When Cathy Churchwell decided she wanted to join a Rotary Club, she probably didn’t know what she was getting into, exactly.
Churchwell, 63, of Griffithville has been a member of the Rotary Club of Bald Knob for 12 years, serving multiple terms as secretary and president, and is the current president of the club, which meets every Wednesday.
“I go to visit my sister every so often, and I’d visit her Rotary Club there,” Churchwell said of her sister Terri Coats. “I was interested in how to get involved. I just went to the [Bald Knob] club one day. They accepted me, and I’ve been there ever since.
“I’m glad I’m where I am. It’s a good club. We have fun. We enjoy being together.”
Churchwell has always served in some form or fashion.
After graduating from Griffithville High School in 1974, she joined the Army, along with her husband, Ricky, who is an alderman on the Griffithville City Council. Cathy Churchwell also worked at Walmart for years before retiring.
Churchwell said she loves working with the Rotary Club.
“It’s a service-above-self organization,” she said. “I’ve enjoyed meeting people that if I hadn’t gotten involved in Rotary, I would have never met, including the members of the club. I’ve met some really good people. I also enjoy doing the projects. I’m really proud of what Rotary stands for.”
The club currently has 18 members and two honorary members.
“We’ve gone down [in numbers] in the past few years,” Churchwell said. “When I was president before, we had gotten up to almost 30 members. I’m hoping to get that back up.”
And the Rotary Club of Bald Knob is involved in numerous projects throughout the year.
“Our club does different projects in the community,” Churchwell said. “We sponsor a child to go to Camp Quality each year. It’s a camp for children with cancer.
“We put up playground equipment at Camp Quality. Another project we’ve done is we’ve put some benches in the downtown area, where they have different things going on, for people to sit.”
Churchwell said the Bald Knob Rotary Club also participates in buying shoes for needy children in the Bald Knob School District.
“We give money for the shoes to help the students who can’t afford new shoes each year,” she said.
On Wednesday, the Rotary Club sponsored the Healthy Smiles Project.
“We passed out toothbrushes and toothpaste to the kindergartners and first-graders,” Churchwell said. “That’s about 160 students. We’ve had several dentists in Searcy donate everything we’ve needed for this. This is our first year doing it. It is something that I had on my list to get the club involved with. It’s worked out really well for our first year. We didn’t have any problems getting donations for the toothbrushes and toothpaste.”
Another project that Churchwell is proud of is the international project for the Rotary Club.
“We also do an international project in Piedras Negras, Mexico, right across the border from Eagle Pass, Texas,” she said. “We send money to help out an orphanage there. They do not get any help from the government. The Rotary Club in Eagle Pass helps out, too.”
The orphanage, Casa Bethesda, is one for children with special needs.
“I’ve been there twice on trips,” Churchwell said. “We have partnered with my sister’s club in Harrison. They go down there and do chiropractic care. We go and help out with that.”
Terri Coats and her husband, James, are chiropractors in north-central Arkansas.
“The first few years, we would set up in a Red Cross building,” Churchwell said of the chiropractic clinic. “Now it’s set up in a different area. I didn’t get to go this year. People come in from all over and sit and wait for hours to get treated. They look forward to the chiropractors and everyone arriving every year.”
The trip is made to Piedras Negras once a year in March.
Churchwell said she has visited the orphanage, as well as a school for children with special needs.
The Rotary Club of Bald Knob also started a Single Parent Scholarship Fund for White County.
“Our club is the one that started that back in 1999,” Churchwell said. “The first student was from Bald Knob. It’s really done well over the years, to start out in a town like Bald Knob.”
When Churchwell started with the Rotary Club, she was named secretary within six months and served in that position for a few years.
“Then I was president for four years,” she said. “Then I was off for a couple of years, then back as secretary, and I’m president as of now.”
She also serves District 6150 as assistant governor. Her responsibility, which is Area 7, includes the Rotary Clubs in Searcy, Bald Knob and Newport.
Last year, Churchwell interviewed for the position of district governor.
“That’s the person who is over all the clubs in our district,” she said. “That is who I answer to and help out as assistant governor.”
Churchwell interviewed with a committee that votes for the governor’s position.
“You go in front of a committee, and they ask you all kinds of questions,” she said. “It’s about an hour-, hour-and-a-half-long interview. Then they decide.”
Churchwell said she was persuaded by a former governor, Darlene Andrews of Wynne, to try for the governor’s position.
“It was a way to prepare for it until I’m ready for the position,” she said. “It was between two of us, and the one who got it, [John C. Deacon], had been up for several interviews. I was fine with it. I knew, deep down, I was not ready for that position. It gave me an idea of what to prepare for the next interview, which is coming up pretty soon.”
To be an assistant governor, someone is asked by the governor for the year, and Churchwell said she wanted to continue in that position. Churchwell’s first year as an assistant governor was for Andrews during 2016-17.
“Our district governor for next year, George Fray, already said, ‘Cathy, you are going to be one of my assistant governors next year, aren’t you?’” she said. “I said, ‘Sure, George, if that’s what you want.’ I’m already on-board for next year, evidently.”
Andrews said Churchwell is full of enthusiasm.
“She not only did work here in our district and her local club — she is extremely valuable there, but she helped me,” Andrews said. “For that, I gave her the Service Above Self award.
“With her, she gives 150 percent. She just never stops. If everyone in Rotary were like her and put out effort like she did, our membership would triple overnight.”
Churchwell said she encourages everyone to try Rotary.
“It is life-changing and is something you cannot understand until you have experienced it,” she said. “And the people these organizations comprise are those who exemplify ‘service above self’ more than any others. No matter what your age, I promise, you can learn something about service and about life from each one of them.
“It is something I enjoy doing. If I didn’t, I wouldn’t do it.”
Churchwell and her husband were childhood sweethearts. They’ve been married 44 years and have two children. Their daughter, Carrie White, and her husband, Tim, have two daughters — Kellie and Megen. They live in Virginia Beach, Virginia. The Churchwells’ son, Myron, and his wife, Heather, live near his parents in Griffithville. They have a daughter, Andrea.
Staff writer Mark Buffalo can be reached at (501) 399-3676 or mbuffalo@arkansasonline.com.