Litchfield Rotary Club Chartered 45 Years Ago
The Litchfield Rotary Club hit an impressive milestone this past year – 45 years since it began. The organization was chartered back in 1979.
Mark Nicholson was one of the charter members as was Steve Kess and both men are still active in the Litchfield Rotary Club. Nicholson says Willmar had just started a chapter the year before and met with the group in Litchfield that was interested in starting a local chapter.
Nicholson says the Rotary Club has done numerous projects in Litchfield over the years, and the biggest was probably raising more than $150,000 to be used towards the Splash Pad at Memorial Park on Lake Ripley. He says they raised extra money so used those funds to install a shade canopy, picnic tables, benches, and then began the AED installation project – with the first unit installed near the Splash Pad.
Dr. Mike Solback, who joined the Litchfield Rotary Club 36 years ago, says Rotary International began in Chicago in 1905. He says the Rotary Club has been instrumental in nearly eradicating polio with the Polio Plus project – as polio is only present in two countries now – Afghanistan and Pakistan. He says they also help with clean water projects – drilling wells in third world countries.
The Litchfield Rotary Club meets each Tuesday morning at 7 a.m. for breakfast and a speaker at the Fire/Rescue Hall. New members are welcome to join the Litchfield Rotary Club.
