Pullman Rotary turns 75

For Debi Dockins, the Rotary Club of Pullman has been a mainstay in her life the past 30 years.

Dockins said she joined the club in 1992 when she moved to Pullman and stayed involved with the organization because of the friendships she’s made and the impact the club has on the community. She is currently the president of the club and has gotten her husband and children involved.

“I’ve been in Rotary for about half my life,” Dockins said. “It makes my life so much richer.”

The Rotary Club of Pullman received a charter on May 23, 1948, and will celebrate its 75th anniversary on May 13 at the Gladish Community Center.

A second celebration will be planned at a later date, Dockins said.

Dockins said her children attended meetings and events with her when they were younger and as her children grew up, Dockins stayed involved,volunteered with the Rotary Youth Leadership Program and met young adults from around the world.

For Dockins, joining Rotary gave her a place to give back to Pullman and the community as well as the chance to do good internationally. She made friends with people across the globe and kept herself up to date on what’s going on around the world.

For another longtime member, Gary Schell, the international exchange program had a lasting effect on his family. The Schells met an international student from Germany who came to stay with them for a few months in the summer while on exchange. That former student remains in their life today. Schell said his family and the exchange student have made a number of trips back and forth for holidays and weddings or just to visit.

Schell joined the Rotary Club in 1974 after he had moved back to Pullman and taken a job at the Bank of Pullman with his father. His father was a member of the Pullman Lions and another bank employee was in the Kiwanis, which left Rotary.

“We had one Lion, one Kiwanian and I was the Rotarian,” Schell said.

Schell said the club has moved meeting rooms a lot in the past 75 years and has settled in a room at Zeppoz for now.

He said the club has changed over the years, adding more hands-on projects. He described one project in which he and a few other members moved playground equipment and dug a 3-foot hole for a set of wheelchair accessible swings.

Schell said Rotary also organizes a yearly picnic for international students, donates money to community projects and organizations and performs maintenance on the Mayor’s Grove.

“I’m proud to say we did those things,” Schell said.

Another project touted by Schell and Dockins is the Grand Project for Community Enhancement. For the past 40 years, Rotary has provided grant (originally, $1,000, now $1,500) anyone can apply for to fund a project aimed at bettering the community. This year, the grant went to the Community Action Center.

The Rotary Club of Pullman is open to anyone in the community and meets at noon on Wednesday at Zeppoz, 780 SE Bishop Blvd., Pullman.

For those in high school, there is the Interact Club and college students can join Rotaract. For more information about the Pullman Rotary Club visit pullmanrotary.org.

“Almost anything you want to do in your life you can do in Rotary,” Dockins said.

Nelson can be reached at knelson@dnews.com.