For many years following Marshall Rotary's initiation of the Scholarship Fund to provide scholarships for college-bound students, it was the practice of the club to accept a $1 per year donation to the Scholarship Fund from each member. This dollar was collected in the member's birthday month.
When the member arrived at the Rotary meeting in the month of his birthday, (usually the first Thursday of the month, since regular attendance was stringently adhered to) he would pay to the club secretary $1, which would be added to the Scholarship Fund.
Though it was a small amount, through the years these contributions helped sustain the fund. By the time I became president of the club in 1976, our membership hovered around 100 Rotarians and the club secretary remarked how it had become laborious to keep up with collecting the extra dollar, and tracking who had paid. I asked him to simplify the process by just adding a separate line for the "birthday dollar" on the next annual dues statements.
At the meeting following the mailing of annual statements, I was approached by a member. He was one of our older Rotarians, well-off financially but famously "careful" with his money. "I see the dues were increased this year," he said to me.
"I don't remember voting on an increase." I showed him on his dues statement where his "birthday dollar" was shown as a separate line item and explained that it was just an effort to simplify the process and free the club secretary from tracking and keeping up with the annual contributions.
"When your birthday month arrives," I said cheerfully, "your dollar will already be paid." I thought that would satisfy my friend, but his dead-panned response was, "If I'm still here in July, I will pay my dollar." He was, and he did.
What a marvelous way to end this year of Celebrating a Century of Changing Lives in Marshall --- and Beyond . The “Birthday Dollar” will be fondly remembered as a special part of our history.
Join us now, or be there for the celebration banquet, August 24, 2019, in the Marshall Convention Center.