It’s a busy fall season for the Rotary Club of Farragut. We’re preparing for the 28th edition of the annual Free Flu Shot Saturday, which will be held on Sept. 28. The club also is pulling together the details for its largest fundraiser – the 19th Annual Wine Tasting & Hors d’oeuvres, and it will be held at Concord Marina on Oct. 25.
Once again Rotarian Mark Bialik will be supervising the flu shot operations at Farragut High School. There will be two new features this year — the entrance of Walgreen’s to the team and the use of credit cards for donations being made to the News Sentinel’s Empty Stocking Fund.
Rotarians from the six clubs in town will be working at all six locations to help with this project.
Mark says that Walgreen’s will be providing the “High Dose Seniors Shots” this year and administering the actual shots and taking insurance information (if people have it available).
“However, if the person does not have Medicare or insurance, they can still get their shot,” Mark said. “We will be working it out with Walgreen’s to provide ‘drive-by’ shots also, for those who are disabled or physically unable to come inside.”
Mark added that he talked with a Walgreen’s representative at a recent meeting and we will have 250 doses of the senior’s shots available at Farragut. “And yes, there will be Walgreen’s pharmacists and interns at Farragut to administer the shots,” he added.
The News Sentinel will provide a person at each school to allow people to donate with credit or debit cards this year.
Service Projects co-chair Teri Jo Fox is running the wine tasting fundraiser. We will have this fun event at the Concord Marina and it will be very different from our past wine tastings, Teri Jo says. The Taylor family at Dixie Lee Wines & Liquors again will donate the wine and run the tasting bar, and Rotarian Sam Mishu is donating the cost of the evening’s food.
In other news:
- The club is planning what will perhaps become an annual event – “Rotary’s Got Talent” – on Wednesday, Nov. 5, at Fox Den Country Club at 12:15 p.m. Rotarian Brandon Ross is the master of ceremonies and project chair. He says we may be hearing some Beatles music, maybe The Temptations and even Lil Wayne. The club’s Infamous Back Table, populated by the likes of Bill Nichols, Sam Mishu, Wayne Davis, Terry Kerbs, the Rev. David Bluford, Brandon Hackett, Ron Lawrence and others, say they will have an entry as well. This will be a Polio Plus fundraiser for the club. It could raise the roof!!
- Our speaker on Wednesday, Sept. 11, will be Jimmy Hyams of Sports Radio WNML The Sports Animal. It should be interesting to hear what Jimmy has to say about the Tennessee football Vols, their loss to Georgia State and Saturday’s game against BYU.
If you’re interested in exploring membership in Farragut Rotary, drop me an email at tking535@gmail.com We meet at 12:15 p.m. each Wednesday at Fox Den Country Club. You also can call me at 865-659-3562.
Tom King has served at newspapers in Georgia, Tennessee, Texas and California. He started writing for KnoxTNToday in 2017.