Rotary International Anti-Poverty Initiatives

 

Rotary International
Image: rotary.org

Hilton Head, South Carolina resident Brian Stertzer serves as managing director of WealthStone, an Ohio-based wealth management firm that creates investment solutions for high-net-worth clients. When not busy with work, Brian Stertzer stays involved with his local Rotary Club.

One of the core missions of Rotary International and its local chapters is the sustainable eradication of poverty. Its approach focuses on complex, multifaceted solutions to poverty that address root causes both directly and indirectly. In the Navajo Nation, Rotary has helped install solar-powered lighting, making it easier for people to work and learn during nighttime hours in these off-the-grid locations. Rotary also provides micro-loans to potential entrepreneurs, helping them to buy the simple equipment and supplies necessary to take up employment as street vendors, rickshaw drivers, and weavers.

Annual Rotary expenditures to reduce poverty worldwide have grown to more than $9 million. Every dollar spent helps with business training, skills development, and infrastructure improvements that help these communities transcend poverty today and tomorrow.

Hilton Head Island Rotary Club – Youth Scholarships

Hilton Head Island Rotary Club
Image: hiltonheadrotary.org

A graduate of Capital University with a bachelor’s in accounting and economics, Brian Stertzer serves as managing director of asset management at WealthStone. Brian Stertzer remains active in his community of Hilton Head, South Carolina, and contributes to the Hilton Head Island Rotary Club, which offers a number of scholarships to local youth.

The Hilton Head Island (HHI) Rotary Club provides scholarships to both home-schooled students and students graduating from high school on Hilton Head Island. The organization evaluates applicants based on academic performance, participation in extracurricular clubs and sports, and community service both in and out of school.

Students must submit a 500-word essay detailing what makes them stand out among their peers and why they deserve consideration for a scholarship. The HHI Rotary Club also provides the Norman Reeves scholarship to students who plan to study engineering or a related subject. Those interested in this scholarship can submit the same application used for the general scholarship, and all applicants must submit their application electronically as an attachment.

Safety Town Youth Initiative at Hilton Head Island Rotary Club

Safety Town Youth Initiative
Image: hiltonheadrotary.org

Brian Stertzer has thirty years of sales experience and is a certified public accountant. In addition to his position as a managing director for WealthStone, a wealth management firm in South Carolina, Brian Stertzer serves as the president of the True North Foundation, and is a member of the Hilton Head Island Rotary Club.

Chartered in 1967, Hilton Head Island Rotary Club is the oldest organization of its kind in the area, with a broad history of community service that includes Alzheimer’s research, local business recognition awards, and various youth initiatives. One such initiative is Safety Town, an annual public service program that teaches local children about safety in the home and around the city.

At the event, children have the opportunity to explore a kid-sized “town” constructed in a parking lot. Here they experience a variety of traffic situations first-hand and learn about traffic signals, crosswalks, and other drivers in a fun and educational environment.

One building in the miniature metropolis is overseen by the local fire and rescue, and teaches participants how to deal with at-home issues such as flammable materials in the kitchen, exposed wires, and basic first aid. In another area, children learn how hospital patients are triaged by emergency doctors and nurses.