Throughout the year, Rotary Club of Guntersville Sunrise adopts different causes within our community. 
Not only does this help to inform our members of the great programs and services our
community offers, but it also affords them a way to be directly involved.

If you would like to become involved with any of these efforts, please send us an email via the "Contact" page above.

 

The Rotary Club of Guntersville Sunrise will be host their annual signature fundraiser "Mardi Gra Night Benefit" fundraiser each year on a weekend prior to Mardi Gras to benefit a local charity.  In 2012, "Blessings in a Backpack" - a program that provides weekend meals tounderprivileged elementary school children for the entire school year was the focus and recipient of $15,000 as a result of the benefit and matching grant monies.

Since April 2011, the Rotary Club of GUntersville Sunrise has been involved in providing lunches for the women enrolled in the Christian Women's Job Corps program.  The program assists women in need by providing practical training, relationship building, emotional healing, and spiritual growth in classroom settings and through one-on-one mentoring. 

The Rotary Club of Guntersville Sunrise partnered with the Marshall County Sheriff's Office to sponsor the "Don't Meth With Me" project at Guntersville Middle School April 18, 2011.  Ms. Rachel Lane shared her story of addiction with the students at GMS during gym class and encouraged them to say no to drugs.  The Sheriff's Office provided the students with a live helicopter landing demo in the morning while the "Sheriffs Against Meth" educational trailor and other police department vehicles were on display for the students to view.  The Rotary Club of Guntersville Sunrise hopes this effort will help students recognize the danger of drugs and encourage good decision making. 

The event was a huge success and followed by a second event at Guntersville High School in 2012.  We hope to continue to make this an annual.

Photos from the event

WAFF48 News Special Coverage

Dr. Chris Harper, a local dentist, will be providing free dental care to adults in need through a program called Dentistry from the Heart.  Dr. Chris Harper and his staff will provide FREE dental care on Friday, April 1, 2011 from 8:00 am - 5:00 pm.  Rotarians from the Guntersville Sunrise Club will serve as donors and volunteers for this special program.  Visit www.dentistryfromtheheart.org to learn more.

Guntersville Sunrise Rotarians will also donate money during the month of April to help fund the Rotary Disctrict 6860 Literacy Project.  Money from this effort will be used to purchase books for local libraries that focus on Rotarians and their good deads and books that promote the idea of the Four Way Test.

During the month of March, members of the Rotary Club of Guntersville Sunrise will donate money through the Guntersville Electric Board's "Project Help" to provide assistance for families who were not able to pay their electric bills during the cold winter season. 

Once again during February 2011, the Rotary Club of Guntersville Sunrise will provide lunches for the CWJC meetings at no cost to the participants.  The CWJC is a national outreach to assist women in need and provide practical training, relationship building, emotional healing, and spiritual growth in classroom settings and through one-on-one mentoring. 

Sight Savers America is a nonprofit 501(c)(3) that assists children with obtaining eye exams, glasses and other needed eye care from local eye care providers and clinics.  Children are referred to Sight Savers via failed vision screenings at school, referrals from teachers, school administrators, school nurses, eye-care professionals and parents.  Children of families who qualify for the program receive the eye care they need at no cost to the family.  The Rotary Club of Guntersville Sunrise collected used glasses and money during the month of January to donate to this cause.  If you have glasses you would like to donate, please contact us!

Again this November, the Rotary Club of Guntersville Sunrise will assist the Marshall County Christmas Coalition that coordinates Christmas assistance programs to provide gifts to provide gifts to an average of 2,500 children each year.  Rotarians of Guntersville Sunrise will be collecting money to donate to the organization, but will also be given the opportunity to "adopt" a child or family for Christmas.

The Rotary Club of Guntersville Sunrise served as volunteers and advocates of the Foundation for Marshall Medical Centers' inaugural Pink Pumpkin Run on Saturday, October 30, 2010 benefitting Breast programs at Marshall Medical Centers. $17,000 was raised from the event to benefit breast cancer support and prevention programs in Marshall County like the Mammography Assistance Program and Look Good, Feel Better program. 

During the month of August the Rotary Club of Guntersville Sunrise will be collecting school supplies.  Items needed most are school boxes, Crayola crayons and washable markers, No. 2 pencils, glue sticks, safe children's scissors, Sharpie markers, Expo dry erase markers and backpacks.  All members are asked to donate.  If you would like to help, please contact us via the "Contact" link above. 

The Ogden House is a services of Tennessee Valley Family Services (TVFS) - a nonprofit agency formed in 1977 by a group of concerned citizens.  The agency is focused on helping youth and families succeed.  The Ogden House, among four other programs, offer hope in crisis and strength in times of family uncertainty.  Teh Ogden House serves children ages 12-17 that are temporarily displaced from their families or are deemed a "child in need of services."  Youth participate in activities that increase their knowledge of life skills, volunteer and perform community service, receive counseling and crisis management all while attending public school.  The Ogden house strives to maintain a home that has a structured home-like atmosphere so that the children will be able to easily transition back to their families.  During the months of June and July, 2010, The Rotary Club of Guntersville Sunrise is making contributions to help this wonderful facility.  Food, paper products and monetary contributions are being accepted.

On April 24, 2010 a tornado touched down in our neighboring city of Albertville causing widespread damage to homes, businesses and schools.  Luckily, there were no fatalities, but because of the damage many families and individulas were in need because of this disaster.  Our Rotary Club made a priority to help during the month of May by donating time, money and supplies to the tornado victims of Albertville. 

The Child Advocacy Center of Marshall County is a not-for-profit organization whose mission is to promote the multi-disciplinary process in fostering an abuse-free society for Alabama’s children and support the development of the children’s advocacy center model through public awareness, training and collaborative partnerships.  Throughout April, the Rotary Club of Guntersville Sunrise collected paper goods and $350 to donate to the Child Advocacy Center. 

The Salvation Army - a well known organization throughout the country with a mission of meeting human needs without discrimination - is our February project.  Members are asked to bring food to aid in the Salvation Army's food drive and clothes over the course of the month. 

CWJC is a national outreach ministry in which women assist women in need.  CWJC combines practical training, relationship building, emotional healing, and spiritual growth in classroom settings and through one-on-one mentoring.  Operating two instructional sessions per year that generally coincide with the public school semesters, the Guntersville CWJC classes are held on Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday mornings of each week for 15 weeks.  Each participant is paired with a mentor for follow-up and support for up to a year and free childcare for preschoolers and lunch is provided on site.  For January, the Rotary Club of Guntersville Sunrise donated lunches for one of the CWJC meetings and also collected gently used or new business attire for women.  

Reach Out and Read Alabama's mission is to make literacy promotions a standard part of pediatric primary care, so that children grow up with books and a love of reading.  Their vision is that Alabama's children will be better prepared to learn when they start to school because pediatric health care providers incorporated pre-literacy counseling with families into their well-child visits and provided new books at each of those visits.  During the month of December, our Rotarians will donate children's books or money to this program.

Our November service was assisting the Marshall County Christmas Coalition.  The Christmas Coalition was formed in 1996 to assess and coordinate Christmas assistance programs to provide gifts to provide gifts to an average of 2,500 children each year.  The Christmas Coalition provides a wish list with ages, sizes and ideas as well as a Wal-Mart shopping card for the shopping.  Rotarians were asked to volunteer their time to shop for these children or give a cash donation.  This year, we have donated $75.00 to the Christmas Coalition, but have offered even more services as each Rotarian used thier personal time to shop for over 30 children!  We hope this time and money will bring a smile to those children's faces on Christmas morning.

The Foster and Adoptive Parents Association provides enrichment programs and financial assistance for children who have been abused or neglected and are currently in foster or adoptive care.   This program offers on-going training and support for child protection partners.  Throught the month of October, the Rotary Club of Guntersville Sunrise collected children's luggage, clothing/underclothing, toiletries and blank birthday cards as well as $200 to donate to this organization.

 

Alzheimer's Services of Marshall County (ASMC) is a non-profit, volunteer organization and resource center serving Alzheimer's patients, caregivers, and professionals.  Their mission is to provide patient and family with support, information, education, and referral services; to educate the public and health care professionals about Alzheimer's disease and dementia; to advocate for improved public awareness for patients, family members and other caregivers; and to support dementia research.  The Rotary Club of Guntersville Sunrise took ASMC on as their September 2009 project.  $200 was collected and donated to this wonderful organization!