Socorro Rotary Club focuses on community service and offers free monthly presentations

J.R. Seeger, a member of the Socorro Rotary Club since 2008, describes it as both a local service organization and part of a global network founded on Feb. 23, 1905.

The club’s next fundraiser is scheduled for March 11 at the Capitol Bar & Grill from 6 to 9 p.m. The evening will include a presentation by Seeger titled “Nazis, Nukes and Spies,” a silent auction and a $5 cover charge, with proceeds supporting Rotary’s local service projects.

For those interested in learning more, Seeger encourages residents to attend a meeting and see firsthand how Rotary continues to serve Socorro—locally and beyond.

The club meets twice a month, on the first and third Wednesdays, from noon to 1 p.m. at Jackson Ranch. Meetings are open to the public and typically feature a guest speaker. Given Socorro’s proximity to New Mexico Tech, presentations often include professors discussing current research, along with talks focused on community issues.

“We start at 12 sharp and we finish at 1,” Seeger said. “Everybody’s working. These meetings don’t run past one o’clock.”

Membership currently includes about 25 to 30 active members, though around a dozen regularly attend lunchtime meetings due to work and family obligations. Prospective members are encouraged to attend a few meetings before applying. While there is a modest monthly fee, Seeger emphasized that Rotary is more than a lunch club.

“It is a commitment to the community,” he said. “We expect members to roll up their sleeves.”

The organization began in Chicago as a self-help association for business professionals before quickly shifting its focus to community service. Today, Rotary operates internationally, having supported projects ranging from education initiatives to the eradication of polio and clean water access in developing countries.

While those international efforts continue, Seeger said Socorro’s club concentrates primarily on education at the local level.

One of its cornerstone programs partners with Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library, a literacy initiative that provides free, age-appropriate books to children from birth to age five. Through the program, families in Socorro County can enroll to receive books in English or Spanish at no cost. Applications are available at the library.

“There’s a lot of kids in this county who will never see a book if they don’t get one from the Rotary program,” Seeger said, citing distance from the library and financial constraints as barriers for some families.

As students grow older, the club continues its educational outreach. Rotary sponsors an eighth-grade essay contest centered on the organization’s “Four-Way Test,” which encourages students to reflect on ethics, service and community responsibility. Both students and teachers receive awards for their participation.

At the high school level, the club offers scholarships—the amounts differ yearly depending on fundraising success—to graduating seniors from Socorro High School and Magdalena High School.

Beyond education, the club also supports other local nonprofits. Seeger said Rotary has provided financial donations to groups such as the Friends of Bosque del Apache and has coordinated book drives, including delivering unused books to partner Rotary clubs in Mexico for distribution near the border.