I had the distinct pleasure of helping to celebrate a major milestone this past week.

The Rotary Club of Barnesville is marking 100 years of service to the community and the world in 2023. Officially chartered on July 21, 1923, the club is a large one for our region, and its members remain very active even after all these decades have passed.

On Tuesday, the organization hosted a dinner filled with dignitaries from the across the region and representing various levels of Rotary International.

The dinner itself — catered by The Home Towner Cafe of Quaker City — was delicious. And it was held at a venue I had not previously visited, the Elks Lodge 1699 on Chestnut Street in Barnesville. The place settings, the music provided by Millard Neal and the company were all top notch.

I am not member of the Barnesville Rotary, but I have belonged to three different clubs in the local area, depending on where my newspaper duties were taking me at a given time — the Moundsville Rotary, the St. Clairsville Noon Rotary and, most recently, the former Bethesda-Belmont-Morristown Rotary, no renamed the Union Local Rotary Club to better describe its membership area.

If you have never been a Rotarian or have never been to a Rotary meeting, you might have the impression that Rotary is just a social group. That, however, is a long way from the actual situation. Sure, lots of Rotary clubs gather for weekly lunch meetings. But the things that the people who gather there accomplish together are truly impressive.

On the local level, Rotary clubs hold fundraisers such as spaghetti dinners and car shows, and the money raised often goes to projects that hit close to home. Many clubs award scholarships, provide dictionaries to third-graders, help communities spruce up their street for special holidays and much more.

But sometimes those efforts become bigger, reaching beyond our borders and making a huge impact on the lives of people the club members don’t even know.

My friend Sharon Welsch, for example, spearheaded a project through the Moundsville club that purchased and delivered a school bus to a community in Mexico that did not have transportation for its students.

During the dinner Tuesday, I heard the story of how the Bridgeport club, with a financial assist from Barnesville Rotarians, managed to fund construction of water wells for a community in Africa.

Rotary International also operates its PolioPlus campaign, which falls under the umbrella of the Global Polio Eradication Initiative. Over the past 30 years or so, these efforts have reduced the number of polio cases worldwide by 99.9% — meaning the battle against the paralyzing illness is nearly complete. But, Rotarians haven’t given up and won’t until the disease is wiped out.

Many members of the Barnesville club have contributed to this effort, and some of them were honored during the event Tuesday. Members of the 125 club — those who donate at least $100 to the Rotary Foundation and $25 to the PolioPlus effort — were honored, as were Paul Harris Fellows, who have contributed at least $1,000 to the foundation over the course of their membership.

It was clear to me that members of the Barmesville club are devoted and make a big difference at home and abroad.

I was honored to be among them on Tuesday, and I extend my congratulations to the club and all of its members.