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Service Above Self since 1915

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

What's new

Rotary Legacy Award to honor Eugene W. Merritt, Jr.

Eugene W. Merritt Jr., a retired real-estate developer and long-time civic activist, will be honored with the Wilmington Rotary Club’s second-ever Legacy Award. This honor was created in 2024 to recognize people who have made major contributions, over many years, to improving the quality of life in Wilmington and New Hanover County.

The award will be presented on May 13 at the Rotary Club’s fourth annual Leaders in Service Banquet. Merritt will receive the Legacy award alongside this year’s three Leaders in Service honorees. Leaders in Service recognizes leaders in the private, non-profit and public sectors who are making Wilmington a better place to live, work, and raise a family.

Merritt was honored for his accomplishments in several important areas that shaped how Wilmington grew in the past half century:

• Downtown revitalization, starting in the 1970s.
• Reforming alcohol laws to permit the sale of mixed drinks in restaurants.
• Blocking a proposed coal-loading facility on the downtown waterfront.
• Securing political support and funding, in both Raleigh and Washington, for construction of the Interstate 40 extension to Wilmington.
• Keeping the "One Tree Hill" TV show production in Wilmington.
• Amending state law to permit restaurants to serve food and drink on decks over public waters.

2025 Leaders in Service honorees announced

From left: honorees Ben David, Margaret Weller-Stargell, and Chip Mahan

The club announced the recipients of its fourth annual Leaders in Service Awards on March 5. They are Ben David, former district attorney for New Hanover and Pender Counties, in the government category; Margaret Weller-Stargell, CEO of the Coastal Horizons Center, in the non-profit category; and James S. "Chip" Mahan III, CEO of Live Oak Bank, in the private-sector category. The three honorees will received their awards at the club's banquet on May 13. Leaders in Service recognizes executives and other leaders who have made outstanding contributions to their community. Through sponsorships and ticket sales, it is the Wilmington Rotary Club's chief fund-raiser.

Club sends $5,000 to Los Angeles Rotary district for fire relief

Wilmington Rotary Club has directed $5,000 from its charitable foundation to support victims of January's California wildfires. The club's Board of Directors voted Feb. 17 to send that sum to Rotary District 5300, which includes Los Angeles County.

The California Rotary district is partnering with local agencies that are providing on-the-ground help to people who lost their homes in the fires.

Our donation is in keeping with previous disaster-relief grants. In 2023, we sent $5,000 in club foundation funds, plus $700 from members, to Hawaii Rotarians in the aftermath of the wildfires on Maui. And last fall, our foundation gave $5,000 to the Rotary District that covers western North Carolina, to help after Hurricane Helene caused devastating flooding and debris flows there. Individual members of our club kicked in another $7,000.

We remember how Rotary Clubs from around the nation send substantial financial aid here in 2018 after Wilmington endured prolonged flooding from Hurricane Florence.

2025 Rookie Teacher of the Year finalists, honored by Wilmington Rotary Club Feb. 18: Lilah Rossell, Deirdre Taylor, Mattie Johnson, David Quartuccio, and Jeff Bell.

Rotary honors early-career New Hanover County teachers

Five beginning teachers in New Hanover County Schools got recognition and cash awards Feb. 18, through the Wilmington Rotary Club’s “Rookie Teachers of the Year” program.

The five were selected by a committee of educators. The top honor, with a $1,000 gift card and a crystal trophy in the shape of an apple, went to Mattie Johnson, a ninth- and tenth-grade English teacher at Ashley High School. The others received $500 each. The other four finalists were Jeff Bell, who teaches graphic design and video production at New Hanover High School; David Quartuccio, a special-education teacher at J.C. Roe School; Lilah Rossell, who teaches first grade at Alderman Elementary School; and Deirdre Taylor, a fifth-grade teacher at Holly Tree Elementary School.

Presenting the awards was New Hanover County Schools Interim Superintendent Christopher Barnes.

Teaching is a demanding and challenging profession, and too many public school teachers leave the profession after just a few years. Starting in 2017, the Wilmington Rotary Club has been trying to remedy that with this public and tangible show of support for “rookie” teachers. In cooperation with Rotary’s awards program, the school district operates a “Beginning Teacher Support Program” to inspire and promote leadership among those new educators. That includes more than 300 teachers with less than three years of full-time classroom experience.

Rotarians and friends distribute food at First Fruits Ministries on Feb. 15.

District Grant project puts food in needy families' pantries

Putting their time and labor where their money is, Rotarians helped First Fruits ministry deliver food to needy families on Feb. 15. That task was part of the hands-on component of a District Grant project. The grant supplied $2,000 to buy the carts First Fruits uses to carry groceries to recipients’ cars. Half of that sum came from this club's non-profit Foundation; the balance came from the international Rotary Foundation, through District 7730. Rotary rules require hands-on participation from Rotarians in addition to projects' monetary components.

This is one of three District Grant projects this year that offer nutrition or housing support. Two others, totaling $5,000, have gone to the Good Shepherd Center.

Andy McGlinn of the Plastic Ocean Project briefs Rotarians and their families about Greenfield Park cleanup on Dec. 14. The volunteers picked up 60 pounds of trash.

Rotarians, friends, families pitch in, clean up Greenfield Park

The second in our series of “family friendly” service projects put Rotarians, spouses, friends, and children to work at Greenfield Park Dec. 14. The club’s Community Service and Environment Committees conducted the work day in partnership with the Plastic Ocean Project. Participating were eight Rotarians, three spouses and friends, and five children.
Together, they collected 60 pounds of trash in and near the Rotary Wheel Garden. In recognition of that amount, the Plastic Ocean Project will plant two trees at the New Hanover County landfill.

Student participants in the 2024 Wilmington RYLA conference at UNC-Wilmington pose with Rotarians from five sponsoring clubs. RYLA is an annual Rotary event.

High school students discuss goals with business leaders at Wilmington's Rotary Youth Leadership Awards conference

Thirty-nine juniors from all ten of New Hanover County's public and private high schools gathered at UNC-Wilmington on Dec. 7 for a morning of conversations about leadership, values, and education. The students, all nominated by their schools' guidance counselors, were participants in the Rotary Youth Leadership Awards program.

Rotarians from five clubs -- Wilmington, Wilmington East, Wilmington Central, Wilmingon West, and Cape Fear -- served as discussion leaders.

Of the 39 student participants in the Wilmington session, the Rotary sponsors selected thirteen to attend the District 7730 RYLA conference Jan. 24 through 26 at Pine Knoll Shores in Carteret County. Students selected by Rotary Clubs across seventeen Southeastern North Carolina counties will attend that weekend-long event at no cost.

Member contributions double club foundation's gift for    Hurricane Helene relief, totaling more than $12,000

Since Oct. 1, members of the club have given more than $7,660 toward help for victims of Hurricane Helene in western North Carolina. Those gifts are on top of a $5,000 contribution the club made from its non-profit charitable foundation. A wide swath of western North Carolina was devastated by flooding caused by Hurricane Helene.

These contribution have been directed to Rotary District 7670, which covers western North Carolina, and is coordinating relief and recovery work in its 22 counties.

Since then, two other Wilmington-area Rotary Clubs have pitched in another $7,500. Rotary District 7730 has provided a $15,000 match, President Paul Lawler reported Oct. 8. Another $660 came from the proceeds of our club's sale of Attractions coupon books. Altogether, our district has sent $45,000 for Helene relief, according to District Governor C.J. Crooks.

In 2018, in the aftermath of Hurricane Florence, which caused widespread flooding in and around Wilmington, Rotarians from all parts of the country sent aid here, some of it directly to this club. We remember that generosity in helping disaster victims elsewhere, such as to the Hawaiian island of Maui after wildfires there destroyed much of the city of Lahaina.

Club seeking sponsorships for Leaders in Service awards

The Wilmington Rotary Club is soliciting sponsorships for its fourth annual Leaders in Service awards, which will honor top leaders in three categories of local enterprise: business, non-profit and government. The three honorees will be recognized at a banquet on May 13, 2025.

The awards program and banquet are a fund-raiser for the club, which since 1915 has been undertaking projects to improve our community, the nation, and the world. Corporate sponsorships and individual ticket sales will benefit the Rotary Club’s local, non-profit charitable arm, the RCDW Foundation. This year, the foundation will disburse $70,000 or more in grants to non-profit organizations and in support for the club’s own projects, primarily focused on basic education and literacy.

The club is asking for sponsors to support our work. Sponsorship levels are Platinum ($10,000), Gold ($5,000), Silver ($2,500) and Friend of Rotary ($1,000.)

More details 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. In return for their support, sponsors will be recognized at the awards banquet and in public media advertising and will receive multiple tickets to the May 13, 2025 awards banquet.

Individual tickets will go on sale later this spring, for $150.

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For Rotarians

March 20 and March 27: Volunteers are needed for the club's dental screening clinics at the Boys & Girls Clubs of Southeastern North Carolina. Rotarians will help with administrative tasks while dentists and dental hygiene students conduct screenings for children. Available shifts are 2:30 to 4:00 p.m. and 3:45 to 5:00 p.m.

March 29: The club will participate in the Azalea Sweep. Details to follow closer to that date.

April 26: Work On Wilmington Community Volunteer Day. This long-standing annual event enlists members of many civic organizations on a few targeted projects. Details to follow closer to that date.

May 13: The Leaders in Service awards banquet, our major annual fund-raiser, will be held at UNCW's Burney Center, in lieu of our normal weekly meeting. Sponsors will get blocks of tickets; individual tickets will cost $150 per person and will go on sale later this spring.

June 17: The annual installation banquet, at which President-Elect David Grandey will take the gavel and new officers and board members take office, will take place from 4 to 7 p.m. in the Wardroom aboard the Battleship North Carolina. Middle of the Island will cater; Nothing Bundt Cakes will supply dessert; 1940s music will be featured. Details about reservations and guests will come closer to that date.

New and ongoing: The Literacy Committee needs volunteers for our Together We Read program in partnership with the D.C. Virgo Preparatory Academy and UNCW.  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: 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 PR 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.