Rotary's motto of ‘Service Above Self' passes down to generations

HARLINGEN — Julie Ezell has been attending Rotary Club of Harlingen meetings for the greater part of her life.
As a child, she went to meetings with her father, Mike Ezell, and traveled to Holland as a Rotary Youth Exchange student.
“I love Rotary,” Julie Ezell said. “I’ve grown up with it and I want my kids to be Rotary exchange students and if they want to, become Rotarians someday.”
The Rotary Club of Harlingen is thriving largely because family members are passing down a legacy of service to their children.
Daughters see the example set by their fathers and join; sons are following their mother or father as legacies. Husbands and wives also serve side by side.
Julie Ezell’s son, Ethan, who is still a baby, has already attended two Rotary meetings.
She said she remembers attending a rotary meeting with her father as a child. She recalls the then-board president encouraging a boy who was with his father to one day join Rotary. At that time, women were not allowed to join Rotary.
Julie Ezell now proudly attends the Rotary Club of Harlingen and is in charge of club service and does behind-the-scenes work for the club.
Her father has been a Rotarian for about 32 years and said it is a good experience for families to be together in Rotary.
“It is good to work together and the multi-generational aspect of the club brings in more youth. And the more young people you have, the more members you will have because they attract others,” Mike Ezell said.
Neil Murphy can remember attending Rotary meetings with his dad when he was as young as six. He now has been a member for over 30 years.
When he was club president from 1989 to 1990, Murphy inducted the first women into the Rotary Club of Harlingen.
Through Rotary, Murphy spent a great deal of time with his now wife, Mira, who Murphy said was among the second group of women to join the club.
With members such as Julie and Mike Ezell, Rotary Club of Harlingen is still the largest Rotary club in Harlingen and gives back to the community in many capacities.
“Members are passing on Rotary’s values and they are timeless,” current Rotary president Lea Peacock said.
She explained that values including Rotary’s motto, “Service Above Self,” and giving back to the community are at the core of the club.
“By bringing in our children to follow us, we are perpetuating those values for the benefit of everyone,” Peacock said.
Out of 108 members, nearly 30 are related in some way. Fathers and daughters, husbands and wives, mothers and sons, and fathers and sons participate in Rotary in some fashion.
Past club president John Hollingsworth has seen family participation throughout the years.
“It is a legacy aspect of the club,” Hollingsworth said. “This is an energetic young group that wants to help. The families bring a continuity of service to the club.”
Many of these second generation Rotary members also serve on the club’s board of directors.
As a whole, the club sponsors programs like Adopt a Highway. This year it has adopted a portion of Loop 499/Bill Card Boulevard and members will go out and help clean the roadsides. Card, a former Harlingen mayor and community leader who died in 2010, was once a member of the Rotary Club of Harlingen.
Coming up is one of the club’s biggest fundraisers and a Harlingen tradition, the Shrimp Boil. The club works together with the Sunburst Rotary Club of Harlingen and the San Benito club to put on the event.
The proceeds are split between the clubs and the Rotary Club of Harlingen takes the money and puts it back into the community, Peacock said. The club donates to local organizations including the Boys and Girls Club, Boy and Girl Scouts, Loaves and Fishes and other organizations.
The club also participates in Youth Exchange, and hosts students from all over the world including Italy and France. Next year, the club is looking to send a student from Harlingen to spend one year in Italy through the exchange program.

daltenburg@valleystar.com