Serving the community

Although Churchill County has many service organizations and community groups, four volunteers recently discussed their respective organizations at a Churchill County Economic Development breakfast meeting and what they do for the local area.

Barbara Hertz, former president of the Fallon Lions Club, is passionate about the service organization, which has been in the Lahontan Valley since 1937.

One of the main community services the Lions Club offers, said Hertz, is providing prescription eye glasses to the community and also assisting with free examinations and arranging for eye surgeries.

Hertz said the Fallon Lions have been reaching out in the community seeking new volunteers.

“You don’t have membership unless you get out and talk to people,” she said. “The Lions do a good job to reach out.”

Hertz said the commitment varies among Lions Club members. She said some put in many hours, while others help as often as they can.

Former Fallon Rotary Club president Zip Upham said the emphasis is on service.

“Some of it is global, and then we have Fallon projects we focus on throughout the community,” Upham said.

The Fallon chapter was established in 1925, almost 20 years after the national club first started in Chicago to assemble community leaders together and to share ideas.

“The model is service above self,” Upham said.

According to Upham, Rotary gives members the opportunity to provide service to their fellow mankind. One of the main goals of Rotary International, said Upham, has been to eradicate polio. Locally, Rotary has been involved with service projects and recently was a team sponsor of the Fallon Relay for Life.

Upham said Rotary meets every Tuesday at the Stockman’s.

Andrea Zeller, executive director of the Churchill Community Coalition, said her organization does substance abuse prevention — alcohol and drugs. She said coalition members are quite busy.

“We partner with a lot of community originations in Churchill County,” she said.

The coalition began after 2000 when a survey showed high-risk activity among Churchill County’s youth. Since that time the coalition has taken an active role in making the county a much better home for the youth.

“We actually have one of the best counties in the state,” she said, adding more than 70 percent of the youth are doing well.

With the volunteers, Zeller said the members are making the community better, especially when the organization has its prescription drug roundup or takes an active role in educating the public about the downfalls of alcohol and drugs

Terri Schultz, a longtime member of Soroptimist International of Fallon, said the organization executes many projects to benefit woman and girls; furthermore, she said the local Soroptimists have been involved with Domestic Violence Intervention programs, scholarship, Fallon Youth Club, Room for Ruth and Fallon Daily Bread. Schultz said Soroptimists believe in today’s youth.

“We empower young women to do and become anything they want,” Shultz said. “We hope to partner next year with the community and their empowerment program,” she added.

Shultz said the Soroptimists meet three times monthly, two times at lunch and the other meeting at night.