Typical Examples of Our Activities
The Rotary Club of Morehead City, North Carolina (MHC Rotary) submitted the following information in 2021 to support its tax exempt status with the IRS. This narrative is presented here since it provides an excellent description of our organization.
We, like other Rotary clubs in the United States and around the world, are a social welfare organization. We exist to serve our communities and any funds we raise go back into our communities. No Rotarian in our club profits monetarily from our activities, nor does our Rotary club profit except in the pride we feel in our ability to serve our neighbors and community.
MHC Rotary is a civic non-profit organization created to identify local needs and actively fund-raise and work with local government agencies and businesses to help provide money and solutions for community needs. To help meet community needs, MHC Rotary donates time in volunteer work and money raised through fund raising projects. We have three main sources of revenue: fund-raising, Rotary club member contributions and donations from local individuals and businesses, and Rotary International District Grants.
First, we will provide an overview of our club's activities including sources of funds, large projects completed, and description of members' participation in general activities of the club. Then we will describe in more detail club projects over the past five years.
Fund Raising and Activities by MHC Rotary:
Fund raising activities are a year-round pursuit and have been limited only by our collective imagination; historically, they include
All Rotarians in our club participate in fund raising by selling tickets, cooking and cleaning for breakfast sales, donating items for auctions and yard sales, staffing/ushering at concerts, selling wreaths, installing and taking down flags for the Flags for Heroes program, among other activities.
Activities are conducted in Morehead City and in unincorporated areas of Carteret County.
Our Rotary Club meets every Thursday evening for a little over an hour to eat dinner, hear local speakers who educate us about a variety of topics: local businesses, economic development, environmental issues, local real estate and development, community health and welfare services, education and schools, and city government concerns and talk about on-going needs in our community. In addition to meeting weekly, all members volunteer their time to care for the administrative needs of the club and to work on fund-raising, and community service projects such as litter clean-ups, ringing bells for the Salvation Army during the holidays, and providing labor for specific club projects. Volunteer hours average approximately 120 hours per member each year.
We try to stagger each fund-raising activity proportionally over the year although there is some overlap, for example between selling wreaths and selling flags for Veterans Day. At any given point in time, approximately 70% of our volunteer hours are devoted to fundraising and 30% to educating ourselves by inviting speakers to our meetings.
The administrative expenses for the club include line items like costs for postage, P.O. box rental, website and domain name, software and computer, new member name tags and pins, Rotary training classes, and district meetings. Administrative costs are paid entirely through member dues. All monies raised through fund-raising activities (less any cost for the activity), are spent on community projects or charitable giving. Administrative costs are less than 10% of the club budget in any given year.
Large Projects
Specific projects over the past five years include an annual Balsam Range concert to benefit Alzheimer's research, and, with the help of grants from the Rotary Foundation, provide capital improvements in Katherine Davis Park in downtown Morehead City, capital equipment for The Station Club which provides meaningful work and activities for disabled adults, provide dental services to residents (children and adults) of Ocracoke Island after the devastation of their community by Hurricane Florence, provide capital improvements to Hope Mission Women's Shelter, and provide equipment for patients of the Broad Street Clinic. We will look at each of these recent and on-going projects in turn.
Balsam Range concerts: April 2022 will mark our sixth annual concert to benefit Alzheimer's research. The concert is held in Morehead City at the Community Theater (prior to Hurricane Florence) or at Glad Tidings Church (for the past three years) and attracts an audience of approximately 300 blue grass music lovers. We fund the activity through business and individual sponsorships and ticket sales. After we pay the band and venue costs, 100% of the profits are donated to CART, Coins for Alzheimer's Research Trust, a 501(3)c Rotary organization that provides research grants. Over the past five years, Our Rotary club has donated $51,300 to CART.
Backpack Blessing is a year-round program to provide meals to children. During the school year, the children eat at school. Backpack Blessing was created to fill the gap during school vacations and weekends. In 2016, MHC Rotary, with a matching grant from the Rotary District, donated $5,000 to the program to supply backpacks and food.
Katherine Davis Park is part of an on-going effort by Morehead City to redevelop its downtown area along the waterfront. Our Rotary club donated hardscape improvements around a large central US flag pole along with six benches for seating. Each bench honored members of those who serve in the military or as first responders: Marine Corps, Navy, Army, Air Force, Coast Guard, and first responders. Carteret County is surrounded by military bases: Camp Lejeune, Cherry Point, and the Coast Guard. Many of our citizens are veterans or actively serving or working on base. Total cost for the project, completed in 2019, was $28,484 and was paid by MHC Rotary funds, member and community donations, and a Rotary District matching grant.
The Station Club is a social services non-profit organization that provides counseling services, social skills development, and work for developmentally challenged adults who live in Carteret County. The pride their clients take in earning a paycheck is heart-warming. Station Club needed $1,600 to buy a new heat transfer machine to apply their client-designed artwork on items such as t-shirts, aprons, and caps. Our club received a Rotary Foundation grant for $800 and matched it with $800 to buy the heat transfer machine in April 2020. The machine provides part-time employment for four clients.
Dental Service Lab Bus to Ocracoke: The Baptists on Mission organization owns a completely equipped bus that is able to staff two dentists and a hygienist for mobile dental work. They allow us to pay the expenses to send the bus to Ocracoke Island in NC. In 2019 and 2020 we worked with another Rotary Club and received a matching grant of $2,072 from the Rotary Foundation to send the bus to Ocracoke on three separate occasions to address acute dental needs of children and adults in the community. Ocracoke was devastated during Hurricane Florence, and many of its residents didn't have the resources to get to the mainland for dental work.
Broad Street Clinic is a medical clinic for low-income residents of Carteret County. It has a very small paid administrative staff, and all medical personnel are volunteers. The clinic is open five days a week to see patients. During the Covid-19 crisis in our county, Broad Street Clinic turned to telemedicine to reach those in need and discovered a previously unknown pocket of patients who lacked even the resources to get into town for the free medical care. The doctors needed these patients to have equipment to be able to give the medical personnel some basic information like temperature, blood pressure, etc. With a matching grant from Rotary Foundation, our club donated 30 over-sized blood pressure cuffs to the Broad Street Clinic in September 2021 at a cost of $1,058. We plan to work with Broad Street Clinic again in 2022 to donate more equipment.
Hope Mission Women's Shelter is the first shelter dedicated to women and children in Carteret County. It is an older home located in the downtown area of Morehead City. The front porch suffered from structural defects and wood rot and needed to be replaced. Additionally, the yard was just a dirt patch with no grass or shrubs. In October 2021, with a matching grant from Rotary Foundation, our club was able to donate $3,500 to provide materials to rebuild the porch, and Rotarians showed up to provide labor to demo the existing porch under the watchful eye of a local contractor. We will finish the yard with grass and shrubs next spring.
Annual Charity Support Given by MHC Rotary:
Some of our club fund raising each year, along with weekly donations from our members, is dedicated to annual giving to local charities. A list of the charities that usually receive annual donations is
Annual Scholarships Funded by MHC Rotary:
On-going Service Projects Performed by MHC Rotarians
How Do Our Activities Further Our Exempt Purposes?
The Rotary Club of Morehead City, North Carolina is a social welfare service organization that exists expressly to provide service in volunteer work and donations to improve the lives of our neighbors and the town in which we live.
Over 90% of funds and volunteer hours go back into our community. Rotary International has two official mottoes, “Service Above Self” and “One Profits Most Who Serves Best,” and we strive to live up to those mottoes.
We, like other Rotary clubs in the United States and around the world, are a social welfare organization. We exist to serve our communities and any funds we raise go back into our communities. No Rotarian in our club profits monetarily from our activities, nor does our Rotary club profit except in the pride we feel in our ability to serve our neighbors and community.
MHC Rotary is a civic non-profit organization created to identify local needs and actively fund-raise and work with local government agencies and businesses to help provide money and solutions for community needs. To help meet community needs, MHC Rotary donates time in volunteer work and money raised through fund raising projects. We have three main sources of revenue: fund-raising, Rotary club member contributions and donations from local individuals and businesses, and Rotary International District Grants.
First, we will provide an overview of our club's activities including sources of funds, large projects completed, and description of members' participation in general activities of the club. Then we will describe in more detail club projects over the past five years.
Fund Raising and Activities by MHC Rotary:
Fund raising activities are a year-round pursuit and have been limited only by our collective imagination; historically, they include
- golf tournaments
- raffles for such items as a Segway, street-ready golf cart, outdoor grills, and a trip for two around the world
- pancake breakfasts
- auctions and yard sales, selling donated items
- participating in the Seafood Festival by selling drinks at refreshment booths
- concerts with Balsam Range, a nationally known NC Bluegrass Band
- holiday wreath sales
- Flags for Heroes – when local citizens pay to honor their heroes on Veterans Day, Memorial Day, and Flag Day
All Rotarians in our club participate in fund raising by selling tickets, cooking and cleaning for breakfast sales, donating items for auctions and yard sales, staffing/ushering at concerts, selling wreaths, installing and taking down flags for the Flags for Heroes program, among other activities.
Activities are conducted in Morehead City and in unincorporated areas of Carteret County.
Our Rotary Club meets every Thursday evening for a little over an hour to eat dinner, hear local speakers who educate us about a variety of topics: local businesses, economic development, environmental issues, local real estate and development, community health and welfare services, education and schools, and city government concerns and talk about on-going needs in our community. In addition to meeting weekly, all members volunteer their time to care for the administrative needs of the club and to work on fund-raising, and community service projects such as litter clean-ups, ringing bells for the Salvation Army during the holidays, and providing labor for specific club projects. Volunteer hours average approximately 120 hours per member each year.
We try to stagger each fund-raising activity proportionally over the year although there is some overlap, for example between selling wreaths and selling flags for Veterans Day. At any given point in time, approximately 70% of our volunteer hours are devoted to fundraising and 30% to educating ourselves by inviting speakers to our meetings.
The administrative expenses for the club include line items like costs for postage, P.O. box rental, website and domain name, software and computer, new member name tags and pins, Rotary training classes, and district meetings. Administrative costs are paid entirely through member dues. All monies raised through fund-raising activities (less any cost for the activity), are spent on community projects or charitable giving. Administrative costs are less than 10% of the club budget in any given year.
Large Projects
Specific projects over the past five years include an annual Balsam Range concert to benefit Alzheimer's research, and, with the help of grants from the Rotary Foundation, provide capital improvements in Katherine Davis Park in downtown Morehead City, capital equipment for The Station Club which provides meaningful work and activities for disabled adults, provide dental services to residents (children and adults) of Ocracoke Island after the devastation of their community by Hurricane Florence, provide capital improvements to Hope Mission Women's Shelter, and provide equipment for patients of the Broad Street Clinic. We will look at each of these recent and on-going projects in turn.
Balsam Range concerts: April 2022 will mark our sixth annual concert to benefit Alzheimer's research. The concert is held in Morehead City at the Community Theater (prior to Hurricane Florence) or at Glad Tidings Church (for the past three years) and attracts an audience of approximately 300 blue grass music lovers. We fund the activity through business and individual sponsorships and ticket sales. After we pay the band and venue costs, 100% of the profits are donated to CART, Coins for Alzheimer's Research Trust, a 501(3)c Rotary organization that provides research grants. Over the past five years, Our Rotary club has donated $51,300 to CART.
Backpack Blessing is a year-round program to provide meals to children. During the school year, the children eat at school. Backpack Blessing was created to fill the gap during school vacations and weekends. In 2016, MHC Rotary, with a matching grant from the Rotary District, donated $5,000 to the program to supply backpacks and food.
Katherine Davis Park is part of an on-going effort by Morehead City to redevelop its downtown area along the waterfront. Our Rotary club donated hardscape improvements around a large central US flag pole along with six benches for seating. Each bench honored members of those who serve in the military or as first responders: Marine Corps, Navy, Army, Air Force, Coast Guard, and first responders. Carteret County is surrounded by military bases: Camp Lejeune, Cherry Point, and the Coast Guard. Many of our citizens are veterans or actively serving or working on base. Total cost for the project, completed in 2019, was $28,484 and was paid by MHC Rotary funds, member and community donations, and a Rotary District matching grant.
The Station Club is a social services non-profit organization that provides counseling services, social skills development, and work for developmentally challenged adults who live in Carteret County. The pride their clients take in earning a paycheck is heart-warming. Station Club needed $1,600 to buy a new heat transfer machine to apply their client-designed artwork on items such as t-shirts, aprons, and caps. Our club received a Rotary Foundation grant for $800 and matched it with $800 to buy the heat transfer machine in April 2020. The machine provides part-time employment for four clients.
Dental Service Lab Bus to Ocracoke: The Baptists on Mission organization owns a completely equipped bus that is able to staff two dentists and a hygienist for mobile dental work. They allow us to pay the expenses to send the bus to Ocracoke Island in NC. In 2019 and 2020 we worked with another Rotary Club and received a matching grant of $2,072 from the Rotary Foundation to send the bus to Ocracoke on three separate occasions to address acute dental needs of children and adults in the community. Ocracoke was devastated during Hurricane Florence, and many of its residents didn't have the resources to get to the mainland for dental work.
Broad Street Clinic is a medical clinic for low-income residents of Carteret County. It has a very small paid administrative staff, and all medical personnel are volunteers. The clinic is open five days a week to see patients. During the Covid-19 crisis in our county, Broad Street Clinic turned to telemedicine to reach those in need and discovered a previously unknown pocket of patients who lacked even the resources to get into town for the free medical care. The doctors needed these patients to have equipment to be able to give the medical personnel some basic information like temperature, blood pressure, etc. With a matching grant from Rotary Foundation, our club donated 30 over-sized blood pressure cuffs to the Broad Street Clinic in September 2021 at a cost of $1,058. We plan to work with Broad Street Clinic again in 2022 to donate more equipment.
Hope Mission Women's Shelter is the first shelter dedicated to women and children in Carteret County. It is an older home located in the downtown area of Morehead City. The front porch suffered from structural defects and wood rot and needed to be replaced. Additionally, the yard was just a dirt patch with no grass or shrubs. In October 2021, with a matching grant from Rotary Foundation, our club was able to donate $3,500 to provide materials to rebuild the porch, and Rotarians showed up to provide labor to demo the existing porch under the watchful eye of a local contractor. We will finish the yard with grass and shrubs next spring.
Annual Charity Support Given by MHC Rotary:
Some of our club fund raising each year, along with weekly donations from our members, is dedicated to annual giving to local charities. A list of the charities that usually receive annual donations is
- Christmas Cheer, United Methodist Church, to provide Christmas presents for children
- Salvation Army
- Hope Mission, serving homeless veterans and those recovering from addictions
- Boy Scouts of America
- Rotary Cottage Boys & Girls Home, Lake Waccamaw, NC
- Backpack Blessings, food for children for weekends and school vacations
- Habitat for Humanity
- Crystal Coast Hospice House
- Martha's Mission Food Pantry
- St. Egbert's School, dictionaries for every third-grade student every year
Annual Scholarships Funded by MHC Rotary:
- Best All Around Student Award, West Carteret High School, $1,500
- Student scholarships for Carteret Community College, $250 and $1,000
- President's Emergency Fund, Carteret Community College, $2,000 to be used for students at President's discretion
On-going Service Projects Performed by MHC Rotarians
- Backpack Blessings: Rotary volunteers pack food in individual bags and deliver the bags to local schools to be given to children who otherwise would not eat on the weekends or school vacations.
- Litter Pick-Ups: Our club volunteers with other groups in the county to take turns clearing litter from roadways and ditches.
- Ringing Bells for Salvation Army during the Holidays.
How Do Our Activities Further Our Exempt Purposes?
The Rotary Club of Morehead City, North Carolina is a social welfare service organization that exists expressly to provide service in volunteer work and donations to improve the lives of our neighbors and the town in which we live.
Over 90% of funds and volunteer hours go back into our community. Rotary International has two official mottoes, “Service Above Self” and “One Profits Most Who Serves Best,” and we strive to live up to those mottoes.