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Service Above Self since 1915

Southeastern North Carolina's oldest, largest and finest       civic organization

What's new

Sponsors needed for Leaders in Service awards

The Wilmington Rotary Club is offering businesses and individuals the opportunity to sponsor the 2026 Leaders in Service Awards banquet. Sponsorships will support the club's tax-exempt charitable foundation, which pays for the club's projects and grants to other non-profits. Sponsors will receive public mention and tickets to the May 12 awards banquet.

Sponsorships are available at the Platinum level, $10,000; Gold, $5,000; Silver, $2,500, and Friend of Rotary, $1,000. Individual tickets to the awards banquet will be available for $150 later in the spring.

Leaders in Service honors top leaders in three categories of local enterprise: business, non-profit and government. This year's honorees will be selected from nominations submitted by the general public. Their names will be announced in late February.

Since 1915, the club has been undertaking projects to improve our community, the nation, and the world. This year, the foundation will disburse $80,000 or more from our foundation in grants to non-profit organizations and in support for the club’s own projects, primarily focused on basic education and literacy.

More details, including a sponsorship form, can be found online at www.leadersinservice.org.

The Wilmington Rotary Club’s RCDW Foundation is a 501(c)(3) charitable institution. That means sponsorships will be largely tax-deductible for donors.

Some of the Rotarian volunteers who helped sort and pack food for NourishNC.

Backpack program feeds kids on weekends, school breaks

For many years, this club has supported NourishNC in its mission of ensuring that low-income children don’t go hungry during weekends or school breaks.

This year, we secured a District Grant to buy a new pallet racking system. This will enhance NourishNC’s ability to efficiently prepare and distribute weekend meals to food-insecure children.

As required with all Rotary grants, hands-on service by Rotarians is part of the project. A large group of volunteers turned out on Jan. 26 to pack meal bags.
In keeping with the club’s emphasis on family-friendly projects, several members brought along children, spouses, or co-workers.

Our grant bought tools and other gardening equipment for Willowdale farms.

Club invests money and our labor in community garden

Willowdale Farms grows fresh produce and flowers in its community garden to help people living nearby with food insecurity. We are helping upgrade and rehabilitate that garden through a District Grant that paid for new tools and other equipment. As part of that project, we held a work day on Dec. 13. A dozen Rotarians and family members joined in to get dirt under their fingernails, mulch, weed, and transplant vegetable plants.

Rotarian discussion leaders guided RYLA participants through round-table talks.

Mentoring teens at Rotary Youth Leadership Awards session

Fourteen members of our club joined 56 juniors from area high schools Dec. 6 for a session of the Rotary Youth Leadership Awards sponsored by Wilmington’s six Rotary Clubs. Most of the morning’s program consisted of round-table discussions led by Rotarians. The session was held at the UNCW library’s Discovery Hall.

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For Rotarians

February 3: Membership engagement committee meets 11:30 a.m. at Tileston Upper Room. All club members are welcome to sit in and to join the committee.

February 10: At our regular meeting, 12:30 to 1:30 p.m., we will conduct a supply drive for a "Birthday Box" project. Needed items include cake mixes, frosting, sprinkles and other cake decorations, candles, party decor like streamers & balloons, party favors, and sets of disposable plates, napkins, cups and utensils. These will go to a Girl Scout Troop that will pack them in kits to distributed to organizations like Foster Pantry, Good Shepherd Center, and Coastal Horizons.

February 10: Environmental committee meets 1:30 p.m. at Tileston Upper Room. All club members are welcome to sit in and join the committee.

February 14: A Saturday morning cleanup at Greenfield Park, both on land and water. From 9 to 11 a.m. Rotarians will meet at the park's boat ramp to collaborate with Cape Fear River Watch to remove trash from Greenfield Lake and its banks. This is part of a District Grant project that is helping to fund a johnboat that CFRW will use in its mission of protecting the environment of the Cape Fear River basin.

February 17: Leaders in Service committee meets 11:30 a.m. in Tileston conference room.

March 28: Rotary Day at N.C. Boys and Girls Homes in Lake Waccamaw, 9 a.m. to noon. All Rotarians are invited to attend this open house, which will include a visit to the Rotary Cottage. For details, members should contact Allan Lusk.

April 10 and 11: Rotary District 7730 annual conference at the DoubleTree by Hilton Riverfront hotel in New Bern. Conference fee is $150 and includes Friday and Saturday dinners, Saturday breakfast, and lunch. A Saturday-dinner-only option is also available. Follow this link to register and pay. (Login to district database required.)

Ongoing: The Literacy Committee needs volunteers for our Together We Read program in partnership with the D.C. Virgo Preparatory Academy, UNCW, and now Alderman Elementary School.  This brings volunteer mentors together with children who need additional support in reading. The objective is to build confidence in reading through the relationship with the mentor, as well as to begin building the child's personal library. Our sign-up form has two time slots for each day of the week, for volunteers who are able to commit to be mentors for a full 10-week semester. Substitute volunteers may also volunteer as the need arises without committing to a full semester. After a standard school background check, all volunteers will have an orientation. To sign up, follow this link.

Ongoing: See video recordings of past meetings (since June 2020), accessible only to logged-in members of the club. To find a meeting video, follow this link. You will be prompted to enter your Rotary username (normally your email) and your password (the member number found in the address block on your Rotary magazine). The meetings index is a PDF file that contains clickable links to the meetings on our private Youtube channel.

Ongoing: Members can download a digital copy of the club's current Handbook, which includes a membership roster and other important information. This requires a login to the district and club database, as outlined in the item above.

Ongoing: Anyone participating in a service project is urged to get photographs of Rotarians at work for use in both public outreach and internal communication. Email  high-resolution photos to the club's Public Image Committee. (Contact info is in the club handbook.) Also helpful: Please follow, like, and share the club's social-media pages and posts. See links above.

Our club's background

The club was founded in 1915. For details, go to Club History page.

Projects

What we believe

Our club has endorsed Rotary International's diversity, equity and inclusion statements. For details, go to our Diversity, Equity and Inclusion page and to Rotary International's DEI page.

Membership: a choice for fellowship and service

For details about how to become a member, go to the Membership page.

Rotary's seven areas of focus

The club's service priorities are based on part on Rotary International's seven areas of focus. (The seventh, the environment, is new in 2021.) The areas of focus are:

• Peace and conflict prevention/resolution.

• Disease prevention and treatment.

• Water and sanitation.

• Maternal and child health.

• Basic education and literacy.

• Economic and community development.

• The environment.