When the man on the street in Newnan and Coweta County thinks of the Newnan Rotary Club, he may recall the gigantic Fourth of July evening of entertainment and fireworks the club hosts each year at Drake Stadium on the Newnan High School campus.

This grand celebration is the most visible of the Newnan Rotarians' community projects because it draws the biggest crowd of the year for any single event in our county. It's a wonderful evening.

However, the Fourth of July evening celebration is just one of the projects that bears the fingerprints of Newnan Rotary Club members.

In addition to the Fourth evening, Newnan Rotarians now sponsor the Up in Smoke barbecue, career day in our middle schools, aids awareness programs in our high schools, and a SOUNS early childhood literacy project at local libraries. The club funds a chess program at the Newnan-Coweta Boys and Girls Club, and will sponsor a mile of the walking trail at the new Chattahoochee Bend State Park. This sponsorship will include Rotarians working on the trail, plus the club pledging $1,000 as part of a matching grant for the park. The club also is host for the Coweta County STAR Student and Teacher Recognition program.

In addition to these community projects, Newnan Rotary gives back to the community in many other significant ways.

Soon after the devastating earthquake in Haiti, local Rotarians took a collection and raised $3,450 to aid the stricken Haitians. This money will provide tent shelters and survival supplies to accommodate 40 or more Haitians as they adapt to the post-earthquake conditions.

This Haitian contribution by the Newnan Rotarians is part of $33,453 the local club has given back to the community and to other causes since July 1, 2009.

Newnan Rotarians gave $3,000 to One Roof, another $3,000 to the Coweta Community Food Pantry, and $500 each to Community Welcome House, CLICK, Bravo Company 2-121FRG, the Newnan Coweta Training Facility for firefighters, and the Alliance for Children's Enrichment.

The Ferst Foundation, which provides free books to Coweta children, received $2,388 from local Rotarians.

The club awarded $4,925 in Georgia Rotary Student Program scholarships and another $8,000 in Rotary Cup Scholarships.

Other contributions included $4,925 to the Rotary Foundation, which, among other projects, is working to eradicate polio around the world. Other local recipients of Newnan Rotary financial help include Operation Smile, the American Red Cross, the Rutledge Center, the Boy Scouts and First Baptist Church.

Our community is blessed to have committed civic organizations that work diligently to give back to our community. Newnan Rotary is one of those fine groups. We applaud the Newnan Rotary Club for all that its members do to improve the quality of life in our community.