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The COVID-19 pandemic and the couple years of confusion surrounding it made many public events hard to plan. In the case of the Columbus Noon Rotary, it put their 100-year celebration on hold, according to Club President Jamie Snyder.
"We had planned for 2020, March 2020, and you know what happened in that time frame, so we just kind of sat on it and said 'Let's just do 102,'" Snyder said.
Snyder, who joined the club a few years ago after hearing her husband talk about it for years, said the centenarian celebration is a testament to the club's good works. Columbus, she added, was one of the earlier adopters of the club shortly after its foundation in 1905.
"It was an opportunity for businessmen to come together, to get to know each other, work with one another and do good things for the community, and that's what it's done all these years," Snyder said.
For the 100-plus year celebration, the group will meet at the Elks Country Club on Nov. 10 for a dinner and keynote speech by District 5650 Governor Barbara Bartle.
Bartle previously visited in September to share her stories about Rotary efforts in Poland to aid Ukraine, which she will be doing again at the celebration.
"We asked if she'd like to come and talk about that a little. It should be interesting, she's had some interesting experiences," Snyder said. "Then we'll eat dinner, cake and [make a] toast to another 100 years."
In honor of the milestone, Reye Snitily, a Rotarian who joined just last year, has been trying to assemble a sort of "history of the club" display with meeting minutes and projects the group has done over the years.
"They had minutes from the 1920s to the 1970s, so I've been going through those and trying to get a big picture," Snitily said.
Unfortunately, Snitily said, minutes past 1980 are few and far between. Between the Platte County Historical Society and various archives, she has had little luck.
"I'm trying to get a big display board. I even went to the historical society but I'm still having a hard time. I think in the '80s they started taking minutes on a computer and that's where they've been lost," Snitily said.
The Rotary, Snitily said, has been involved in a lot of community projects over the years, mostly focused on education and polio prevention efforts. Most recently, they put up Little Free Libraries near First United Methodist Church and the Columbus Family Resource Center.
"We're in the process of monitoring those and putting books in. Education is important to Rotary," Snyder said. "This is a way to hopefully entice people to read."
In the past, the group has also done the Loup de Loup bike ride, rang bells for the Salvation Army Kettle Drive and done Student of the Month and scholarships for local schools. Polio, Snyder said, has made a small resurgence in recent years, which the group has made international efforts to stifle in whatever way they can.
"We're always open to tackling new projects, seeing if we can't help in some way or another," Snyder said.