Page 12 - 1994 Plymouth Rotary Annual Report

Plymouth. Every member of the Club served on some committee and when the drive
was over, nearly a quarter million dollars had been subscribed to build the
Mayflower Hotel.
In 1925 our weekly publication, The Broadcaster, was started. It has been changed
in style from time to time, but still strives to keep members informed about club
activities. The Broadcaster has also become our printed club history, detailing 69
years of club meetings.
In 1935 club president Father Frank Lefevre came up with the idea of making a
member of the senior class at the high school a Junior Rotarian. That custom has
continued through the years with the number increased to two in 1963 and four per
month in 1970. This junior membership idea has been adopted by a large number
of clubs throughout the nation.

In 1937 we changed from District 18 to District 153 and in 1947 George Smith
became District Governor. In 1957 we became District 640 and Frank Henderson
became the first District 640 Governor, followed by Perry Richwine in 1965 and
Edward Sawusch in 1973.

Through the leadership of George A. Smith, the club took over and financed a
student loan fund which to this day assists students in getting a college education.
The student loan fund was enlarged and incorporated into the Plymouth Rotary
Foundation. In addition to the loans, we now provide both vocational and academic
scholarships. It was fitting that in this anniversary year we were able to construct
playground equipment at George A. Smith elementary school with funds provided
by the foundation he started and manpower provided by the club that he started.
One of the club's early activities was that of making a house-to-house canvass of
the community and surrounding area to find crippled children and arrange for their
proper care. This program started a county and state organization that is still active
today. That beginning was followed by a project in 1956-57 when our club joined
with the other Rotary Clubs of the district and made possible the Crippled
Children's Home at Inkster. This project involved a total investment of over
$150,000 with Plymouth providing over $40,000 of that amount. Today we have
expanded on that with our drive to collect equipment to help all handicapped
individuals. More recently a project to collect and distribute previously used
surplus handicap equipment resulted in the placingof$30, 000worth of equipment
with persons who could make good use of it, all at a cost to the club of$200 plus
the time of our ever willing workers.

Plymouth Rotary received outstanding international recognition for assistance
given to Plymouth, England during the Blitz of World War II. Between June 30,
1940 and April 30, 1944 our sister city in England had 60 alert sirens, with 59
bombings, 448 residents killed and total casualties of 1172. Plymouth Rotary sent
food, clothing, money and above all, friendly letters of hope and encouragement