Just one year after The Woodlands itself was established, area businessmen and women formed The Woodlands Rotary Club. Over the course of four decades, its members have given $1 million in scholarships to area youth and committed time and money to serving the community.
Thirty years after its inception in 1975, the club has more than 170 active members who participate in its dozens of service committees. Those committees range from literacy initiatives to community restoration along with its weekly business networking meetings.
"We are very committed to the community and giving back," club President Bill
Friebel said.
The organization's largest service program in The Woodlands is Interact, a service club in which high school students complete service projects and are mentored by local Rotarians. Friebel said before The Woodlands High School divided into College Park High School, the combined student club was the largest in the world. Currently, THWS's club is the largest in the United States.
To complement its Interact clubs, Rotary hosts its annual weekend-long Rotary Youth Leadership Awards for participants ages 14 to 30. Friebel serves as the Rotarian adviser for the John Cooper School's Interact group and said the students have their own board of directors, conduct fundraisers and complete local service projects around the community.
"They also participate in Interfaith [of the Woodlands] serving our seniors as the Rotary Club does, and also [participate in] community restoration," he said. "For someone who may be down on their luck, like a disabled veteran who is in a situation where they need help, we will go out there and help them out."
Another component of the club's service to area youth is its annual scholarships program, which provides awards to high school and Lone Star College–Montgomery students.
"[The youth] are our future," Friebel said. "They are our future leaders, and just from our perspective when you see the leaders from the Interact club or scholarship winners come to our meetings, it makes you very hopeful and proud of the kids coming out of our area. If they have the right mentorship, they can make a real difference in the world."
Vocational Services Director Ryan Mathes said one of the aspects she enjoys most about the club is that each member is active and participates in events and service activities. To join, new members must be sponsored by a current Rotarian to ensure they are committed to being involved.
The club is establishing a new program for local college students, Mathes said, which will educate them on financial literacy, and provide interview training and workforce-related skills. The first seminar is scheduled for March 31.
"What we're hearing is these students get out in the workforce, and they really still don't know how to go about getting a job and facing that first interview," she said. "So we are working on workshops through Lone Star [College] about how to dress and answer questions."
The Woodlands Rotary Club, Meets every Thursday at noon, The Woodlands Country Club,
2301 N. Millbend Drive, The Woodlands, www.woodlandsrotary.org
