Bonham Rotary Club

We were delighted to welcome Mark Sanderson with the Open Arms Shelter to Bonham Rotary meeting this week. Mark gave a brief history of the shelter and his involvement. The shelter started in 2015. Mark came to work at the shelter in August of 2021 after retiring from a long career in law enforcement. Mark defined homeless people as your neighbors. To be at this shelter for more than a day or two, you have to have a local connection. It's not just a place to stay. They require you to work or look for work in order to get back on your feet. Mark said that they have a 75% success rate right now. They are 81% above where they were last year because of their new, larger facility. He also stated that 54% of all who come through have some type of mental health issues. Currently, they have 11 at the shelter with a 30 person capacity. The benefits to the community is it reduces the burden on other local resources. Open Arms Shelter provides free meals even if folks are not staying at the shelter. The Bonham Rotary Club donates all the food left after every weekly meeting to the shelter. Mark thanked the Rotary Club for their support and said that they would not exist without the community support.

For donations to the Open Arms Shelter, call 903-449-4451 or email them at www.oashelter,com.

This week at Rotary, Rotarian Stephanie Garcia gave the program of "Rotary - Did You Know?" Stephanie gave an in depth description of how Rotary International started in Chicago by Paul P. Harris in 1905, through the years with Rotary International, until today with 1.4 million Rotarians around the entire world. The local Bonham Rotary Club was founded in 1921 by Ralph A. Risser, Bonham Rotary Club is part of District 5810 which includes all of the Metroplex. Stephanie talked about women in Rotary and how a law suit went to the Supreme Court to allow women in Rotary in 1987. The first woman member of the Bonham Rotary Club was Barbara Reeves. For more information about Rotary International go to www.rotary.org

⛳️ What an AMAZING day at the Bonham Rotary Golf Tournament yesterday! 💙💛

Great weather, great people, lots of laughs, and an incredible turnout made this year’s tournament one to remember! We love seeing our community come together to support Bonham Rotary and the work we do right here at home.

A huge THANK YOU to all of the teams, sponsors, volunteers, and everyone who helped make the day such a success! 🏌️‍♂️⛳️

Already looking forward to next year! 💙💛

What a fantastic day on the course! ⛳️☀️

Today’s tournament was a huge success, and we can’t thank our players, sponsors, and volunteers enough for braving the heat to support our community!

More photos coming soon—stay tuned! 📸👇

We had a great Rotary meeting today packing goodie bags and prepping for our annual Golf Tournament this Friday! ⛳️

With 22 teams signed up, we’re looking forward to a fantastic day of fun, fellowship, and community support.

Thank you to everyone who pitched in—see you on the greens Friday! 🏌️‍♂️

We were excited to welcome a new member this week: Robert Scott! Robert is a financial advisor with Edward Jones who has been working in Bonham for five years. He is pictured here in between Rotarian Dr. Jerry Hopson (left) and Club President Corey Fagan (right.)

Bonham Rotarian and Bonham ISD Superintendent Dr. Lance Hamlin was in charge of this week's Rotary program. He invited High School Principal Eric Hicks and four Bonham High School students to come and tell why they like Bonham High School. There was a wide range of interests among the students, from athletes to leadership, to FFA to Grayson County College program. Every Rotarian agreed that the future is in good hands with these outstanding students.

Pictured (L-R): Back row Principal Mr. Eric Hicks, Bonham Rotary Club President Corey Fagen, Cayden Parsons (senior) and Bonham I.S.D. Superintendent Dr. Lance Hamlin. Front row Annabelle Green (senior), Grace Walker (senior) and Thatcher Morrow (freshman).

Proud to have Bonham High School students, staff and alumni at our meeting today! Good things are happening at BHS! 💜💜💜

When you get the chance to brag on BHS… YOU TAKE IT! 💜🔥

Cayden Parsons • Grace Walker • Annabelle Green • Thatcher Morrow

Representing our students, our school, and our Warrior culture at Rotary today!

This is what Warrior pride looks like! 🗣️💜

We had a fantastic program today, thanks to Rotarian John Farris!

Darrel Hathcock joined us and shared inspiring stories from his missionary work overseas.

His experiences beautifully tied into the core Rotary Club motto: Service Above Self.

Thank you, Darrel, for sharing your journey and reminding us of the impact service can have around the world! 🌍✨

At this week's Bonham Rotary meeting, we were pleased to welcome Chief Appraiser of the Fannin Central Appraisal District Tylene Gamble. She spoke about the structure of the appraisal district. There are actually 2 boards. One is the Appraisal Board and it cannot be involved with evaluations, etc. The other is the Appraisal Review Board and it has no authority over budget, etc. This board determines accurate appraisals when a resolution cannot be made. She also spoke about bees. She receives many questions about agricultural exemption about bees. All other ag exemptions require 10 acres and an ag project but bees only require a minimum of 5 acres and 6 live colonies. Gamble also explained that with new growth that Fannin County is experiencing right now there are more roll back tax situations when property sells. One interesting statistic she gave is that 62% of taxes are paid by homeowners. She stated that Fannin County needs more industry for tax relief for homeowners.

Pictured L-R: Bonham Rotary Club President Corey Fagan, Fannin Central Appraisal District Chief Appraiser Tylene Gamble, Fannin Central Appraisal District Deputy Chief Appraiser Christie Ussery and Bonham Rotarian Laurie Blake. Photo courtesy of Tommie Sue Turner