BUCKHANNON – The Rotary Club of Buckhannon Upshur has limited spots available for blood screening dates in July.

The upcoming blood screenings will take place at St. Joseph’s Hospital July 9 and July 23, starting at $35. There are only two time slots available for the July 9 screening as of the writing of this article; however, more spots are available for the Saturday, July 23 screening. Scheduling a time for these screenings may be done here.

The newly elected Rotary Club of Buckhannon-Upshur president Alan Hager discussed how the club should proceed now that they are able to meet in person and future projects during their July 5 meeting.

“It’s just really been a strange several years; the whole length of this club has been dominated by restricted gatherings so it’s a challenging time,” Hager said. “We all knew we had some challenges, and I wanted to segue into thinking about one of those statements we have in our four-way test, ‘will it build goodwill and better friendships?’ And I think right now we have a great opportunity to build goodwill and better friendships.”

He said people can serve their community individually, but members of groups like Rotary work together to have the best impact.

“As a team, this is something I want us to think about and if you have ideas, that’s great,” Hager said. “I want to also mention our theme for this upcoming year with our new [district] president, Jennifer Jones, is ‘imagined,’ so maybe we can think along that line,” Hader said. “What would it look like to serve together and to build goodwill and friendships as we serve?”

He was happy the blood screenings have made a return, but he wondered if there was another way to help the community.

“I just want to see if there are other thoughts or ideas of ways you’d like to see Rotary impact the community,” Hager said. “The blood screenings are, I think … going to be a good entry point for some of the folks who haven’t been around Rotary as much and even new folks.”

Rotary Club of Buckhannon-Upshur member Kelley Tierney said it is usually the newer members who aren’t fully participating in the club’s chosen service projects.  

“What’s really bothersome though, is that so many of our new members are the ones that are not taking advantage of this service opportunity; is there some kind of disconnect? Is this a resume padding thing to do right now? Or have we not made it plain what the membership expectations are? Maybe we’re not offering what you have an interest in? Well, then let us know, let’s add that to the repertoire,” Tierney said.

She also asked if Rotary should develop another fundraising opportunity that would not only benefit the community, but also get Rotary’s name out.

“Should we explore one more fundraiser that the Rotary Club of the Buckhannon-Upshur is known for, like their blood screenings? A one-shot deal, once a year, something people know that every year, this is what we do, it doesn’t have to be as large as the screenings are, but just another backup,” Tierney said.

Other members were open to the idea and said they would discuss it in a future meeting. The next Rotary Club of Buckhannon Upshur meeting is July 19.