022

– “Michigan Chillers” author Johnathan Rand writing workshop for 80 fifth graders in District 6310. 2022 (with District grant partnership)

– Rental of a large dumpster for the ongoing cleanup of the Potter Street Station project. 2022

— Saginaw Bay Youth Orchestra, purchase of percussion instruments. 2022 (SOS)

— Pit and Balcony Community Theater, funding for its Class Act summer workshops for youths. 2022 (SOS)

– Major Chords for Minors, funding for instructors. 2021, 2022 (both SOS)

— Underground Railroad, Hidden Harvest, Saginaw Rescue Mission, East Side Soup Kitchen, operational funding in response to increased needs during the Covid pandemic. 2021 (golf)

— Rotary’s Great Lakes Watershed Cleanup, a service day dedicated to Rotary’s environmental focus taking place in American and Canadian Great Lakes states. Our club teams up with the other two Saginaw Rotary clubs on a project for that day. 2021-ongoing

— Guatemalan Literacy Program, sponsoring a student and paying for his educational costs. 2021

— City of Saginaw Fire Department, purchase of four thermal imaging devices to quickly locate people trapped in burning structures. 2019 (golf)

— BSA Troop 366 of Saginaw, an all-girl troop, charter partner. 2019-ongoing

— Established an Ethics in Business Award honoring a local business that adheres to our Four Way Test.  2018. First winner was the Savoy Bar and Grill, which annually feeds 500 needy with a full Thanksgiving dinner at its establishment.

— Built public use pavilion on grounds of YMCA with one other Saginaw Rotary club. 2018

— Sponsored a 12-member Hoyt Park Summer Baseball League team for ages 11 and under. 2018

— All Music Is Power, an interactive music experience for students with special needs, operational funds. 2018, 2019 (both SOS)

— A Place for Grace, bought exercise equipment for a children with special needs facility. 2017

— Light Up the Night walk, club members passed out light bulbs to residents for use on porches in crime-fighting effort.  2017

—  Central Michigan University Medical School "Thanks for Staying" endowment donations and fundraisers with members of two other Saginaw Rotary clubs. Annually awards a graduate with a $10,000 grant if he or she agrees to do their residency in our area.  2017-ongoing (2023 golf)

— Sam Merrill Memorial Pavilion at a Little League facility in Saginaw Township, funding to build it. 2017

— Sent two  boxes of children's books sent to impoverished Philippines. 2017

— Building and installment of Little Free Library. 2016

— Saginaw Police Department, purchase of night goggles and body cameras. 2016 (golf)

— Maintenance of an adopt-a-garden bed at the entrance to the Saginaw Children’s Zoo. 2016-2023

— Saginaw Harvest Table event sponsor. 2016, 2017

— In partnership with Rotary Club of Saginaw Sunrise, Rotary Club of Saginaw Valley, Rotary Club of Proddutur, District 6310 of Michigan, District 3160 of India and Rotary International, our club helped fund the addition of a surgical room at the Rotary Eye Hospital in the Proddutur region of India. The hospital serves 2 million people in 321 villages, providing free or affordable eye exams and eye surgery to the poor. 2016

— Hooked on Scouting, helped sponsor a daylong event hosted by mid-Michigan Boy Scouts at a park. 2015

— To celebrate the 100th anniversary of the founding of the Rotary Club of Saginaw, we sponsored and raised endowment funds for a mural timeline of Saginaw history in the atrium of TheDow Event Center, 303 Johnson. Measuring 30 feet wide and 13 feet high, it contains 31 photographic images -- among them the Treaty of Saginaw, skating at Hoyt Park, water pumps, the lumber era and a steering gear. 2014 (In 2023, The Dow destroyed the mural — without advance notice — to construct digital signage. $39,000 down the drain after only nine years.)

—  Adopt-a-family and gifts to nonprofits for Christmas (Underground Railroad, Salvation Army, Emmaus House, Mustard Seed, H.I.S. Restoration Ministries, etc.). 2014-ongoing

— Saginaw Promise, donations to a  student scholarship program for families living in city. 2012, 2022 (golf)

—  Saginaw Bay Great Read project reaching 4,000 students in 22 Saginaw/Bay/Midland county middle schools on the subject of bullying, operational funds. 2012

— Water sanitation projects in the Dominican Republic. 2011, 2012, 2023

— Fetal monitors sent to Haiti by a Covenant doctor. 2011

— Soccer balls for the Saginaw Township Soccer Program. 2011

— Partnered with two Saginaw clubs, 10 clubs in Japan, two districts and Rotary International for the purchase of  36 automated heart defibrillators for shelters housing people displaced by the earthquake/tidal wave in Sendai, Japan. 2011

— Installed Rotary Street Clock in Morley Plaza. 2008

— Christmas bell ringing for the Salvation Army. 2008-ongoing 

— Clean Up Saginaw campaign. 2008

— Co-sponsor and participant in Altrusa’s fund-raising Bee for Literacy adult spelling bee. Funds literacy projects. 2008-ongoing. 

— Haiti water project. 2008

— Dictionary Project,  donating special enhanced dictionaries to third grade students in Saginaw County, 2008-2023 

— Building of a gazebo for Saginaw’s Japanese Cultural Center and Tea House in conjunction with Saginaw Valley and Saginaw Sunrise Cubs, in honor of Rotary International Centennial Celebration. 2005

— Founded Saginaw on Stage fundraising concerts. 2003-ongoing. In the years since, proceeds from the annual concert have benefitted Mid-Michigan Children’s Museum, Riverfront Development Council, Saginaw Bay Symphony Orchestra, Saginaw County Business and Education Partnership, Saginaw Choral Society, Child and Family Services, Saginaw Family Care Network, Pit and Balcony Community Theater, Child Abuse and Neglect Council, Saginaw Art Museum, Community Prescription Support Program. Covenant Sleepsack Project, Covenant Kids, Heart of Michigan Girl Scouts. More than $250,000  reinvested in the community. (starting in 2018, recipients are listed separately each year)

— Bought special exercise equipment for a South Korean home for handicapped people. 2000

— Janes Street Community Health Center and Boys and Girls Club, operational support. 1997

— Bought equipment for a diabetes clinic in San Paulo, Brazil. 1997

— Fax machine, copiers, office space and conference facility provided for Saginaw Crime Task Force. 1995

— Bought and planted two ornamental trees at Hoyt Library. 1994

— Crayola Park donor (near the YMCA). 1992

— Bought  ECGs for Cirico, Chile. 1992.

— Construction of a nature interactive center at Camp Rotary as a 75th anniversary project. 1980

— Rotary Youth Leadership Award program. Each year we send students from the city high schools to attend the 6310 District's five-day leadership program taking place at Camp Rotary. 1972-ongoing

—  Sponsored Pro-Celebrity Tennis Tournament. Among the players Jimmy Conners, Bobby Riggs, Burt Bacharach and Lloyd Bridges. 1970

— Built main lodge ($250,000) at Camp Rotary. 1970

— Bought additional 583 acres ($24,000) at Camp Rotary, extending it to1063 acres. 1966

— World Celebrity Series of speakers (club booked prominent authors, actors, scientists for public lectures. Amelia Earhart, Charles Lawton, Lowell Thomas Junior, Ogden Nash, Eleanor Roosevelt, Claude Raines, Gene Tunny among them). 1946-1955

— Sponsored Midland-Saginaw Rotary Golf Tournament. 1933

—  Purchased lake and property for $6,000, which becomes Camp Rotary (which is operated by The Boy Scouts of America and leased to them by our club for $1 a year). 1925

— Promoted Big Brothers movement as club project. 1923

— Arranged for three orthopedic surgeons to give free clinic to aid crippled children. 1921
 

OTHER ACCOMPLISHMENTS

Over the years the Rotary Club of Saginaw has hosted Group Study Exchange visitors from  Australia, Germany, Japan,  Brazil, Philippines, Greece, France, India, Brazil, Finland, Scotland, Argentina, South Africa, Thailand, Korea, Portugal, French West Indies and Denmark.
 

And over the years our members have helped organize Boy Scouts in Saginaw, Saginaw Public Library System, consolidate the East and West side school districts into the Saginaw School District, consolidate the East Side and West Side post offices into the Saginaw Post Office, fluoridate city and Saginaw Township water,  founded Riverside Saginaw Film Festival and served as mayors and county sheriffs.

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