For the Rotary Club of Senoia, making a difference means showing up, doing the work and helping others do even more.
For a club built around service, the Rotary Club of Senoia has a fitting origin story.The idea began in 2006 when Sam Morris was contacted by Mary Chapman of the Peachtree City Rotary Club. Traditional Rotary clubs often met during the workday, including Peachtree City's Thursday lunch meetings, and for many business and community leaders, carving that time out of the middle of a workday wasn't always easy.
What if there were another option?
An evening club began taking shape. Twenty members were needed to get started. They found 22.
The group initially met in Peachtree City and eventually became Rotary Fayette and Coweta before making its way to Senoia, where it was re-chartered as the Rotary Club of Senoia.
Nearly two decades later, that relatively small club has built a surprisingly large footprint around town.
Ask members what Rotary does in Senoia, and the answer isn't likely to be one particular project. It's scholarships and AEDs. Books for children and leadership opportunities for teenagers. Parks, pets and community events. Sometimes it's raising money. Other times it's providing equipment. And plenty of times, it's showing up to do the work.
That last part matters.“Service Above Self” has long been Rotary's motto, but for the Senoia club, service isn't simply about writing a check. When members donate something that needs to be installed, they're willing to help install it. When there's an event to organize, they're part of the work that makes it happen. And when another organization is already doing something worthwhile in the community, Rotary looks for ways to come alongside it and help extend its impact.
Service in Action One of the club's most recent projects can be found at the Senoia Police Department, where Rotary donated a pharmaceutical disposal kiosk. The kiosk gives residents a proper place to dispose of unwanted medications rather than throwing them in the trash or flushing them away, helping keep those substances from eventually making their way into the environment.
It's one project among many.
The club has donated four AEDs to the Senoia Police Department, greatly expanding access from the single device previously available to the department. Members have supported work at City of Hope Park on Church Street, maintained the gazebo in years past and donated agility equipment to Coco's Cupboard. During Light Up Senoia, Rotary's Santa's Workshop gives children an opportunity to make ornaments, while members regularly participate in other community events and activities around town.
Some of Rotary's work is less visible but no less important.
Through the Sam Morris Sr. Scholarship, the club has supported a student at East Coweta High School. It has sent a local rising senior to the Rotary Youth Leadership Awards, a weeklong leadership program at Georgia Southwestern State University, and participates in the Georgia Rotary Student Program in partnership with the Newnan Rotary Club.
Rotary also supports the Coweta FERST Foundation and its work providing books to young children, helping put books into the hands of families during some of the most important developmental years.
Taken individually, each project meets a different need. Together, they reveal something about the way the club approaches service. There isn't one particular cause Rotary requires its members to support or one type of project that defines the organization. Members look around the community, recognize opportunities to help and find a way to get involved.
And sometimes the greatest impact comes from helping someone else make theirs.
Multiplying the Impact That idea was on full display at Rotary's inaugural clay shoot in May.
More than 60 shooters gathered at Big Red Oak Plantation in Gay, Georgia, for an event organized in partnership with i58 Mission and Backpack Buddies. Together, the three organizations raised $15,000, with the proceeds divided among them to support their respective work.
Instead of three organizations working separately toward their own goals, they came together around one event and created an opportunity for each to benefit.
The clay shoot will return May 7, 2027.
It's an approach that shows up elsewhere in Rotary's work as well. Supporting Coco's Cupboard helps another organization serve animals and families in the community.
Supporting the Coweta FERST Foundation helps put more books into the hands of children. Working alongside the Newnan Rotary Club creates opportunities that might be difficult for either club to provide alone.
Rotary doesn't necessarily have to create the program, own the project or receive the credit for the work to matter.
Sometimes service means recognizing something good that is already happening and asking how you can help make it bigger.
In that sense, the club can be more than another organization doing good work around town. It can be a catalyst for bringing people together—connecting individuals, nonprofits, community leaders and resources around opportunities to serve.
And for a relatively small club, there's already a lot happening.
More Hands, More Impact That's also why members Sam Morris, Scott Outland and Jon Hughes would like to see more people discover Rotary.
Growing the club isn't simply about increasing a membership number. More members mean more hands when something needs to be built or installed. More people bring more relationships throughout the community, more ideas about where help might be needed and more opportunities to connect Rotary with organizations already doing meaningful work.
In other words, a larger club creates the potential to serve more.
The Rotary Club of Senoia is made up of business and community leaders, but its meetings are open to anyone interested in learning more. Visitors can sit in, meet members and hear about current projects before deciding whether Rotary might be a place where they'd like to become involved.
There's no expectation that someone walking through the door for the first time already knows exactly where they fit. Sometimes a new member brings an idea. Sometimes they bring a relationship with another organization. Sometimes what a project needs most is simply another pair of hands willing to help.
For a club that has already accomplished so much with a relatively small group, it's not difficult to imagine what a few more people could make possible.
After all, “Service Above Self” isn't really about the size of a club or the amount written on a check. It's about people choosing to give some of their time, talents and resources for the benefit of someone else—and discovering how much more can happen when they do it together.
The Rotary Club of Senoia meets on the second and fourth Mondays of each month from 6:30–7:30 p.m. at Senoia United Methodist Church. Anyone interested in learning more is welcome to attend.