CHL Mississippi RiverKings

Rotary Service Presented At RiverKings Game

Published on November 16, 2009 under Central Hockey League (CHL)
Mississippi RiverKings News Release


(Southaven, MS) --- The Mississippi RiverKings will showcase the works of Rotary Club of Southaven on Friday, Nov. 20 during the team's home game against the Bossier-Shreveport Mudbugs at 7:05 p.m. at the DeSoto Civic Center. All Rotary Clubs have a dual mission, to serve both others in their community and humanity around the world.

"At the end of every meeting we dismiss with our motto, 'Service Above Self; He profits most who serves best,'" Southaven Rotary President Rick Free said. "We take that motto very seriously." Rotary International is the world's first service club organization, with more than 1.2 million members in 33,000 clubs worldwide. Rotary club members are volunteers who work locally, regionally, and internationally to combat hunger, improve health and sanitation, provide education and job training, promote peace, and eradicate polio under the motto "Service Above Self."

Locally, the Southaven Rotary Club supports organizations such as The Samaritans, an organization that serves the people of Horn Lake and Southaven who are disabled, elderly and on fixed income, persons who are working and financially challenged, and families whose incomes are at or below Mississippi guidelines for poverty, through a wide range of services from a food pantry to help with utilities (For more information on the Samaritans, call 662.393.6439).

The club is also active in literacy efforts, granting college scholarships to four local high school students each year from Southaven, Horn Lake, and DeSoto Central High Schools, and Southern Baptist Educational Center. Southaven Rotary also gives dictionaries to third graders.

Internationally, Free is especially grateful for his club's role in the funding of Living Waters Honduras mission. In addition to his full-time job as pastor of Ripley Hispanic Church of the Nazarene, Free serves as U.S. administrator of Living Waters.

"Living Waters puts water wells in jungle villages in Honduras and has five medical and dental clinics across the country," Free said. "Rotary District 6800 (the northern third of Mississippi and Shelby County [Memphis] Tennessee) funds our water projects almost 100 percent."

Rotary International also sponsors "PolioPlus." PolioPlus, the most ambitious program in Rotary's history, is the volunteer arm of the global partnership dedicated to eradicating polio. For more than 20 years, Rotary has led the private sector in the global effort to rid the world of this crippling disease.

Polio can cause paralysis and sometimes death. It can cause paralysis within hours, and polio paralysis is almost always irreversible. In the most severe cases, polio attacks the motor neurons of the brain stem, causing breathing difficulty or even death.

Because there is no cure for polio, the best protection is prevention. For as little as 60 cents worth of vaccine, a child can be protected against this crippling disease for life.

"In addition to serving others, Rotary networking among businessmen is wonderful," Free said. "We fellowship, eat great and have a different speaker every week. It's an opportunity for us to give back to the community some of the good things we've been blessed with."

In addition to being the M.V.P (Money-Volunteers-Publicity) Nonprofit of the Night, Rotary Club of Southaven is participating in a RiverKings ticket fundraiser.

"The RiverKings have helped us immensely," Free said. "RiverKings Account Executive Richard Fry is a member of our club, and Whitley Rives is a member of the Hernando Rotary Club. We have a really good working relationship with the RiverKings."

Rotary is a worldwide organization of business and professional leaders that provides humanitarian service and encourages high ethical standards in all vocations. Southaven Rotary Club meets every Thursday at noon at the Holiday Inn in Southaven. For more information, call Free at 901.490.3213 or visit www.rotarydistrict6800.org.

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