Fresta Valley EarlyAct Celebrates Earth Day

Earlier this year, the Rotary Club of Warrenton sponsored their first Early Act Club Fresta Valley Christian School in Marshall. There are currently 20 members in grades 3-6 who plan and execute service projects that fit within Rotary’s 7 areas of focus. So far projects have focused on literacy by reading to pre-school students; environment, disease prevention, child and maternal health and community/economic development by collecting 1,824 pairs of shoes for Soles4Souls and most recently celebrated Earth Day on April 22nd by planting a native plant pollinator garden at their school.

The project was a collaboration between several organizations. Design was from Jill Lehman of the Gainesville-Haymarket Rotary Club who is a landscape designer for Meadows Farms; t-shirts were sourced and printed by Erin’s Elderberries in Vint Hill, owned by Erin Mann; garden marker was donated by Randy Minter, owner of Moser Funeral Home, both members of the Warrenton Club. The EarlyAct Club received a $1,000 grant from The PATH Foundation to fund their Let’s Volunteer Day project.

“EarlyAct is a great way to engage the future Rotarians”, said DGE Amelia Stansell, whose daughters are in the Fresta Valley Club. “It is fun to see the kids on fire to serve and is excellent example of how we are planting seeds for us to harvest later – literally!” The club pinned the teacher and principal at the school as Honorary members, and have several parents interested in joining Rotary now that they have seen what the club has invested in their children.

To learn more about how to grow the next generation of Rotarians through EarlyAct and Interact, attend the Youth track at the Unlocking the Magic of Rotary Symposium on July 13th. Registration will open on DACdb soon.