During its 104 year history the Terre Haute Rotary Club has made significant volunteer, professional and financial contributions to the local community that have helped make Terre Haute a better place to live. These range from early efforts to create the local Boy Scouts council, raising funds to support the U.S. military during the first and second world wars, and Rotary is the volunteer organization that has served the longest to help Goodwill Industries. Terre Haute Rotarians have provided volunteers to the Salvation Army, Habitat for Humanity, local food banks, community centers and in our local schools.
We have helped with Keep Terre Haute Beautiful clean-up activities, distributed free dictionaries to third graders and provided grants to improve art, music and education programs. Terre Haute Rotarians sponsor the Terre Haute North High School Interact Club, a division of Rotary International that provides service and leadership opportunities for high-school students. Each year, two graduating members of Interact receive the James Rentschler Memorial Scholarship from the Terre Haute Rotary Club. We also sponsor five Interact members to attend the Rotary Youth Leadership program.
We participate in the following annual projects:
- Goodwill Annual Clothing Drive
- Salvation Army Bell Ringing
- Food Drive with United Way
- Rotary Reads
- Max Erhman Plaza Clean Up
- Dictionary distribution to Elementary Students
- Sleep in Heavenly Peace Project to build beds for underprivileged children
In addition, we sponsor:
- Terre Haute North High School Interact
- A Rotary Youth Exchange student
Other projects we support financially through our local grants funded by our Terre Haute Foundation include, but are not limited to, projects of the following organizations:
- Arts Spaces
- Bright Hope Riders of the Wabash Valley, Inc.
- CASA
- Engineers Without Borders
- Family Service Association of the Wabash Valley, Inc.
- Fourteenth and Chestnut Community Center
- Junior Achievement of the Wabash Valley, Inc.
- Sheldon Swope Art Museum, Inc.
- The Terre Haute Family Y
- Terre Haute Symphony Association
- Union Hospital Volunteer Services
- Vigo County Education Foundation
- Wabash Valley Community Foundation
- Wabash Valley Health Center
- West Vigo Community Center