The Family of Rotary – Holiday Style

 
It starts with one. One man, one mom, one Christmas, and one Rotary Club. The Madison South Rotary Club.
 
And how do families make a holiday special? With food, friends, a few very suspicious-looking reindeer, and a whole lotta fun. And what’s more fun than BINGO? BINGO with cash prizes!! Add food, lap blankets, trays of tasty holiday treats...a Holiday tradition is born.
 
For more years than Lisa Gits can or wants to remember members of the club have chosen to bring a Bingo party to the residents of St. Mary’s Care Center. It originally was because one of the club member’s moms was there. When word spread, a little Santa magic with a generous dollop of Rotary fellowship and goodwill, more than a handful of elves of various sizes and shapes, a party with food and gifts materialized. The tradition goes back far enough that there are notorious tales. No one will share the one about Juanita in B4…but if you ask Ted See, he just might share a story or two.
 
Other than a little, or a lot, of Holiday Cheer, what does a senior citizen want? A little warmth. Cue RSVP and generous gifts of handcrafted lap quilts. Even a global pandemic will not stay the arrival of these personal warmth delivery devices.
 
Sometimes service is ambitious. Sometimes it’s playing BINGO on a December evening with some of our vintage community members.
 
What the Family of Rotary is all about.