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NILES — Last month, community members celebrated the re-introduction of the new Niles Rotary Club to the area.

Coffee, donuts, and great conversations were had at the Niles Police Department, 1600 Silverbrook Ave., as leadership from Rotary District 6360 new Niles Rotarians collaborated to improve the lives of those living in Niles and surrounding areas. 

The Niles Rotary Club is a member of Rotary International’s District 6360, a district that covers more than 50 Rotary clubs and more than 2,000 members in Southwest Michigan. 

Five charter members have been welcomed to the Niles Rotary Club over the past two weeks – Jessica Massey, Jennifer Salmon, Glenn Roper, Valerie Tanke and Sharon Tyler – as the club continues to seek out new members. District leadership has been on hand for meetings while the Niles club’s leadership gets established.

“There’s a great community here, there’s lots of people who are interested in community service and international service,” said District Governor Nominee Tim Lee of Rotary Sturgis . “We also want to bring back people who were engaged at one time with Rotary and reinvigorate them with new enthusiasm and then mix that with the enthusiasm from the people in the community that are new who want to serve and help the community. It was a great marriage, a great fit and we’re really excited to bring everybody together.”

Rotary joins leaders from all continents, cultures, and occupations to exchange ideas and take action for communities around the world. With more than 46,000 member clubs worldwide and a membership of 1.4 million individuals, Rotary International is one of the world’s largest service organizations.

The club has risen from the ashes of the former Niles-Buchanan Rotary Club, which officially dissolved due to membership struggles in June 2017 after serving the community for 98 years. The club had contributed more than $300,000 in scholarship funds to Niles, Brandywine and Buchanan high school graduates before its dissolvement, with aiding local youth being one of its biggest goals.

At its most prominent, the club had more than 200 members. The memberships were supported by local manufacturing companies, like Simplicity, that used to pay membership dues. When manufacturers, including Clark Equipment, left the area, they took some members with them.

Tanke, whose husband was a longtime Rotarian with the Nilles-Buchanan club, is looking forward to becoming involved with the Niles Rotary Club.

“I tend to get involved in groups that give back to the community and to support kids, especially. This is a good organization that helps children here and abroad,” Tanke said. “He was always involved and they used to meet for lunch and they used to have kids come and talk to us by slime. I didn’t realize the organization had dissolved, so I’m happy to see that it’s coming back. They have a lot of great people in this community.”

Community members are encouraged to attend upcoming Rotary meetings:

7:30 a.m. Wednesday, Sept. 13, Niles Police Department

5:30 p.m. Thursday, Sept. 19, 2nd and Main for social gathering

7:30 a.m. Friday, Sept. 27, Niles Police Department

“It’s a new, fresh opportunity and there’s really a lot of excitement,” Lee said.