Every year the Logan Rotary Club raises money for Logan Hocking High School graduates who plan on continuing their education by attending college. We have established 3 annual scholarships:
Logan Rotary Club Scholarship – Administered by the Minnie Bowen Fund
Logan Rotary Club BYF Scholarship – Administered by Brighten Your Future
Harley Ellinger Logan Rotary Scholarship – Administered by Brighten Your Future
To apply for these scholarships, students can get the applications through the Logan High Schools guidance counselors office. The recipient of the Logan Rotary Club Scholarship administered by the Minnie Bowen Fund is announced in April during the annual High School Scholars Night. The recipient(s) of the scholarships administer by Brighten Your Future are announced in July.
Plans are underway for the 53rd annual Logan Rotary Pancake Feast to be held Saturday, May 6, 2023 from 7:30 am-1:00 pm. The event is a tasty and economical way to feed yourself or the entire family. Additionally, it affords you the opportunity to support the community by just eating a delicious and economical meal.
The pancake feast is the primary fundraiser for the Logan Rotary Club which supports our various projects including Family Fishing Day, Christmas Bike Drive, and High School Scholarships. There is a 50/50 drawing available giving you a chance to win while also supporting the club.
The meal includes: pancakes (all you can eat), sausage, and choice of drink. Extra sausage and/or extra drinks are available for a small charge. Tickets cost $8 for adults, $4 for children (age 5-10) and children age 4 and under eat for free. Tickets may be purchased at the door or in advance from any Rotary member.
The Logan Rotary Pancake Feast will be held in the youth building at the Hocking County Fairgrounds. This event is running concurrently with the Urban Air – Wake Up Downtown event.
Come out and enjoy a great meal (we’ve been doing pancakes a long time), check out the Urban Air event, make new friends, see old friends, and support the Logan/Hocking County community.
“Our local Rotary Club has been perfecting the art of making pancakes for over 50 years, and we believe our pancakes have a wonderful reputation for being great.” -Bob Lilly
Every year for the last 15 years, the Logan Rotary Club has sponsored a family fishing day at Rose lake. Rose lake is stocked with trout on this day and provides an excellent chance for the little ones to catch a fish. Not only can children catch a fish, every child is given a prize ticket for a chance to win their choice of toy or fishing gear! Hot dogs, chips, and snacks are also provided for the children. Join us next year on Good Friday for some free fun!
Most know it as poliovirus. The virus is spread person to person, typically through contaminated water. It can attack the nervous system, and in some instances, lead to paralysis. This disease mainly affect children under the age of 5. In the 1950’s before polio vaccines were available, polio outbreaks caused more than 15,000 case of paralysis each year in the United States and in 1952, 58,000 cases of polio were reported. Although there is no cure, there is a safe and effective vaccine. After the IPV vaccine in 1955 and the OPV vaccine in 1963, the number of polio cases fell rapidly to less than 100 per year in the 1960s and fewer than 10 per year in the 1970s. Thanks to widespread polio vaccination in the United States, there have been zero polio cases that have originated here since 1979. Polio was finally eliminated in the Americas by 1994. However, there have been cases of foreign travelers bringing the virus into the United States.
What is Rotary’s Involvement in the fight against Polio?
After the OPV vaccine was discovered in 1963, mass distribution of the “Silver Bullet” became the primary focus. On the 29th of September, 1979 RI President James Bomar gave 2 drops of oral polio vaccine in Manila thus launching what has been an incredible 39 year effort to eradicate polio worldwide. Rotary and our partners have used the OPV vaccine to immunize over 2.5 billion children worldwide.
What would happen if we stopped vaccinating?
If polio isn’t eradicated, within 10 years, as many as 200,000 children could be paralyzed by it each year. A polio-free world will be a safer world for children everywhere. If successful, polio would become only the 2nd disease to be eradicated in history.
Rotarians Andrew McGhee and Damon Kuhn came up with the idea of building a new park in the city of Logan. The planning for this park dates back to the spring of 2016 when they first pitched their park idea to city council for a playground park to be built in the area of Dicken Addition. However, those plans fell through when they found out last minute the land was tied up in legal matters. While they were disappointed, they did not give up and approached the Logan-Hocking Schools about the idea of putting the park at the lot of the old East Elementary School. The School system not only liked the idea, they were fully supportive. After that things just started falling in place when their park project was selected by the Hocking County Commissioners as a grant recipient. Project East Park was officially under way.
While the grant would pay for development of the area, a play structure and swings, Damon and Andrew had a bigger vision. They embarked on making this a community project by soliciting local businesses and individuals for donations for additional playground equipment, landscaping and fencing for the safety of the children. Damon and Andrew involved the Logan Rotary Club by selecting a piece of equipment the club could help to purchase.
The SpinR play structure was selected for its special features with two recessed outward-facing inclusive seats at transfer height to enable children of all abilities to sit back and enjoy the ride.
East Park is on schedule to be completed in the Spring of 2019. Our club is extremely proud to support our Rotarians Andrew McGhee and Damon Kuhn.
For the past 13 years, members of the Logan Rotary Club have opened their hearts to share the joy of Christmas with many children throughout the community.
Prior to this year, they partnered with Toys to Share to offer new bicycles to children who applied through the program. However, Toys to Share is not distributing toys this year; so the Rotary Club is now partnering with Hocking County Children Services to provide new bicycles for 65 children.
While Rotary members open their hearts to the spirit of the holiday, each year the club graciously asks the community to step up with donations of money to help purchase new bicycles for children who might never have had a chance to have one otherwise. “We historically have been providing at least 65 to 70 bicycles of various sizes each year,” explained Logan Rotarian and committee chair Joe Murtha. “This year we are going to provide 65 new bicycles to Children Services for distribution to the clients they have identified that need bicycles.”
Most of the bicycle sizes needed are for children 12 and older, which is much more costly, Murtha noted. This is why it is necessary to seek donations. Murtha said any amount would be appreciated — $5, $10, $50 — whatever the person feels comfortable with donating.
When the bike giveaway first started, the club accepted donations of used bicycles, but eventually found that the cost of refurbishing the bicycles was often the same, if not more expensive than purchasing a new one. And though it was refurbished, it was still an old bike.
“It became cost prohibitive,” Murtha told The Logan Daily News. “The cost of parts was so high, and sometimes we couldn’t find the right parts — and Walmart has given us such a good buy on bicycles that we can now afford to buy new ones. Besides, no one wants a used bike for Christmas. Every kid wants a shiny, new bike on Christmas morning.”
“We need help as we’ve needed in other years,” Murtha remarked. “We just want to make sure that these kids have a new bicycle on Christmas morning.”
Murtha said the club needs to raise between $4,000 and $5,000 this year in order to provide Children Services with 65 bikes.
“It’s helping the children and that’s what we’re wanting to do; make Christmas special for boys and girls that may not otherwise have a memorable holiday,” he added.
If you would like to donate toward this cause, please contact us or mail a donation to:
Logan Rotary Club
14075 St Rt 374
Rockbridge, OH 43149
A little over 20 years ago, the Logan Rotary Club helped finance and build the shelter house at Mingo Park between the baseball fields and the children’s playground area. While the City of Logan did put on a new roof 2 years ago, the rafters supporting the roof have now become loose or broken due to age and people hanging from them. Rotarian Jim Robinson saw the need for the repairs but knew the city had many other repair projects that took priority. So Rotarian Jim took the opportunity to help by taking the project idea to his fellow club members.
With the members and financial support from the Logan Rotary Club, the rafters have now all been permanently repaired with new 2×4’s and bolts. The beat up gutters were also taken down to allow water to disperse evenly around the structure instead of pooling in one spot where the downspout was broken off.
Thank you Rotarian Jim for tackling this worthy project!
Do you have a project or would like to help with projects like this? Consider becoming a Rotarian today and see how much of a difference you can make!
The Cardboard City is an awareness fundraiser sponsored by Habitat for Humanity.
Pictured are Andrew McGhee, Damon Kuhn, Madison McGhee, and Sophie McGhee for team Logan Rotary.
“The issue that we’re addressing is substandard housing in our region,” said Amber Mendenhall, director of community engagement. “So people donate and they volunteer their time for a couple of hours to build a cardboard house.”
This is the ninth annual cardboard city event hosted by Habitat for Humanity, but it is the first year that part of the event has been held in Hocking County, which is one of seven different service areas serviced by Habitat. So far, they have raised $4,200.
Two groups from Hocking College, one group from the Logan Rotary Club, and also a group from the Logan High School drama department all participated on Saturday April 25th, 2015. The Logan Rotary Club took home the “Most Creative” Award with their End Polio Castle design.
With the help of the community, local businesses and grant funding more than $20,000 in improvements to parking and playground equipment will be made at Kachelmacher Park this year.
The City of Logan applied for a $20,750 project from the Ohio Department of Natural Resources Nature Works Grant program, which is a 75 percent funded grant with a 25 percent local match. The city received the grant from ODNR in the amount of $15,562.50; the Rotary Club of Logan provided $3,800 cash; and the City will perform $1,387.50 of in-kind work to install the playground equipment and gravel for the overflow parking.
The project is a collaborative effort of the city, Logan Rotary Club and ODNR in order to provide more recreation for the entire county and to act as a proud symbol of the community. According to Bruce Walker, Logan parks and cemetery supervisor, it’s been approximately 14 years since the last upgrade to Kachelmacher Park.
The grant will cover a new playground fire engine to replace the current one and gravel for the expansion of the overflow parking lot. Andrew McGhee, the youngest member of Rotary, wanted to see the project taken further.
McGhee’s proposal includes paint and update existing equipment and structures; rehab bathroom; purchase/build playground equipment; rehab main shelter house; construct walking trail; layout a mini soccer/football field behind main shelter house; install basketball court where horseshoe pit is presently located; add signs/donation wall; designate fishing area; purchase flags for flag pole; and replace the grills.
A permanent donation wall will be erected, recognizing any individual or company that donates money, material or manpower to the project. There are three tier levels for donations and 100 percent of all the proceeds donated will be used toward the Kachelmacher Park rehabilitation project.
Donations are being accepted through the new website www.kachelmacherpark.com; by contacting McGhee at 740-385-8575; or mail donations to Logan Rotary Club, 14075 SR 374, Rockbridge, Ohio 43149.
The Logan Rotary Club has adopted US Highway 33 between 664 and 93 exits. Rotarians meet at Kachelmacher Park every 3 months to pick up rubbish along the highway. Friends and family are invited to participate, but you must be at least 18 years of age.
