What we are
THE FOCUS OF CIVITAN
The Rhododendron Civitan club is a volunteer organization dedicated to helping others in WNC and supporting opportunities for special needs persons.
The primary focus of Civitan is to assist the developmentally and intellectually disabled, to fund research seeking cures and treatments for disabling physical and mental deficiencies, and to serve the community in ways that meet needs of those who could not otherwise gain these services for themselves.
We donate yearly to the Civitan International Research Center in Birmingham, Alabama. We support the Civitan cabins at Boys and Girls Homes at both Lake Waccamaw and Victory Junction Camp at Randleman, NC.
Rhododendron Civitan is known to Civitan International as a member of Region 3. http://www.rhododendroncivitan.org/
Rhododendron Civitan club's meeting schedule is found on the "Activities" page and meetings are scheduled to begin at noon. Some dates must be cancelled, of course, to allow for normal family and church activities, to avoid weather hazards, etc. We meet at the home of our club president at 568 Caribou Road, Asheville, NC 28803.
Rhododendron Civitan Club PO Box 17035 Asheville, NC 28816
e-mail contact: fmmuse@charter.net
Where we come from
The reason for our existence.
The Rhododendron Civitan Club was chartered in 1959 as a member of Civitan International. It has worked since that time to make the community a better place for all, especially the developmentally and emotionally disabled. The Civitan Creed explains our mission.
THE CIVITAN CREED
I AM CIVITAN: as old as life, as young as the rainbow, as endless as time.
MY HANDS do the work of the world and reach out in service to others.
MY EARS hear the cry of children and the call throughout the world for peace, guidance, progress, and unity.
MY EYES search for others to join in the fellowship and service of Civitan.
MY MOUTH utters the call to daily duty and speaks prayers in every tongue.
MY MIND teaches me respect for law and the flag of my country.
MY HEART beats for every friend, bleeds for every injury to humanity, and throbs with joy at every triumph of truth.
MY SOUL knows no fear but its own unworthiness.
MY HOPE is for a better world through Civitan.
MY MOTTO: builders of good citizenship.
MY BELIEF: do unto others as you would have them do unto you.
MY PLEDGE: to practice the Golden Rule and to build upon it a better and nobler citizenship.
What we do
Rhododendron has one major fund raiser, the selling of fruitcake during the Christmas season. Our income from this project is dispersed to official Civitan projects such as the Civitan International Research Center in Birmingham, Alabama http://www.circ.uab.edu/ The Boys and Girls Homes http://www.boysandgirlshomesofnc.com/ Victory Junction http://www.victoryjunction.org/
Our local projects include the providing funds for the "back to school" efforts at the Black Mountain Home for Children and sponsoring Christmas at the Irene Wortham Center. We recognize our veterans at the Veterans' Administration Hospice Center with homemade greeting cards three times a year. We have other small projects which accommodate the limitations of our small and aging membership.
We are a blue-collar club with no wealthy donors. We work for all our revenue and disperse it with glee to those projects that we have the funds to support. Operating expenses are only a slight portion of our revenue as we by definition are volunteers. We seek new members of good character who share in our desire to help the developmental disabled and make our community a better place.
OFFICERS
President -- Frederic Muse President-elect -- Frederic Muse Secretary -- Marvin Ellege Treasurer -- Marvin Ellege