Seventy-two years after the formation of the Cleveland "Noon Day" Rotary Club, the Bradley Sunrise Rotary Club was chartered in 1996.
Sunrise Rotarian Don Rollens, who co-chaired the chartering process, said the "Cleveland/Bradley County community had reached a size that it could support two clubs, but not without some important polling of club members.
"Before we started the process, we conducted a survey of the Noon Day membership to see if there was significant support for another club," recalls Rollens, "We also conducted a survey to see how many other potential new Rotary members may be in the community."
Satisfied that a need and desire existed for a second local club, a dozen Noon Day Rotarians helped to establish the structure and temperament of the breakfast club.
Pete Venderpool served as the first club president. Since then, the group has grown to roughly 50 members.
"Even though there was a little reluctance to start the club because it might potentially take away members from the Noon Day, a lot of people thought it was more convenient to meet in the morning than at noon," recalled Rollens. "We wanted to give folks another option."
Meeting at 7:00am on Thursday mornings at Skyridge Medical, Sunrise Rotarians are a laidback group of professionals who never take themselves too seriously.
Mornings are filled with laughter and a song or two. In fact, Sunrisers are famous for their ensemble of club songs and last year entertained their fellow Rotarians at the district conference in Chattanooga.
Rollens says having a second Rotary Club in the Bradley community has increased the public's awareness of Rotary as an organization and increased the club's visibility.
"More importantly, having a second club has given more people an opportunity to become Rotarians and that's a good thing!" said Rollens.