Portland Rotary Club Volunteers Contribute to Portland’s Top Ran

PORTLAND, Maine – Contributing to Portland’s recent ranking as a number one volunteer city in the country, over 100 members of the Portland Rotary Club have given nearly 6,000 volunteer hours, in the past year alone, to local and national community service projects, benefiting the residents of Portland and beyond.

Portland currently ranks number 1 in the U.S. for volunteer service according to personal finance website WalletHub, with a per-resident volunteer rate of 49.39 hours annually. In a tie with San Diego, California and Salt Lake City, Utah, Portland stands out as a volunteering leader on the East Coast, with clubs like Portland Rotary leading the way.

Portland Rotary members continue to prepare Thanksgiving meals at their annual Thanksgiving Dinner held at St. Vincent DePaul soup kitchen, deliver warm mittens to the homeless and adaptive sports equipment for veteran rehabilitation. They have also put forth notable efforts toward projects, such as the Maine Outdoor Challenge, the Annual Veteran’s Appreciation Luncheon and the 3H Program.

Each Veteran’s Day, the Portland Rotary Club hosts an annual luncheon to honor over 300 Maine veterans as means to provide financial support to veterans’ causes statewide. The club is also responsible for the Maine Outdoor Challenge, a three-day outdoor recreation competition that builds comradery among friends, bosses, and clients alike, as individuals put their fly fishing and archery skills to the test. Proceeds from the event help support Rotary’s charity mission, as well as benefit the Boys & Girls Clubs of Southern Maine.

Further from home, Rotary’s 3H: Hands, Hearing & H20 project continues to reach beyond Maine’s borders to bring hearing aids, clean water, and prosthetic hands to communities across the Dominican Republic.

Dedicated to service above self, members continue to partake in other ongoing projects including food service for the needy at the Preble Street Resource Center, elementary school readings at Lyseth School, and mentoring of troubled youth at the Long Creek Youth Center.

The Portland Club hosts weekly meetings on Fridays at the Holiday Inn by the Bay in Portland. For more information on the Portland Rotary Club, please visit http://www.portlandrotary.org.

About the Portland Rotary Club
Chartered over 100 years ago, the Portland Rotary Club remains committed to encouraging and fostering the ideal of service as a basis of worthy enterprise through the promotion of high ethical standards in business and professional, and the advancement of international understanding, goodwill, and peace through fellowship.With over 120 members, the club dedicated nearly 6,000 hours per year to various local, regional, and national humanitarian service projects. The club hosts weekly meetings on Fridays at the Holiday Inn by the Bay in Portland. For more information on the Portland Rotary Club, please visit http://www.portlandrotary.org.