Sertoma Club of Georgetown

Sertoma Club of Georgetown

Written by Shannon Colletti Friday, 13 June 2008

 This summer, the Sertoma Club of Georgetown will celebrate the 25th anniversary of its Family Fourth of July Celebration in San Gabriel Park.

Promoting national heritage is a large part of the club’s mission, and the annual festival is Sertoma’s biggest patriotic display. Member Roy Holliday, a former president and district governor, is credited with founding the festival in 1984.

Although Holliday and his family had recently moved to Georgetown from Houston, Holliday is originally from Brady, a small West Texas town whose Fourth of July celebration lasts several days. On July 4, 1983, the family was looking for something to do. Holliday was confident there were Independence Day festivities happening somewhere in Georgetown. After all, he said, Georgetown was bigger than Brady and had the beautiful San Gabriel Park.

“We drove around Georgetown, and there was nothing,” Holliday said. “The town was dead. I got this thought and said, ‘We need to think about a celebration on the Fourth of July, as part of national heritage.’”

The first festival was smaller than today’s and had arts and crafts, food vendors, horseshoe and washer tournaments, and fireworks. Holliday said the festival was not originally meant as a fund-raiser, but was simply to celebrate national heritage and bring families together.

“I based it on my experience in my hometown,” Holliday said. “That’s when everybody had their class reunions. Everybody goes home. That’s what I’d like to see here: everybody coming home to see their family.”

More than 12,500 people attended that first celebration, and Sertoma raised only enough money to break even.

As the festival’s popularity has grown, there have been years when more than 50,000 people have flowed through and the club has raised close to $7,500, Holliday said.

Last summer, the festival was canceled for the first time because of the floods, and members are eagerly looking forward to this year’s event.

David Hooper, public relations committee chairman and former president and chairman of the board, anticipates more than 50 arts and crafts booths, live entertainment, a climbing wall, moon bounces, food vendors, a classic car show, a parade featuring “Miss Georgetown” and the police department’s new fife and drum corps, a flag retirement ceremony, a petting zoo and fireworks. The festival kicks off at 11 a.m.

“What better way to celebrate and recognize our nation’s holiday?” Holliday said.

Sertoma’s mission

A service organization that helps others and celebrates our nation’s heritage, Sertoma is believed to be the second oldest service club in the country, behind Rotary International.

Sertoma comes from the phrase, “SERvice TO MAnkind” — words that Sertoma members take very seriously.

“The reason the club was founded is that [the founders] wanted a club that did something, that didn’t just meet for luncheons and didn’t do anything [more],” said Jim Wilson, the club’s only remaining charter member.

Background

Three men founded Sertoma International, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit, in 1912 in Kansas City, Mo. Sertoma clubs sponsor community projects to promote freedom and democracy, aid youth and benefit communities as local clubs see fit. Sertoma’s primary service project is assisting people with speech, hearing and language disorders.

The club has 20,000-plus members in more than 650 clubs across the United States, Canada, Mexico and Puerto Rico. Each year, Sertoma clubs raise more than $20 million for local community service projects.

Chartered in 1979, Sertoma Club of Georgetown has 40 members and raises more than $35,000 annually to give back to the community. Members typically live or work in Georgetown. They are expected to attend most of the weekly meetings and volunteer their time.

Speech and hearing

More than 50 million Americans have speech, hearing and language disorders, and Sertoma Club of Georgetown’s main service project is assisting the people of Williamson County.

“We help a lot of folks that have hearing problems that would continue to have them until their death had we not stepped in and helped them,” said Wilson, who has held almost every club office and is now the director of speech and hearing. “That’s been rewarding for me.”

Sertoma provides resources for testing, treatment and equipment, assists with hearing screenings and has partnerships with the Lone Star Circle of Care, Georgetown Healthcare System, Georgetown Independent School District, Texas Mission of Mercy, local doctors and the University of Texas Speech and Hearing Center.

The organization drives the Sertoma Hearing Aid Recycling Program, also known as SHARP, to collect unwanted hearing aids and donate them to those in need.

Other projects

Sertoma co-sponsors the Red Poppy Bike Ride in conjunction with the city’s annual Red Poppy Festival. Held in April, this year’s record-setting ride had close to 700 cyclists and raised $17,000. The money goes toward scholarships for high school students and to support community health care facilities.

Sertoma celebrates national heritage through its flag program. The club displays more than 100 flags at Georgetown schools and local participating businesses on national holidays.

The Sertomans hold essay contests with themes on national heritage for middle and high school students as well, recently awarding $12,000 in scholarships. High school students who want to get involved with Sertoma can become Serteens.

And yet these events merely scratch the surface of Sertoma’s vast community involvement.

“People in town know about Sertoma,” member Roy Holliday said. “When [groups] want something done, they’ll come to us.”

Local clubs

Sertoma Club of Georgetown , President - Mike Cook, Meets at the Village Inn in Wolf Ranch every Thursday from 6:30-7:30 a.m. except on the third Thursday of the month, when it meets at 7 p.m. at the Georgetown Public Library.

Hutto and Taylor do not have clubs, but the Round Rock Sertoma Club is trying to start one in Hutto. Contact Heart of Texas District Gov. Jim Thompson at brangusrd@aol.com for details.

Sertoma Club of Georgetown, P.O. Box 853, Georgetown, TX 78627-0853, 818-8033