The Evergreen Rotary Club is turning 20 next year and the club’s first president is reflecting on their most successful projects and the benefits of being a Rotarian.

The Evergreen Rotary Club was formed in 2003, when founding members were looking at certain projects in the community that they believed they could help fund. Former President Charles Eble said at the time, Kalispell had two Rotary Clubs and the community of Evergreen was growing enough that he and other founding members believed they could carry their own group.

Eble was the club’s first president. He said it was initially hard to get people to sign up and participate. But, that issue was short-lived due in large part to the work of Don Gatzke, who Eble said did a lot to get the club up and going.

“We had people from all walks of life, so to speak, I think we had a couple of retired people, we had quite a few business people in our initial club. I would say most of it were Evergreen business owners or people that worked within the Evergreen business community,” Eble said.

Currently at 15 members, he said the club works to make sure their programs are “fresh and active” to keep people engaged. They contribute to a number of projects and programs, notably helping with the ABS Field in Evergreen in conjunction with the Evergreen Lions Club. Rotary helped build a playground and outhouse for the park, as well planting quite a few trees. He said they’ve also helped support the Evergreen sidewalk project — a community wide effort involving many other groups, such as the Evergreen Chamber of Commerce, working to put sidewalks throughout Evergreen so local students can more safely walk to school.

“We do a lot of annual events with the Evergreen school system. We donate dictionaries to third graders. We’ve always participated in Kids Count and we helped to provide a divider in one of their gyms,” Eble said.

At Christmas time, the club works with TJ Wendt State Farm Insurance provides some financial assistance to various families within the Evergreen School District. Evergreen Superintendent Laurie Barron is a Rotarian herself.

Though the club will also provide financial or other assistance for one-off projects, they do a lot of their most important work on an annual basis. They do a cleanup of U.S. 2 in La Salle twice a year and work to help the Northwest Montana Veterans Food Pantry with their Libby Stand Down, as well as donating food and helping with their computer system upgrades. The club also works with the Flathead Youth Home and has provided donations and helped in the past with renovations on their property, and has donated to the Warming Center in Kalispell too.

Because Rotary is an international organization, Evergreen members work to support projects worldwide, too. Eble said they are active in helping with a project in Guatemala to provide clean sources of clean water. They also work with the Rotary’s Global Polio Eradication Initiative, which has been working worldwide to eliminate the debilitating disease for 35 years.

Eble said he and other members of their club enjoy Rotary because of the service and goodwill it provides to communities both near and far away. He said the work brings club members together.

“I enjoy all the camaraderie that exists in Rotary, like I consider a lot of our club members family. We have a number of existing charter members. So, you know, I've known them for 20 years,” Eble said. “And we've actually had a District Governor from our club, which was pretty significant — to have a District Governor from a club our size.”

Rotarian Malinda Shafman served as District Governor from 2016-2017. The position oversees District 5390, which covers the entire state of Montana.

Eble said the club doesn’t have anything definitive planned for their 20th anniversary coming up next year, but that they might have a celebration of some sort. Check out the club’s Facebook page for updates at Rotary Club of Evergreen.

The Evergreen Rotary Club meets every first and third Tuesday at Waters Edge Bistro and Winery in Evergreen. Meetings begin at noon. Learn more about the club and reach out to officers at montanarotary.org/clubinfo/evergreen.