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Home > Service Projects
Frankenmuth Rotary Centennial ProjectHearing/Vision Project, Visakhapatnam, India AIDS-AID Project, Mooi River, South Africa Nidadavole, India, Drinking Water Project Frankenmuth Scout Building ProjectMysore, India, School Upgrade ProjectDental Clinic Equipment, Santarém, BrazilHighway Cleanup
The Frankenmuth Rotary Club adopted as its Centennial Project the construction of a new pavilion building in Heritage Park known as the Harvey Kern Community Pavilion -- A Frankenmuth Rotary Centennial Project. The building is being funded by the Frankenmuth Rotary Club, area businesses, foundations and civic organizations with the assistance of the City of Frankenmuth. Major support is being provided by the Frankenmuth Mutual Insurance Company.
  Designed to meet the needs of small groups, sporting events, festivals, shows and more, the project has an estimated cost of $2,200,000. Construction began in November, 2004 and was completed in mid-July, 2005. Dedication ceremonies took place on July 21. The 200'x186' clear span building will be owned by the City and operated by the Parks and Recreation Department.
Dedication Day, July 21, 2005
Dedication Plaque
In February, 2003, The Rotary Foundation approved Matching Grant No. 22517 to provide equipment for hearing and visually impaired individuals in Visakhapatnam, Andhra Pradesh, India. The Frankenmuth Rotary Club contributed $4,000, Rotary District 3020 in India supplied $3,000, and the Rotary Foundation $5,000. Local funding for the Frankenmuth Club's portion came from Rotarians Don and Judy Keller. The equipment serves the poor and is located in a community service building built through a charitable foundation established by the Rotary Club of Visakhapatnam. This project is located in the same Rotary district as the Nidadavole water project, completed in 2002.
The killer disease AIDS is sweeping through Africa, leaving a trail of devastated homes, orphaned children, and whole families without any means of support. The Rotary Club of Mooi River in eastern South Africa's KwaZulu/Natal province is working with local church leaders to provide food to AIDS-affected families in the neighboring 8,000-population community of Bruntville, especially to those families where the parents have died from the disease, sometimes leaving a 13- or 15-year old child to care for younger siblings. The Mooi River club, comprised of only eight members, has organized The AIDS-AID Project to help provide this assistance.
 The food distribution team from the Mooi River Rotary Club Contributions from the Mooi River and Frankenmuth Rotary clubs, District 6310, and individual Rotarians were doubled with Matching Grant No. 20283 from the Rotary Foundation, so that a total of US$10,000 was made available for the project. This provided 50 kg. of maize meal for monthly distribution to each of about 87 families for one year. Distribution of the maize meal was supplemented with other commodities such as cooking oil, soy beans, sugar and salt, that were funded from other sources.
The Rotary Club of Nidadavole, Andhra Pradesh, India, and its associated Rotaract Club at SVR Women's Degree College undertook to provide safe drinking water to 3,000 residents of the slum area of Basivireddypeta in the Nidadavole municipal area. Since the slum is located on high ground, the municipal water supply is not available to the residents, who must walk long distances to fetch water. Two wells were bored and fitted with 12˝ horsepower pumps to transfer the water to a storage tank. Distribution pipes and accessories were also included. The project was financed through the generous gift of $3,500 by Frankenmuth Rotary Club Honorary Member William Zehnder, Jr., and an equal matching grant (No. 13583) from the Rotary Foundation. Upon receipt of the Rotary funds, the Nidadavole Rotary Club added over $2,340 of their own contributions and applied for and eventually received $23,255 from the government of Andhra Pradesh. This expanded the project to serve 20,000 residents at a total cost of over $32,500.
 The work was formally begun in April, 2002, and was completed in August. Frankenmuth Rotarian Don Keller and his son Michael, son-in-law and grandson of the donor, spoke at the project dedication ceremony on August 25, 2002, which was attended by a large crowd of people and national and state political figures.
In 1966, the Frankenmuth Rotary Club raised approximately $50,000 to construct the Frankenmuth Scouting Building on property that had been donated to the city by Honorary Member William Zehnder, Jr. Club members signed individual notes guaranteeing the repayment of the bank loan required for construction. As far as is known, this is the only municipal building in the State of Michigan that is totally dedicated to scouting of all types. Over the years, the Rotary Club has provided the funds necessary for the building's maintenance. The building recently has been extensively renovated to provide handicapped access rest rooms, additional storage space, new flooring, and other improvements. The Rotary Club has committed itself to raising the funds to cover the $89,000 cost.
 Community Service Director Terry Weiss spoke on behalf of the Rotary Club at the Memorial Day (May 29, 2000) rededication of the Frankenmuth Scouting Building.
Through a joint project with the Rotary Club of Mysore Mid-Town and with a matching grant (No. 10784) from the Rotary Foundation, the Frankenmuth Rotary Club is helping to provide improved facilities for the Government Higher Primary Boys School Lakshmipuram in Mysore, India. The project totals US$14,360 and will provide new toilet facilities, science lab equipment and teaching aids, computer and furniture, and electrification. The sanitation and water supply portions of the project, which were assisted by contributions from the Frankenmuth club, were completed and dedicated in March, 2001.
At the Rotary International District Conference held in Frankenmuth in May, 1998, Dr. Bill Chase of the Adrian Rotary Club presented a program on his work at a dental clinic on the Amazon River in Brazil that is staffed by volunteer dentists provided through Rotary International. After the presentation, Frankenmuth Rotarian Tony D'Anna and his wife Jeri offered to fund some much-needed equipment for the clinic. Through the efforts of the Frankenmuth Rotary Club and Rotary District 6310, a matching grant was obtained from the Rotary Foundation, so that a total of $7,000 of new equipment was provided. When the grant was announced in Brazil, by a strange coincidence the Rotary Volunteer dentist in residence was Dr. Arnold Babcock, who practiced dentistry in Saginaw for many years and is now a member of the Pensacola, Florida, Rotary Club. Dr. Babcock and his wife Vivian, a retired Saginaw School District social worker, visited the Frankenmuth Rotary Club meeting on April 22, 1999, to express the thanks of the clinic to the D'Annas for their generous gift. Dr. Chase, for whom the dental clinic is named, was the speaker at the July 1, 1999, meeting that opened the Frankenmuth Rotary year.
Since 1991, the Frankenmuth Rotary Club has been responsible for picking up trash along M-83 three times a year. The four-mile section of the highway south of Frankenmuth extends from Townline Road to Birch Run Road and produces, on the average, 18 bags of trash per cleanup. The project is coordinated by the Michigan State Highway Department.
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