Albany Herald

Photo by Casey Dixon

ALBANY, Ga. -- The Dougherty County Rotary Club installed 12 new Paul Harris Fellows and recognized four others as "Plus One," or multiple award winners, on Tuesday at Doublegate Country Club.

Heath Allegood, Jim Bacon, Robert Edwards, Rick Fields, Hill Gillespie, James Griffin, Ned Grubb, Jay Harris, Dave Orlowski, Ralph Rogers, Bruce Shearer and Jay Smith were honored as first-time Paul Harris Fellows.

Club members reach Paul Harris status by reaching $1,000 in contributions to the Rotary Foundation.

In addition, Lane Price, Seaborn Curry, Paula Hannington and John Watkins were recognized as Paul Harris Fellows +1, meaning they have given an additional $1,000 to the foundation.

Longtime Albany Rotary Club member Julian Price, himself a 13-time Paul Harris recipient, praised the Dougherty County group.

"This is a great Rotary Club with great Rotarians," Price said. "Of the 76 members of this club, 34 are Paul Harris Fellows. More than 98 percent of the club's members have given to the foundation in the past year.

"This is all about service to the world and to our communities."

In 2009-10, the 33,000 Rotary Clubs and their 1.2 million strong membership gave more than $268 million to the Rotary Foundation. Since the foundation was formed in 1947, members have donated more that $2.6 billion.

According to the club, "The mission of The Rotary Foundation of Rotary International is to enable Rotarians to advance world understanding, goodwill, and peace through the improvement of health, the support of education, and the alleviation of poverty."

"We are the major service club in the world," Price said, "and the Rotary Foundation is how we make a difference worldwide."

But the foundation also serves the local community.

"This club does a lot of good work and the foundation is an excellent vehicle to help the greater Southwest Georgia community," club member Mike Flowers said.

Flowers pointed the Southwest Georgia Literacy Project, giving dictionaries to schools, providing GED mentoring services and providing radios for first responders in Quitman County as examples of that outreach.