Providence Rotary - Community Service

Members of the Providence Rotary Club are active in many ways helping meet social needs in Providence and surrounding areas. Our Community Service programs provide opportunities for members to apply their time, talents and financial resources in numerous beneficial ways:

Providence Rotary Charities Foundation

An independent 501(c)(3) organization, the Foundation makes grants each year to local agencies that advance the broad causes of Rotary: health, education and the alleviation of poverty. Learn more.

Providence Street Painting Festival

As the club's signature event, the Street Painting Festival draws thousands of visitors each year to view the amazingly creative chalk drawings of local artists. Proceeds are funneled back into the community through the Providence Rotary Charities Foundation.

Overhead view of the artists drawing

In its 10th year, the day-long fun family festival features great food, beer and live entertainment. Awards are given to artists with the best drawings, attracting talented artists from around the region. Always in September, stop by to see the incredible chalk art, enjoy a hamburger and beer, cotton candy or popcorn and the music.

Dictionary Project

To support Rotary's focus on literacy, our club purchases and distributes dictionaries to every Third Grade student in the public and parochial schools of Providence each year. Club members enjoy meeting with the children when they deliver the books. The students write letters of appreciation - for many, it is the only book they own.

San Miguel and Sophia Academy

Our club has ongoing support relationships with the San Miguel School and Sophia Academy, innovative institutions serving many immigrant children in Providence.

Fishing Derby

Each spring, Rotarians and students from San Miguel School and Sophia Academy travel to a South County pond for a day filled with fun and fishing lessons. Learning to fish (and keeping the fishing pole) is a life-long important skill.

Literacy and Life Skills

Our club works with adults and children to improve literacy. We also teach life skills, such as finding employment.

Holiday Bell Ringers

Each December, dozens of Providence Rotarians volunteer to 'ring the bells' for the Salvation Army's holiday fund drive. Sometimes we're cold, or wet, or both. But we always feel good about it.

Feed the Homeless

Once each year, club volunteers help prepare and serve a meal for homeless people at a Providence church or shelter.

Warm Coats and Peanut Butter

Each winter we hold collections of warm coats for donation through the Salvation Army and peanut butter for the Food Bank.

Roger Williams Park Fountain

In collaboration with the Providence Parks Department, Rotarians are relocating and restoring a beautiful fountain with mosaic tiles donated by our club to the city of Providence in 1926. The fountain is now located behind the Natural History Museum in Roger Williams Park and will be moved to the Botanical Garden Center in 2011, just in time for our centennial celebration.

Blood Drive

Once each year the club sponsors a blood drive for the Rhode Island Blood Center.

In the past, we have supported the families of those serving on the SS Providence, a submarine stationed in nearby Groton, and built houses for Habitat for Humanity. We collected prom dresses for girls unable to attend this rite of passage dressed beautifully. We have collected and donated photographic equipment to AS 220.

And More ... Have a project we should undertake?