DOWAGIAC — Choking back tears Thursday afternoon, Dowagiac Rotary Club President John Seculoff thanked the club for making him feel welcome.

“Thanks,” he said to the crowd sitting before him. “You guys have made me feel at home.”

Seculoff was honored as a Paul Harris Fellow Thursday by the Dowagiac Rotary club for serving two terms as club president.

The Paul Harris Fellow award is a Rotary award dating back to 1957 that recognizes individuals who contribute, or who have contributions made in their name, of $1,000 to the Rotary Foundation of Rotary International.

Each year, the Dowagiac Rotary Club donates in the honor of a single individual in order to thank them and recognize them for their service.

Before presenting Seculoff with the award, Rotarian Mark Herman spoke about how the award generated money for the Rotary Foundation, and how the more than one million Paul Harris awards distributed worldwide have had a positive impact on people in need.

“One thousand dollars in the world will buy mattresses, pillows and blankets for 100 homeless children in Bangladesh. It will establish 10 sewing businesses for low-income mothers in Mexico. It provides carpeting tools for vocational training shops in Gambia. It will also provide artificial limbs for 25 people in Calcutta, India,” Herman said, adding example after example of what $1,000 can do. “The Paul Harris Fellowship and the [Rotary] Foundation can do a lot of good.”

Herman said that when a Rotary club gives a Paul Harris award to a fellow Rotarian or community leader it is the club’s way of expressing appreciation to that individual’s contribution to the Rotary’s motto of “service above self,” adding that Seculoff embodies that motto.

“I don’t have a long history with the recipient of this award, because, frankly, the recipient is fairly new to the community,” Herman said of Seculoff. “But he was a unanimous choice for our committee as he has shown a commitment to our community since day one.”

Listing off Seculoff’s involvements in the community from his employment at Edward Jones, his help with local businesses, membership with the Moose Lodge and Elks Club, and his service as Rotary president, Herman said that Seculoff has helped improve the Dowagiac community.

“In the short time that [Seculoff] has made the community his home he is is always helping to put a smile of people’s faces,” Herman said. “John has personally told me how he feels at home in this community and how he is here for the long haul, and for our sake, I hope that’s true.”

As he received the award in the form of a small pin on his jacket, Seculoff once again thanked the club for the recognition.

“Those of you who know me know that I have a lot of words and very few that matter,” Seculoff joked. “But thank you.”