If you have been following our previous two articles, we hope you have caught on to the definite fact that the Bainbridge Rotary Club (BRC) is an instrumental force for good in this community and the community of the world.

The BRC is very active in helping this community in so many ways that it is really impossible to list them all.

If you go by the Scout Hut for Troop 502 on Alice Street you will see a Rotary “wheel” logo. The BRC sponsors this troop and provides the hut and grounds.

Pass by the Friendship House and look to the playground in the back. You will see that much of the equipment was erected through Rotarian assistance.

Cruise the children’s section of the Southwest Georgia Regional Library and look at all the books with BRC gift labels in the front or you can check out the Braille reading blocks we have provided.

Go to any fourth-grade classroom in the county and you will see a Four-Way-Test-of-Ethics plaque.

Follow a child home for the weekend who is carrying food from the Backpack Program. You will see a Rotary “wheel” on the backpacks that the BRC provided.

If you want to go farther, you may visit Wales, Scotland, Columbia, the Ukraine or many other countries and you may find a BRC banner displayed in the local Rotary Club. That banner would have been brought home to them by one of the international students we have educated for a year here.

Go to Puerto Vallarta, Mexico. Go inland from the famous resort to the garbage dump area. You will find a shanty town. Over the last several years, we have worked to improve their lives. In Mexico, state-sponsored education ends after grammar school. We are now financially sponsoring several students, allowing them to go on to middle school and high school.

You will also find kids wearing glasses that we provided, wearing clothes that we provided, and writing with pencils and paper we provided. In the middle school, you will find a computer lab that was paid for through funds provided by the BRC, matched by our Rotary Foundation.

And perhaps most powerfully, you can travel to India, Pakistan, Nigeria and Afghanistan to see vials of Polio vaccine being given to the masses of children. Our club is part of a powerful network that includes the Rotary Foundation, UNICEF, the World Health Organization, the CDC and the Gates Foundation.

Together, we have reduced the annual incidence of Polio infections by 99.8 percent and within the next five years, we will be responsible for eliminating the devastation of Polio from this planet. The BRC is honored to be a partner in this historic effort.

Casino Night

Our Casino Night Fundraiser is coming March 3. It will be a great evening planned along a Mardi Gras flavor.

The Kirbo Center at Bainbridge College will be overtaken by Rotarians and our friends from 6 to 10 p.m., all in a fun atmosphere.

Participants will be treated to Cajun-style heavy hors d’oeurves prepared by Faye Martin of Elizabeth’s Catering. The food is certain to be wonderful, at her hand! A complimentary drink will start you off, to be followed by a cash bar with soft drinks as well as more spirited alternatives.

You will receive a ticket for the Chance Drawing that may allow you to go on a week of beach vacation or take home a large screen TV, a basket of select wine, a spa package or other surprises. Your starter “Funny Money” will stake you to a start in the games of chance.

The company that is assisting us in this endeavor will be providing blackjack tables, roulette wheels, craps tables, slot machines and a big wheel. Members of our club will serve as dealers, assuring all attendees a fun evening. If you have questions, a showgirl or two may be there to provide an answer. Those who win at the tables will earn more chances in the big drawing.

The ticket price is $50 per person. We hope you will consider that an investment.

The Rotary Motto is “Service Above Self.” Your ticket purchase confirms your support of this outlook toward Bainbridge and Decatur County.

For your purchase, the Bainbridge Rotary Club guarantees you two things. First, we guarantee you a fun time; there is no doubt we will have a great time together that evening. The second guarantee is that the money we raise will be spent locally to make Bainbridge and Decatur County a better place to live. There is so much need locally, so many hurting from the downturn in the economy, so many with less than adequate food still, and so many who need to read better to make their lives more successful!

As we work together, our community becomes more attractive to the business and industry that will help us all to be successful! Please come out and have fun while you help us in our effort to make a difference here!