By Joseph DiCristofaro
The Ironton Tribune

Fostering change in the community has been a goal of the Ironton Rotary Club for decades; now that effort for change will continue under the guidance of soon-to-be president Sarah Simmons.
“I’ve been a member of Rotary for several years, but my workload prevented me from taking a more advanced role in the organization,” Simmons said. “Now I have a little more freedom and I am glad to help in additional ways.”
Simmons plans to keep the goals of Rotary close to the core values of the organization and to foster ideas from current members on how to improve the club and community.
“I want any members of Rotary that have a goal to bring it to the club and see how we can all help achieve it,” Simmons said. “I want to provide opportunities for people to serve in whatever ways they choose to.”
An opportunity to learn from many dedicated members of Rotary has presented itself in new ways to Simmons that she plans to use to improve her leadership of the club.
“We have a lot of legacy members who haven’t missed a meeting in decades, and I’m excited to keep learning from them,” Simmons said.
Being a member of Rotary has provided Simmons with many chances to give back to the community, and her involvement and passion led to her becoming a candidate for the presidency, replacing current president Marty Conley on July 1.
“Help with cleanup, make pancakes for our pancake breakfast, the proceeds of that fund nursing scholarships,” Simmons said. “Helping people in the community and serving the community kept me here.”
“It’s always great to see people receiving scholarships and knowing that they can continue their educations a little easier,” she said.
Being involved in Rotary has brought forth new relationships for Simmons and provided opportunities to help communities outside of Ironton and the United States.
“I’ve gotten to know a lot of people at Rotary and formed friendships. Recently I had an opportunity to visit an organization that we fund for our international work,” Simmons said. “I went to Guatemala in March. The group serves indigenous Maya communities.”