Sandpoint Rotary Club receives chamber honors

SANDPOINT — The Rotary Club of Sandpoint has been recognized as the June “Business of the Month” by the Greater Sandpoint Chamber of Commerce.

Chamber president Kate McAlister said the Sandpoint chapter of Rotary International was chosen because it is always striving to encourage and foster the ideal of service as a basis of worthy enterprise. In 2011, Sandpoint’s Rotary Club has 70-plus members and is part of the larger Rotary International organization, with 1.22 million members in 33,976 clubs in more than 200 countries. The Rotary Club of Sandpoint has two states and two countries in its district.

“When Sandpoint and Nelson, British Columbia, became sister cities, the Rotarians became dearest friends,” said Jerri Anderson, past president of Sandpoint Rotary Club.

This year, Anderson noted club members have stepped up to take on and facilitate the CHaFE 150 bike ride, which benefits the Lake Pend Oreille School District. They give $12,000 a year in scholarships for high schoolers. Recently, the club gave to a $48,000 project in India to provide medical equipment to those in need. In addition, they are embarking on a $10,000 Friends of Pend d’Oreille Bay Trail and a SPOT bus shelter project.

The Sandpoint Rotary Club also donated and built the new band shell in Farmin Park, recently turned over to the city of Sandpoint.

Among the many local past projects they’ve completed are playgrounds at Travers Park, the patio at the library, stairs from Bridge Street to the boardwalk, outdoor bathrooms at Farmin Stidwell, the clock tower at Farmin Park, assisted with funding for bathrooms at Jeff Jones Town Square, assisted with patio installation at the DayBreak Center, and a picnic shelter at Memorial Field.

In addition, the club sponsors the Great Sandpoint Flatwater Regatta.

The club meets at noon Wednesdays in the Panhandle Bank community room, located at 414 Church St.

Information: www.facebook.com/SandpointRotary.