Congratulations, Sanford-Springvale Rotary, on 100 years of 'Service Above Self'

A hundred years is quite a long stretch. You can do a lot of good in that time. Just ask anyone who has benefitted from the generosity and contributions of the Sanford-Springvale Rotary Club.

The club celebrated a centennial of service during a gala in a private hangar at Sanford Seacoast Regional Airport on Saturday, Sept. 16.

Sen. Susan M. Collins was the night’s special guest. Club President Elias Thomas presented Collins with a Paul Harris Fellow recognition, the highest honor a Rotarian can bestow.

During her remarks that evening, Collins, an honorary Rotarian, said she is always impressed by the many ways Rotarians throughout Maine live out the organization’s motto of “Service Above Self.”

“Through countless endeavors, both locally and internationally, to uphold that motto, the Sanford-Springvale Rotary Club demonstrates why I am so proud to be an honorary Rotarian,” Collins told those gathered at the gala, according to a press release.

Locally, the Sanford-Springvale club has raised more than $200,000 for scholarships awarded to graduating high school seniors throughout the area. Also, over the years, the club has aided efforts to feed, clothe and house individuals. Every August, you can find Rotarians selling their delicious chicken livers. Every December, you can spot them ringing Salvation Army bells at the local Walmart.

Internationally, the local Rotarians have done their part to help eradicate polio and to expand the availability of drinking water to people. Every winter, Elias travels to India and leads groups of Rotarians from around the world in humanitarian missions.

I was a member of the club during my years as editor of the Sanford News and traveled to India with Elias and two other club members, Lawrence Furbish and Dick Bergeron, in 2008. We were but four Rotarians in a group of dozens, and the experience of administering polio vaccines to children and helping a small village transform an old building into a daycare center ranks among one of the most rewarding experiences in my life.

All of this, though, barely scratches the surface of all the Sanford-Springvale Rotary Club has accomplished in the name of Service Above Self. The same could be said of all Rotary Clubs, both here in the York County Coast Star coverage area and throughout the state, nation and world. To learn more about Rotary International, visit online at www.rotary.org.

Better yet, chat up a Rotarian you know.

The origin of the Sanford-Springvale Rotary Club is rooted in those delicate miracles that allow life to unfold just so. None of us would be here, for example, if fate did not conspire and cause our future parents to meet. Similarly, the Sanford-Springvale Rotary Club might have never formed if its founding member had succeeded in his efforts to join a Rotary Club in another community.

Consider. Back in the early 1920s, Willis H. Folsom applied for membership in the Portland Rotary Club, only to be told by its secretary, Ollie Wish, that someone with his classification already was a member. Folsom owned a furniture store in Springvale at the time.

Rather than simply turn Folsom away, Wish told Folsom he should consider starting a Rotary Club in his hometown of Sanford-Springvale.

The idea appealed to Folsom. Back home, he called together about 20 local business owners and persuaded them to become charter members of the new Sanford-Springvale Rotary Club. The group held its first meeting at a popular Greek restaurant on Bridge Street in Springvale in November of 1922. Two months later, the new Rotarians officially adopted their club charter on Jan. 19, 1923.

A hundred years ago, that was. In this day and age, in the wake of a locked-down pandemic and the evolving ideas among young people about how to serve one’s community, it is remarkable to see an organization like the Sanford-Springvale Rotary Club reach a century of service and camaraderie. It is also reassuring.

Thank you, Sanford-Springvale Rotary Club, for all you have done for others since 1923. Happy Hundred. And here’s to a hundred years more.

Shawn P. Sullivan is an award-winning columnist and a reporter for the York County Coast Star. He can be reached at ssullivan@seacoastonline.com.

This article originally appeared on Portsmouth Herald: Congratulations, Sanford-Springvale Rotary, on a century of service