News of Interest!
(Updated 10/12/2025)
ROTARY ON THE ROAD IN OCTOBER!
We meet on Friday, 10/17 at the First United Methodist Church's Christian Growth Center in Waynesville. Lunch is served circa 12:30 p.m. with the program starting circa 1:00 p.m. We return to Laurel Ridge on 10/31 for our weekly meetings.
About Us
How We're Helping
Waynesville Rotary believes in "Service Above Self" and base our local and global services on that value. Locally, we provide scholarships for students at the community college and university levels, provide backpacks of food to children who otherwise wouldn't have something to eat on weekends, and provide construction and other projects through United Way Day of Caring and Habitat for Humanity. These are just a few of our community service initiatives.
Recent Community Services:
2025 United Way Day of Caring - Stained and completed deck for resident in Waynesville.
Shown in the image to the left are Rotarians from Waynesville Rotary working on this year's Day of Caring project.
Shown in the image to the left are Rotarians (l – r) Bill Owen, Chad McMahon, Larry Leatherwood, Ed LaFountaine, Dean McMahon (top) Chris Owen, and Billy Case. Rotarian Heath Talley was on a pizza run when this image was taken.
School Year 2024-2025 Manna Backpack Project
Food boxes/bags are delivered weekly, when school is “in-person"
Over 9 months, there were 25 delivery days. 7 days were lost due to Hurricane Helene. Between 5 & 8 schools per week were supported. 9,940 food bags were delivered by Waynesville Rotarians. Per Manna Food Bank, this represented $49,700.00 in donations.
Christmas Food baskets provided in conjunction with Haywood/Sunrise Rotaries (470 baskets delivered 2024 at cost of $37,500.00) The 28 year total now stands at 11,502 families served at a cost of $331,191.00
Blankets for Mtn. Projects "warmth" efforts (in excess of 1000 blankets donated/distributed 2024 by all service clubs including clubs around the country.)
Get Involved
Are you passionate about what we're doing? Let us know! We are always looking for new members to help us make our vision a reality. We'll help you find a way to volunteer that best suits you. We're excited to have you join the team! Just ask David Nedved or Chris Owen!
Thank You
Whether you help through monetary donations, volunteering your time such as cooking up some food as the Leatherwood brothers are doing in the image to the left, ringing the bell for the Salvation Army, or spreading our mission through word-of-mouth, thank you. We couldn't accomplish our goals without the help of supporters like you.