Rotary Club of Saint-Croix Mid-Isle

HISTORY OF THE ROTARY CLUB OF ST. CROIX MID-ISLE May 1998 to May 2008 The Rotary Club of St. Croix Mid-Isle was chartered on May 13, 1998, the third Rotary Club to be chartered on St. Croix. The first was the Rotary Club of St. Croix, chartered on October 25, 1958, and the second was the Rotary Club of St. Croix West, chartered on August 12, 1968. In 1987, Ted Hodson, President of the Rotary Club of St. Croix felt that it was time to expand the representation of Rotary on St. Croix and felt that with the rising popularity of breakfast clubs in the United States, a breakfast club should be established on St. Croix to cater to those individuals who found it difficult to get away to a luncheon meeting or to attend an evening meeting on the western part of the island on a regular basis. Assisted by club members Jack Addley and Frank Wright, Ted persisted and on May 13, 1988, the Rotary Club of St. Croix Mid-Isle was chartered with 26 members. Charter President was Odis "Lad" Mingus; Vice President, Ralph Munchez; Secretary, Catherine Bryant Rhea; Treasurer Bill Saitta; Directors, Jan Hanley, Jay Isherwood, Randy Ross and Sgt. At Arms, Al Bachoo. Other charter members were Dalia Adams, Bob Cappetti, Tom Curran, Cheryl Davis, Andre Duval, Dwain Ford, Bill Hrock, Dr. Carlton Hodgson, Carl Hurst, Rashid Ibrahim, Larry Needle, Jim Parsons, Larry Searles, Bob Roberts, Max Gruetzner. At their charter night held at the Cormorant Beach Hotel on Saturday July 17, 1988, the Charter was presented by Past District Governor (PDG) Aadu Abel. Other honorary guests attending were the District Governor's Special Representative Ric Powell, Past President Ted Hodson and President Julio Delgado-Rucci of the Rotary Club of St. Croix, President Edgar M. Isles of the Rotary Club of St. Croix West, and Jack Addley. The evening was well attended by well wishers from both Rotary Clubs and the community. PDG Aadu Abel and Special Representative Ric Powell pinned the officers and charter members, as well as inducted and pinned six new members, Richard Grant, John Harper, Milton Forbes, Alex Petersen, Dr. Michael Bricker and Chester Williams. The Rotary Club of St. Croix Mid-Isle was the first club in District 404 to be chartered with women. Within two years the club quickly grew and became the largest club on St. Croix winning the District Membership Development Award in 1990. Over the past twenty years the club has become a driving force serving the community's needs through the diversity of its members. Our projects have included roadside and beach clean-ups, supporting the Women's Coalition, Bethlehem House for temporarily displaced women and children, regular visits with the elderly at the Herbert Grigg Home for the Aged, repairs and support for the Christiansted Boys and Girls Club, painting a half-way house in Whim, annual water station in La Grande Princess for the St. Croix Triathlon, feeding the homeless at My Brother's Table in Frederiksted and the Lighthouse Mission in Christiansted and scholarships to deserving college bound students. Rotary Mid-Isle continues to be the largest club on St. Croix. It continues to provide leadership and needed services to the community, upholding the Rotary Motto of "Service Above Self".